Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Hall Of Famer Gossage likes to hear himself talk

Reading this nice article about how Goose Gossage thinks Joba Chamberlain celebrated too much after striking out David Dellucci the other night, I encounter this line:
The Mets did a lot of that [celebrating] last year, and look how it came back to haunt them.

Is this really popular opinion now? The Mets lost because they celebrate too much? They celebrated for almost two full seasons and were successful, but that last month they lost because of celebrations? And the Pirates lose every year because their beautiful new ballpark is showing up older stadiums throughout the league.

Gossage also states "That's just not the Yankee way, what Joba did. Let everyone else do that stuff, but not a Yankee."

What is the Yankee way? Is it a street in the Bronx? Does every other team have a way? Is there a Royals way? How would one describe the Yankee way? Ed Valentine describes it in one word: winning. The 26 World Series and the hunt for more.

That's the Yankee way? The hunt for the World Series is something that is exclusive to the Yankees. Not quite. I guess it's reveling in past heroes while the current team flounders. Any other team who is struggling does not have a "way" based on previous success.

Is there another team who thinks that they are the best team on the planet because of their past players. Is the Athletic way winning because Fingers, Hunter, Henderson, and McGwire played there? Is the Cardinal way winning because they've had great players such as Musial, Gibson, and Brock?

I think any outsider would describe the Yankee way using the following words: obnoxious, pretentious, arrogant, conceited.

But the Yankees and their fans think its a good thing. They think they have this aura, this mystique, the "Yankee way." Does anyone want to break it to them that it's a joke? Their team is crumbling as we speak, and there isn't help in sight. They are on the way down while the Mets are on the way up, and the Yankees and their fans still feel superior because Babe Ruth played there 90 years ago.

This isn't the late 90s Yankees fans. You haven't won jack in 8 years and until you do let's put the Yankee way on a shelf for a while. And when you win a title go ahead and dust it off. Throw it around more than you do now. Rub it in as many faces as you can.

But whatever you do, don't celebrate. The less I hear from Goose Gossage the better.

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