"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

Whaddap?

Some couple of few things to click on:

The first round of organizational meetings for the Yankees will be held today in Tampa. George King reports that Kevin Long will return as the hitting coach.

Ben Kabak on a certain former New York team

Rebecca G takes a looks at the 10 best moments of the 2010 Yankee season.

Steve Lombardi serves up a dirty trick.

And over at The Captain’s Blog, William talks Core Four and “The Diplomacy of Saying Goodbye”:

The decline of legends like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera (well, maybe not Mo) is inevitable, and at some point, the Yankees will have to move on. However, they don’t need to do it in such a cutthroat way. In the case of Bernie, there was no reason for not giving him a guaranteed deal. Even if the money was a concern, would the Yankees really have been worse off with Williams taking the roster spot of guys like Andy Phillips, Josh Phelps and Kevin Thompson? Luckily, Bernie’s relationship with the Yankees remains strong, but it would have been a shame had the result of the team’s decision been estrangement from one of its homegrown stars.

Do we really follow sports only to watch a winner? If so, why not jump from bandwagon to bandwagon? Although many casual fans do take that approach, the diehard’s attachment to a team stems more from its history than its prospects for future success. Because of their financial advantage, the Yankees can have their cake and eat it too. As a result, the team shouldn’t feel the need to abide by Branch Rickey’s famous advice about trading “a player a year too early rather than a year too late” when handling its Hall of Fame core. The Yankees can still win while catering to their stars. The end doesn’t always justify the means, and in this case, the cost of winning in the future doesn’t have to involve turning away from history.

[Picture by Richard Sandler]

5 comments

1 monkeypants   ~  Nov 1, 2010 11:22 am

[0] I've been digging William's blog. Awesome writing and a nice balance between the analytical and romantic side of Yankee fandom.

2 Alex Belth   ~  Nov 1, 2010 11:49 am

1) Agreed. He's doing a bang-up job of it.

3 williamnyy23   ~  Nov 1, 2010 1:45 pm

[1] [2] Thanks guys...it's been fun so far, and an effort almost entirely inspired by the Banter and all of my interactions here. BB still remains the best Blog on the internet because it remains above all else a community.

4 Shaun P.   ~  Nov 1, 2010 2:03 pm

[3] Ditto monkeypants and AB. I've really enjoyed your writing, william. Just wish I had more time to comment!

Keep it up, and thanks for all the fish.

5 thelarmis   ~  Nov 1, 2010 2:09 pm

agreed on everything here. both the banter and william's blog are amazing. i wish i had more time to read all of william's posts...

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver