There has been a whole to-do this week about whether Yankee fans should boo Alex Rodriguez at home, and whether the Bleacher Creatures should include him in Roll Call. After getting some grief from fellow Yankee fans, Bald Vinny Milano, spokesman for the Bleacher Creatures, had some sensible comments for CBSLocal.com on the whole thing, saying that they were “definitely not going to skip him”:
Not for nothing, I feel like the guy needs a little bit of love,” Milano said. “It feels like nobody’s in his corner. For that brief minute we can show him that, yes, we’re in your corner, we’ve got your back. If you’re fighting for the Yankees and you’re trying to help us win, God damn it I’m gonna yell for you.”
The best part of the interview was this:
There’s no question that fans are hurt, disappointed, angry — you name it. One person even told CBS 2 that A-Rod “cheated me” and “broke my heart.”
“The weeping of ‘You broke my heart,’ that’s silly,” Milano said. “I don’t see anybody weeping over Francisco Cervelli.
That leads me to the point of this article (thanks for bearing with me!) It’s how the booing of A-Rod for doing PEDs is more than a little hypocritical for Yankee fans to do so. And most of it has to do with people who didn’t like A-Rod in the first place for various reasons, most having nothing to do with steroids or other PEDs or anything else. It’s like the sentiment I’ve heard recently about how A-Rod’s a cheating bum, and the Yanks ought to replace him with Detroit’s Jhonny Peralta at third base next year. Never mind that Peralta was also suspended in the Biogenesis scandal!
Because if Yankee fans’ sense of outrage were consistent, they would boo Andy Pettitte. Yet 9.9 times out of 10, whenever I mention this to a Yankee fan, I get back the lie “He only did it one time to heal from an injury!” Was there *ever* talk of booing Andy Pettitte in 2008 or since? Of course not.
And what about Cervelli? And what about supergenius GM Brian Cashman acquiring former Met Fernando Martinez this year *after* he was named to Biogenesis? And what about the many players suspected of juicing that Cash has signed in recent years?
Most notably, what about the 2000 Yankees? Nine of them were in the Mitchell Report. Is anybody suggesting that we no longer count 2000 as part of the 27 World Series titles? And are we not going to count 2009 anymore, either, because A-Rod was the No. 1 reason for No. 27? How about 1996, 1998, and 1999? Steroid users were on those teams, too.
Maybe to be on the safe side, we Yankee fans should start saying that our team only has 22 titles, because all the rest are tainted in some way. You think that will fly?
I thought about going to A-Rod’s return, but I will *not* be at Friday’s game. Here’s why — I’m afraid I will end up sitting next to some jerk booing A-Rod, I will say something, we’ll end up in an argument, I will have a lousy time, and I’ll be ticked off all the way home. Not to mention having to pay money for the privilege! Nah, I will watch the game for free on TV instead. Going there in person is not worth the hassle.
Frankly, given how poorly this team has played as of late, A-Rod’s return is going to be the only thing that increases ticket sales or ratings!
And finally somebody in the New York media says what I have been saying for ages — that the A-Rod saga distracts people from all the other issues with this team. Of course, it’s Wally Matthews with ESPN New York, and he *still* won’t give Brian Cashman any of the blame. Shocker.
What do you think? Tell us about it!
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