i don’t really know the cultural impact of this award but its a nice rebuttal to jeter haters.  he’s won 5 rings and yet is seen as overrated!

what i appreciate about him and mo rivera is how classy they have handled tough situations and questions. rivera laughs off blown saves. when asked about hall of famer jim rice slandering him, jeter politely wishes him well and congratulates him on making the hall of fame.

responding to people who say he’s washed up….he goes and wins a ton of individual awards including a gold glove and a silver slugger…and of course, bats .400 to lead the yanks to another title.

i also appreciate his sense of self deprecating humor….on an episode of snl, he played a woman who was not attracted to derek jeter because he looked like the result of the rock having sex with a muppet.

for those of you reading this on facebook, go to the original post to see the video from sports illustrated. there’s some high praise for this yankee.

Posted under yankees

mariano rivera and joe giradi are purported to be believers.  if more christians lived like they lived, it would make my job as a minister and preacher, much easier! i’ve had enough believers like gary sheffield!

here’s the latest mind boggling example if you missed it!

Yanks manager Girardi discusses Eastchester traffic-crash stop on WFAN

Yankees Manager Joe Girardi had just won the World Series, but said today “the most important thing we can do in life” is help others, referring to his post-game traffic stop when he helped a woman who had crashed on the Cross County Parkway in Eastchester.

“I think the most important thing is that, obviously, there’s a lot of joy in what we do, but we can’t forget to be human beings when we help others out,”?he told Mike Francesa this afternoon on WFAN radio.

Girardi was driving home to Purchase with his wife when he saw that another driver, 27-year-old Marie Henry of Stratford, Conn., had lost control of her car and crashed into a wall.

“Fortunately, I was in the right lane,” he explained. “In the left lane, it was coming around the bend, a lady had run into a concrete barrier. Her SUV looked horrible, so I pulled off to the right.”

Girardi said his wife called police as he ran across the roadway.

“As bad as the car looked, I?was really concerned,”?he said. “When I got there, she was on the phone, talking to police, and she only had a little cut. She couldn’t open her door. And I was like, ‘You need to get out of this car because if someone comes around the bend, they’re going to hit the back of your car.’ And I just kept talking to her.”

Police arrived about three minutes later, he said, “and, fortunately, she was OK.”

Francesa mentioned how strange this all must have been for the woman, who had just been aided by the manager who was coming home from achieving one of the biggest feats in sports.

“When she found out you had just won the World Series, I’m sure she was quite surprised, huh?” Francesa asked, laughing.

It turns out she had no idea who he was.

“She didn’t find out from me,” Girardi said. “Once the police got there, I?ran across the street, got back in my car and took my family home.”

The cops were impressed.

“The guy wins the World Series, what does he do? He stops to help,” said Westchester County Police Officer Kathleen Cristiano, who was among the first to arrive at the accident scene. “It was totally surreal.”

The driver was stunned by the accident, but otherwise uninjured, police said.

The crash happened at 2:25 a.m. today in the eastbound lanes along a long blind curve where the Cross County meets the Hutchinson River Parkway near the New Rochelle Road exit, police said.

Police were conducting a nearby sobriety checkpoint on the parkway. In fact, about 15 minutes earlier, Girardi had passed through the checkpoint.

Cristiano, who was working the checkpoint, congratulated him on his first win as a manager and waved him through. He hadn’t been the only Yankee to pass by the checkpoint. Pitcher Andy Pettitte, who lives in Harrison, also passed through earlier.

“He came through with a smile,” Cristiano said.

Cristiano, a self-described huge Yankees fan, said she hadn’t expected to see either one of them again. But, then, a 911 call came through about a car accident a short distance away, and he cops suspended the checkpoint to respond to the crash. As she came upon the accident scene, in an area where the parkway’s two lanes turn into three and cars speed by the curve that takes them to the Hutch, Cristiano spotted Girardi.

“He was jumping up and down, trying to flag me down,” she said. “You don’t expect him standing by a car accident, trying to help.”

Cristiano said that, by the time she arrived, Henry was able to get out of the crashed vehicle and declined to be taken to the hospital.

Girardi, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, then told them he “had to get going.”

Cristiano and Henry both thanked him and watched as he ran across traffic again to reach his car.

“The driver didn’t know it was him until after I told her,” Cristiano said.

The area is notorious for its blind spots, and Girardi, who had parked on the right side of the parkway, and then run across traffic to get to the injured motorist, put his life at risk, police said.

“He could have gotten killed,” county Sgt. Thomas McGurn said, adding that responding police units take extra precaution in that area because of the blind curve and speeding cars. “Traffic goes by at 80 mph.”

Posted under yankees

photo credit to mr. frisch

Posted under yankees

i did not get world series tickets but i did get one game in the bronx for the alcs…game 2! my final game of the year.

not a bad run in 2009….a preseason game with the cubs, opening day, the first win at the stadium, a red sox game, some wins, a lot of rainy losses and a brawl. grateful theresa encouraged me to get these seats.

for the playoffs, i got bleachers in the same general area for $11 each! there are cheap seats at stadium!

the game was in doubt the whole day and night…even throughout the game. it was brutally cold with the threat of torrential rains. kenny and i dressed in multiple layers with rain and cold gear. i had on long underwear, sweaters, my winter jacket, a neck warmer, gloves and hats. note…hat plural.

they were gouging at the stadium with $10 hot chocolate in the stands. and they were selling out. however when we went to the restroom, we found a stand with a more reasonable $4 chocolate. it was a handwarmer and later, a body warmer.

it was a great, tight game throughout….but looked bleak late when the angels took the lead. but it was arod’s night as he blasted a tying run to send the game into extra innings. it got colder and rainier. back and forth threats….great playoff baseball.

finally jerry hairston and angel errors sent the fans into delirium. including us!

we were sitting in different parts of the stadium but met up to celebrate one of the best games ever at the new stadium. certainly my best game.

looking forward to some more great baseball!

Posted under at the ballpark, yankees

the last of my pre-playoff reports of the regular season yankee stadium…and food reviews…..

here mike and i are minding our own business enjoying an interdivisional tussle with the blue jays…a pretty vanilla, going through the motions game…but being at the ballpark is still magical….and a privilege. i never forget that.

mike tries something i have yet to try….he has an urge for some cheesesteaks….and he is impressed with the yankees version.  i took a bite and determined that this would be my next meal at the stadium! it was tasty. expensive for what you got….but good, satisfying ball park food.

this was not the size of the sandwich….the other half is in mike’s mouth.

but then all nuttiness broke out….not once but twice….players running onto the field, fighting, drawing blood, yelling….and the fans in the stadium started to get scary…at least in the bleachers….

security made fans sit down…they threw out drunks threatening our canadian friends…people inched toward the field….

too bad, this was the most exciting part of the game….i had never seen a brawl at the park before.

this is what wrapped up my year at the stadium unless the yankees win the alds and send me to my second round tickets. i hope i get to go!

Posted under at the ballpark, yankees

as promised….as we build up to the playoffs, more yankee action and stadium food tour. josh was nice enough to join me for a sunny day game! yeah! no more rainy mini-plan!

again, a great part of the stadium is that you can move around and plant yourself in another location-even behind the plate!-and watch the game from the lower deck, behind the rich people seats! you can stand all game if you’d like. this is why i got bleachers for the alcs…i’ll have the nuttiness of the bleachers and the option of crazy good views if i take a stroll.

the other great feature of the park is pretty good ballpark food with a nice diversity around the promenade. so different perspectives and getting good eats go hand in hand.

josh went for something that theresa asked for but wasn’t able to get when we came for the pre-season cubs matchup: cheese garlic fries! maybe they got the idea from her denied request?

josh also tried out the buffalo chicken sliders, a personal favorite.

and the game…..two magical words: enter sandman.

Posted under at the ballpark, yankees

as the playoffs finally approach, i’ll be documenting the last few games i got to go to as part of my mini plan to the first season at the new yankee stadium before they become entirely irrelevant(the games not the yankees).  but no worries to non sports fans! i will likely focus more on ballpark food than the games.

i bought josiah to his first new yankee stadium game in an obvious attempt to usurp his father’s authority. after a few disappointing innings with joba, we went to get some nachos and get some different views around the ballpark. josiah knew exactly what he wanted in terms of grub.

he was disappointed to learn that the meat only came with the deluxe nachos and decided not to upgrade. when the lady was making his order, the manager came over….and i think he thought josiah was younger than he was….and asked if he wanted the topping on the house! josiah politely accepted but the lady looked over to double check if she heard correctly. the manager winked and nodded the go ahead….so josiah got a bonus on his cheese nachos.

he declined on free jalapenos.

the game was a laugher but josiah wanted to stay until the bitter end. i complied. who can say no to a kid in the summertime?

then the yankees started coming back and cut the lead to 1 in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run and winning run on base with nobody out. but a botched bunt and a line drive, bang bang double play left us with unexpected heartache.

or maybe that was from the “meat” in the nachos.

Posted under at the ballpark, yankees

we commemorate these special days for two special groups: our jewish friends…..and fans of the new york yankees.

mazel tov!

Posted under yankees

in this post, the great mariano who got the save in last night’s all star game and recently got his 500th save(and first rbi!)

here’s an interview that gives you a glimpse into the soul of my favorite yankee.

this is the kind of human being i would like to wind up being. joyful, humble, doing what i love for the love, gracious, self deprecating and classy. this is also the kind of believer i hope to be. if all believers were like mo, the message would be clearer.

compare this interview with any interview arod has given. consider that in new york during last year’s all star game, rivera’s all star jersey was sold out but there were plenty of rodriguez’s.

when the sox fans mock cheered mo after the 2004 collapse, he joyfully laughed and appreciated the humor. i love this guy!

Posted under yankees

i got a mini-plan to the new stadium after they gave me a pretty good renewal deal including row 5 seats in the bleachers. no obstructed nonsense with flat screens for me! also no $2,600 per seat per game….that’s the top price in the house. luxury seats down in that area start at $500!

nope…no nonsense on either end of the spectrum for me. i got the common person tickets in the outfield. along with the dozen games, i got a presale code that allowed me to get the cubs preseason game and also…opening day! we got there early and walked around to enjoy the pageantry and decorations….

and we were in our seats at noon for the opening ceremony. its been cold almost all winter including some pretty seattle dreary, misty days. but on this day, the sun was warm and bountiful. maybe even too hot for those of us who thought we were still in winter and dressed in layers. our bodies were certainly confused. we started shedding and continued throughout the afternoon.

the opening day ceremony was underwhelming with an old time band tribute to the original yankee stadium. there was the obligatory parading of former yankees….some surprises like david wells(who wound up sitting with us in the bleachers), dave winfield and ken griffey sr. who had love/hate relationships with the fans and management.  but other than that and the giant flag….it was a pretty vanilla ceremony. the best part for me was bernie williams playing take me out to the ballgame acoustic…then getting serenaded ala paul oneil….a proper send off that he did not receive thanks to cashman and the brain trust.

btw, the game was a dog. we got blown out…..so the real story of the day was….

food! this steak sandwich is the premium item at the park. hearty, carved slices of prime rib? in a specialty bun. when we got in line, they ran out of meat but almost nobody got out of the line for 25 minutes. eventually, two guys did and then the meat showed up! but it was undercooked….they had to go back into the kitchen. so they started handing out burnt end samples and ribs. delicious!…..but it only made us hungrier.

when the food got there…the crew got to work. the chef barked instructions and admonishments:”there’s the best….and then…there’s the rest….we want to be the best!!!! right???!!!!”

if you’re a vegan, you’re throwing up. but if you’re a carnivore……this is one of the best items i’ve ever had at a ballpark. i think i would have prefered it cook just a tad longer but like the bronx natives drooling at the stand were saying: that’s legit. that is the real deal.

we stayed in our seats until we realized that we didn’t have to. we walked around closer to the plate and watched part of the game from behind the rich seats. then the usher let us down for the last half inning since most people had already headed home. the cushion on the seat took 5 seconds…five!….to sink when i sat on it. pretty luxurious. wing and i enjoyed our brief moment feeling old money.

Posted under at the ballpark, yankees