Recently I received a request to react to the comments Hank Steinbrenner made regarding Red Sox Nation and ESPN. Thank you for your request, John E. I appreciate your interest, and I will gladly speak on this topic. I would also like to thank you because you gave me the idea for "Hank Speaks!" - which will be the title of newest segment of the blog. If there is a debate on something I blog under the title of "Let's Settle It", and if a poll closes I blog about the results under the "Results Are In!" title. Now, whenever Hank has something to say, I will react to his words under my "Hank Speaks!" title.
For those of you who didn't read or hear what Hank had to say about Red Sox Nation, allow me re-introduce a point I made a long time ago. When the "Nation" was created overnight after Boston's '04 WS victory, I was outraged. ESPN had finally shown its true colors. I was always under the impression that the Bristol, CT based company had some sort of bias for the Red Sox. Almost everything the Sox did was viewed in a positive light; they were praised from every angle, win or lose. In 2003, Aaron Boone hit perhaps the most heroic home run of all-time, and all I heard the next day on ESPN was how such a great franchise in baseball was still cursed. It seems to me that the attention should have been on the A.L. pennant winners, the New York Yankees. Instead, I got to see Dan Shaughnessy cry, as well as listen to Peter Gammons talk about how bright the future was for Boston. Despite all that, it was only in '04 that ESPN stopped trying to hide whose side they're on.
ESPN, like every other Red Sox fan that was hiding under a rock for 30 years, decided to celebrate the end of the curse in full force. In what seemed like an overnight phenomenon, "Red Sox Nation" was born. Sports Center anchors started referring to the Red Sox as the "Nation", while the term "Empire" was used for the Yankees. This was of course in reference to Larry Lucchino's remarks about the Yankees being an Evil Empire, buying up players and blah blah. I even started to see red wristbands with the words "Red Sox Nation" on them. This nation didn't even exist until the Sox won it all, and the ridiculous part is, it will fade if the Red Sox are ever bad again. This wasn't some secret society waiting to make it's debut... this was people jumping on a bandwagon, nothing more.
Moving on to what Hank actually said, please read the following quote on Red Sox Nation, compliments of Wikipedia. "Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of bullsh*t that is...That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans...Go anywhere in America and you won't see Red Sox hats and jackets, you'll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We're going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order."
These were the words of Hank Steinbrenner earlier this month. For those of you who know me, and even for those of you that don't know me who have been reading this blog, you should have no trouble believing that I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Steinbrenner. This is a true Yankee country, despite ESPN's attempts to change that. ESPN has made it fashionable to be a Red Sox fan for the time being, while taking nearly every opportunity to throw the Yankees under the bus. If the Yankees do come out on top this year, I assure everyone that order in the universe will indeed be restored.
I look forward to hearing more of what Hank has to say this season. I doubt he'll ever leave me hanging too long without a new set of comments. He's always got something to say, and hopefully the fiery new attitude is just what the Dr. ordered.
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3 comments:
The fact that we are only getting to Hank the Tank's comments a week plus after they were made is awesome. Shows there's alot of news, even during spring training, in Yankeeland. If any other owner comes out and says this kind of stuff, he ends up committed. Hank ends up on the front and the back page of every NY newspaper for a day. What a guy!
Hopefully he can find away to learn to how shutup and not meddle too much with the team sooner than his pappy did. I really hope we aren't embarking on another decade plus, 1980's misery-athon courtesy of the Steinbrenner lineage.
As for the "nation," I believe there's no way you can deny the "ESPN Effect" on it's popularity. Geographical location (Bristol, CT) aside, the clowns they proffer on their programs are all a bunch of Red Sox fans. You don't need to ask me, they'll tell you themselves. From the frontmen to the men with the pencils behind the scenes, every Yankees highlight is held up to an impossible standard of hapless ridicule, while each Red Sox highlight, story or blurb is lauded with regal grandeur and pomp and circumstance. It's a complete joke and makes most people in New York sick. In the meantime, the rest of America is too busy swallowing the kool-aid to taste the sugar (or in this case, the GHB) ESPN's loading into it. Soon enough, phrases like the "nation" and "big papi" and even "manny being manny" are household terms anywhere you go.
I think even more shameless than actually perpetuating the hometown team on a major national sports network was the ESPN coverage of the comments Hank made. It's not bad enough to be caught with your hand in the cookie jar, but ESPN goes and covers the whole incident with a tongue-in-cheek air and affability that made me want throw my chair at my tv and then myself off my roof.
"I think even more shameless than actually perpetuating the hometown team on a major national sports network was the ESPN coverage of the comments Hank made. It's not bad enough to be caught with your hand in the cookie jar, but ESPN goes and covers the whole incident with a tongue-in-cheek air and affability that made me want throw my chair at my tv and then myself off my roof."
I agree completely. Am I going to have to hear a sarcastic "and the universe is restored to order" every time i watch the Yankees win in a SC highlight this year?
Thanks guys... no secret, I'm on your page here.
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