Shelley Duncan’s Prank
From the Boston Herald:
By most accounts, rookie Shelley Duncan has positively changed the culture of the Yankees’ clubhouse with his jovial demeanor.
Yet this weekend, that same demeanor brought Duncan some unwanted notoriety.
While he signed autographs before Friday’s series opener, Duncan exchanged playful banter with some Red Sox fans. In keeping with the spirit of those conversations, he wrote in the notebook of 10-year-old Griffin Whitman, “Red Sox Suck! Shelley Duncan.”
Duncan was surprised to learn that Whitman and his parents took offense.
“I thought I was back in middle school or high school, where you try to make a joke or say something funny, and you end up saying something that gets you in trouble,” Duncan said before the Yankees’ 4-3 victory last night. “I try to be interactive with people, be funny, have a good time and have a laugh.
“It’s not always Yankees fans that have us sign stuff. I try to rile ’em up and be fun. I don’t expect anybody to make a big deal about it. Nobody ever has before.”
While Red Sox pitcher and Boston native Manny Delcarmen said he has never offered such an epithet to a fan, he does sometimes exchange playful barbs, particularly when offering autographs to Yankee loyalists.
“You look at them and you say, ‘You’re wearing Yankees stuff but you want my autograph?’ ” Delcarmen said. “I grew up here in Boston. When a Yankees fan asks for an autograph, I’m like, ‘Whatever.’ I still sign for them.”
I’m still on the fence with this one. Part of me, as a parent of small children, wants to get on Duncan for doing this. But, the other part of me reminds myself that the word “suck” is now mainstream (used in song, T.V., print, etc.) and not what it used to be (in terms of “curse word” status) when I was a kid in the 1970′s. And, that a 10-year old is in the 5th grade and probably has seen and heard the word a few times by now. (Especially a ten year old that goes to Fenway Park when the Yankees are there.)
Since I’m split on this…I’ll say for now that it was a mistake on Duncan’s part to do this…and that you have to be careful in spots like this…and ask yourself “What would Derek Jeter do?”
By the way, this season, in all of baseball, so far, there’s just been one homerun hit in the 9th inning, with 2-men on, where the team of the guy who hit it was three runs down. Yes, it was that two-out homer by Duncan on August 15, 2007.
If you’re Shelley Duncan, you want that magic homer to be the thing that people think about, when they hear your name – and not something like this prank.
I agree, Steve. I’m on the record as hating the whole “Yankees suck – Red Sox suck” game and it’s annoying to see a player engaging in it. I wouldn’t be happy if Duncan wrote that on an autograph for me – I root for the greatness of the Yankees, not the supposed suckiness of their opponents – and I don’t blame the kid’s parents at all for being taken aback by it.
I think “WWDJD?” is not a bad test at all.
My favorite moment ever at Fenway Park was when I was sitting behind a dad and his young, maybe 8-year-old, kid. Some fans were giving a “you suck” kind of chant to some player – I can’t remember who it was, not a Yankee – and the kid joined in. The dad shut him down right away, and explained that he should root as hard as he could for Red Sox to win, but always respect the opponent.
I can’t get mad at it, just cause knowing how happy and glad to be around Shelley Duncan is, he didn’t mean it maliciously. He probably didn’t realize someone would take offense. If I got an autograph from someone on the Red Sox (though I can’t think of one with such a happy, outgoing attitude as Shelley Duncan….maybe Ortiz? He’s all smiles usually) and he wrote Yankees Suck!, I would probably get a laugh out of it. Then again, I’m 23. I don’t know. To a degree, they need to lighten up. But I’m also not a parent.
I think this is a case of somebody making an attempt at humor and having it fall flat.
The sad thing is, now a bunch of holier than thou types are going to make a big deal out of it until he does a perp walk and apology. I’ve already seen other bloggers saying Duncan should be “ashamed,” for example.
As a Sox fan I’ve never liked the Yankees Suck! cheer and all the garbage that goes with it (like, being unable to even consider taking my 9 and 12 year old kids to the Sox/Yankees game I got tickets for this year). I like a good rivalry, but the good part is competition, not hatred.
Maybe if Duncan had put a smiley face in the O of Sox it would have been clear that he was joking. Emoticons FTW!
I go with it was an attempt at a joke that didn’t go well. ________ suck is old and tiresome and not original. “1918″ at least was factually correct. I like creativity & originality in chanting — and keep out the cuss words as baseball is a family game.
Derek would bury his nose in Torre’s ass, just like he always does.
There you have it, more hatred. Carla, hatred of an opposing team/player will never end. A team that’s been successful like the yankees will always be a target of hatred.
On the other hand, Duncan was guilty of a lack of political correctness. I don’t believe it was done out of malice or a lack of class. Also, if a ten-year-old kid today can’t deal with a mild dig like that, good luck surviving junior high!
I don’t understand all this outrage, especially in light of the much more classless playstation game “skid” in which a digital A-Rod got plunked by a baseball. Here we have a team (the Jays) preaching a message of hatred and violence against an opposing player, in a medium accessible to even the youngest kids.
I weep for the future of this country. When people are getting themselves in such a lather about “Red Sox Suck” the state of political correctness has gone off-scale high.
Lame. It was a joke, and a damn funny one at that. The sorriest part of the entire affair is the kid’s parents finding a need to make this public.
I have limited respect for anyone that treats this as anything more than a joke (yes, a funny one). Duncan has nothing to apologize for.
“yankees will always be a target of hatred”
You clod. I’m a Yankees fan. Jeter is a kiss-ass. What about him is worthy of being a role model–his tomcatting? That’s all just boyish fun until he’s giving your daughter herpes.