The real end to an era...
Its official, the Yankees are no longer concerned about winning.  All those
years of free spending I truly believed they were doing it to win
championships, not to make money.  That is all about to change.  With the
signing of Alex Rodriguez to an incentive laced contract that focuses on him
winning the career home run record they have proved its no longer about
winning.  Maybe the new bosses feel as though they have enough
championships to hold over the fans for a while.  Maybe Hank and his
brother are afraid they will not be able fill the seats of their new expensive
stadium without a big name.  Whatever the reason, the signing of A-Rod
shows the Yankees are no longer a team, they are all about one guy and his
quest to be the best ever.  Maybe that is not as bad as it seems until you
consider that this is the same guy that has been a total flop in every
October since he's been here.  The same guy who has been the focal point
of clubhouse problems every year.  The same guy who slapped the ball
against the Sox.  The same guy whose wife wore a shirt that said "F#ck You"
to Yankee stadium.  The same guy who uses only the word "me" in post
game interviews and never the word "us".  The same guy who screamed at
the Blue Jays third baseman.  The same guy who Red Sox fans chanted
against signing after winning the World Series, again, for the second time in
four years since NOT signing him.  The same guy who put himself above the
game when he publicly opted out of his monstrous deal in the middle of
clinching world series game.  The same guy who demanded his own
merchandising tent during spring training while negotiating with the Mets,
in the end it did not work out.  I wonder why?  The same guy who, despite
being told that if he opted out would not be welcome in the Bronx, did it
anyway, then demanded $350 million just to talk, then came crawling back
after realizing the gross miscalculation that NO ONE was going to pay that
much for him and his pre-Madonna attitude.  And now this jack ass will be
the face of the New York Yankees for the next 10 years.  No, he will be the
New York Yankees.  Gone are the days of the unstoppable Yankees dynasty.
   
The great Yankees teams of the past decade were never, ever, about one
offensive player.  Remember those late nights in October when you went to
a game and didn't know who the hero was going to be, you just knew there
would be one?  Someone always came up big, and before the other team
knew what hit them Enter Sandman thundered through the stadium hardly
loud enough to drown out the cheers.  Those memorable cold and windy
Bronx evenings, watching celebration after celebration, are gone.  In its
place will be warm August nights, eating peanuts and watching A-Rod hit
dingers against the Devil Rays.  

Alex Rodriguez will sell tickets.  People will pay to come watch him try to
break the home run record.  The Yankees did have reason to take him back
but in doing so they took the easy way out.  They could have used all that
money to buy pitching, to build a team, to win a championship.  Instead they
locked it up with one guy who is guaranteed to sell tickets.  This entire
situation is about greed, nothing more.  It was greed that made A-Rod opt
out in the first place.  And it was greed that made the Yankees take him back.

The real fans, the ones that care about winning, are the ones that get hurt
here.  The 11 year old girls that like watching A-Rod hit home runs will be
plenty happy.  The statistic crazy fans who play way too much fantasy
baseball and think everything revolves around only numbers will be thrilled.
 All the fake fans that do not understand what it takes to win will welcome
A-Rod back with open arms and open wallets.  I pity these people.  They are
like a pathetic girlfriend who gets cheated on but constantly takes the guy
back.  Every year A-Rod wows us in the spring and too many fall in love.  His
long home runs on those warm summer nights make too many people
believe he is the one we have all been looking for.  Then comes October
and he betrays us yet again.  Some look for excuses.  Some point their
finger at him.  Too many are willing to welcome him back.  And now the
Yankees have gone out and married this scum bag.

My congratulations go out to Red Sox Nation.  The minimal resistance the
Yankees have put up recently has gone the way of Kevin Youkalis' horrible
facial hair, it's gone.   I would like to think I have the courage to boycott the
games, stop going, stop watching YES, but that only punishes me.  And why
should I be punished?  He's the one who sucks!