Mercnbeth
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I spent most of yesterday at a 'viewing', some may call it a 'wake' or a funeral; in my family growing up it was always a 'viewing'. A sad day - seeing the curtain come down on a facility that was a fixture in my life. Yankee Stadium provided a memory benchmark of times spent at the end of my father's hand, games seen with friends, and the circle of life experience of my son & daughter going to a game at the other end of my hand. I remember the times we shared with crystal clarity and in direct opposition to the forgotten scores and details of the games.
They held the last game to be played at Yankee Stadium last night. I've been there, starting to go prior to my memory started according to my dad. I went there before the remodel. I can remember my dad giving a quarter 'tip' to a jacket wearing usher to wipe off our chairs with a furry glove, and getting a 'Thank you sir!" I was there for the first 'Bat-Day' (Dad still complains about having to spend $15 each for "good" field level box seat tickets from a scalper) Through the transition from Roger Maris to Roger Repoz, through the dark ages, commonly referred to the Horace Clark years.
In 1973 George Steinbrenner bought the team from CBS for $10 Million. His cash outlay was $800,000. Today, the starting price for the team would be $2 Billion. Next year $800,000 will buy you 4 season tickets in the first row behind home plate at the New Yankee Stadium.
They claim that the new stadium is a throwback to the days prior to stadiums named after corporate entities. They represent that the new place will always and forever be know as 'Yankee Stadium'; and the crowd goes wild! What the crowd neglects to realize is that 'Yankee' IS a corporation and that magnanimous gesture smacks of the same hypocrisy as not showing Roger Clemens as a pitcher for the Yankees during the retrospective showing all the 'great' pitchers who stood on that mound.
Such great pitchers as 'Doc' Gooden who wasn't disclosed taking steroids, but took just about every other drug as well as endangered anyone in Florida with his DWI convictions; were portrayed and heralded. Projecting as policy it is better to punch your girlfriend; that doesn't disqualify you from mention - steroids do. Well yes...but not really. Andy Petitte not only was shown on the screen, but was given a standing ovation. Admitting to doing what caused Roger Clemens to become a Yankee version of an Orwellian 'un-person'.
I didn't even like Clemens or care if he did or didn't take performance enhancing drugs. Looking at the results of many of the guys still playing and how their individual performances have eroded at the same pace testing increased; I pretty confident when I say Clemens wasn't only not unique - he may not have been in a minority. Seeing all those guys out there from Arod and his blond high-lighted tips, to Jaba, to Jeter; I realized I couldn't relate any more to any of them. The combination of mercenary and Corporate agenda had taken its toll. To sit in the same seats my father's outrageous scalper ticket pricing got us in 1966 will have a one game face value price of somewhere between $500 - 2,500 next season. I wonder if anyone will wipe it off? The price of $15 wouldn't pay for yesterday's program. (Ticket Price: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3305979 )
I'll still be a 'fan'. I never refuse a corporate 'gift' of a ticket to see the Yanks play. I'll rationalize my hypocrisy in that event. I doubt I won't renew my subscription to Baseball on my cable system, but this time if they lose the contract with MLB, I'll not write or call anyone to try to make sure I still have access as I did a few years ago. I won't get a satellite on top of cable to make sure I don't miss a game, as I did back in NJ.
But as an anti-hypocrisy advocate, I can no longer be a 'fanatic' who...
- Threw a portable radio into the ocean when they gave up a last inning lead.
- Watched game 5 of the 1996 WS from an upstairs bedroom balcony overlooking my big screen TV in the living room as a result of leaving the party when they were down 0-6. Not wanting to disrupt the 'aura' of the comeback starting in the sixth inning when I left.
- Went to Model's Sporting goods before they opened on the day after the 1996 victory to make sure I got the 'good' overpriced tee shirts and WS hats.
- Took my kids to the 2000 ticker tape parade knowing I wouldn't ever be close to the route and expecting to get hit by a complete phone book which I knew were dropped out the windows. (Cause I did it too!) Luckily they all were glancing blows.
I think the saddest part of the experience is that I don't even care if Mets or the Red Sox win the championship this year. In years past, my interest wouldn't end in baseball until I was done rooting against either of them and rooting for whoever was playing against them. My indifference indicates the lack of emotion; the final death knell of 'fanaticism'.
Willy Loman-esk; today I personify the 'Death of a Fanatic'.
< Message edited by Mercnbeth -- 9/22/2008 12:56:20 PM >
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