Over at the Players’ Tribune, C.C. Sabbathia talks about his alcoholism. Worth a look.

Photo Via: TMZ.

This might be the first season since I started the Banter where I’ll put up posts so I can learn more about the team from you guys.

I’m pleasantly out-of-the-loop. I’m just so busy with other things that baseball and the Yankees is not my priority. That said, I like not knowing what is going on, only half-paying attention. It’ll make the season more of a discovery because I’ll turn the game on one day, not recognize half the roster, and then settle in to get to know them.

So, what’s the deal? Who is worth watching? Who are we worried about? Fill me in.

Picture by Bags

Another open Yankee thread for you on a snowy Friday in New York. I’ve been up to some fun stuff this week at Esquire curating a mess of interviews and profiles on comedians. (You can see the blog, here.)

Dig this little bit of goofiness.

Happy Friday!

Picture by Bags

Alright, Game Thread for first game of the Spring!….

(cricket, cricket…)

At any rate, sorry for the late start, but rage dump here as you desire. I’ll try to lend a hand here and there to provide a place for us to get together and cogitate. In the meantime, let’s watch The Severino build on his impressive debut from last season, with  a lineup like this backing him up against the Tigers, who throw an old familiar NY face in former Mets phenom Mike Pelfrey.

Aroldis Chapman gets 30 games.

[Photo Credit: Corey Sipkin/N.Y. Daily News]

Good Lord, game threads. Right. What’s a game thread?

Are we there already? Man, I’ve got to get up to speed on this spring training business.

Luckily for us, Chad Jennings is on the case—as always.

I tell ya, I’m feel more disconnected with the daily happenings of the team than I have since I began this blog in 2002. But not in an unpleasant way. I kind of like the distance. This way, everything carries an element of surprise—learning about the new guys (who?), remembering the veterans (he’s still around?). The further away I get from the 365-day news cycle, the happier I am, and the easier it is for me to just show up as a fan and root.

Picture by Bags.

Ah, Lonn Trost, the man who makes rooting for the Yankees just that much harder.

Picture by Bags

Pitchers and catchers.

Doesn’t that sound nice?

Illustration by Robert Weaver via The New York Times. 

Two more days before pitchers and catchers official report to Yankee camp in Florida.

And not a moment too soon, am I right?

Picture by Bags

Hey Hey,

Know it’s been slower n slow around here these days—and thanks to Will for keeping a light on. That’s because I’m spending all my time curating and editing the Esquire Classic site. Oh, it’s a long story but I got job eliminated last December after 13 years at Time Inc. I arrived there in the spring of 2002 as a temp having spent my twenties working in film cutting rooms. I had a good, long run at the company—saved money, got married, saw a parent die, and created this site. I don’t think about it often but I’m as proud of this blog as I am of anything I’ve ever been involved with.

The Banter isn’t going anywhere. Even though I’m busy, and even though the posting has been nonexistent of late, I have no desire to close-up shop (The beauty part about the Banter for me is that at some point I let go of having expectations of what the site should be; I just let it flow and that helps me continue). But things are different and I’m not sure they’ll soon return to what they’ve been in the past. All I can say is that I’m happy to have you and I hope you dig whatever it is I can offer at any given time.

I plan to be around for the season but at this point you’re getting your Yankee fix elsewhere. All I can do is keep the jernt open so you old timer’s can fall through and hang out.

In the meantime, I’ve segued nicely into this gig with Esquire. You guys are aware of the preservation work I’ve done with classic journalism and criticism. Well, Esky is an embarrassment of riches. I’ve got so much reading on my plate, I can’t keep up. It’s overwhelming and exhilarating. There are so many distinct voices: John Sack, Sally Kempton, Bill Zehme, Norman Mailer, David Foster Wallace, Tom Wolfe, Nora Ephron, Pete Dexter, Mark Jacobson, Richard Ben. It’s amazing.

There’s a bunch of pressure too and no guarantee that Esquire Classic will pan out—with or without me. You gotta pay for it—$5 a month or $40 for the year. If you’re into that sort of thing it’s worth the dough, believe me. But no pressure at all on my part—I certainly won’t be offended if you don’t subscribe.

Meantime, I’ve strapped myself in for the ride and am having a great time. Learning a ton and not taking any of it for granted. Here’s the blog.

[Illustration by Gottfried Helnwein]

In case you were wondering (and after this year’s Stupor Bowl, you probably are), pitchers and catchers will be reporting to George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. on Thursday, Feb. 18.  Yanks have released their Spring Training schedule and have also invited 25 additional players along for the ride.  More details as they come, of course.

Peyton goes out on top. He wasn’t great—far from it—but he rides off a winner…unless, of course those pesky HGH rumors come back to haunt him. But wait—this isn’t baseball and Peyton isn’t Alex Rodriguez: he should be just fine.

It’s early and all, but this will probably be of some note to some of us Banterers in the coming Spring. according to tweets by both NY Post’s Joel Sherman and LoHuds’ Chad Jennings (contained in the linked article) Greg Bird will be out for the entire 2016 season, due to shoulder surgery.  Apparently the Yanks have been hip to this since last May when the injury was first incurred, but doctors said he wouldn’t require any surgery… until now, with a recent recurrence of the injury.  *Sigh*, well, at least Cashman’s been making moves all winter to shore up the depth in the minors as that seems to be about to be put to good use, but dang this sure came out of left field for the rest of us.  Not that he was slated to start in the majors; in fact all indications were that Bird was to start off 2016 in SWB until need be, but crap.  Alex better get his 1B glove on, because he might have to put in some work there soon enough.

Meanwhile, get well soon, dude; see ya next year we hope.

Head on over to Rolling Stone and check out Brian Hiatt’s excellent look at Bowie’s final years. 

[Photo Via: Cos]

The time has come to say goodbye to a New York treasure, a man who embodied the well-traveled and experienced New Yorker of old, the one who seemingly knew every nook and cranny of the city and who occupied them and touched everyone he encountered with a bit of grump, a bit of wit and a bit of sage advice to keep them moving from one corner to the next throughout the day. And Preparation H.  That’s the impression I always got when looking at his face. How it just carried a whole lot of everything behind it, processed it and gave you back a little piece of New York.

Born in Brooklyn to Jewish immigrant parents, began a long and notable acting career as a teenager, appeared on Broadway quite a few times, including in one of my personal favorite plays (Marat/Sade, which I also acted in while in college), landed the role of a lifetime in an open call in L.A., made an even bigger impression a few years later with a role he’s become synonymous with, and lived life as sort of the unofficial ambassador of Fiorello LaGuardia’s New York, by his very presence able to link that era with the Wagners and Lindseys and Beames and Koches that followed.

By the time Michael Bloomberg ascended to the throne, we looked back at all of this and remembered fondly the ugliness that New Yorkers endured to this point like a rich man who had climbed out of Hell’s Kitchen to dominate the skylines, and in the back of our minds we always wanted to know how Abe Vigoda was doing, and when you get home you’d go and look for that Timex you still have for some strange reason. Everyone was doing it.

I suppose you never know when you might need it.  Well played, Mr. Vigoda, thanks for everything.

Check out Michael Sragow’s admiring review of Once Upon A Time In America and then dig the restored director’s cut that was released a few years back. I haven’t seen the movie since the Eighties. It’s time.

The Jean Genie.

[Photo Credit: Raymond Cauchetier]

Flourishing Foodie gives us this lovely-looking vegetable soup with white beans and rice.

Ah, Winter—yiz finally here. Kinda makes you pine for a warm summer day, nu?

Photograph by Ida Wyman via Lover of Beauty.

Photo by Clara Nebeling via This Isn’t Happiness.