05/28: Dave Martinez: Out of Touch With Yankees Fans
Posted by: Patrick
I was watching ESPN Wednesday afternoon (right before I had to leave - haven't had a chance to blog about it until now) and they were talking about the Yankees. Dave Martinez was the "analyst" on to talk about baseball with the general anchor... whoever it was, I forget.
I am trying to recall exactly what he said. But, basically he said that Yankees fans won't consider A-Rod a true Yankee until he leads them to a World Series victory. He stuck his fingers up as quotation marks (except he didn't bend them like you normally would, it looked like he was giving two peace signs) and the tone of his voice, the look on his face, body language, etc... it implied, to me at least, that Yankees fans were being fickle, stupid... whatever word you want to give it. Then he said that when Paul O'Neil was a Red, he was a red[expletive meaning donkey or butt], but when he came to the Yankees, he did what he did because he wanted to win and I think he (Martinez) shrugged his shoulders or something. The segment left a bad taste in my mouth... almost anti Yankees fan like, although I think to call it that may be going a bit far. Anyone else see it?
Anyway, any real Yankees fan knows that A-Rod doesn't have to win to be a "true Yankee" or a beloved Yankee, etc. One of the truest of the true, beloved of the beloved - Don Mattingly - didn't win a title. So, any talk of that ends there. It's about more than that. I'd have to say that Dave Martinez was really speaking out of touch when he said what he said. Some Yankees fans may feel that way, but those Yankees fans just cast a poor reflection on the rest of us.
I am trying to recall exactly what he said. But, basically he said that Yankees fans won't consider A-Rod a true Yankee until he leads them to a World Series victory. He stuck his fingers up as quotation marks (except he didn't bend them like you normally would, it looked like he was giving two peace signs) and the tone of his voice, the look on his face, body language, etc... it implied, to me at least, that Yankees fans were being fickle, stupid... whatever word you want to give it. Then he said that when Paul O'Neil was a Red, he was a red[expletive meaning donkey or butt], but when he came to the Yankees, he did what he did because he wanted to win and I think he (Martinez) shrugged his shoulders or something. The segment left a bad taste in my mouth... almost anti Yankees fan like, although I think to call it that may be going a bit far. Anyone else see it?
Anyway, any real Yankees fan knows that A-Rod doesn't have to win to be a "true Yankee" or a beloved Yankee, etc. One of the truest of the true, beloved of the beloved - Don Mattingly - didn't win a title. So, any talk of that ends there. It's about more than that. I'd have to say that Dave Martinez was really speaking out of touch when he said what he said. Some Yankees fans may feel that way, but those Yankees fans just cast a poor reflection on the rest of us.
Michael wrote:
The fans *ARE* behind him Dave! The players are coming around, look at what Quantrill did last Tuesday against Detroit.
But then again, look at the source...ESPN.