How "nice" everything is

 

Forgive me if someone has already covered this ground, but... 

Did you ever stop and wonder if this Yankees mess is a generational thing? That the Yankees are built of "nice guys" who are supportive and trained since birth to be "correct" in their behavior? Don't get angry. Don't be too aggressive. Don't be critical, because that's so negative. (And if you do try to be aggressive, you'll do it at inopportune times, because you're so awkward at it.) Even the love for Boone is because he's a "nice guy."

There's something very Millennial going on here, even in the game itself. No brush-backs. No hard slides to break up a double play. Bigger bases. The Manfred man. It's all so..."nice."

I don't think we should go back to the Pete Rose vs. Ray Fosse annihilation approach or the apocryphal spike sharpening of Ty Cobb. But the Yankees have become the poster boys for the other extreme. Yes, we need Gardy hammering the dugout roof with his bat. Yes, we need O'Neill (who is terrible in the booth, I agree) drop-kicking water coolers. We need Yankee veterans who pounce on rookie mistakes because they want their World Series share and will be damned if some stupid kid fucks that up. We need a manager who benches guys because they suck, or don't pay attention, or jog to first. Not a manager who benches guys because they had a great game or three and need to "rest."

Something is very wrong systemically. All the players we complain about, and Boone, and Cashman, are all of a piece. 

The Yankees used to be seen as a merciless machine that played every game to win, and took no prisoners. That was the culture, the Yankee Way.

What we have now is more like a Milky Way. Soft, gooey, and melts too easily.