BRONX, NY – We waited. We waited for the victory cigar smoke to dissipate and the financial statement confetti to be completely swept from the streets and for The Canyon Of Heroes to be returned to the Bull$ and the Bear$. Now it’s time. It’s time to call out the 2009 World Champion Yankees for the undeniable indignity they have forced upon us.
Over the past three seasons, George Steinbrenner’s Alzheimer’s has kept him out of the public eye and that, folks, is downright sad – even for non-Yankee fans. Love him or hate him, The Boss was an entertaining S.O.B. with cojones the size of coconuts. He demanded success, paid top dollar and called anyone and everyone to the mat when the spit hit the fan. Win or lose, George didn’t just steal the spotlight – he created it.
He was as public with his thoughts as anyone in the history of sports. But now he’s ravaged by a disease that literally and figuratively leaves him isolated and alone. His family/inner circle has rightfully shielded him from the public because he’s a shell of his former self. That sucks a lemon, but we get it. We understand not seeing this version of the man that fired Billy Martin five times and called Dave Winfield Mr. May. There’s now a wall between us and George but we don’t need to see over that wall. We have no problem with respecting an ailing man’s privacy. And our beef isn’t with the Cone Of Silence in which George’s conversations must now take place.
No… No, our beef is with the words that are issued to us as though they are George’s – the filtered, generic and ridiculously NOT GEORGE statements that are fed to us as though we’re idiots. It’s disgusting and needs to stop.
This is the horsespit that was shoveled in our laps after the Yanks won the Series:
That was from this guy?!
Now try these Herr Steinbrenner quotes:
You don’t have to be Inspector Clouseau to see this blatant misrepresentation of a man that was a walking soundbite. But what exactly is the point? Is it a mandate from Corporate to issue bogus prepared statements? Is it because we’re dumb enough to pay $300 for a day at the ballpark that Randy Levine and Hammerin’ Hal Steinbrenner think we’ll believe that these things are from George??? Any way you slice it, it’s disgusting. And we didn’t even throw in the Exclusive Interview George did with Steve Serby of the NY Post. Why? Because the interview was done via spokesman Howard Rubenstein… As if George would EVER let somebody get in the middle of one of his interviews… Anyway, we say:
Enough! Leave The Boss be.
ANGRY WARD, tomorrow.
