Who did you have lunch with yesterday?
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Aug 09, 2010 
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Bad leg and all, Alex Rodriguez had lunch with six high-achieving students from Bronx Preparatory Charter School at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. The kids ranged from eighth grade to 11th, and earned the lunch with A-Rod based on academic achievement, work ethic and volunteerism. The school had 100 percent of is graduating senior class admitted to college each of the past three years.
Associated Press photo
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86w183,
You don’t believe it’s just slightly immature for a grown man to boo a ballplayer?
If not, we couldn’t disagree more.
Sure, people have the right to boo anyone they want. And I have the right to call them morons for behaving like children.
Very cool.
Great picture
i’d love to have that picture of george, billy and lou in my office.
TheKiid August 9th, 2010 at 9:02 am
i?d love to have that picture of george, billy and lou in my office.
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My first thought was also, that picture is awesome
For those that didnt see it over the weekend, here is part of frankie Piliere’s report on Brackman. Click the link to read a detailed report on his pitches (his curve is a 7 on the 2-8 scale).
“But given the progress I’ve seen from last year to spring training to now, I’d have to say that the righty has shown the ability to improve rapidly. He now shows solid command in the strike zone, a smooth and rather effortless over-the-top delivery, and the dynamic arsenal of a top-of-the-rotation starter. If given the time and patience to develop, he now has all the ingredients needed to make an elite big league starter. Again, there is much work to be done, but Brackman now is much more than just a guy you can dream on, and instead is a pitcher making outstanding progress.”
http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/0.....ss=twitter
Good job by the Yankees and Alex.
I have family members who teach in Bronx schools and motivating kids to want educational excellence isn’t easy.
The schools and the students who work hard to achieve it deserve to be recognized for it.
Giuseppe —-
I’m not a vocal fan and never have been. I’m pretty quiet during games when I attend as a fan unless it’s at a great, critical moment of the contest.
However I would never presume to tell other fans how to react to what happens on the field. I have sat near people who stand and cheer every opposing out and every baserunner. I have sat near hecklers screaming at players 250 feet awat. c’est la vie!
I think it’s elitist and arrogant to say someone is a moron if they are more vocal and passionate and choose to boo a lousy performance. I agree it’s immature, but to label people morons because they choose to voice their frustrations is over the top.
Perhaps you and Betsy can lead us in a chorus of Kumbaya
“I’m not going to call a working guy who saves up to buy two $ 125 tickets to a Yankee game a moron because some millionaire gives up six runs in the first inning and he boos them.”
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Why not?
What does an athlete having that much money have anything to do with it?
Booing says nothing about the athlete and a ton about the fan.
Plenty of fans save up money, go to the game, see a bad play/performance and don’t feel the need to boo.
Booing is a temper tantrum. We learn not to throw temper tantrums in kindergarten. Instead of dealing with your emotions at the moment like a grown up, fans that boo throw a hissy fit to make them feel better.
It is hypocritical to boo and then cheer, because it shows how entitled you feel. You are not entitled to anything from these athletes, no matter how much money you pay to go the game.
If you are so emotionally stunted that you feel the need to project your anger/frustration on another person, then yes you are immature AND a moron.
86w163
I won’t make a blanket statement that all fans who boo are morons but the ones who booed Berkman on Saturday for grounding out to lead off the bottom of the 8th inning with the Yankees up 5-2 were.
I’m an elitist because I think booing one of your own players is stupid and moronic?
Would I be an elitist if I thought someone having a few too many and getting into fights with other fans (verbal or otherwise) was moronic as well?
How about when fans storm the streets after a championship season flipping over cars and setting couches on fire? Can we just attribute that to fans being passionate?
It’s not arrogant or elitist by any stretch to single out bad behavior. Whether they are breaking laws or not, it’s all bad/childish behavior.
the collared t-shirt under the collared button down shirt is a look that needs to go ASAP…
Erica is a passionate fan and she doesn’t boo.
She just hisses.
There’s something to be said on both sides about booing and just sitting on your hands and having no reaction to a players poor performance. I believe players expect to be booed if they continue to make poor plays, or show a lack of effort.
All players make errors, it’s a part of the game, and I don’t believe players at the pro level are not trying to get hits or make plays in the field. However, if a player dogs a play, and shows a lack of effort, then fans booing to show their displeasure with that lack of effort, I would deem appropriate.
Baseball is a competitive sport AND an entertainment industry. If the performance is not entertaining, the spectator has the right to express him/herself.
It’s the fans way of offering positive and negative feedback to the performance. What’s wrong with that? This isn’t a little league game.
I don’t boo or heckle, but I have walked out on games, movies and plays when I was dissatisfied with the performance. some of you may think walking out on a play is moronic. Guess what, you don’t get to decide how every fan reacts to every situation.
You guys are such pollyannas. If booing is unacceptable than cheering should be too. Maybe we can sit there like we’re part of an oil painting.
And I’m willing to bet that EVERY one of you who wants to ostracize fans who boo have yourself booed an umpire or a referee. THAT’S hypocritical
Giuseppe that might be the most idiotic collection of comparisons ever.
Yeah, yelling “Boooooo” is the same as fighting and vandalism.
Let me just add this thought. I agree fans that booed Berkman were wrong. Every player needs time to get adjusted to a new team and situation.
Berkman has in the past been a good hitter, and I believe he’ll contribute to this teams success, as he did last night.
Several Yankees have struggled this season, for long periods of time, but they were not booed, so booing a new guy, who was trying his best to fit in was the act of morons.
Later …………..
this was fun… off to sing Kumbaya!
MaineYankee August 9th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Erica is a passionate fan and she doesn?t boo.
She just hisses.
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This is correct
I also give awesome dirty looks that have made grown men cringe. You miss out bigtime on those over the internet
It’s easy to see that Joe Girardi has developed some trust in Boone Logan and rightfully so. No need to rush Damaso Marte back with the way Logan has pitched.
I see the great booing debate has made another appearance.
The origins of booing:
http://www.slate.com/id/2141597/?nav=tap3
86w183,
I was always taught to be accountable for my actions, good or bad.
If it makes me an elitist to single out bad behavior, so be it. I guess it was rather naive of me to think others were brought up the same way.
I didn’t know Moseley had hip labrum surgery last year.
Is hip labrum surgery the new Tommy John surgery?
For those that think it’s their right to boo , do I have a right not have to sit near someone that acts that way and spoils the game for me.
good morning everyone…checking in to see if there are any winners in the ball drawing yet.
Got back in time to see the game last night. What a pleasant surprise Mosley has been…I guess it isn’t only the Yankees that struggle w/ pitchers they haven’t seen before.
Today should be a no pressure situation for Phil.
I am in agreement with you GF. I don’t get booing the team or players you are rooting for. I don’t understand how that does anything but vent your own b.s. Now booing the opposition and the umps, that I can agree with
Really a feel-good column on Moseley by Joel Sherman. You love to see the underdogs win! I had no idea he’d been unable to even run as recently as January. Good for the Yankees for giving him a shot. This is a game I would have liked to have seen in person.
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports.....UJHFWhOlvK
Bronx
“Now booing the opposition and the umps, that I can agree with”
If you don’t boo the opposing player it might hurt their feelings because it means they are irrelevent.
I don’t boo as much as I get frustrated with a player like Joba, who is the guy of the moment. When he comes into pitch when there are men on base or it is a close game, I am not comfortable. I keep waiting for bad things to happen. So even though I don’t actually boo, I am fearful of the end result.
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Mike Francessa is on the fan now. I am getting tired of the excuses being made for the Sox and the people who are injured. We have had and do have important people out for the Yankees, also guys who are ‘beaten up’ playing.
SAS
Based on what we’ve seen with Joba that’s a natural reaction.
Jason Hirsh has been named the IL Pitcher of the Week. 4th time in last 5 weeks a SWB Pitcher has won the award – Albaladejo (2), Redding.
Montero can call a nice game folks.
Doesn’t look like a very filling lunch.
very nice article Wang, thanks for posting it.
Unless there is a real lack of effort, I don’t see the point of booing. The player already knows he didn’t come thru, or that he made a mistake.
What’s the difference between booing the opposition and booing your own players?
If it’s considered childish to boo then people should NEVER boo.
People also shouldn’t throw baseballs back on the field after an opposing player hits a homerun because throwing things when things don’t go your way is most definitely childish yet the whole crowd cheers when some idiot throws a baseball on the field, go figure.
So when I said before yesterday’s game that I had a bad feeling with Moseley going against Boston – um – my bad.
For those who believe that Joba is garbage and should be dealt out of town I point to Brandon Morrow who was the Joba Chamberlain of Seattle. They traded him this past winter for Brandon League – Toronto immediately moved him back into the rotation and he’s on his way to being a very good starting pitcher with filthy strikeout stuff.
Now I would still trade Joba, but Morrow should be a cautionary tale.
My Met fan friends and I have been talking – if a new GM comes into Citi next year wouldn’t a Jose Reyes for Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett deal make sense for both the Mets and Rays?
You guys are taking this booing thing too seriously.
Give the fans some credit.
Not that I would have booed Berkman that early in his tenure but it seemed to have worked.
It can’t be proven but it could have been what he needed, he said so himself, when he said “I would have booed myself.”
NY is different in that the winning mentality is so ingrained and taken so seriously, maybe a player from another team where it wasn’t a top priority, needs the sound of a boo as a wakeup call.
It’s how he takes it that is more important. If it helps him, fine. If not, then you find out quickly what kind of ballplayer and man you have.
I was always taught to be accountable for my actions, good or bad.
If it makes me an elitist to single out bad behavior, so be it. I guess it was rather naive of me to think others were brought up the same way.
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since when is booing bad behavior? you don’t have to like it or think it’s a mature way to act while watching a ball game but its a matter of taste not good/bad behavior. the lawlessness that occurs after a championship, drunken assaults in the stands, streaking naked across center field – ALL insubordinate actions punishable by law. Booing? It’s a vocal reaction. Are there signs somewhere in the Stadium that say this is an inappropriate way to act? I don’t do it myself, but it’s within a fan’s right. to compare it to something criminal is over the top.
I don’t credit the fans’ booing for getting Berkman going, I credit Berkman being a talented veteran hitter. He had only amassed 20something at-bats when the booing started, and even the greatest have ugly week-long stretches at the plate. He had said and done all the right things from his arrival and he did not blatantly cost the Yankees any games while trying to get into a groove, so to me booing just seems idiotic in Berkman’s case.
Or maybe Berkman would have started hitting yesterday without the boos because he had faced Beckett before.
SAS
I agree! When Joba comes in to pitch now, I get the same feeling I used to get when Farnsworth came in.
And last night when they were talking about Francona being manager of the year for the way he has handled his team despite all the injuries made me want to gag!
The same people that have been booing Berkman are the same ones that decided that Alez Rodriguez deserved to be booed for the last 6 years, until the last post season. Because it’s a KEWL thing to do. That and because they are idiots.
One of the mos ingrained ideas in baseball is that some guys rise to the occasion and come up “big” in big games while other shrink and choke.
Most often those reputations are bestowed on players based on particular post season performances.
Of course any post season is made up of only a small handful of games. This is particularly true for starting pitchers.
The player who has most benefit from this over the past decade is Josh Beckett. The players who was pilloried by this most was Alex Rodriguez.
Based on a very small handful of post season games Beckett was thrust into a position of supposedly being an elite “ace” starter and one of the best “big game” pitchers of his generation. There was even talk starting about a case for Beckett to make the Hall of Fame because he was such a great big game pitcher.
And much of Beckett’s supposed aura was built on a couple of games he threw against the Yankees.
But when you look at Beckett’s regular season performance – which is many times larger than his post season body of work and much less prone to fluctuation – Beckett was never anything special.
Alex of course was the exact opposite. His regular season track record has few peers. Alex was tremendous in his post season track record as well until 2005. But suddenly Alex was a “choker” and a guy who just couldn’t come up “big.”
He was the exact antithesis of Beckett. And both players were put up as symbols of their franchises fortunes.
But in the end, once again, the law of averages wins out.
The yankees can be a frustrating team facing pitchers they don’t know. I think that’s because it’s a team with a very patient, intelligent approach at the plate. They are a team that learns.
And they have learned how to beat Beckett silly just like they did with Pedro. Beckett has a good arm but his early success against the Yankees appears to be exactly that – early success masked by unfamiliarity.
And Alex of course had a legendary post season last year and returns to performing like the back of his baseball card.
Very difficult to draw accurate inferences about the internal fortitude of a player based on a small handful of games.
KEWL GB??? what is the blog coming to??
There are also different degrees of booing.
There is the vociferous kind when a player doesn’t hustle or just plain dogs it.
There is also the prodding type when a player doesn’t meet the expectations the fans have of him.
Of course, some have achieved stature that they are given a boo “waiver,” so to speak.
Too boo them would probably be the work of idiots or drunks (one and the same?).
Why not boo AJ when he implodes or Joba when he blows up? Nothing wrong with it.
GB –
More to the point, the fans who think that their booing motivated Berkman are the same idiots who sit at home in the same seat wearing the same thing during a team winning streak because they feel that they truly are part of the team.
Or who booed Alex because they thought rooting for him was disloyal to Derek Jeter.
It’s really sad when some people put the fanatic back in fan.
pat August 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Or maybe Berkman would have started hitting yesterday without the boos because he had faced Beckett before.
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I thought everyone agreed that Berkman started hitting yesterday as a result of my pretend discussion with him
I guess I’m an elitist too because I think booing your own player is silly and moronic unless that player wasn’t giving his best effort to play well.
our AAA pitchers consistently win awards. Montero has to have a little to do with this. I will be disappointed if we go sign another catcher next yearto share time with Posada and Cervelli. Next year should be Montero, Cervelli backup and Posada full time DH/3rd catcher.
I think Montero will benefit from a year with Posada there to help coach him, and it is time for posada to admit his body (which went 15 years without a DL stint), is paying him back now.
new thread
Winners announced (I am not one of them
)
The fans at Yankee Stadium have been booing for generations. Many, if not all, of the Yankees best players have heard boos directed at them at some point in their careers.
And boos are not only directed at players. I’ve heard boos for people throwing a poorly placed ceremonial first pitch, a groundskeeper that dropped a rake, fans that can’t catch an easy foul ball etc.
I don’t think it’s a question of right or wrong. It’s just something that happens.
upstate kate August 9th, 2010 at 10:28 am
KEWL GB??? what is the blog coming to??
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I’ve seen that asinine spelling on here so much that I decided that it was appropriate for the booing jackasses. anyway…I got your attention at least. I felt that you were ignoring me. Hope you have a great day, Kate.
upstate kate August 9th, 2010 at 10:28 am
KEWL GB??? what is the blog coming to??
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I’ve seen that asinine spelling on here so much that I decided that it was appropriate for the booing jack as ses. anyway…I got your attention at least. I felt that you were ignoring me. Hope you have a great day, Kate.
# Bronx Jeers August 9th, 2010 at 10:36 am
The fans at Yankee Stadium have been booing for generations. Many, if not all, of the Yankees best players have heard boos directed at them at some point in their careers.
And boos are not only directed at players. I’ve heard boos for people throwing a poorly placed ceremonial first pitch, a groundskeeper that dropped a rake, fans that can’t catch an easy foul ball etc.
I don’t think it’s a question of right or wrong. It’s just something that happens.
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With your handle, how could you see it any other way?
I see Arod went with the prep look for the prep students. Love the double collar. I had an 80′s flashback.
Here’s an interesting article kinda on the subject being discussed here.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....?eref=sihp