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Sunday, May 13, 2018

The most hopeful Yankee team in this decade

Right now, three touring rock bands - 18 people in all - are sleeping throughout my house. Most are on the floor. A few lucky ones got a couch or blow-up mattress, which is steadily losing air.

Within three hours, they will be on the road to Toronto.

I view the scene as testimony to the unstoppable power and resiliency of youth. Never bet against it. You will only lose.

For most of the last 20 years, the Yankees have bet against it, and suffered the consequences.

Not this year. The Yankees have a young lineup, and while we may carp about every loss as if it's a dagger to the chest - (that's what we do) - we are right now the luckiest fans in baseball. Yesterday, being down by four and having lost two straight, I would have felt cause to ditch the game and do some afternoon drinking. But now, even down by four in the late innings, this team can always come back. 

So let's complain about every loss, and pull out our remaining hair over the enigma of Sonny, or Dellin, or whomever dons the goat horns for a day. But savor this time, folks, because you're only young once. And right now, the Yankees are a helluva fun team to watch.

Okay, enough of this. I gotta go out and fetch three dozen bagels.
  

31 comments:

TheWinWarblist said...

Don't forget the cream cheese!

Local Bargain Jerk said...


If those kids don't get up at a decent hour, put some bad 70's/80's band on the stereo and let it blast. I'm thinkin about Styx, Sweet, Yoko Ono, Milli Vanilli, et al. You'll prove, in the words of PJ O'Rourke, that "age and guile beats youth, innocence, and a bad hair cut."

JM said...

LBJ, the album version of Sweet's "Love Is Like Oxygen" would be my choice. I still get a little bit of a thrill from the single in a power pop kind of way, but the long version's semi-classical, jerkoff acoustic guitar ramble really and truly is awful, and makes absolutely no sense in the context of the song.

And one thing you can say for Yoko, the girls in the B52s used her as inspiration.

Chapman was awful yesterday. I hope the youngsters have a moment in their busy rock and roll lifestyle to reflect on just how terrible and lucky he was. ESPN.com attributed it to the cooler weather, which is just dandy. Because, as we all know, October baseball is always balmy.

TheWinWarblist said...

Big game today. Hopefully Seve can stop the bleeding.

Carl J. Weitz said...

Don't forget the lox! Wait....you're in Syracuse. If they eat that at all up there I'm sure its known as smoked salmon.

Parson Tom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Parson Tom said...

Heat of the Moment -- really loud -- should get their day off to a good start.

Carl J. Weitz said...

Just don't play Kraftwerk's Autobahn or you'll have a group more comatose than that gang of Hale Boppers.

13bit said...

Hear, hear, Duque! I'll raise a glass to this post!

When I just typed "glass," my finger slipped and, before I could do a thing, autocorrect changed it to "I'll raise a gland!"

I fixed it.

After the failed attempt last year, I'd like to again try to have an informal blog get-together at the stadium - perhaps on a day when we can do the Pinstripe Pass - $15, but no seats - and we could wander around the whole stadium, like a pack of hungry ferrets, eating at every stand and concession. OR, if people don't want to stand and walk, which I found oddly invigorating when I did it last year, I'd be willing to coordinate a group buy for some hot day in July or August. Just tossing it out there, along with the glands, offal and other detritus of damaged psyche.

Maybe we could have some post or a sticky where people could sign up or express interest? There is time, but now is when we should be planning it.

Carl J. Weitz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carl J. Weitz said...

13 Bit...maybe Duque can get us all Press Passes and we can sit near The Master, LOL.

13bit said...

I don't know if I could survive being in such close proximity to the Master's Cosmic Vibration. The closest I got to that area was about 15 years ago, when I could see the Cotton-Eyed Joe guy doing his thing live. Freaked the crap out of me. I went right back to Row X after that and stayed there for a long time. I miss Row X in the old stadium.

TheWinWarblist said...

We Built This City !!

We Built This City https://g.co/kgs/6MDHhU

TheWinWarblist said...

13bit, please, never feel embarrassment for raising a gland around these parts.

TheWinWarblist said...

And I for one will definitely wander the stadium with you until I get dysentery.

el duque said...

I will come. And I will bring Mustang. As for Alphonso, he's a West Coast dude, so you never know.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


the album version of Sweet's "Love Is Like Oxygen" would be my choice...

John M, that was EXACTLY the song/version I had in mind when I listed "The Sweet".

There's no excuse for that bit of treacle. "We Built This City" is another fine addition. Bleccch.


Ken of Brooklyn said...

13bit, I'm in if I can swing it work wise,,,,,, night games are always better, it would be a blast.

TheWinWarblist said...

But let's not invite Anon Stat Guy. He's a douche. Promise not to tell him, m'kay?

Carl J. Weitz said...

My very good friend knows the wife of the VP of ticket sales for the Yankees who lives in Greenwich. I'll ask him next week if she can get a block of tickets. But the bad news is that they no longer sleep together and are getting a divorce so that might put a damper on the request.

Anonymous said...

WOW, JOHN M AND LBJ...

I ALWAYS REALLY LIKED THAT SONG...

LOVE IS LIKE OXYGEN...

YOU GET TOO MUCH OF IT YOU'RE HIGH, NOT ENOUGH AND YOU DIE....

GREAT ROLLBACK GUYS.

Carl J. Weitz said...

Here's a good story concerning Yankee tickets.

About 25 years ago my friends and I were in the same social/dating circle in the Stamford area where a mutual bar-hopping friend, Donna happened to be the best friend and former high school classmate of the Ticket Mgr for the Yankees (she is now a top Yankee executive). Donna would get a block of 25 very good box seats, usually second level behind home plate or field level between the dugouts and the foul poles for every playoff/world series game-at face value. We went to just about every game for maybe 5 years. More to the point, Donna had the hots for my friend who would, ummmm, accommodate her towards the end of the summer to ensure ticket availability. Even when he got married, he "took one for the team". Unfortunately, Donna let her brother physically handle the tickets and the idiot scalped the tickets which got back to Debbie the ticket manager. After a 2-year hiatus, Donna was able to secure tickets again only by promising no one else would touch them. This gravy train lasted until about 2005 when my friend moved to Yonkers and most everyone else scattered around CT and the surrounding NYC suburban counties.

The moral of the story is "get it while you can"!!!

HoraceClarke66 said...

Night or day...I'm up for it!

13bit said...

maybe I should be looking at a Friday night game in late July? let me keep at it and I'll post about it in various comments threads as we go along on our merry way. this could be tremendous. never on par with "Moon Big Papi Day," but we shall see. I'm half tempted to write to Randy and see if he can grease the wheels.

TheWinWarblist said...

Weekend is always better for me, but I'll make it work.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

I'd be up for a day game (I can take the train in and back). Night game with enough advance notice to get a hotel would work too.

Last game I saw at the stadium was the ill-fated Ivan Nova playoff game.

Going to Comiskey (or whatever asinine name they call the fork) for two of the three there in August. It's cheaper to fly to Chicago than going to the stadium.

Carl J. Weitz said...

Ruphis is correct about the cost.

Unsustainable BABIP said...

My travel schedule should quiet down a bit in July so I would definitely try to make it up.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


If you live in NYC, going to a night NYY game makes sense. If you live outside of NYC, a day game increases the likelihood that you could make it in and out in one day (whether by car, train, or plane) and skip the cost of a $200+ NYC hotel for after the game.

My $0.02 is that a day game might increase participation. YMMV.

Anonymous said...

MOON BIG PAPI DAY WAS GREAT.

LBJ'S WEBSITE WAS INSPIRING.

I CAN HONESTLY SAY, I WAS THERE WITH FRIENDS.

....AND I TURNED AND DRY MOONED PAPI,(PANTS ON), WHEN HE WAS ANNOUNCED HIS FIRST AB.

PRETTY AMAZING WHAT THIS SITE ACCOMPLISHED IN REGARDS TO PAPI.

PAPI TALKING ABOUT BEING MOONED ON TALK SHOWS AND MULTIPLE INTERVIEWS.

GOOD TIMES!

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