A Day at the Ballpark, Part II
I realized yesterday that there was a ton of material I left out of the last post. This may have been due to the sheer volume of data posted, or it might have been the fact that I was temporarily stoned... I'll let you decide... but either way:
* I wanted to take a minute to recognize the Yankees' dubious feat of signing the baseball player who most resembles an animitronic robot from Chuck E Cheese. I'm talking, of course, about journeyman Sal Fasano. A cult hit in Philly during his brief tenure there, Fasano is now the backup to Jorge Posada. Unfortunately, the fu manchu you see below didn't last in New York (facial hair regulations-- more on that later).
Anyway, here's the photo comparison of Sal and Pasqually, otherwise known as "the Italian guy" or "the chef" or "the fat guinea" from Chuck E Cheese's band (I threw the term 'guinea' in there because, let's face it, Pasqually is at best a poorly conceived stereotype).
(Author's aside: Isn't it about time the Yankees rethought their facial hair rules? I'm not talking about allowing mohawks or anything crazy like that, but shouldn't the fu manchu be legal? Giambi started to grow one a few weeks ago and almost looked like a tough guy again. It made New Yorkers collectively realize, "Oh right, we did sign a shaggy slugger from Oakland five years ago," immediately followed by anger over the metrosexual, juiced-up Right Guard spokesperson they actually got. Personally, I think Giambi would have been much better off in the big apple with a huge 'stache and long hair. Maybe that's just me)* More on the "wrong jersey" phenomenon. I had forgotten about the Mets game, where a kid in the next row was wearing a Terrell Owens jersey (with the Eagles, no less). Next to him was another individual wearing a New Jersey Nets jersey. This was only slightly less defensible than the fan in the deck below us wearing a Jeremy Shockey jersey (I suppose the thought being that at least it was the right city-- although keep in mind that NFL jerseys don't display the city name).
But the TO jersey? Shockey... well... no. No, I still can't see it. Wouldn't do it. Wearing a Yankees cap to a Giants game is one thing (quite common, actually), since at least both logos are "NY." But the TO jersey? I'm at a loss. What exactly are you saying? At least if you wore, let's say, a Tigers cap to a Mets-Dodgers game, you're at least in the right sport. Then you're saying, "You know, regardless of the outcome I'm just a baseball fan at heart." But the TO jersey? That's sending a message of, "Yes, well, I am not routing exactly for any particular team, but I want it to be known that, generally speaking, I am a fan of sports... in general."
Was it an East-coast West-coast thing? Are we still on that? (Please forgive me if I haven't listened to a rap album that's been released in the last 10 or so years, I'm still catching up to Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" at this point). Somebody help me out here.
* Of course, the absolute worst offender of the two games I attended last weekend was the gentelman in the photo to the right.
Notice two things here, if you haven't already. First, notice the fan seated at the bottom right of the image. Now, if you can make it out, look at the logo painted on the field at the top left of the image (if you're missing your binoculars, it's a Yankees logo). That's right, he wore a Red Sox Johnny Damon jersey to a Yankees - Red Sox game.
Now I'm really at a loss. To me, this is worse than the TO jersey at the Mets game, because at least that can be chalked up to general confusion. This is far more deliberate. I mean, who are you supporting? The Yanks' leadoff hitter? Or the Red Sox? Or are you still hung up on 2004? Can fans of either team support that? Shouldn't you be thrown out of the park for that? Or at least be forced to turn it inside out?
(Now, if you're curious, this young fellow was supporting the Sox, as evidenced by his hat, which was a Red Sox '04 World Series cap. Looks like we solved that one after all.)
* Finally, I'll leave you with a quote taken from the fans in the seats behind me, during a pinch-hit by Bernie Williams (a lifelong Yankee, since 1991).
Fan 1: "Who's that? Who's Williams?"
Fan 2: "Yeah. Bernie Williams."
Fan 1: "Didn't he used to play for the Sox?"
Me: (spraying beer through my nose in disbelief)
Now, was that taken out of context? Sure. Is it representative of the broader Red Sox fan base in general? No. But does it support my personal opinion that Sox fans are dumber than rocks? You bet.
And isn't that what having a blog is all about?
posted by BJC @ 10:45 PM
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