I don't watch a lot of baseball these days, but I look at highlights on ESPN, and I just saw something I heard last year but had forgotten about: The New York Yankees are playing in a new stadium.
That's right, THEY FUCKING TORE DOWN YANKEE STADIUM! Remember "The House that Ruth Built"? Gone. Remember the place where a dying Lou Gehrig reacted to his farewell ovation by stating "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth"? Well, there wasn't a Hard Rock Cafe in that dump, so it had to go. The stadium that gave the sports world Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Joe Dimaggio didn't have any martini bars or walk-in cigar humidors, so it was deemed worthless.
I'm no fan of the Yankees, but I understand history; and this is just taking a huge shit on baseball history. The new stadium's defenders say "It's a replica with more amenities." Fuck that. Anyone who thinks a replica equals history probably works for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
And folks, the Yankees of today, when you consider their payroll versus playoff success, suck. Their history was all they had going for them, and they tore it down for extra corporate suites.
So what's next? Now that Yankee Stadium is gone, when does Fenway Park go? When will the fans who think the Green Monster is a left field wall get crushed by the executives who know that money is the true Green Monster? And how long are the new owners of the Chicago Cubs going to let the bars surrounding Wrigley Field sell all of the overpriced pre-game drinks? Right now a guy who only travels by limousine is thinking a new stadium with several lounges and tacos by Rick Bayless would make him a lot of money.
And he'll probably get the taxpayers to build it for him.
That's right, THEY FUCKING TORE DOWN YANKEE STADIUM! Remember "The House that Ruth Built"? Gone. Remember the place where a dying Lou Gehrig reacted to his farewell ovation by stating "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth"? Well, there wasn't a Hard Rock Cafe in that dump, so it had to go. The stadium that gave the sports world Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Joe Dimaggio didn't have any martini bars or walk-in cigar humidors, so it was deemed worthless.
I'm no fan of the Yankees, but I understand history; and this is just taking a huge shit on baseball history. The new stadium's defenders say "It's a replica with more amenities." Fuck that. Anyone who thinks a replica equals history probably works for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.
And folks, the Yankees of today, when you consider their payroll versus playoff success, suck. Their history was all they had going for them, and they tore it down for extra corporate suites.
So what's next? Now that Yankee Stadium is gone, when does Fenway Park go? When will the fans who think the Green Monster is a left field wall get crushed by the executives who know that money is the true Green Monster? And how long are the new owners of the Chicago Cubs going to let the bars surrounding Wrigley Field sell all of the overpriced pre-game drinks? Right now a guy who only travels by limousine is thinking a new stadium with several lounges and tacos by Rick Bayless would make him a lot of money.
And he'll probably get the taxpayers to build it for him.
7 Comments:
I've been a lifelong Yankees fan and, I'm not going to lie, I was downright PISSED that the old stadium was torn down...they just bulldozed over the history of the sport. I don't understand why they couldn't have just pumped the bajillions of dollars they spent on a new stadium on fixing up the old one...and they've pretty much sucked a big, fat one every game they've played in it so far, so it seems to me that it's been a total bust so far. If Fenway gets torn down, too, I'm going to start thinking that there is no God...or if there is, he's not a baseball fan.
I'm confused. Are you or aren't you happy the Yankees are losing?
When they tear down Wrigley, it will be the 7th sign of the Apocalypse. This move just cements my opinion of George Steinbrenner and why I haven't been a fan since Catfish Hunter retired.
They'll probably name it "Yankee Stadium at InsuranceSecurities.com Field" or some bogus crap like that. Hell, they might even give naming rights to Met Life, with zero irony.
Just take solace that the Yankees pitchers have been giving up home runs on a record breaking pace at their new stadium. Something like 19 home runs in 4 games. That's pretty God damned shameful.
Or a sack of bags!
Every year that the Yankees spend all that money and still lose makes me happier and happier.
The amount of money that they get from actual attendance is so trifling compared to the money from broadcasts-- it's criminal and stupid to tear down the old stadiums.
There was damned near riots in the streets here in Chicago (at least on the north side) when it was suggested to even change the name of Wrigley Field. I can't imagine what would happen if they proposed to tear it down.
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