Lupica: Yanks = $ And Expectations
Some good stuff from Mike Lupica today -
Here was Derek Jeter standing next to Reggie Jackson behind home plate, nine World Series titles between them, six with the Yankees, two of the greatest winners the old Stadium ever saw.
They were in the new Yankee Stadium with the same kind of red-white-and-blue bunting we always expected on the other side of the street; trimmings for a sports pageant – Yankees postseason baseball – that seems as old as the game, almost as old as the city.
Jackson, who hit three home runs to close out the 1977 Series, back when hitting home runs at Yankee Stadium was a bit more challenging, put it this way before another baseball October officially begins for the Yankees:
“Par here is making it to the World Series.”
The Yankees are never just happy to be here. They are not just happy to be one of the eight teams in the tournament. The Yankees are supposed to make it back to the World Series this year for the first time since 2003, win it for the first time since they beat the Mets in 2000.
The Yankees sell two things on 161st St., no matter on which side of 161st St. they’re playing: They sell history with both hands and they sell winning. But you can only sell so much history. And when the Yankees and their fans talk about winning, they don’t just mean the 103 games they won in the regular season.
“It’s not how they keep score here,” Jackson said.
As one Yankee said yesterday, “Maybe the real MVPs in the American League are Hal and Hank Steinbrenner for letting (general manager Brian) Cashman spend nearly half a billion on those three players last winter.”
They have been the best team before over the first 162. And somehow, even spending $200 million on talent every year, the only team in their sport to spend that way, always nearly $50 million clear of the field, they haven’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs since 2004.
The money is different here, the talent level is different, so is the history, so are the expectations.
So, if the Yankees don’t make it to the World Series this year, will it be open season on the team and/or front office? What do you think?
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Actually, hasn’t Lupica written this same column about 10 times already this year, and about 100 times since 2000? It’s the same preposterous whine about money and the same reinforcement of the idiotic Steinbrenner Doctrine.
By the way, if you actually believe that “one Yankee” said that Hal and Hank are the real MVP’s for letting Cashman spend that money, you’re on drugs. Lupica dipped his bucket into the make-believe quote well…
MJ wrote:
Yes, we’ve all read this crap 100 times and Lupica keeps feeding us with it. It’s never “good stuff” from Lupica, btw.
If they Yanks don’t win will it be open season for the fans to criticize? Yes, it will be. But I believe Hal and Cashman understand far better than half of our brain-dead fanbase that you can’t win every single year, and it’s unrealistic to expect to do so. Fans will bitch and complain, blame nobody other than Cashman and A-Rod, and it’ll be a ridiculous circle of hate all over again.
So, if the Yankees don’t make it to the World Series this year, will it be open season on the team and/or front office? What do you think?
It’s always open season, whether it’s the team, front office, or ARod.
I agree that Lupica never writes anything that I would consider “good”. He is a blowhard who loves to listen to himself and he knows absolutely nothing about sports. He is an ego maniac who worships himself. And I want to know which Yankee said “Maybe the real MVPs in the American League are Hal and Hank Steinbrenner for letting (general manager Brian) Cashman spend nearly half a billion on those three players last winter.” I cry BS. Lupica still, after all these years hasn’t figured out that no matter how much money you spend, it is spent based on past performance and noone can guarantee a WS championship. To think that payroll should equate to success just shows how ignorant this guy is. I for one grew tired of him long ago. I can not stand to watch the sports reporters on ESPN because of this guy. He is a fool and an idiot.
Lupica can’t think, so he can’t write.
But re: open season? No. The relief at getting back to where they belong — in the post-season — after an alarming reality-check last year, will be too great. If they need another year to get back to the WS, they’ll get it. *Then* if it’s no go, watch out.
“Good stuff”? Lupica has only two columns, which he keeps dusting off and recycling several times a year: 1) Yankees must win to justify their payroll and if they don’t it’s a travesty; 2) Yanks are tired and boring, city now belongs to the exuberant, exciting Mets (written thrice yearly after every Met three-game winning streak). Only fools pay attention to this preening homunculus. Drive on, driver.
Homonculus?
Someone watching “Big Bang Theory? (Used by Sheldon to describe Leonard to Penny in a recent episode…
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Lupica is stupid. No, really; he’s denser than lead.
I don’t care if they spend 300 million a year or 400 million a year, as long as they win and maintain financial viability for the long haul. Lupica sounds like either a teenage girl, whining about fairness in life, or a commie lib, that stresses whenever success breds success. To each according to their needs…. The biggest mistake baseball made was putting in a luxury tax without putting in a salary floor, maybe also tied to attendance. You ought not have to pay out money to owners that are just pocketing the dollars, or pay out to teams whose fans don’t show up at the ballpark.
If it mattered, and it doesn’t, don’t forget, we outbid the Blood Sox by about 10 million over 7 years for A-Rod, and about 10 million over 7 years for Tex. The Mets, in the same market, dumped huge contracts on Beltran and Santana. They are watching on TV, just like me.
Evan3457 wrote:
good show
Old Fezziwig wrote:
You forgot a third: The one where he tries to make Boston sound like the Twins – a gutty gritty bunch who constantly overcomes obstacles with a limited payroll to make the playoffs every year.
Seriously, between Mike Duplica and Gallagher look-alike Bob Raissman with his weekly anti-YES Network rants, does anyone at the News write anything original and not agenda driven? Yet they try to fancy themselves as the best Yankee coverage in town.