Back in the late 70's, New York Yankee reliever Sparky Lyle wrote a book titled, "The Bronx Zoo" about the soap opera atmosphere surrounding the Yankees organization. But after the events of the past week, the Yankees' environment is downright normal compared to that of the Boston Red Sox.
As I'm sure most of you know, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein resigned on Monday after reportedly agreeing to a contract extension. This came as a surprise to many because Epstein grew up in the Boston area as a lifelong Red Sox fan, attended Harvard in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was responsible for assembling the team that won the Red Sox' first World Series in 86 years. But there were other forces at work here that I find somewhat amazing.
The center of this whole Epstein storm revolved around a column that was written in this past Sunday's Boston Globe by long time Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy. If you did not see the article, here's the link. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2005/10/30/lets_iron_out_some_of_this_dirty_laundry//
In a nutshell, the column essentially paints Epstein as Red Sox president and minority owner Larry Lucchino's lackey and discredits much of Epstein's baseball acumen. It is widely known throughout Red Sox nation that Lucchino and Epstein had beeen at odds for quite a while. And that leads us to what makes this article so downright disturbing.
The company that owns the Boston Globe owns a 17% interest in the Boston Red Sox. And after last year's championship season Shaughnessy was given full access to the Red Sox and their front office to write his book about this championship season. And its certainly no secret that one of Shaughnessy's essential functions is to serve as Lucchino's mouthpiece. The outrageous part is that Lucchino would feel the need to discredit a general manager with whom he just agreed to a contract extension. And what kind of columnist lowers himself to patronize this nonsense. This massive conflict of interests has soiled the entire media community in Boston. The Patriots complain that they've won 3 out 4 Super Bowls, but they're covered 1/3 of the amount of the Red Sox. The Boston Herald complains that they're given a paltry amount of media access to the Red Sox. Yet, Shaughnessy, Lucchino and the Globe exhibit no shame. Its one thing to provide preferential access to a particular media outlet or to report in a biased fashion slanted towards a certain franchise. But how can this newspaper expect to maintain a shred of journalistic credibility when they use valuable editorial space to indulge the insecurities of a bitter executive who happens to be a minority partner of a business interest owned by the paper's parent company.
Now I hate to sound like a typical New York sports fan, but this truly would never happen in New York. The best example is the New York Post. The Post is the most sensational of the legendary New York tabloid newspapers. The Post is owned by News Corp. News Corp also happens to be the parent company of the Fox television network. The Post employs a columnist named Phil Mushnick who specializes in critquing broadcasting. Mushnick routinely bashes Fox' television sports coverage. Its quite obvious that no one from News Corp is censoring him. This level of journalistic integrity comes from the New York paper that historically carries the least amount of credibilty. This situation in Boston is an unfathomable injustice to the sports fans of New England.
The above reference to New York makes a nice segue into the second thing I want to discuss today. Earlier this week, the New York Daily News reported that the Yankees had warned Alex Rodriguez to stay out of Poker clubs in Manhattan. Evidently, A-Rod was seen at a Manhattan poker club with Phil Hellmuth, the most famous poker player in the world. A-Rod's agent Scott Boras denied that he was warned, but the damage was already done.
These poker clubs are illegal operations if the proprietors are profiting from the tables, which is by and large the norm. So any kind of media attention is negative attention for these places. After this week's Daily News story, most clubs in the city closed their doors. My best friend was a weekly tournament player at one of these locations which is now shut down. The convenience of his weekly recreation no longer exists.
Please understand that I don't make a habit of condoning illegal activity, and I do recognize that poker can be a dangerous form of gambling, but for a responsible adult who risks a small amount of money relative to that individual's financial situation, its a highly enjoyable form of leisure. So obviously with that said, I am not judging A-Rod for his desire to play poker.
Alex Rodriguez has a reputation in baseball circles for being an unlikeable guy. His detractors call him things like arrogant, pompous, and a guy who "tries too hard." Personally, I've never been a big fan. Its nothing I can pinpoint, but his demeanor just rubs me the wrong way. And I would definitely dislike him just the same if he wasn't on the Yankees. So keep that in mind when I tell you that incidents like these contribute to what I believe is a well earned reputation.
Is A-Rod going to one of these places to play poker or garner attention?? I believe the answer is obvious, because if he just wanted to play poker, why walk in with one of the most famous poker players in the world. He's obviously so selfish that he never considered the consequences of his actions to others. If A-Rod wanted to play poker with Phil Hellmuth, why not do it where its legal. He's got Foxwoods two hours north and Atlantic City two hours south. If he wanted to play with Hellmuth with no attention, one of these casinos would furnish him with a private game in a private room. If he wanted a tournament, they'd make him a tournament. If he wanted security, they 'd give him security up the yingyang. Heck, if he wanted a private helicopter, he'd get that also. This whole situation exhibited a gross lack of concern for anyone but himself. It was the move of an arrogant, pompous attention hog. Come to think of it, isn't that what people say about him.......
In attending this past Thursday night Rangers-Devils game on Thursday, I was engaged in a very interesting mental debate. You see, a woman sat in the seat next to me wearing perfume that smelled like a skunk urinated in a vase containing six month old rotted flowers. It was one of those odors that made you gag every other breath. And very frankly, it hampered my enjoyment of the game. Then, on the way home, one of my buddies in the car let one rip like I've never smelled before in my life. It was like a ground hog died in his rear end. This caused me to ponder, which odor was worse?
After careful deliberation, I think my answer will surprise you. You see, as bad as the fart is, being in a car on the highway gives me the abiltiy to air the car out rather quickly. You don' get more than a few breaths of the odor before you start evacuating it. That stinking perfume stays with you all night. And after about 45 minutes straight of smelling it, the odor sticks in your nose long after the smelly broad gets up and leaves.