Cheaters, Murderers, Perjurers, Mercenaries

[Gwreck]

They do indeed have the policy of keeping the fans in their seat area. It's disgusting.

As for the merit to the suit, the civil rights violation comes from the police being the ones to enforce the policy. The officers in question definitely kicked this guy out of the stadium and used physical force to do so.

The news accounts when this happened last August were of the police claiming that the guy was drunk and disorderly and using profanity while the guy claimed all he said was "I don't care about God Bless America, I just need to use the bathroom." (News link here).

Believe who you will, but my experience tells me that if the plaintiff does indeed have that additional witness (mentioned in the story above) on board, NYC will be paying out some bucks in a settlement on this case. Liability as to the Yankees is limited.

[Guest themetfairy]

On a not exactly related but semi-related note. Opening Day, a guy saw my backpack, and asked how I got it into Citi Field. I said security looked inside it and let me bring it in, as always. The guy was shocked - the MFYs don't let people bring bags into their park, apparently.

[Gwreck]

They used to be a bit more lenient but apparently the new park is only going to allow "small purses" or "small backpack purses," and the only beverages you can bring in are "factory-sealed bottles of water."

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

They used to be a bit more lenient but apparently the new park is only going to allow "small purses" or "small backpack purses," and the only beverages you can bring in are "factory-sealed bottles of water."[/quote:2inuda48]

For at least the last 10 years (at least since the late '90s), they haven't let bags in at all, small purses aside-- take it from someone who's fought through his share of Spankfan elbows trying to check his bag at the bowling alley down the street.

[Gwreck]

I guess it depends on the security guards. I had no problem getting food in -- in bags -- the last few years. Seems to me they even supplied clear plastic bags at the gate so you could transfer your stuff into those rather than the bag you brought it in.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Xavier Nady to miss the whole damn season with elbow woes.

I don't wish that even on a Yankee approaching free agency.

[G-Fafif]

Derek Jeter drove in the winning run yesterday, thus Newsday frames him (wearing the same number as everybody else yesterday) as Just Like Jackie.

I guess there's some legitimacy in that comparison. Jeter, after all, did break the boring barrier.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jackie Robinson changed positions when it was right for the team --- several times.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Jackie Robinson changed positions when it was right for the team --- several times.

[metirish]

Hank's facebook

Facebook

[Guest OlerudOwned]

[metirish]

No way?....is that a photoshop job?.......love the skyline fuckers

[Guest Edgy DC]

I love seeing the word Met there.

[seawolf17]

Jeez, that's an enormous video screen. I saw that Carl Pavano thing in one of the papers this morning... pretty funny, actually.

The Mets have a closed-captioning board too, up in right field.

[Centerfield]

That screen is awesome. I want one in my living room.

[Frayed Knot]

100' x 60' (I think that's what I heard)

[seawolf17]

Damn. Too small for my living room.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Jeff Passan from Yahoo! Sports offers his impressions on Yankee Stadium.

Yankee Stadium and its 2,473-calorie popcorn By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports Apr 16, 8:34 pm EDT Yahoo! Sports NEW YORK � Let�s start with the popcorn. It is unfair to call it a tub of popcorn, as they do at the new Yankee Stadium. Perhaps a trough of popcorn, or a tank of popcorn, and, at 2,473 calories, definitely a gutbuster of popcorn. All around the newest theater of excess are such indulgences, culinary and otherwise, this particular caloric dirty bomb available for $12. That�s the thing about the new Yankee Stadium: Not only is it the biggest, the newest, the most expensive and the self-described best � the homage to everything that was America � it gets away with it, charm intact, for one simple reason. The New York Yankees are unapologetic in their embrace of that culture. They are the canyon of popcorn and the 1,410-calorie plate of nachos and the 1,360-calorie bag of peanuts and the 1,341-calorie cup of cheese fries, and their fans are still begging for a heart attack. Which made the official christening of the $1.5 billion stadium Thursday afternoon an event laden with grins and excitement (and arterial plaque buildup), even as the Cleveland Indians stomped the Yankees, 10-2. More than halfway through April, the Yankees finally had their home opener, and any of the 48,271 present can attest that the team�s new dwelling lived up to its billing, good and bad. It�s unclear whether Yankee Stadium wants to be a ballpark with killer amenities or a mall with a baseball field in the middle. The inside of the stadium is freakishly loyal to its predecessor, like twins who look identical but are actually fraternal. The differences are ornamental, and because of its classic look, the initial thought is: Really, $1.5 billion? And you didn�t reinvent the baseball stadium like Camden Yards in 1993? The toilet seats are definitely gold-plated, right? One trip around the concourse, and suddenly the cost makes more sense. It is a sea of goods, the free market through a Yankee kaleidoscope, a study in old-fashioned gluttony. It is a cheesesteak line 50 people deep, and a beer garden serving 14 sudsy favorites, and pink foam fingers next to pink hats with flowers alongside pink hats with glitter-covered NY logos. Next to the hat wall, where more than 100 styles are available, stood Kelley Rutkowski, a 23-year-old from New Jersey. She already had wrecked her diet for the day with the nachos and was inclined to do similar damage with her credit card, because her seat happened to be in the shade, and she was chilly. She found a hooded sweatshirt adorned with rhinestones. She looked at the price tag: $125. Rutkowski quickly summoned David Sidibe, a young salesman. �Those are diamonds, right?� she said. Sidibe�s eyes apologized. �I literally can�t afford to keep warm at this game,� Rutkowski said. �Can I just tell you, David, this is a sin. I�m freaking freezing, and there�s no way I�m spending $125 on a freaking sweatshirt, because that�s how this country got into this mess.� Never have $125 hoodies been mentioned alongside credit-default swaps and subprime mortgages. Indeed, a day of firsts, from that to Johnny Damon slicing the first hit into center field and Jorge Posada mashing the first home run into the new Monument Park in center. �I knew that when I came here,� Rutkowski said, �I was going to spend a bunch of money I don�t have.� Rutkowski didn�t give in to the hoodie�s 74 rhinestones, principle preventing her from brandishing her MasterCard. Others did, and the Yankees reaped untold millions in merchandise and concession sales. Forget the competitive advantage given them by location and television rights; the Yankees� revenues from the vendors and the tickets that range up to $2,625 for the front row will do plenty to cover a $200 million payroll. All because people buy into what the Yankees sell. It�s a lifestyle based around winning, and how doing so demands the biggest, newest and best. Depending on the perspective, either the Yankees are profiteers and the fans suckers, or both are willing participants in a time-honored waltz: pure commercialism. N.Y. Daily News Yankee Stadium tour View the N.Y. Daily News� interactive Stadium tour. Otherwise, the Yankees would still be at the old stadium, American sports� truest cauldron of history. It remains standing next door and over the next few years will be picked apart by the atom and sold. And if the Yankees could split those atoms and peddle each for double, surely they would. Now, instead of the filth and funk of an 85-year-old stadium, the Yankees offer pears. Three kinds. And three varieties of apples, too. And tangerines and oranges and bananas, all for sale at the farmer�s market, which is near the Legends Suite Club, with its folded napkins, polished silverware and vases housing flowers. And, for Ruth and Mickey and Joe D�s sake, the Lobel�s stand that sells hunks of uncooked meat. In a stadium. Four ribeyes for $120. It�s one thing to push an island of popcorn. But beef? Raw beef? Deep down, beneath the Yankees� money-making behemoth, could there exist the slightest sliver of guilt for something as disturbing as seeing dry-aged beef on display in a ballpark? Nope. Not an iota. And it�s edifying, in a way, that the Yankees stayed true to themselves and their believers, responsibility be damned. It�s the American way, after all. �This is going to stand the test of time,� Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon said. �The economy will one day get right. So in time, people will look at this and say it�s definitely worth it.� They�ll look at the Great Hall, ultimately the stadium showpiece, a meeting place festooned with vertical banners of Yankees greats. It�s a long corridor walled with impossibly large pieces of limestone and granite, the sort that recall an opulent style abandoned long ago. Few are willing to spend the necessary money for such quality. Why do the Yankees? It�s who they are. Another stop in the gift shop spells it out explicitly. A different hooded sweatshirt, one without rhinestones, is available for $70. On the front it reads YANKEES UNIVERSE, a friendly reminder for those who may have forgotten. Jeff Passan is a national baseball writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jeff a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Chicken or egg?

http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/04/erectile_dysfunction_and_yankee_fans.php

[Frayed Knot]

Lotsa DL-ing going on in da Bronx all of a sudden.

- Set-up man Brian Bruney is in NYC to have a sore elbow examined and gets the 15-day sentence.

- ARod replacement (and surely the reason they're winning right?) Cody Ransom out with strained quad

- and whattayaknow, they found an injury with which they could shelve CM Wang. They couldn't demote him without exposing him to waivers (which they weren't about to do) so they "found" a strained Schwartzenmeyer joint (or whatever) and put him on the 15-day 'What the fuck do with do with this guy' list. Phil Hughes to start in his stead for now.

- Nady still out with his elbow problem although it's not looking like a season-ending deal as first thought.

[Guest Edgy DC]

One more bad start and I bet Mike Pelfrey's schwartzenmeyer starts flaring up.

[Fman99]

One more bad start and I bet Mike Pelfrey's schwartzenmeyer starts flaring up.[/quote:2ky8bqnb]

Best cure for that is a gallon of Meyerhoff Tonic.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

There hasn't been nearly enough gloating over the MFYs humiliation in Boston this weekend. They weren't just swept, they were kicked in the nuts three times:

Friday: mariano goives up a 2-run, 2 out, game-tying HR in the 9th and they lose in 11

Sat: AJ Burnett can;t handle a 6-run lead and the bullpen is battered in a 16-11 loss

Last Night: Sox complete ther sweep thanks in part to a steal of home by Jacoby Ellsbury off Pettitte/Posada (see if you can find ourt old friend Gary Thorne's radio call: He's always shouting but this time it was cool)

In addition, they DLed Wang (hip), Cody Ransom, their replacement for $-rod, went down with a leg thing and Brian Bruney, the only reliever who hasn't sucked for them so far, also got injured.

Go MFYs, Go!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

There hasn't been nearly enough gloating over the MFYs humiliation in Boston this weekend.[/quote:o1n88uns]

An Ollie game will do that to you.

But yeah, pretty sweet. (Caught the Jason Bay home run on Friday-- Rivera knew it was gone off the bat, and was visibly trying to verbally urge it to catch the Monster's corner. The Ellsbury straight steal was beautiful and thrilling, MFY connection aside.)

[Fman99]

The Ellsbury straight steal was beautiful and thrilling, MFY connection aside.)[/quote:39a95ne0]

Brought back memories of Cedeno doing it against them in interleague play back in '02.

[metirish]

Ellsbury's steal of home was as exciting a play as I have seen in a long while...and to have him walking back to the dugout having a right old laugh with his team mates was great , then the crowd gives him a sustained ovation and he pops out for a curtain call.

AP was pissed and later claimed that it was all his fault as Posada had warned him right before that pitch to be aware of the possibility.

Not for nothing but they need a huge start from CC tonight , they bullpen is putrid , Phil fucking Coke , the dead weight that gave up the bomb to Lowell ...

[Frayed Knot]

NYDN: Yanx tell fans game was called off -- then won't let them back in when it starts.

And that's after making them wait more than 2h-20m in the rain because the team didn't want back-to-back off days.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Riassman's column about how security kicked Paul O'Niell off the field of play and spanish-speaking Angels broadcasters out of the booth was even more damning.

I don't have that much sympathy for fans who bail on a game, and rely on the word of an usher before an announcement is made. Serves them right.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Riassman's column about how security kicked Paul O'Niell off the field of play and spanish-speaking Angels broadcasters out of the booth was even more damning.

[seawolf17]

I don't have that much sympathy for fans who bail on a game, and rely on the word of an usher before an announcement is made. Serves them right.[/quote:30tv7aio]
Agreed. I'm not saying there weren't Yankees employees who might have misled people, but still, it's on you to find out the real story before bailing.

Your ticket says no re-entry; them's the rules.