2008 Woodie Awards
Unnecessary Roughness
Teaching the old underdog new tricks
Corey Kempf
Issue date: 2/19/04 Section: Sports
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The Underdog. This is what sports, particularly baseball, thrive upon. What would the World Series have been without the Marlins? What would March Madness be without Gonzaga and other slipper fitters? What would the NBA be without the Eastern Conference? What would "Rocky" have been without...well...Rocky?
Plain and simple, nobody can write a script great enough to compare to the sports world, unless of course they're adapting it from a moment in history.
More specifically, nobody can write a script like George Steinbrenner. The Yankees were a team who, after losing the Series, looked like they were on the ropes. This is a team with the highest payroll in baseball, a team that scoops up young talent like they're making an ice cream cone, and, most importantly, a team that's supposed to win. When they don't, laughs and scrutiny are abound.
So what happens when that team folds? Eyes turn to Steinbrenner, and he delivers, trading all-star shortstop Alfonso Soriano for none other than the most consistent and arguably the best player in baseball, Alex Rodriguez.
After Monday, the only people that haven't cringed at the thought of this are proudly sporting pinstripes, and everyone in Boston is now thinking, "What next, a trade for Nomar?!"
So as soon as he loses Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, Steinbrenner counter punches and signs Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield, then trades for A-Rod. Hate him as much as you want, nobody can work $160 million like Steinbrenner.
So on the east coast you have money, and on the west coast you have juice, and I'm not talking about that 100% stuff, if I were I would've mentioned Florida in there someplace. I'm talking about steroids, which have taken to hovering over Pac Bell Park in San Francisco, more specifically over left field (not to say it's solely hovering there and not first base in Yankee Stadium or anywhere else for that matter).
Last week, four people were indicted by Attorney General John Ashcroft for illegally distributing steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Two of those indicted are connected to Barry Bonds (and by "connected to," I mean tell him whether sit-ups or sprints are next).
Ashcroft said the indictments were made to help protect the integrity of baseball, but there is doubt that the charges will stop the circulation of performance enhancing drugs in baseball.
Now the question is, which is worse for baseball, steroids or the A-Rod trade? Both are bad, obviously. Steroid use for some makes an unfair advantage for those who still have a soul, and the A-Rod trade is like sticking the Michael Jordan of the early 90's on the Lakers of today.
The Yankees and Barry Bonds will always hold a love/hate relationship with fans of baseball, as long as they still have 25 championships and he still chases Hank Aaron. Nothing's changed. But, stripped of dignity, integrity, prestige, and nostalgia, baseball's still baseball, just like the Olympics are still the Olympics, and those are still coming up this summer, right?........right?
Plain and simple, nobody can write a script great enough to compare to the sports world, unless of course they're adapting it from a moment in history.
More specifically, nobody can write a script like George Steinbrenner. The Yankees were a team who, after losing the Series, looked like they were on the ropes. This is a team with the highest payroll in baseball, a team that scoops up young talent like they're making an ice cream cone, and, most importantly, a team that's supposed to win. When they don't, laughs and scrutiny are abound.
So what happens when that team folds? Eyes turn to Steinbrenner, and he delivers, trading all-star shortstop Alfonso Soriano for none other than the most consistent and arguably the best player in baseball, Alex Rodriguez.
After Monday, the only people that haven't cringed at the thought of this are proudly sporting pinstripes, and everyone in Boston is now thinking, "What next, a trade for Nomar?!"
So as soon as he loses Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, Steinbrenner counter punches and signs Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield, then trades for A-Rod. Hate him as much as you want, nobody can work $160 million like Steinbrenner.
So on the east coast you have money, and on the west coast you have juice, and I'm not talking about that 100% stuff, if I were I would've mentioned Florida in there someplace. I'm talking about steroids, which have taken to hovering over Pac Bell Park in San Francisco, more specifically over left field (not to say it's solely hovering there and not first base in Yankee Stadium or anywhere else for that matter).
Last week, four people were indicted by Attorney General John Ashcroft for illegally distributing steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Two of those indicted are connected to Barry Bonds (and by "connected to," I mean tell him whether sit-ups or sprints are next).
Ashcroft said the indictments were made to help protect the integrity of baseball, but there is doubt that the charges will stop the circulation of performance enhancing drugs in baseball.
Now the question is, which is worse for baseball, steroids or the A-Rod trade? Both are bad, obviously. Steroid use for some makes an unfair advantage for those who still have a soul, and the A-Rod trade is like sticking the Michael Jordan of the early 90's on the Lakers of today.
The Yankees and Barry Bonds will always hold a love/hate relationship with fans of baseball, as long as they still have 25 championships and he still chases Hank Aaron. Nothing's changed. But, stripped of dignity, integrity, prestige, and nostalgia, baseball's still baseball, just like the Olympics are still the Olympics, and those are still coming up this summer, right?........right?