OK, to be fair, everything Scioscia has said since the series has been nothing but class, and I'm not taking any of that away from him. But did anyone catch the recent comments by recently defeated Angels manager Mike Scioscia? He was talking to 300 people at a fundraiser lunch for KidWorks, and was asked by someone in the crowd if the Yankees could buy another championship next year.
First, Scioscia said the Yankees' payroll had nothing to do with their ALCS defeat of the Angels and eventual world title. He said the professionalism and ability of the players did it. Then, came this:What team is that exactly, Mike? The team that just lost? The team that still has a lot of free agents to resign? Come on Mike, you're better than this. Quotes like this are reserved for idiots, and you sir are not an idiot.
"I don't care if the Yankees go out and spend $350 million next year, we're going to beat them because we have the team," Scioscia said.
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Charles Warner of The Huffington Post (relax conservatives) has this nice article about Mariano Rivera and Hideki Matsui, and how they're behavioral models for TV.
New York Yankee World Series MVP, designated hitter Hideki Matsui, and the incomparable closer Mariano Rivera were models of mature, professional dignity in the final game of the World Series -- behavior rarely seen in the trash heap of commercial television.And think Mr. Warner sums up both players fairly well, wouldn't you say?
Matsui, the calm, taciturn Japanese slugger drove in a record-tying six runs in the sixth and final game of this year's World Series against the scrappy Philadelphia Phillies, and Rivera, baseball's greatest, most effective closer of all time, got the final five outs to shut down the dangerous Phillies in a 7-3 Yankee win.
These were impressive performances, but what stood out as much as their on-the-field heroics were their calm, confident, mature behavior and, most of all, their dignity -- the way they handled their accomplishments. They didn't jump up, pump their fists, look to the heavens, or even smile. They just did their jobs in a non-demonstrative, professional manner.
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Here's a nice story about Joba and his father on the night the Yankees won # 27 from Big League Stew. During the postgame celebrations Harlan Chamberlain was trying to find Joba. Finally he spotted A.J. Burnett if he could get his son.
Burnett could and a few moments later, Joba Chamberlain(notes) put down the giant blue Yankee flag he had been waving up on stage. The big Yankees pitcher hopped off the stage, disappeared from the view of the Fox cameras and quickly made a beeline for his father. When they came together, they wrapped each other in a huge rocking bearhug.
It wasn't long before both were crying.
They said the same thing over and over.
"We did it, dad," Joba said.
"We did it," Harlan said.
"We did it," Joba said.
"We did it," Harlan said.
And on and on. They held tight for almost a minute. Their eyes were red when they let go.
Here's a picture of the two:
... Besides that you can use this thread to discuss whatever you'd like.
