I stopped following baseball in '94, but I've known for a long time that I have at least one friend, and WFAN has plenty of fans who could have run the show at any one of those three teams better than they have been run. If my friend had been general manager of all three of those teams since say, 1990, all three teams would have one, and probably two or three World Championships under their belt. He says he's not qualified. He's called everything that's happened, both good and bad, for all three teams, that entire time.
He saw Sir Chadwicke of Penningtonshire, Lord of The Hanging Curve for what he was in diapers, let alone in the NFL. And so it has proven out. Just listen to WFAN any day of the week, and you'll hear folks all over NYC who can run any one of those three organizations better than they have been since the late 80's. It's sad, but the long list of stupid acquisitions, bad play calling, etc. that has been rife throughout all those teams, shows a very interesting and common thread running through all three of those entities.
That thread is lack of creativity, making safe decisions, and having players that were likely to be more "corporately acceptable."
O'Brien instead of Marino or Kelly? The acquisition of Kiki Vandeweghe with a bad back, after everyone knew his 29 point per game for a career days were over? The acquisition of Kevin McReynolds, Juan Samuel, the marshallow forward from California who missed four straight DUNKS ON THE SAME PLAY in a crucial Game 6 etc., etc., blech, blech, bleccchhhhhhhh. :bigpuke:
People love to whine about how Steinbrenner's money "buys" the Yankees their Championships. Take a look at the record. The Yankees have won approximately one out of every four World Series and have played in approximately two out of every five that have been played going back to The Garden of Eden. The Jets, Mets, and Knicks have just as much money to toss around as General Von Steingrabber, but there is something very "safe," stiff, corporate, controlling and unexciting about the way all three teams ultimately FAIL to win the "big one."
Throughout history, the Yankees have been full of players that didn't always get along, and in some cases downright hated each other. Many were very colorful characters, mavericks, rebels, and even a few troublesome ones. But when they left the locker room it was every one ELSE who was the enemy, not them. The Jets, Mets and Knicks of the past twenty years have always fallen short. Charles Oakley, one of my great sports heroes, and John Starks, along with Anthony Mason later on, NEARLY brought us what Clyde and his crew did. Theygotthisclose because the Knicks almost cast off the corporate restraints in those days.
Unfortunately, those Knicks I mentioned, along with Xavier McDaniel who joined them at one point, when faced with the superior cool and professionalism of Jordan, Pippen and Co., succumbed to the lesser professionalism of losing their cool, instead of sharpening their focus. Instead of the Bulls being their enemy, and winning being the ultimate goal and revenge, literally kicking people's asses or showing outrageous bursts of emotion did them in.
There's a disease that inhabits those three teams. Their front offices are always composed of these "winning is nice, but image first, gotta look good for the tourists and City Hall" kind of guys. Steinbrenner's answer to that is eff you, winning is everything, and the fans, tourists and City Hall will love you even more if you win, notwithstanding that maybe a couple of guys on the team have shady pasts or wear their hair funny.
