Jersey Incident/Hank Speaks!

Hello readers, and welcome to this special edition post! It has been an extremely interesting past few days for the Yankees, with news breaking that a construction worker building the new Yankee Stadium had buried a David Ortiz jersey in the cement foundation of the visitors dugout. This was an effort to "curse" the New York Yankees, claims the construction worker, Gino Castignoli, a Red Sox fan since he was a child... a man who apparently hasn't grown up. Don't panic, the Yankees had the jersey dug up on Monday, April 14, 2008.

I had a reaction to this that I believe is a little different than most people's reactions, so I'd like to share that with you. If you know me, you certainly will not be surprised to hear what I think about this stunt. My immediate reaction was "how greedy". My rants and raves about this historic rivalry often center around the fundamental differences between Yankees and Red Sox fans, and why I'm proud to be able to call myself a Yankees faithful. The biggest difference I've noticed in the past is that Yankee fans are always concerned with the Yankees. We cheer for our own team, a practice very contrary to how Red Sox fans behave. Boston fans bad-mouth, and try to bring down other teams as their way of cheering for their own team. Since this is a tough thing to explain, I'll use an example from last season's World Series. This example will certainly give you an idea of the differences between Yankee fans and Red Sox fans. In game 4, with Boston in complete control, and obviously moving towards a sweep of the Colorado Rockies, Fenway belted out their rendition of "Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye". A completely ridiculous thing to do, in my opinion, lacking class and respect for the game. Winning the World Series didn't make them happy enough, they had to embarrass an overmatched, inexperienced team by acting like, quite frankly, a bunch of assholes (Pardon my French). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing the Red Sox lose, but my number one priority is the Yankees. When Aaron Boone hit that homerun, was the first reaction of the crowd to heckle Tim Wakefield? Of course not, Yankee fans would rather celebrate their own team than be concerned with the misery of others.

If you're asking yourself what this has to do with the buried Ortiz jersey, rest assured, the previous paragraph is relevant. My theory on Red Sox fans was proven again last week, when the world found out that Gino Castignoli even exists. This is a Boston fan who has been given 2 World Series titles in 4 years, and he is trying to do what?? Curse the Yankees?? Why couldn't he be happy being a fan of a team who has been on a run in recent years? What is he, some sort of Red Sox missionary? Please, give me a break. This is another example on an extensive list of Boston fans not being concerned with their own team. All they're worried about is bringing down other teams, just like taunting the Rockies in '07... it's all a bunch of nonsense.

I'm also under the impression that Gino didn't even care if this little stunt worked. I'll ask the readers to put themselves in the construction worker's postion for a moment. Say you had buried the jersey, and you really wanted it to be a curse... wouldn't the last thing on your "to do" list be to tell everyone about it? I know I would've kept it a secret at least until the stadium opened. Getting the word out indicates to me that Gino was merely looking for his 15 minutes of fame, and maybe a few high fives from his buddies... nothing more.

Not only do I think that Gino was only concerned with playing a prank to get public recognition, but I feel that this burial never could have worked anyway. Let's take a look at the major curses that have been involved in baseball's long history. There are two that come to mind. Of course I'm speaking about the Curse of the Bambino, and the Billy Goat Curse. For those of you unfamiliar with these curses, the Billy Goat Curse is what has been haunting the Chicago Cubs for about 100 years, and the Curse of the Bambino haunted the Red Sox for 86 years. Legend has it the Cubs ejected a man and his pet goat from Wrigley Field. The man and his goat were allowed entrance into the stadium, but when it started to rain, Cub's owner, Philip Knight Wrigley, had the two ejected because of the smell associated with wet goat. The outraged man then put a hex on the ballclub that they would never win another pennant or play in another WS game at Wrigley Field. So far, it would appear that his curse has worked. The Curse of the Bambino does not involve any pets, but the very name of the curse lets you know who it revolves around. It's no secret that Babe Ruth (The Great Bambino) once dawned the uniform of the Red Sox, only to be sold by the team to the Yankees. After the sale in 1920, the Yankees organization took off, while the Red Sox faded for 86 years.

So why do these curses tell me that the buried Ortiz jersey couldn't have worked? The answer is simple, the cursed organizations of the past and present had to committ some sort of error or mistake in judgement in order to experience hard times. Boston sold the best ballplayer known to man (at that time, and even today IMO), and the Cubs ejected an innocent man and his goat trying to enjoy a ballgame because it was raining. Those are two mistakes that the Baseball Gods deemed punishable by curse. What is the Yankees mistake in judgement? Anyone who said "Carl Pavano", consider yourself to be funny. In all seriousness, however, the Yankees did not commit one of these "sins of Baseball", and therefore, should not be punished. If anything, I'd be worried if I were a Sox fan, as a fellow member of the farce "Nation" just tempted fate.

Moving on to one of my favorite segments of the blog... Hank Speaks! Mr. Steinbrenner has been nothing short of open to talk about anything, particularly when it comes to the Boston Red Sox. Surprise, suprise, the new Boss had something to say about this jersey incident. Keeping it short and sweet, Hank issued the statement, "I hope his co-workers kick the (expletive) out of him." Now, I won't condone any violence on this blog, so I won't agree that this man should be beat up (regardless of whether or not I'd want to do it myself). I was thinking something more along the lines of firing him, or at least assigning him some heavy lifting job on the outside of the construction site as his penance.

Til next time, Go Yanks!