We have our take, what's yours?

I vote "con." And also, I hate those balloon stick things. They may be loud but that's not stadium noise. That's not noise made by real fans. Real fans use their voices to intimidate the visitors.

As much as I love the Angels, I hate all that stuff that's really meant for people who can't follow the game on its own merits.
If I can brag about Boston, even if we are not known for winning world series, the fact is that fans here create their own noise, their own excitement. No need for gimmicks, toys like limp tomahawks (that need Viagra in a big way) or those awful thunder sticks, no fireworks on the scoreboard, no pumped electronic crowd arousing. The only things we have to put up with to detract from the real sport are the wave and those stupid beach balls. But I can live with those.
Could it be that we're smarter, more knowledgeable, more passionate, less trite here in Boston?

[ October 13, 2002: Message edited by: Tom ]

Most of these gimmicks are pretty damned tired. The Yankees have this slack-jawed yokel called Cotton Eyed Joe. Yeah, because country music and New York City are practically synonymous! Plus they have those dopey "Subway Races" and the "okay it was fun when you first did it but now its just old" YMCA Groundskeepers. No wonder these games take 5 freakin' hours!

I can't speak much about Angels fans vs the Rest of the Baseball World, but I think taking the Monkey label head-on to get it off their back is typically a successful way of dealing with a negative label.

Since there isn't a long tradition of winning with the Angels, it's not like they have developed traditions through the years that have been passed on. So some marketing genius decides to copy someone else and pass out cheap sticks to whack around in the absence of diverse, vocal fans...so what else is new?

People want to fit in, and in a place that specializes in Instant Success and "15 minutes of fame", jumping on the bandwagon and looking like you've been there all along is something fans want.

Just so long as they don't go to "Touch my monkey!" much less "Spank the Monkey!", certain players excepted, of course!

Well, as I wrote in Jock Talk, I HATE. IT.

In 1979, the fans developed the "Yes We Can" chant. It was great to hear the whole stadium chant it and my friend Steve use a tiny souvenir bat to pound out the rhythm on his seat. In a key game against the Royals late in the season, he even started a couple of chants singlehandedly by pounding out the beat--it was amazing to go from no chanting to over 40,000 chanting because of that.

But this? It reeks of Disney "marketing genius", the same genius that figured what baseball really needed was--wait for it--cheerleaders on top of the dugout. That lasted about a 1/4 of the season before complaints killed the idea.

One of the greatest moments in sports I've ever had was walking through the tunnel at Old Trafford in Manchester for an FA Cup match between United and Chelsea. 67,000 fans singing and chanting their lungs out--what an amazing sound! And *gasp* all without scoreboard prompting.

And while I'm venting, I'm already sick of the "Oh, that's so typical L.A., bandwagon hoppers". Yeah, I'm looking at your Brent. IT HAPPENS EVERYWHERE. Do you really think that the Marlins had a devoted, fanatical fanbase in 1997? Or course not! But my friends Dan & Sophie, who had moved to Miami to work for the The Herald and who wouldn't know a wild pitch from wild life, got swept up in Fish Fever. The Angels have been so awful, for so long that they've removed any chance of the fan base being fanatical, like in Boston or New York. Dodger fans are pretty rabid, but you know what? They've sucked rancid eggs since Fox took over, the team is a boring collection of free agents and never-were's-and-never-will-be's and so the fans stay away and don't respond to the team on an emotional level.

All the bandwagon hopper's will be gone once the World Series is over and hopefully so will that f**king idiot plush toy.

Any Simpsons fans here? Abe Simpson: "That monkey's gonna change my life." (Homer drives off with helper monkey.) Abe: "I can't wait to eat that monkey."

As for the Angels, I like the monkey, but I have a soft spot for monkeys in general. I think they're hilarious. I don't mind gimmicks, either.

Read that Fox is going to have a monkey in the studio during at least one of the World Series games. Insert your own Steve Lyons/Joe Buck/Tim McCarver joke here.

As for the gimmick of the rally monkey, I agree that it reeks of Disney marketing skill--look at how team Disney markets the Ducks (even their name is drawn from a Disney movie!) and it does seem odd that the most recognizable "Angel" to non-fans is a monkey, but I think that may be the way the team wants it. The Angels don't want to be viewed as individuals with a superstar as their public face (think Giants with Bonds) but as a team. This way, the monkey is their image to the public.

~Adam

~Adam

I am OK with the Rally Monkey. Only because it does create such a stir amongst the fans and brings laughter and smiles. Like JA, I have always been very critical of Anaheim fans over the past couple of decades. The 1979 fan reaction was more traditional in which they made their own noise without being prompted by a scoreboard. The "Yes We Can" shouts reverberated throughout the stadium and many times was followed by an Angel rally late into games. It seems like their main motivation to go to the games of late was to eat cinnamon buns and sushi and drink it down with their wine spritzer. Their reaction to a good baseball play would be the same clap and smile that would appear at an opera. I truely appreciate going to other cities and seeing games in Boston, NYC, and Chicago; because there, the enthusiasm and reaction is more pure and consistent with what baseball is all about.

With that said...... the best part of the rally monkey is what is not scene on TV. It's how the scoreboard operators introduce the rally monkey that is so damn hilarious. They take doctored clips from popular movies from well known scenes and at the most dramatic moment, the monkey appears in place of the key character and is dressed up in an Angel uniform within the scene. Movies such as Star Trek, Risky Business, Animal House, Planet of the Apes, Scream, Jurassic Park...The fan reaction builds throughout the scene until the monkey appears and then it gets loud. I am OK with it because it brings some good entertainment value while the opposing team is changing pitchers.

Also, the crowd during the last month of the season, and more so during the playoffs, has been very loud and racuous during Angel rally's before the 7th inning. The rally monky rarely appears before the 7th, and maybe in the 6th. Just wanted to make sure people know that the the team's success and how people appreciate the character of the players/coaches is taking main stage here and the rally monkey really is nothing but a side show.

[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: MikeOC ]

[quote]It seems like their main motivation to go to the games of late was to eat cinnamon buns and sushi and drink it down with their wine spritzer. Their reaction to a good baseball play would be the same clap and smile that would appear at an opera

---

Buwahahaha! So true. Although, that's a little harsh on opera fans (which I am).

Saw this in the Los Angeles Times today: [quote]The Rally Monkey was created in June 2000 when a couple of members of the video crew at Edison Field decided to put a clip of a bouncing monkey on the scoreboard. The clip comes from the 1994 movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective". The Angels rallied to win the game that night and soon the Angels got their own monkey, the white-faced capuchin featured on NBC's Friends

---

Ohmygawd!!!! They're using Marcel!!! David Schwimmer--mmmmmm.....David Schwimmer--hated the little bastard and was glad to see him/her go. It did, down to Anaheim. Thanks, NBC.

And yeah, Mike's right, some of those clips where they insert the RM into film or TV clips are pretty funny. I like the Star Trek one the best because the original series is so ripe for parody anyways.

Banish the monkey and the thunder sticks (or whatever the things may be called.) As an easterner I have to admit that I'd paid very little attention to Anaheim's franchise, until this season, and when I first encountered this monkey delirium (without benefit of knowing its origins, as explained earlier in this thread) I wondered, "What the hell does this have to do with "Angels?" I'm a stickler when it comes to keeping team symbols consistent. No doubt Anaheim/Disney would encounter all sorts of public relations problems from religious conservatives if the "angelic" team-totem were taken too far --and as an entertainment giant, Disney must be ultra-vigiliant about their corporate image. But that's the name they've got, and, unless I see that creepy little simian acquiring more heavenly attributes, I'll continue to look upon it as an annoying mass-abberation. (Perhaps I should just be thankful that we haven't been subjected to a ralley Mickey, as in Mouse.)

And I agree with Joe in Philly that those stupid noisemaking sticks are incongruent with baseball (but then, I feel the same way about "theme music" blaring through the public address system between batters' plate appearances and inning halves, astroturf, the designated hitter, spectators on cellphones, baggy pants-cuffs down to the cleats; don't let me get started on my list of baseball corruptions!) If a crowd has to resort to artificial devices to generate an enthusiastic clamor, I have doubts about their actual involvement in the finer points of game. I'm already bracing myself for the day when some techno-geek invents a way for fans to cyber-transmit an electronic roar. I'm a hopeless baseball purist, it seems...

I'm about as doctrinaire of a baseball purist as there is and I love the RALLY MONKEY.

For 40+ years, the L.A./California/Anaheim Angels had no team identity. The perfect team for soulless suburbia. In their best years, their best players always were people you thought of as being from somewhere else, whether it be Bobby Grich (Orioles), Fred Lynn (Red Sox), Rod Carew (Twins), Brian Downing (White Sox), whoever. Everyone but Chuck Finley. Even Nolan Ryan was a refugee from the Mets.

This is the first Angels team that is practically all theirs. Even if David Eckstein and Adam Kennedy came up through other organizations (Red Sox and Cardinals respectively), they will always be thought of as Anaheim Angels for the rest of their careers. That definitely could never be true of Carew or Grich, no matter how great their seasons were with the Angels.

And the Rally Monkey is something unique to what had been undistinguished, faceless franchise.

It's TOTALLY amazing how passionate some of you are about the Rally Monkey - I think it is a cute harmless diversion albeit gimmicky - but hey I'm from a city with "The Dog Pound' with dog masks and dog bones ...so what do I know? Knock your self out Anaheim!

Anything to liven up the incredibly boring "sport" of baseball gets kudos from me.

Besides, somehow, some way, the Angels find their stride after that stupid monkey comes on the screen - and, with a game like baseball, where so little is about strategy or athleticism, a bit of attitude and kharma can go a long way.

Originally posted by copman:

[quote] It's TOTALLY amazing how passionate some of you are about the Rally Monkey

---

I suppose this intensity of opinion is not unusual in response to yet another popular juggernaut, rolling toward us on the wheels of the FOX TV network, (that ultimate purveyer of things irritatingly irrelevant.) Perhaps this thread could have been posted in the "Politics and Religion" forum!

And Cyd seems to be feeling especially glib today...our very own OUTSPORTS editor, talking trash about baseball? My, my, what is this younger generation coming to...

[quote]with a game like baseball, where so little is about strategy or athleticism

---

Right, compared to the NFL with it's Borg-like players running plays designed for them that 8 times out of 10 everybody and their grandmothers can predict will happen and where it's more genetics than athleticism that decides whether you play or not.

Hitting a major league fastball is still waaay harder to do than anything football has to offer.

Cyd: On Crack Again.

[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

I'm biased, as I find the simple image of any monkey to be hysterical. But I love whimsy and devilshness, and monkies seem to be the embodiment of such.

But the best part was the kid in the monkey suit. That had me crapping my pants.

And for those that hate the monkey (have you no soul?), every team that I can think of has had some far more embarrassing charade of a mascot/gimmick thing at some point (and some still do).

Running Sausages?
Crazy Crab? (SF fans may remember that one)
The mere existence of Charles O'Finley?

Homer hankies, rally rags, tomahawk chop, and now the thunder sticks. Did anyone else notice that the orange sticks banged by Giants fans looked more like Thunder Hot Dogs?

Goooooo Angels!!!!!!!!

[quote]Hitting a major league fastball is still waaay harder to do than anything football has to offer.

---

Throwing the deep out on 3rd-and-10 with 1,200 pounds of fury coming at you is way tougher. That's why there are a lot more good hitters than good quarterbacks; it's easier to do the former.

[quote] But the best part was the kid in the monkey suit. That had me crapping my pants.

---

That was a monkey suit?

Anything new will always have its detractors from traditionalists. Not that that is bad; it just happens. If the monkey is a fad, he will die and be forgotten; otherwise he may live on and become tradition. And 50 years from now, Angels fans will bemoan his successor and long for the days of the rally monkey. Now that is a scary thought.

And a note on bandwagons...
Having recently experienced my own bandwagon jumping, I explain it simply as getting swept up with all the buzz. My officemate is a die hard Patriots fan. He has never lived outside of the Boston area and grew up very close to Foxboro. In 2000, on Mondays I would ask him how the Patriots were doing, and he would not want to talk about it. How am I supposed to get excited by that? But in 2001, I couldn't shut him up! He was so excited, so exuberant that his excitement spilled over to the rest of the office.
So, yes, everyone loves a winner; but there is more to it than just that.

Anaheim/LA, jump all you want. Longtime Angels fans, welcome them with open arms, but be mindful of who sticks around for years to come.

Too many killjoys in here. So what if it's a passing fad that will soon go the way of Mambo # 5. Let the fans have their fun. Anytime you can get the fans hooked on something as harmless and entertaining as a rally monkey, it's good for the game.

[quote]Originally posted by Ump25:
Too many killjoys in here. So what if it's a passing fad that will soon go the way of Mambo # 5. Let the fans have their fun. Anytime you can get the fans hooked on something as harmless and entertaining as a rally monkey, it's good for the game.

---

Well stated ump....I happen to think the Rally Monkey is great!....it doesn't detract from the action on the field and while I consider myself a "purist" and happen to love the "leisurely pace" of the game (no clock, plenty of time to strategize with the manager about changing pitchers, pinch-hitting, sending the runner, what pitch to throw next, etc. all of which adds to the overall enjoyment of the game for me) I recognize that not everyone in the stands is "into" the game the same way -- particularly some of the younger generation (and those with ADD? ) who are accustomed to the non-stop action of other sports and tend to have more of an X-games mentality....if this "gimmick" helps to bring more fans to the game (particularly those under 30) then I say we should welcome it, not criticize it.

Anaheim fans (and those in SoCal in general) have always had a reputation (justifiably I might add) for arriving late and leaving early at sporting events and sitting on their hands while their home team was in the midst of an exciting rally....if anything, this furry creature has generated a lot of excitement among the fans (which has been directly responsible for several late-inning rallys throughout the season) and a number of long-time Angels (most notably Tim Salmon) have commented that they've never heard so much noise at the Big A as they have during this postseason.

What's there to dislike about the Rally Monkey?....btw, I think he wears the same size uniform as David Eckstein -- and they're both so damn cute too.

[quote]if this "gimmick" helps to bring more fans to the game (particularly those under 30) then I say we should welcome it, not criticize it

---

Well, I call this The Three Tenors Syndrome. When that horrible album came out (NOTE: I love all 3 singers, Pavarotti's recording of La Boheme with Karajan is glorious, it's just it's bad singing, IMHO), there was all this talk about how it would bring people in to the opera house. It did, briefly. When the newbies realized that it was about 1:30 in to Turandot before the tenor would croon Nessun Dorma, they'd be bored and restless, clap like madpeople for the aria and then go right back to being bored and restless. Ultimately, that record built false expections of what the experience is really like and arguably did little to build audiences for the art form.

It's the same with Spanking the Monkey. It's not building a true fan base for the future--something baseball desperately needs to do--it's a gimmick that will pale quickly. I'm sorry, Gamecock, it DOES detract from the games, people DON'T pay attention to what's going on down on the field. I've had to endure the monstrosity for 2 years now and I guarantee you that the people that are in a coma for the whole game and then spring to life when the clips are shown on the scoreboard are not concerned with the subtleties of the hit & run or whether to run with a runner on first, one out and a 3-2 count. They're glued to the scoreboard to see when the next appearance is.

Killjoy? You bet and proud of it. I'm embarrassed beyond words that the Angels FINALLY do something that doesn't involve former pitchers committing suicide, players dying in bizarre car accidents or blowing 11 game leads in September and what's the focus? A f**king plush toy.

But I'm consoled by the fact that if the Angels lose 3 games in a row in April next year, all the bandwagon hoppers will disappear like rats from a sinking ship, leaving us fans that have stayed loyal through some grim times that Cubs or Red Sox fans can't even begin to comprehend to enjoy the games in peace and quiet. And at The Ed, the quiet is deafening when the Arriviste Peasants aren't being told how to react.

/Rant [JA removes tongue partially from cheek]

Well said, Jim.
I think life is more fun if baseball is baseball, opera is opera, sex is sex, the beach is the beach, without reducing everything to THE SAME mindless fun, earphones, gimmicks, kewl. If something belongs in a medium, more power to it, but a distracting generic scheme is dull. It's truly exciting to be with other people that are involved in an activity for what it has to offer.
Perhaps those in favor of the Rally Monkey would like to take it along to liven up their next sex encounter. It might even attract lots of new people into your game

Marry me, Jim Allen.


As for the kid in the monkey suit, the first time I saw him on TV I thought it was some amphetamin-injected monstrous gopher than had escaped from a laboratory somewhere. I was horrified to realize it was some kid who obviously skipped his ridalin treatment. Twenty years from now we'll get the Dateline story on how wound up living in a box under the freeway and then spent years in therapy trying to live down his life as the kid-in-the-retarded-monkey-suit.

Methinks people are assigning way too much civility and hallowed respect to MLB. And perhaps there is a little too much "Costas-esque" sappy, sentimental, nostalgic reverance for the game, as if it is still the game your grandfather watched.

It's 2002, baseball almost committed hari-kari for the umpteenth time (strike), the players make more money than the GDP of some 3rd-world countries, our President is about to start a war as an agressor nation, our economy sucks, etc.

[Quick poll: "Your 401K is worthless, and POTUS is sending your nephew to Iraq. Who wants to see the monkey again?" (cheers erupt)]

Meanwhile, some people are getting pissed at a novelty that they feel is "ruining the game."

Wrong. MLB already ruined the game. It is, after all, the only sport to render its own championship irrelavant when they decided not to play it one year(1995).

Its JUST a monkey.
And its JUST a sport.

On TV, I scarcely see the Monkey, so who cares?

The ThunderStix, otoh, should ignite and consume their users...

[quote]Originally posted by Tom:

Perhaps those in favor of the Rally Monkey would like to take it along to liven up their next sex encounter.

---

I'll stick with my Brewer's Running Sausages for that, thank you very much!

I imagine people said some of the same things when the mascot invasion began, yet the Phanatic, the Chicken, etc. are pretty much institutions now. It seems to me that the Rally Monkey is too much of a gimmick, and from what I see on TV, it strikes me as dumb. Maybe I'd feel differently if I were seeing the whole thing in person. And perhaps I will: the Phillies released their tentative schedule for 2003, and an interleague road trip to Anaheim is on it.

I still hate those thunder sticks. I predict we'll be hearing them in a lot more stadiums come next April.

[quote]Methinks people are assigning way too much civility and hallowed respect to MLB. And perhaps there is a little too much "Costas-esque" sappy, sentimental, nostalgic reverance for the game, as if it is still the game your grandfather watched

---

Well, as one who loathes intensely that "Costa-esque" sappy crap, I disagree. Wow, me disagreeing with AU Tiger, how unusual! It's more about sports teams catering to the Entertainment ADD of their fans, terrified that the fans might *GASP* not be assaulted at all times with aural and visual stimuli. The Ed is awful for this; the ball hasn't even hit the glove of an outfielder for the 3rd out before the blaring music, the bells & whistles on the scoreboard and droning announcements start. It's not because of some dewy-eyed "Oh, I wish I was at Crosley Field in 1947" kind of rubbish, it's just that for 3 hours--OK, these days it's closer to 4--I want to have a break from the aural and visual pollution I'm constantly surrounded with.

And "It's JUST a sport" isn't the most profound thing to say on a board dedicated to--you guessed it--sports, is it? While it could be argued that any form of entertainment is ultimately trivial compared to say, whether we'll all be wiped out from an atom bomb, considering how totally f**ked up the world we live in is, I totally CRAVE the beauty and escape and moments of transcendance I get from listening to music or watching a great movie or seeing Adam Kennedy hit 3 home runs in a game. I would argue that things like those (apart from love and family) are the only things that truly make life worth living on this nightmarish hellhole of a planet that we humans have made.

*Sigh* I guess I'm just nervous about the start of the World Series.

Right. On a less misanthropic note....

From today's Los Angeles Times (edited by me): [quote]Hate the rally monkey? Blame the San Francisco Giants. With the Giants in town for the World Series, the Angels sent out a news release recalling the origin of the monkey.

Two years ago, during an interleague game against the Giants, two guys on the Angel video crew were goofing around. They slapped the words "rally monkey" onto an image of a monkey jumping up and down, flashed the clip on the video board and the crowd went nuts. The Angels rallied from a 4-1 deficit to tie the score. After the Giants took a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth, the Angels rallied to win in the bottom of the ninth, scoring twice off San Francisco closer Robb Nen.

If Nen does not blow that save, perhaps the rally monkey never is heard from again

---

Well, I now know who the portal was that unleashed this perfect example of Evil In Our Time:

Rob Nen. Bastard. It's all his fault. I hope the Angels score 187,239 runs off of him this Series. I will do the Snoopy Dance of Joy every time he gets scored on. Wait...that's what caused this nightmare in the first place.

Shit.

[ October 17, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Apparently Rich Aurilia is not a big fan of the Rally Monkey either (could "Jim Allen" be Rich Aurilia's alias? -- probably not, nevermind -- Aurilia would never be able to appreciate opera)....getting back to the Rally Monkey, an ESPN.com columnist was discussing the unexpected disasters that have accompanied the Giants last two trips to the World Series in 1962 and 1989 (the ONLY two since they've been in SF) when he mentioned that the '62 series was played just as the U.S. military learned Cuba was building missile silos and the '89 series was interrupted for 10 days by a 7.1 earthquake. When asked whether there is any HORRIBLE DISASTER Americans should fear this time, Aurilia replied, "I don't know. Maybe the Rally Monkey?"....so Aurilia hates this furry primate? -- he deserves to be the "goat" that costs the Giants another championship (along with B. Bonds maybe).

Another interesting observation came from a national sportswriter when he pointed out, "Have you ever seen David Eckstein and the Rally Monkey in the same room?"

[ October 19, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

One point about the kid in the monkey suit: saw an interview with his father on the local news last night. He explained how his son really liked the rally monkey whenever they went to the game & how the kid started aping the monkey's moves at home, so the suit was a logical extension. What really fascinated me was that though he (dad) will talk to local media, he will allow his child to speak only to the national press & told the reporter that Matt Lauer was going to interview the kid this coming week. Go figure.

~Adam

Jaysus, that kid is turning in to that dreary Yankee kid who stole a game from whomever the Yankees were playing in the playoffs/WS by reaching over the fence to catch a ball in fair territory.

15 minutes of fame? It's more like its been devalued to 30 seconds with all the insatiable need for the media to create new hype.

Nah, I'm not Rich Aurelia. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that hideous goatee!

Saw that a plush toy in the shape of a chicken will be maiking an appearance during games 3 & 4 of the WS in SF---sort of a "rally chicken" to counter the monkey. Where will this insanity end? Though I love the octopus in Detroit (with its fabled history) and the plastic rats in Florida, most animal escapades in sports are annoying, at best.

~Adam

The Rally Monkey escalated to a whole new level of cool when he made an appearance around Kobe Bryant's neck Sunday night.

[quote]Originally posted by Jim Allen:
[QB]Jaysus, that kid is turning in to that dreary Yankee kid who stole a game from whomever the Yankees were playing in the playoffs/WS by reaching over the fence to catch a ball in fair territory.
15 minutes of fame? It's more like its been devalued to 30 seconds with all the insatiable need for the media to create new hype.
[QUOTE]

---

While I'm largely in favor of the Rally Monkey (for reasons I've expressed before) I agree that the media coverage of this "gimmick" has gotten out of hand....actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Fox show some of the clips where the monkey is inserted into famous movie or television clips that the Angels have apparently devised -- that at least classifies as reasonably quality entertainment between innings for the fans in attendance....at Camden Yards for the past few years the Orioles have frequently shown clips from a few well-known movies (Belushi in Animal House, Stallone in Rocky, etc.) to initiate a few late inning rallys (or in most cases lately futile attempts at them anyway), which in my view have always been done in a class yet very funny manner.

As for the incident in the '96 ALCS Jim, that kid was Jeffrey Meier (who was 12 at the time) who reached over the fence onto the field of play and literally took the ball out of Orioles RF Tony Tarasco's glove (I know, no marijuana jokes here -- I'm sure Tarasco didn't even know about weed until he the joined the Mets) and the umpire somehow ruled it a HR ....I've been convinced ever since that had that game NOT been played in Yankee Stadium the ump would have unequivocally properly ruled it an out -- and in all likelihodd the O's would have won that game (they were leading with two outs in the 8th when that incident occurred) and gone on to the World Series -- instead the Yanks rolled to their first championship under Torre and the rest, as they say, is history.

BTW, Sports Illustrated periodically comes out with those "where are they now" features and a few months ago, Jeffrey Meier (who is now a college freshman playing baseball at a small school in Connecticut, whose name escapes me) was featured in the column....while they included a pic of the now 18 year old Meier in his uniform (he is cute, btw) at the advice of his parents he refused to grant SI an interview or offer any comments about his "fame" and "notoriety" from six years ago -- Steinbrenner even had the kid sit in the owners box for several later games throughout the '96 postseason....while I can understand his parents position, I was disappointed at it nonetheless -- after all, that clip will go down in baseball history and since Meier committed a "heinous crime" (propelling the Yankee franchise to four championships in five years) he should be required to "serve his time" to society.

Getting back on topic, how many Rally Monkeys do you suppose we will see at Pac Bell these next three nights?

[ October 22, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]