Hank now a member of Red Sox Nation
-
- March
- 2
Hank Steinbrenner made some news earlier this week when growled to the New York Times that he didn’t believe in the idea of Red Sox Nation.
“What a bunch of (expletive) that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans,” he said.
The Red Sox have jabbed back. According to Boston Herald, Red Sox owner John Henry has given Hammerin’ Hank a membership in Red Sox Nation.
“I’m a big Hank fan,” Henry wrote in an email. “Just to ensure he knows how cool Red Sox Nation is, we officially inducted him as a member of Red Sox Nation and we are sending him his membership card giving him access to an array of options including our newsletter, bumper stickers, pins, Green Monster seats and a hat personally autographed by David Ortiz.”
Now we await for Hank’s response.
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Peter Abraham
Well Hank will need something to put in his fireplace and/or the bottom of his bird cage. Glad to see the idiots have a sense of humor.
Is Hank going to send 3,000 pizzas to Fenway now, on Henry’s tab?
Response: “I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member.” Groucho Marx
Just goes to show that the insanity that is the RS “nation”, which even held an election for “president”, goes straight to the top.
The only kind of nation it may be is a third world nation.
“I’m a big Hank fan,” Henry wrote in an email. “Just to ensure he knows how cool Red Sox Nation is…”
I had to stop there for I could not stop gagging.
To serve in the armed forces of the Red Sox nation, one must prove his mettle by taking down a few dozen seniors.
Maybe Hank can invite Henry to Yankee Old Timer’s Day this year, the last one at the Stadium, so Henry can see what “cool” really looks like.
You have to admit …. Jon Henry’s tweaking of the Yankees is a bit more nuanced than Hank’s frontal assaults.
This is all funny (as in “ha ha,” not “strange”).
If Hank doesn’t want the Ortiz cap, I’ll take it. But, as a businessman, I’m afraid that he’ll recognize the value.
This is hilarious.
C’mon John, you can do better than that.
This is hilarious. The Red Sox fans are all nuts over this…it’s made their papers, and websites, just proving that they care more about us than anything else.
The whole RS Nation thing is so lame anyway. Could you imagine someone coming up with “Yankee Nation” and marketing with a membership card, etc? Its just really lame.
Hank should say: “So I’m pre-approved for Red Sox Nation? That’s ok, I have a drawer full of memberships to credit cards, publishers clearing house and other unwanted mail.”
or
“So I have to pay you for the right to be able to pay you to buy monster seats?, where do I sign up?”
Hank should “alter” the hat and then sell it on ebay with the money going to the Jimmy Fund in the Yankees name
“just proving that they care more about us than anything else.”
As it has ever been, so shall it ever be.
We Miss Paulie ….. How do you think the Yankees generate the most revenue in MLB. Don’t you think that their revenue stream is related to “lame marketing?” Isn’t about $20 million of ARod’s contracy based on marketing potnetial from his “historic” homeruns.
Both teams “market.” They have very large payrolls, and need to be proactive in meeting them. What is Yankee Old-Timers Day, if not marketing (i.e publicizing the brand)?
My point is, baseball is a business. Find a better reason for criticizing the Sox than their creativity in marketing their brand. The Yankees are doing the same thing, in case you haven’t noticed.
P.S. To paraphrase Gordon Glecko, “Marketing is good.”
“just proving that they care more about us than anything else”
well, except Hank started it. and after he said it, the quote went around all the yankee blogs.
just saying…
The Sox could have an Old Timers Day, if anyone ever left there on good terms…
If there IS a redsocks nation, it’s Lichtenstein.
Hank only said what every fan knows to be true. It had an impact because he’s an owner — he’s the first bigwig to call out ESPN.
hmmmm …. I hope that my approval doesn’t get you exiled from “Yankee Universe,” but you do have the chronology of this whole matter correct. Hank is the one who went nuclear, w/o any clear provocation.
“You have to admit …. Jon Henry’s tweaking of the Yankees is a bit more nuanced than Hank’s frontal assaults.”
Not particularly. “Red Sox Nation” is just crass marketing. It’s something straight out of the NBA play book. Just make up elaborate marketing schemes, continue to refer to them in the press as something real and them watch the dollars roll in.
The phenomenon of “Red Sox Nation” is a very old one in sports. It’s called front runners and band wagon fans.
It happens all of the time. It happened with the Mets briefly in the 1980’s. Didn’t last long.
The notion that a team that didn’t win anything from for nearly 90 years somehow has these legions of fans all over the country that have no roots in Boston is ludicrous.
They’ve been the team of the decade so far. I give the entire organization credit for the team they’ve put on the field.
Displaced New Englanders around the country are thrilled, I’m sure. But the notion that people without those roots are now die hard Sox fans is ridiculous.
The attention they’ve gotten is exactly what you’d expect given their success. A bunch of casual fans who want to follow a “winner.”
Won’t last long. 26 world championships in what’s arguably the most famous city in the entire world arent’ something your going to compete with, no matter how you try to concoct a marketing gimmick that makes the city of Boston seem much larger than it is.
If John Henry wants to do something productive, he should pay ESPN for Peter Gammons to rid himself of those yellow stumps in his yap so he can be a better representative of the Boston Socks.
This is fun. MLB is just grown men playing a kid’s game. It’s nice to see the owners join the fans and play a little too!
for the record, i do think it was great that Hank called out ESPN.
some of the “analysts” (cough Steve Phillips) are so blantantly anti-yankees (not that i need them to be FANS, that defeats the purpose obviously) they have lost their objectivity and credibility.
i am sure an outsider (someone who roots for neither the yankees or sox) would argue that ESPN spends way too much time on BOTH teams.
but i didn’t mind the potshot on ESPN.
Heck, if Hank doesn’t want those Monster seats, I’ll take them.
(Don’t worry, I’ll be supporting whoever the Sox are playing…)
Very amusing and classy reply by John Henry. It’ll probably go right over trust fund baby Hank’s head.
Hank sounds like a bitter 13 year old girl these days. It’s hilarious how much it bothers him that the Sox are the reigning champions.
CB ….. Re: Bandwagon fans ….. were you one of the hundreds of Yankee fans you used to clatter around the Stadium during the CBS era, or during the largely unsuccessful Mattingly years? We are all “bandwagon fans.” If the Yankees go into another down cycle (unlikely), I can assure you that the interest in, and support of, the team will plummet.
Re: Marketing ….. see my 11:02 post. After that, google P.T. Barnum. Maybe you’ll begin to understand how a brand is developed and resultant public interest is turned into profit.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Yankees are also very much about profit (and there’s nothing wrong with that).
I lived in Massachusetts (2001-2005) and the media used “Red Sox Nation” to mean “the long suffering faithful around here” or simply “us” (in the listening/reading audience).
I never heard it used to mean “the United States is a Red Sox Nation.”
“were you one of the hundreds of Yankee fans you used to clatter around the Stadium during the CBS era, or during the largely unsuccessful Mattingly years? ”
yes.
well, not the CBS years, i’m not that old. but definitely during the 80’s and early 90’s.
“Hank is the one who went nuclear, w/o any clear provocation.”
You couldn’t be more wrong.
1) We don’t have the context. Here’s the quote in full. It is obviously in response to something Mahler said to him, which is not included. It starts off with “Red Sox Nation?” indicating that Hank was repeating something Mahler had said to him that included the words “Red Sox Nation.”
“Red Sox Nation?” Hank says. “What a bunch of [expletive] that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans. Go anywhere in America and you won’t see Red Sox hats and jackets, you’ll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We’re going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order.”
Mahler went on at length about how quotable Hank was and he’d be one dumb guy if he didn’t press Hank’s buttons to prove it. And as the quote shows, Mahler ain’t that dumb.
That`s hilarious. Hank looks like an idiot now.
“The thing about Shelley — Shelley’s going to give you everything he’s got every moment he’s out there,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He adds a boost. He’s a shot in the arm.
“Bless his mom and dad, trying to hold him back when he was a little boy.”
************************************************************
From today’s Newark Star-Ledger
Maybe he should take the Pappy hat.
Huge size (steroids-induced).
Potato-head shaped.
Have the little hairs sent to the lab for steroid traces !
hmmmm …. good for you (at least you could get good seats).
But I think that there are almost 3 million more fans in the seats now (per year) than in those gloomy days. I’m not sure that they should be sneered at as “bandwagon fans.” I’m sure that when Hank checks the till he doesn’t seperate money from “loyal” fans from the “frontrunners.” In the long run, that’s why MLB teams are trying to win …. to add to the fan base in order to meximize profits.
Aaron, BTW, George was near bankrupt when the Steinbrenner boys were little, so they grew up pretty middle class. They didn’t get the silver spoons until later in life.
Henry just outclassed the living end out of little Hanky boy….my how times have changed.
Hank did the right thing. Hank knows that Yankee fans don’t like the Red Sox and are pretty sure ESPN has alot (at least a few) of Red Sox fans. So in order to show his support to the fans he went and said something against them both. A great business move from Hank.
Murphydog - I really don’t see how the context of the question very much changes the intent of Hank’s statement. There are elements of denial and envy that are unmistakable.
If he said other things that mitigated that impression, you may be right. But his comments seem to be pretty clear-cut.
I have to say that was a pretty good response. Although what Hank said was he truth, it doesn’t exactly exude Yankee class.
Perhaps Mr. Henry should focus on his non-Red sox business as it seems to be suffering.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02032008/business/investors_throwing_curves_901149.htm
Murphydog - sorry …. now I get your point …. you’re saying the provocation was from Mahler.
I was saying that there wasn’t sufficient provocation from the Sox.
Red Sox Nation.
Pink hats.
Pathetic.
But ESPN loves it, since they ‘created’ it.
Pathetic nonetheless.
To me the Red Sox, whether a nation or not, get the benefit of the doubt from the media at every turn.
You can be sure if the Curt Schilling situation was happening with the Yanks, the scorn from ESPN/Lupica etc. would be widespread.
I live in CT and I see plenty of Yankee pink hats as well Upstate.
This whole “my fanbase is better then yours” is what it truly pathetic.
LOL gotta love look at how much power Hank has over the sox and ESPN…one man has created chaos in their lands they have to come on to Yankee blogs to whine…
Oh brother
Brian (Red Sox Fan):
I give the Devil his due. Two Sox World Championships while the Yankees go out in the first round three years running is more than enough provocation for Hank or anyone in a pinstriped state of mind.
No pink Yankee hats here in NY.
Must be a ‘New England” cutesy kind of thing.
…and that just “figures” , now doesn’t it ?
“CB ….. Re: Bandwagon fans ….. were you one of the hundreds of Yankee fans you used to clatter around the Stadium during the CBS era, or during the largely unsuccessful Mattingly years? We are all “bandwagon fans.”
Brian, I like your posts and am not trying to be antagonistic at all. I have a lot of respect for what Henry and Theo have done over the past ten years. I also have a lot of respect for Red Sox fans (and Cub fans now) who have continued to root for their team through the doldrums. I also love Ted Williams.
That said, yes I was rooting for the yankees throughout the awful 1980’s. It was painful but it passed. I don’t know many yankee fans at all who “jumped” off from rooting for the team. Attendance went down, interest went down but I don’t know many people at all who switched allegiance or gave up their rooting interest.
Going to games, following a team is very expensive, especially in new york. Money spent on sports comes from income people feel is “disposable.” As such people are very price sensitive to how a team is performing when they decide whether to buy tickets to a game or buy paraphanlia. So not many yankee fans at all were jumping off the bandwagon in the 1980’s. Just like not Packer fans jumped off their “bandwagon” when they were bad for so long between championships.
That’s not how true fans act.
Regarding your post on marketing - I saw it and completely disagree with it. There’s nothing complicated to understand from what you said - as someone who loves baseball I just completely disagree with what you wrote and find it kind of cynical.
Most true fans aren’t “bandwagon fans.” I’m surprised to hear that from you as I’ve never really considered Sox fans as “bandwagon fans” at all (until this whole “RSN” nonsense started in order to consciously enhance a bandwagon effect through marketing) I still wouldn’t consider most of the Sox fans in New England as “bandwagon.” The passion most real Sox fans seems much more authentic than that.
But I guess you have more insight into Red Sox fans than I do?
I don’t think you can continue rooting for a team through decades of dissappointment and then say that they are “bandwagon” fans. In fact that seems to be the opposite of the bandwagon fan.
Or perhaps I’m completely wrong on Sox fans. You have more insight into that than i do.
But to me, for a sox fan who rooted through all of those dissappointing decades to somehow say that all fans are “bandwagon fans” is quite a striking statement.
And yes its obvious that all teams want to make money. But there is big difference in how they go about it.
Baseball is different from every other professional sport in the U.S. because its so much about tradition and history. In that sense its closer to European soccer than it is to other american sports.
They Yankees enormous fan base wasn’t drummed up through marketing. The substance of why there are yankee fans all over the world is undeniable - its winning first and the enormous population size of the NY tristate area second. Third it because New York was the most global city in the entire world during the twentieth century.
The yankees market themselves based on real substance - they have 26 world championships and dozens of players in the hall of fame. That’s substance - not just a marketing gimmick. That’s not just the crass notion of “marketing.”
If the Celtics over the years had tried to increase their fan base across the world I would have no problem with it because there’s undeniable substance there - a tradition of winning and excellence that no other team (except the lakers perhaps) can compete with.
To say the the “RSN” is something real denigrates baseball as a game and I think its something of an insult to the sox fans who rooted through all of those lean years.
But again, maybe I just don’t understand how Sox fans think or care about their team. Maybe a marketing phenomenon is a good enough substitution for real history and tradition?
Upstate - There are pink hats EVERYWHERE
There are plenty of them in NY, hell I saw some the other day during some YES spring training show
Christ let it go
Not that I don’t believe you guys, but I don’t watch much ESPN at all. Can you give me some examples of how ESPN is biased toward the Red Sox?
I hate pink hats!! I wear the traditional Yankee hat.
No pink hats in NY.
Pink hats are worn by Red Sox fans.
I know you dont like anyone making fun of the cutsyiness that it portrays…but you love your little pink hats and please …. continue to wear your pink Red Sox hat….its the Red Sox way.
I hate people who wear pink items. I only wear team colors.
Chrissy me too!! No pink Yankee shirt here either!! DOWN WITH PINK BASEBALL ITEMS!!
Jennifer, I couldn’t agree more! Not just in baseball but even in other sports, especially female fans in the NFL who wear pink player jerseys…makes me sick!
I ..as a woman..personally don’t believe in wearing anything other than team colors. Pink hats are woman mostly by the little girls and young women..because they like the color pink…a feminine color. Now ..if I see men wearing them ..that’s when I start to worry ..lol.
I’m not a fan of wearing pink hats..but..seems the females of ALL teams are into it. I’ve seen them at all the different stadiums I’ve visited so far (17). It’s not a team thing ..it’s a female thing.
As I said THIS female would never wear anything other than Yankee blue …not pink, red, green, purple or any other color when it comes to my team ..
Go Yankees 2008 !!!
Pretty lame comeback from Henry.
Notice no denial of the ESPN comment, WEAK rebuttal overall, IMO.
Hank moved up a few notches in my book with his comments last week - way to rally the troops!
This just sums how lame this whole marketing ploy is? Having membership cards to prove how much you love your team and “electing a President” of this fictitious Red Sox Nation is something that only minor league teams would do. Not even the Rays would pull such a bs stunt like this. Even my friends who are Red Sox fans find this Red Sox Nation to be insufferable.
No-No-No !!!
The ESPN/Red Sox fans would never put away their ‘pinkies’ !
We must be PC and let those guys continue to wear their ‘pinkies’…it’s only fair. They have their choice, and we must respect their ways.
Real Yankee fans would never wear the pink…(not even the guys).
Hank and Henry should have a boxing match.
Brian: just to be fair, RSN is an entity of which people consider themselves a part. “Yankees Universe” is really just something that’s put on a t-shirt and sold for the sake of generating money for a cancer hospital. I don’t know anyone that considers “Yankees Universe” a “thing” like people consider RSN a “thing.” Except Hank. And no one listens to Hank.
Jennifer and Chrissy: THANK YOU! The ONLY time pink baseball apparel is remotely appropriate is when you put it on a newborn baby because without color differentiation, it’s possible you can’t tell the gender. Even then it’s iffy.
CB, my “Yankee days” go back to the fifties. I never was on a bandwagon and like you I never stopped rooting for the Yanks. The Horace Clark days are still very much part of my memories and I went often to the Stadium to see whoever they put on the field.
Again like you, I have a great deal of admiration for what the Bosox have done with their team these last ten years or so. There is no point to a rivalry, no point in being proud of what your team accomplishes or wins if your rivals are not worthy of beating. And yes, Ted Williams may be the greatest hitter in baseball history. But frankly, I can also remember many years when the Yanks biggest rivals were the White Sox or the Indians, and the Tigers gave them a lot of trouble of those years as well. The Boston/New York rivalry only rejuvenated itself to the level it’s at now in 1978!
Finally, my job takes me throughout Europe. When you walk the streets of towns all over the continent, people wearing NY Yankee caps are everywhere. If you see someone with another cap, it’s almost inevitably an American tourist. And when I get into a conversation with some dude about the Yankee cap he’s wearing, he may admit to knowing absolutely nothing about baseball, but he knows that it’s the cap of the most famous baseball team in the world - arguably the most famous sporting team in the world (perhaps the Manchester United soccer team is better known in Africa and Asia?) Folks, you see very, very few other American sporting articles. It’s Yankees 95% of the time (admittedly an informal survey, but I’ve been traveling the contient now for some 20 years.)
I like pink.
Granted, all my Yankees stuff is blue…but who cares what color it is? If you can name the Yankees line-up, in order, it’s good enough for me.
Agreed Andrea on a baby it is cute.
yanks61: I can back up your informal survey. Granted, I’ve only been to a few foreign countries, but it’s Yankees or nothing. I’ve never seen another US sports team being worn in another country. But when I was in England I saw Yankee hats and shirts everything. On a plane from Manchester to Paris, there was a French kid wearing a Yankee shirt…I can’t remember for the life of me what player it was. Cano I think.
Anyone know if 880 will do pregame?
Only pink Red Sox hats.
Not even any pink Mets hats.
…and they have alot of those clueless and bewildered fans that simply clap 100% of the time they are at Shea — and keep saying to the guy next to them “…when’s Lenny Dykstra coming up to bat - I just love him, he’s so dreamy…”
They don’t even wear the pink.
I can’t see Phillie’s fans wearing the pink, either.
Red Sox fans - yes.
Does ESPN sell them on their ESPNRSN.com webstie ???
Upstate: Shea Stadium actually actually gave away pink visors last year as a promotion on mother’s day. So there’s at least 18,000 people with pink mets hats.
Agree, I don’t see Philly fans wearing pink hats. I also hate all those ‘fashion’ Yankee hats. My friend and I were at a bar talking baseball, and trashing the soxs. There was a guy near us wearing a RED Yankee hat. We said something to him about the Yankees. He said he didn’t like them, he was only wearing the hat cause it matched his clothes! WHAT!!!
Jennifer - according to the 880 website they will come on the air at 1:10, 5 minutes before the start of the game. The only scheduled pre-game is the last week-end in March before the season opener.
My favorite hate is my old, tattered regular old blue hat. But that thing is so disgusting. I tried to find a new one, but couldn’t, and bought the new batting practice hat. Those things are the most comfortable hats int he world. But I can’t bring myself to get rid of my disgusting, sun-bleached, sweat-stained, basically grey (no longer blue) hat.
I am a sad, sad girl.
I saw someone wearing a Syracuse hat in St. Andrews =D
Granted, however, he had a Syracuse connection, but that is not the point.
Pete, do we get a game thread?
haha, favorite HAT, not hate.
On the subject of pink, on Mother’s Day, MLB does do the breast cancer prevention promotion. Many of the players wear pink wrist bands, pink ribbons and use pink bats.
Yanks61,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I wish I was around to see the teams from the 50’s. The books recounting those season are amazing enough as they are (although even reading about the ‘55 and ‘48 seasons caused me angst.)
Your point on past yankee rivalries is a great one (White Sox, Indians, etc.). It is difficult for me to think of a time when the Yankee-Sox rivalry wasn’t a big deal, but what you said about before and after 1978 rings true. The rivalry started burning again when both teams became competitive at the same time!
The rivalry has nothing to do with lame marketing gimmicks. It’s about history and competition first and foremost. Sure they market it but it’s not some made up gimmick.
And the issue of fans around the world is completely true. I’d say you’d have to put Manchester United, Real Madrid and perhaps the Brazilian national soccer team on their own level because of the massive popularity of soccer around the world. Maybe even Barcelona now?
But after soccer teams the Yankees are by far the most famous and well supported sports team in the world.
People may not know specifics but they know the Yankees have won - a lot. And people around the world love and gravitate to New York. They want to feel connected to america that way and that’s great.
But the yankee popularity around the world wasn’t simply from some lame marketing gimmick (this “yankee universe nonesense better go away…). It was because baseball is america’s sport, the yankees were far and away the most successful franchise and new york is one of the 2-3 most famous places in the world. Sure you can build marketing over that substanc, but it’s not just a fantasy drummed up by a marketing firm working for a club.
Fran: I think that’s such a cool idea. But they still don’t wear pink uniform items
I love when Doug Mientkiewicz had the pink bat, but still had that whole middle COVERED in pine tar. So it was the nice, new pink bat, but covered in that nasty black stuff.
Jen:
Yes, there are “yo’s” and “non-fans” that wear them (not pink though); but they are not the baseball fans who root for whatever team or go to games.
Boston. Pink. Definately.
Thought even the annoying Mets fans were above the pink…I guess that’s not that surprising anyway.
I read somewhere that the Yankees refuse to sell pink hats which is a smart business move because those are not the kind of fans we want. I own my own restaurant and I hold the right to refuse service to anyone I want for any reason I want. And we don’t want pink hat fans in New York. End of duscussion.
“Not that I don’t believe you guys, but I don’t watch much ESPN at all. Can you give me some examples of how ESPN is biased toward the Red Sox?”
So I guess no one can answer the above question. I assume it’s just a misconception then. I surfed over to a Sox blog, they’re crying just the opposite - that ESPN is biased toward the Yanks.
Hank should invite the camera crews over when it arrives and they can watch him burn it. Give me a break already with that crap.
Along with Mienk’s ball. lol
The Pink bat has absolutely NO CORRRELATION WHATSOEVER to the Red Sox ‘pinkies’ !!!
That was awareness of Breast Cancer…..nothing like the pink hats the Red Sox fans wear all the time.
Great job Dougie !!! We wish you the best of luck !
Hank should hold a contest to see who can scream the most, uh, vociferous critiques of Red Sox players and then give the Green Monster seats to the winners.
i found myself doing a ‘MLB team hat count’ on a trip to Hungary about 5 years back, and Yankee hats were by far the winner - around 10 or so. By comparison, for other teams, the 2nd-place winner was the Pirates hats w/2 hats - i think Pittsburgh has a large expatriate Hungarian population - and then there was a Braves hat and a Mets hat. no contest.
http://www.wackyplanet.com/piyabahat.html
This must be a knock off than. I thought i’ve seen pink Yankee hats.
They do sell them! UGH!!
hi everybody—i see i’ve missed a lot of pink hat chat…
how is everyone?
http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2612485&cp=1452360.1452526.880797
ooops would help if I posted a link.
These hats make me sick!!
http://shop.mlb.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2016109&cp=1452360.1452526
Reject and denounce, Hank.
“Not that I don’t believe you guys, but I don’t watch much ESPN at all. Can you give me some examples of how ESPN is biased toward the Red Sox?”
No one answered this I suppose because there are so many examples people point to.
In general, I think the whole notion of ESPN being biased is overdone. They’re a business and want to make money.
But the most definite time real bias does come into play in their coverage is with some of their reporters who are passionate Red Sox fans.
The biggest example of this is Peter Gammons. For a long time he was considered to be the best baseball journalist in the business for his baseball column in the boston globe (herald?).
On ESPN he tries to cover baseball as a whole but his passion for the sox never really goes away. It’s often clear who he’s rooting for. At times he just gushes about the Sox.
People also don’t like Steve Phillips - ex GM for the mets. He does often seem sore about the constant beating he took running the mets while the yankees were having so much success in the 1990’s.
Another guy on ESPN who is just insufferable is Bill Simmons - he is just blatantly rooting for the Sox, patriots, etc. Doesn’t even try to be a neutral journalist. He’s just a fan with a forum - that’s basically his deal and he’s open about it.
When people say ESPN is biased towards the yankees its mostly a matter of attention/ coverage. ESPN spends a disporoportionate amount of time covering the yankees. That’s true. But again that’s because they are a business and there are far more yankee fans around the country than any other team and new york is the media capital of the world. For similar reasons ESPN now also devotes a disproportional amount of time on the Sox, given their recent success.
Note to self: Do not wear pink hat to Yankee games.
What’s the big deal with pink Yankee hats? It’s pretty annoying that there are so many people out there who create some kind of list of guidelines over who is a real fan or not.
My mother has been a Yankee fan since she was very young. She never quit on the team through the hard times and is the biggest Thurman Munson fan I’ve ever seen. She also has a pink Yankee hat. Does that mean she’s less of a fan than I am because my Yankee hat is the traditional blue?
Does anyone know if Yes is doing the ultimate road trip? I am hoping they aren’t I see the show as a jinx!
“I read somewhere that the Yankees refuse to sell pink hats which is a smart business move because those are not the kind of fans we want.”
well, my mom has one. seriously.
beat me to it “Say it ain’t so”
I guess this is the game thread??
…Ah, Micheal Kay. It’s been too long.
Yeah Yankee baseball, all is right with the world.
On a side note YES now bringing you New York Yankees Baseball, LIVE from Steinbrenner Field!
it looks like it is gayle
A part of my almost missed Michael Kay’s nasaly lame intro’s.
Me too.
Joe G was playing the infield. Wow he still looks damn good!!
Is it a bad thing that I now feel that much more fufilled as a person and a human being?
..add Joe Morgan & John Miller to the anti-Yankee announcers.
Matter of fact type of broadcasting when Yankees are doing well….over-excited when the ‘other team’ does well.
You learn to live with it; roll your eyes; complain a bit; and simply remind everyone that they are simply Anti-Yankee announcers.
Isn’t Hank membership in RSN proof of how contrived and phony it is?
i never saw john miller as anti-yankee. joe morgan —of course
when WILL they fire him? he’s just plain bad and worse, he’s unprepared on sunday night
gargoyle
Great point!!!
Alex just summed up how I feel - “Baseball finally back on YES.”
So now the Red Sox owner gets involved in the war of words?
I hope it’s looked at as unclassy as it was when The Yankees owner got involved.
Upstate
John Miller used to RS games on the radio. He’s a RS homer thru and thru.
I think the Red Sox took the frat boy bandwagon. All I ever see around campus from the popped-collar Greek kids are Sox hats. They’re even growing a pair with some kids attempting at intelligent baseball banter (”YANKEES SUCK!”, “2004!”, or the classic “GAY ROD”) when I walk in our commons building.
I actually love the comeback. Agree with this.
http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2008/03/02/hank-inducted-into-red-sox-nation/
The Gargoyle” is hittin’ some home runs !!!
Say it ain’t so: I was in the shower, so I’m late on discussion, but if you haven’t noticed, we’re complainers. We find whatever we can to complain about. A few of us hate the pink hats. no harm
Personally, I think it’s kinda cute when older women wear the pink hats, and when little kids. We’re just a bunch of jerks
WTH? We have Yankee hat snobbery now?
lol
this team is going to score some runs this year.
i am psyched.
…always was, is, and will be, - the classic logo & colors of all sports.
Babe Ruth was HUGE in Japan. He was like a God when he went there (just like here..lol) …I’m sure the Yankee popularity began with the tour of Babe and other players in 1934…
“Such was the magnanimity of the Great Bambino, whose appearances throughout Japan, Shanghai, and Manila were greeted with American flags and chants of “I love Bay-bee,” despite our growing differences with the Japanese that would culminate seven years later in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In retrospect, the impact the Babe and his teammates had on internationalizing the modern game of baseball, sharing traditions and promoting American values, may never be fully appreciated”
Go Yankees 2008 !!!!!
This reminds me of how a friend of mine in Britain hates the Yankees precisely because he keeps seeing tons of non-baseball fans wearing Yankee apparel (incidentally, he’s a Giants fan).
San Francisco Giants that is
Hank is getting a real lesson here. It’s too bad our owner acts like an idiot while Boston has one that actually knows what he’s doing. Please Hank, let Cashman do all the talking from now on.
Regarding the ESPn bias toward the Sox - I think this is what congress should be investigating instead of a titan of the game like Rocket.
…might not like the ’style’, but The Hank was correct about the artificial fabrication of RSN by ESPN and the Red Sox fans up in Bristol.
His ‘retraction’ about ESPN was simply PC.
…but we all know he was correct….whether we all like him or not.
His apology was the ‘unringing’ of the bell that we all we waiting for …..a big-time personality to state about ESPN!
Karl Ravech is another Boston guy (Needham, MA) and if you think that Baseball Tonight doesn’t harp on anything that goes wrong with the Yankess then you’re not paying attention.
The BBTN focus on ARod whenever he doesn’t play well is obvious.
My wife has a pink Yankee visor. We’ve been married 4 years. It was purchased before the wedding. I didn’t know about it until after the vows and rings were exchanged.
I’ve hidden it, given it to the dogs to play with, tried to give it to our niece but the damn thing keeps coming back.
She knows better than to wear it to games with me, but she likes to tweak me every once in awhile and wear it out during the warmer months.
That kind of blatant tweaking plus the fact that she looks hot in it with a ponytail is what keeps the passion at a fever pitch in our marriage.
I equally love and hate the pink hats.
There, I said it.
There’s a lot of pink hat hatin’ out there today. Let me weigh in.
My wife who is only a casual fan (for some strange reason the only sport she really likes is NASCAR) woudn’t wear any sports gear whatsoever. When she found out she could wear a pink Yankee shirt she immediately wanted one.
I also got her a Yankee sweatshirt in the team color with the Yankee name in crystals (bling) and she loves it!
My point is, if it gets her involved and more into something I am obviously passionate about, great.
For the purists out there I understand your disdain, but as long as it fairly represents the team, is it really that big a deal?
I happen to like Hank’s in your face-screw you attitude towards Boston.
As for the classy Red Sox ownership, I remember Henry throwing a fit and whining about the Yankee’s unfair financial advantage after the Yankees snatched ARod from under their noses because Henry was too cheap to make the deal with Texas. Sour grapes from the owner of the team with the 2nd largest payroll.
Then there’s Theo, who didn’t raise the bar any by calling Mussina a bad apple recently, and if you remember, Theo’s the guy who snuck out of Fenway a few years ago in a gorilla suit after quitting, pouting because he thought Larry Lucchino was picking on him and he couldn’t have his way. Very classy.
And speaking of Lucchino, this guy’s got a history of being a vindictive cutthroat, who’s basically a Dick Cheny mini-me and who insisted back in 2005 that the Sox move up their ring ceremony to opening day so they could rub it in the face of the Yanks, who opened up the season that year in Fenway.
Classy my assy.
“Hank being Hank” again…
Hank goes over the top at times, but I do like his passion and pride about this organization. He’s got some fire in him for sure.
Giving Hank a membership to the RSN was funny. Was it a lifetime membership or does he have to renew it next year?
Geaux Yankees!
As for Hank’s membership in Red Sox nation, knowing the lengths that Boston’s ownership goes to to squeeze the last dollar out of their fanbase, I’m sure along with whatever a membership in that moneymaking scheme entitles one to, Hank will also be receiving an invoice charging him with whatever they charge the suckers that decide to join.
they can send him all the stuff they wany but unless he filled out the “application” that they have on their website it doesn’t mean a thing!
Hank don’t make a reply to that Funky Bunch in boston.
Here’s Hank’s response http://slidingintohome.blogspot.com/2008/03/red-sox-make-hank-honorary-member-of.html
Red Sox Nation, the arena of conformity. Enough said.