Meet the Thunder
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 08, 2009 
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Mike Ashmore, who has the must-read Thunder Thoughts blog, has full coverage of Trenton’s media day festivities.
Mike has audio and video. If you’re interested in the prospects, it’s well worth your time.
Hey everyone
I asked this last night but figured it can’t hurt to ask it again when people are actually awake:
If I was to, hypothetically, conduct an interview with a YS security employee, what sorts of questions would you want answered?
Which nook and/or cranny is best to hide stuff in?
What’s more dangerous, Tikrit during Ramadan or the bleachers after half price beer day?
Actually my cuzin work there rebcca for the past 5seasons but he quit this season da f….. and i ask him all types of questions.i asked him is it easy to sneak sumone in.do ya get discounts at the stadium.do ya get free food.
I actually conducted a 1 question interview upon entering the stadium the other day and I think it may answer many stadium goers curiousity.
Upon passing the gate to enter the stadium, ticket holders get security screened. Anybody’s who has been there in recent years knows the drill. Hats off, jackets open, cell phones in hand etc.
But one thing I was always curious about is why they ask to see your cellphone. What gives. I’ve heard rumors about bomb detonators but never really believed it.
So my “screener” was a nice middle aged lady and I decided to ask. She told me that the Yankees are concerned about cell phone “flasks” which if you can imagine are liquor holding devices designed to look like a cell phone.
We both had a laugh as I joked about how much liquor could be stored in a cell phone sized flask and assured her that if I was ever to smuggle in a flask that I would be sure to keep it in my back pocket or sock.
>If I was to, hypothetically, conduct an interview with a YS security employee,
>what sorts of questions would you want answered?
When are you going to allow people to bring their own food and beverage into the stadium with pre-9/11 glee?
you can bring your own food into the stadium as long as its in a clear plastic bag. Always have been able to.
I think they may be cutting down on beverages limiting it to unopened water bottles.
Pel–you already can. Since 2006 when I was back in town, you could bring in your own food and drinks. They sniff your drinks, but that’s it.
Manny’s response to Canseco’s allegations: “I have no comment, I don’t even know this guy”………now I hate this rat Canseco but even when he sounds like he’s just stirring the post w/o any real info he’s been right(I blew off his A-ROD allegation a year ago)….I think if someone has never taken any PED substance they wouldn’t have any problem stating right away when an accusation come up that they have never taken a PED instead of taking the ‘no comment’ route, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s taken some for part of his career.
Have you thought about wiping meat on Pedroia’s cap when Challenger was around?
You could bring your own food and drinks u juts have to put em in a platic bag they give u outside the gates.
Sports talk radio is unbelievable. Joe and Evan continue to maintain that Tex was shaken by the booing in Baltimore and that he handled the whole situation very badly. They think he was rattled not just because of the booing, but who was doing it – in essence, his hometown. They just had a caller who already thinks that Tex (and he claimed he said this before the signing) is not the kind of person who can handle NY.
As to Joe and Evan – I just don’t understand why it can’t be possible that Tex had a bad game. Why must their be underlying reasons for a poor performance? I didn’t see any overt signs that Tex was rattled – and he sure didn’t take his poor at bats into the field wtih him. I had to shut them off. Amazing – these days, I have to spend time avoiding the sports pages or sports radio because there is an incredible lack of knowledge permeating the industry.
Sometimes I think the only reason I’m still sort-of sane is because I don’t listen to sports radio.
You have to take sports radio for what it is. They want listeners and they want callers. If they just talk about friendly, mundane stuff, they won’t get either. By riling people up, they do their jobs well.
Every day it’s the same story… people say they will refuse to listen to sports talk radio or read the articles and what happens? People post a large synopsis about the same thing they said they wouldn’t listen to.
You know they are not going to say/write anything positive about the Yankees, so whats the point?
The guy is getting booed more intensely than anyone in a long time, in his home-city as a visiting player, and he goes 0-4 and leaves a million guys on base.
How else is the media going to spin it? Having a bad way wouldn’t make for a good story. And who knows if it even was just a bad day? Maybe the boos did affect him, we don’t know.
Not worth getting worked up over.
I don’t think he was rattled, but I think it bothered him. I think he was pressing and wanted to shut them up.
so Joba make fun of Yogi Berra also when he got pulled over for his DUI….this guy is a sloppy drunk, one of those who probably spew garbage from the mouth…..ridiculous that it is front page espn.com news.
“You know they are not going to say/write anything positive about the Yankees, so whats the point?”
Or say/write anything informative. Sports talk radio doesn’t cater to the serious fan (like many of us), but to the average to casual fan. We’re never going to be able to tune in and hear about Montero and Melancon. Unfortunately, the discussion is aimed at the lowest common denominator.
I think he was booed worse than Johnny Damon when he went back to Fenway. It was brutal.
Talk radio can be a good thing if you take it for what it is. While a lot of guys try to stir the pot most are actually probably giving their take or what they percieve to be some one else’s take on the situation. Whether you agree with it or not, it can be interesting to see what people outside of the bubble of your fandom actually think about your team…for example, when I was a college student at Tech, I just assumed people thought nice things about the Hokies, because I was there and loved the team and could percieve no negative issues…but occasionally Iwould catch comments about all Hokies being thugs, etc on talk radio and had to sit back and wonder why people outside of VT would think those things. Remember, most of us here are Yankees fans, but the majority of the population is not…and agree or disagree, like it or not, those people have an opinion too.
There will be less booing tonight – Tex gets a hit – maybe an RBI – carnivorous media moves to NEXT TOPIC.
“EVERYONE, the fans, media, ESPN, etc, have overreacted to ONE game. Its comical to read and hear how many people have projected an entire season of Yankee Baseball on ONE game.”
sj44-
don’t you think you may be overreacting to the overreaction a little?
this year is a year of high expectations. it’s not a rebuilding year. 400 million was spent on free agents for a quick fix to go along with a rebuilding process that was faltering or taking longer than expected. 40-50 million peeled off the payroll and was replaced with younger and better players.
why shouldn’t fans expect this team to win ? this team was built to win. this may even be a high water mark because jeter,arod,mo,posada, and pettitte aren’t getting any younger, so it’s understandable that fans are holding this year’s team to a high standard.
there’s a new stadium, great pitching staff, superstars,young prospective stars, etc.
if not now , when?
if any year is the year to go for it, this is the year.
now, why the chicken littleness of some fans and media overreaction as you correctly point out?
it’s obvious that the yankees have underachieved for the past 3-4 years considering their resources. team routinely beat them on half the payroll. there is enough evidence that the yankees have been mismanaged by a bumbling front office that was at odds with itself.
you and others say the management ship has been turned in the right direction and it wasn’t the fault of the present management that the team faltered and stumbled through the past few years. fair enough, but this year it’s time for management to put up or shut up.
sabathia was the pitcher cashman targeted. so yes, he has to be the sabathia he’s been at cleveland and milwaukee. burnett has to win at least 15 games. teixeira must be a solid all star. these are realistic expectations of fans.
this is a team built to win. the problem is that in the back of even the most die hard fan is the nagging feeling that the team is not run well and that if a way can be figured out to mess up a winning hand this management will find it. this doubt has been earned.
this is the time for this management and the team itself to prove that these fears are unfounded and this is a team to be reckoned with. even with someone as skeptical as i am about a little stein/ cashman led management , all the team has to do is win to change negative views of them.
one game does not make a season, but always being patient and looking for the future doesn’t work either. i don’t see anything wrong with expecting a good start .
I’m soooo done with ESPN (have been for quite some time)… but for some reason I still frequent their website. Anyone have any good recommendations for all-in-one sports websites? A place where I can get news from all sports without driving me crazy?
As to the Joba thing, I was up front with how disappointed I was in him when the incident happened – drunk driving happens to be a huge issue for me. He got lucky that no one was hurt…….That said, no one was hurt and Joba is a good kid. This is old news. The Daily News, by posting a video of the incident at this point, is taking a page right out of the National Enquirer. I didn’t see it, but apparently Joel Sherman wrote a nice little article about Joba. See, this is ridiculous. If the DUI was so upsetting to Sherman, why didn’t he write about it when it happened? Was he living under a rock? The article (which I refuse to read) is all about stirring the pot.
I can’t even blame everything on the media. The News had an article today quoting John Flaherty and Jim Kaat expressing concern about CC because he was using a heating pad (he’s had oblique issues before) and his velocity was down. Give me a break. CC was probably overthrowing out of nerves (no matter what he said) and, therefore, his velocity would be down. Now all of a sudden he could be fatigued or possibly have tightness in his forearm? Shouldn’t these ex-players know better?
BTW I think the Tex boo-fest was right up there with Clemens’ return to Fenway as a Yankee
BTW I think the Tex boo-fest was right up there with Clemens’ return to Fenway as a Yankee
Rebecca -
I find it damaging to my mental health to listen to any talk-format on radio or television that is basically entertainment masked as news.
It’s not that I don’t like to hear opinions – I do. But I prefer them in a non-combative environment.
And I prefer the opinions I choose to hear to be at least laced with some supporting arguments based in fact.
Randy I, I agree somewhat with your post from the prior thread, but not completely. I don’t necessarily think Yankee fans are nervous becaue they think the FO has been incompetent; I think they are nervous because everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong for the last couple of years. I can only speak for myself (who happens to be a pessimistic person), but the game on Monday gave me bad vibes. The offense is a concern to me because, again, they left a small army on the bases. No matter who they bring in, the hitters rarely get the job done in a clutch situation (runner on 3rd, less than two outs – just as an example) unless they hit HRs. I can’t explain it – Jeter, Posada, Matsui, Alex – these are good to great hitters. I am absolutely NOT a superstitious person in real life, but I see Beckett pitch a game like he did yesterday and the Sox hitters (even Varitek looked good) got the job done and I feel like we’ve seen this before. Things always seem to work out for the Sox and not for the Yankees. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but the Yankees really do have a lot to prove.
vin unfortunately espn even w/ their sox bias is the best source of news for all sports, they pretty much have the monopoly w/ pretty much 24 hour coverage and around the clock updates on their website.
randy l…what is a good start?
Turn off sports radio and turn on FM radio. Though somewhere there will be a lady Gaga song playing..
(I’m getting so sick of hearing Just Dance and Poker Face)
tampayank,
I was afraid someone would say that. It definitely is a thorough and up-to-date site, and I’m so familiar with it that I could navigate it in my sleep. I was just hoping there’s some kind of lesser known quasi-underground site out there.
Sutcliff tells B Tierney
he’s not worried about Tex or CC – Ok fine
But he is worried about CMW getting another foot injury – hmm? suggests the O’s bunt against him.
Also…if the Yankees win 60% of their games, which is dam good…they will lose 65 games.
As someone who has lived in RI for almost 20 years and have alot of friends who are sawx fans…it amazes me how Yankees fans act like pre-2004 sawx fans.
I remeber when I moved here and sawx fans would be giddy over being 3-4 games up in June/July…I would say lets see in September and as sure as the dollar being the strongest currency I would be right.
Well it seems that as the dollar is almost…or on its way to being worthless…it is no longer Yankees fans saying we’ll see in September.
randy l -
I think we all want the Yankees to get off to a good start, but one day isn’t enough to make a judgment. I think a good start is a .500 or better road trip and a winning homestand (avg. 2 of 3). I think this is a good start AND a good pace to set over the course of the season. I like to avoid streaks, especially of the losing variety, in favor of consistency. I think they need to have a winning record in April.
Because the players are human, I don’t expect perfection. I didn’t like the results of Opening Day game – but, there were some good things that went on mixed in with the not-so-good. I always expect some kind of adjustment to the nasty weather in contrast to the gorgeous weather the players just came from. And I figure the home team on opening day is highly motivated to win. The Yankees gave them too many opportunities to capitalize on their motivation on Monday. I expect better today. And I don’t expect CC to have absolutely nothing next time around.
The other day you brought up the value of early games versus late games – basically the idea of whether games in April “count” as much as games in September.
Of course they do. And getting off to a fast start ensures you don’t have to win those games again. But early in the season, you know you there are miles of games in front of you to win. You don’t want to get too comfortable, though, and allow losses to mount to an uncomfortable number, and that is relative depending on what the other teams in the division are doing.
Wins are better than losses. Always. But you have to come to terms with the fact that you can’t win every game. And you can’t think a season is lost after one month. It may become a more difficult battle (as we’ve certainly seen with past Yankees teams), but you can’t lose the season in April.
Well, maybe you can lose the season in April if you lose most every or every game.
“randy l…what is a good start?”
vader-
a good start would be getting quality starts from all our starters most games. if this happens , even with arod being out in april , the yankees should be able to play at a minimum of a .550 rate.
the team doesn’t seem to be made of good april players, so a minimum .550 start would have them positioned nicely for when the weather heats up.