Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Today's Installment of DUMB STUPID YANKEE FANS, THEY STUPID!
Yeah. That's a person sitting on the screen above the backstop at Yankee Stadium.
No, it's not a drill. Or a scene from "Fever Pitch 2."
It's some jackass who thought it would be cool to see if the screen could hold him after leaping from the upper deck in the 8th inning.
So, just one day after a Bronx Bomber loyalist slugged White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik in the face while the speedy second-year player was attempting to catch a foul ball, this genius tried to pull a Louganis from the 10-meter platform (a.k.a. the tier box seats).
Scott Harper, 18, told three friends he was sitting with that he was going to test whether the net would hold his weight, jumped and, thanks to the laws of gravity, landed 40 feet later.
In an account told to ESPN.com, Mike Spadafino, one of Harper's friends, said: "The next thing you know, you don't see him anymore. You saw him on the net."
Obviously scared and shaken after he landed, Harper sat with his head in his hands for a few moments before climbing on the net back up to the middle level of seats as players watched and the crowd roared.
Maybe I should be more sympathetic. If I were a Yankee fan and I had Alan Embree (he of the 7.44 earned-run average) trotting out of the bullpen to relieve Shawn Chacon (he of the 1-8 record in '05), I'd prolly want to leap from somewhere high, too.
-----
So where's the outrage from the Yankee brass this time? Two days. Two incidents. No Randy Levine finger-pointing? No generalities about Red Sox (check!) Nation from St. Joe Torre?
I guess they're just a little more concerned with their own professional well-being at this point in time.
From the NY Daily News: "I'm not pleased with the manager," Steinbrenner said as he made his way to his sedan about 40 minutes after the game.
Steinbrenner was second-guessing Torre's decision to go with lefthanded reliever Alan Embree against righthanded cleanup hitter Paul Konerko at the start of the ninth inning. Steinbrenner said he'd been impressed with the way Embree got through the eighth inning, but not the way he surrendered Konerko's home run. That homer proved to be the margin of victory.
"I don't know about why they left the lefthander in," Steinbrenner said, dressed in his vintage blue blazer. "He had a good inning and they kept him in there. He should never have pitched to Konerko - he's their best hitter."
"I'm not pleased with the manager," Steinbrenner repeated. "I don't know why he left him in."
-----
Ahhh, Alan Embree. This year's embedded Red Sox. And karma for the Ramiro F. Mendoza experience. Enjoy, Bronx faithful. Here's a little of that new baseball math for you all:
Fast + Straight + Belt High = Souvenir
-----
One.
Yeah. That's a person sitting on the screen above the backstop at Yankee Stadium.
No, it's not a drill. Or a scene from "Fever Pitch 2."
It's some jackass who thought it would be cool to see if the screen could hold him after leaping from the upper deck in the 8th inning.
So, just one day after a Bronx Bomber loyalist slugged White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik in the face while the speedy second-year player was attempting to catch a foul ball, this genius tried to pull a Louganis from the 10-meter platform (a.k.a. the tier box seats).
Scott Harper, 18, told three friends he was sitting with that he was going to test whether the net would hold his weight, jumped and, thanks to the laws of gravity, landed 40 feet later.
In an account told to ESPN.com, Mike Spadafino, one of Harper's friends, said: "The next thing you know, you don't see him anymore. You saw him on the net."
Obviously scared and shaken after he landed, Harper sat with his head in his hands for a few moments before climbing on the net back up to the middle level of seats as players watched and the crowd roared.
Maybe I should be more sympathetic. If I were a Yankee fan and I had Alan Embree (he of the 7.44 earned-run average) trotting out of the bullpen to relieve Shawn Chacon (he of the 1-8 record in '05), I'd prolly want to leap from somewhere high, too.
-----
So where's the outrage from the Yankee brass this time? Two days. Two incidents. No Randy Levine finger-pointing? No generalities about Red Sox (check!) Nation from St. Joe Torre?
I guess they're just a little more concerned with their own professional well-being at this point in time.
From the NY Daily News: "I'm not pleased with the manager," Steinbrenner said as he made his way to his sedan about 40 minutes after the game.
Steinbrenner was second-guessing Torre's decision to go with lefthanded reliever Alan Embree against righthanded cleanup hitter Paul Konerko at the start of the ninth inning. Steinbrenner said he'd been impressed with the way Embree got through the eighth inning, but not the way he surrendered Konerko's home run. That homer proved to be the margin of victory.
"I don't know about why they left the lefthander in," Steinbrenner said, dressed in his vintage blue blazer. "He had a good inning and they kept him in there. He should never have pitched to Konerko - he's their best hitter."
"I'm not pleased with the manager," Steinbrenner repeated. "I don't know why he left him in."
-----
Ahhh, Alan Embree. This year's embedded Red Sox. And karma for the Ramiro F. Mendoza experience. Enjoy, Bronx faithful. Here's a little of that new baseball math for you all:
Fast + Straight + Belt High = Souvenir
-----
One.
