You Yankees fans should be ashamed...

All guys named George are idiots!

Seriously though, so long as he's not breaking any rules, this is the nature of baseball. Its unfortunate. But as the Twins and A's showed last year, you CAN be competitive (at least for a season or two) without having a payroll of a couple of third world nation's GNPs combined.

but it's the fans who continue to pay the outrageous ticket prices and pay for the $4 small soda at the park

I haven't seen a pro baseball game since the year PacBell opened here and I won't go. Sort of my little protest against the salaries and owners like Steinbrenner.

One article I read said that the Yankees and Mets are the only two teams that will have to pay the luxury tax this year. Seems that other teams are managing to avoid it--why can't the New York teams?

The Onion is on target as usual: "Yankees shored up their pitching, hitting, and defense Monday by signing every player in professional baseball."
Link to story

The Yank$ are at it again, only to be embarrassed in the end when another west coast team stops them from a WS victory!

I'm not the least bit ashamed. "Owner George Steinbrenner stopping at nothing to improve the Yankees." Don't you wish every team's owner could say that? I'm tired of everyone bitching about the Yankees; they follow the rules to put the best possible team on the field. The Yankees had the highest payrolls in the '80s too, but I don't remember anyone complaining about them then. How high were the Mets' and Red Sox's payrolls last year? As long as they lose, it doesn't matter, right?

What do you want George to do? Pocket all the revenue and screw the team and its fans?

The fact that money can't buy championships has been proven two years in a row now. And does anyone think the Mets are even going to win their division this year?

Is it hypocritical for you to complain about the Yankees, but have no problem when Americans bring home loads of Olympic medals? Should we give, say, Poland some money so they can produce better diving competitors?

Get over it. The Yankees do whatever they legally can to win. Too bad you can't say that for all teams.

I find it interesting that you seem to have latched on to any "west coast team" now that the Mariners have proven year after year that they are incapable of stopping the Yanks, at least not for a long time. "Well if my team can't do it, hopefully a team in my same time zone can!" Your legs must be in good shape from all the bandwagon jumping.

And by the by, a west coast team, or any team for that matter, has only been able to stop the Yanks 3 of the last 8 years. And this year, the Twins will make it 4 of the last 9!

If any team's gonna stop the Yanks this year, it might as well be the Twins. Despite the horrendous Metrodome, they're the team I most like in their division (now that the Indians don't seem to be contending this year). I like Torii's verve, and will be the first to hop on hottie A.J. Pierzynski's, um, bandwagon... wink

As much as non-Yankee fans complain about Steinbrenner, most of them would love to have an owner as driven to win as he is. I find George Brett's comments incredibly self-serving. Instead of continuing to blame teams like the Yankees for the Royals' non-presence in pennant races, perhaps he should be trying to explain to Kansas City's diminshing fan base why the Royals, who stand to be one of the biggest winners in the luxury tax and revenue sharing agreements, have commited to cutting their payroll further, rather than using the proceeds to actually sign players. Sounds like he's yet another stupid George .

Driven to win? But anybody can pay top price for all the top players he can get... but where's the skill in that? Sure, I'd like to have 9 starters and 6 outfielders, sure I'd like to stockpile players so that my opponents can't get them. But is it fair? Is it fun, even?

Why do fantasy sports games use spending limits and salary caps? Because if they didn't, everybody would take all the top players. But when you're limited as to who you can select, that's where the skill comes in. Evaluating talent. Making shrewd trades. That's why fantasy games are fun because you have to outsmart your competition, not just outspend them.

[ February 05, 2003, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

DC Bucky, I just got the link from the Onion in my email from a friend. Jeesh, that was f**kin' funny!

Little surprise that I came to post that link here and someone had beaten me to it.

Oh, how I love The Onion!

GVF, I see that you have a couple different baseball teams listed as your favorites. I'm assuming that you, just like myself, moved from one part of the country to another...Am I right? The Mariners will always be my favorite baseball team regardless of where I live. Being a native of California though, I also want to see those teams succeed, just as you'd want to see the Twins succeed. Don't take my Yankee comments so personally, as a Mets fan you should know better than to defend them. wink

[ February 06, 2003, 03:20 AM: Message edited by: SeaMarFan ]

I am a yankees fan. I love to have George Steinbrenner as the owner. He wants to win every year. When he loses, he makes sure he wins the next year. I like him.

If they signed every major league player, who are they going to play?

Don't they have to play someone to win unless everyone on their schedule forfeits?

But then if everyone forfeits, who makes the playoffs? I want to know what Bud Selig plans on doing about this.

Why bash the yankees? Bash the structure of baseball. Small Market teams cant compete. If you have a cash cow, well you've always got a shot of winning... if you dont, well... better hope for your talent to peak. This is why baseball is dwindling and the NFL is way more popular. IE, each and every team has a chance to win. Honestly, ask yourself.. how many teams have an honest chance of winning each year in baseball? maybe 10?

With that out of the way... "any west coast team" Sorry folks but fan apathy is the way the west coast goes... Show up when they win, leave when they lose... ie laker fans. East coast fans are 200x better and loyal... suffer when they lose, joy when they win...

Look, Steinbrenner can throw money around like milkweed and it doesn't guarantee a Series-winning team. He's been very lucky to have a great manager like Torre in place, and some terrific players. But remember the Yankess went through a long stretch without any Series appearances or wins (1980s-mid-1990s).

I hope the Yankees are competitive, just to keep the Red Sucks out of it. That team and franchise are awful, Duquette or no Duquette. They get rid of or mistreat every decent player they have, or they run them into the ground. And now they're trying to screw up Fenway Park! I just hope they don't destroy Pedro Martinez's arm. They tried once.

Yankees vs. Cardinals, a reprise of 1964, would be perfect! GO YANKEES, GO CARDS!

With "Yanks" being my middle name, a few observations:

-The Onion article was absolutely hysterical, although George would really outbid himself by $50 million to get A-Rod (Both Rodriguez and Roddick!)

-I should not be ashamed that George has decided to spend his money on bringing a winner to the fans. The fans don't seem to mind too much either; there was all this talk about people not wanting to go to Yankee Stadium to watch baseball, but now, they're setting attendance records in the "Boogie-down Bronx." ($6.00 hot dogs and all.)

-There are definitely teams in supposed "small" markets that just choose to pocket their money instead of building a better team. The most glaring example of that is Detroit, whose owners spent all of their money on the Red Wings, but have no money for the Tigers. Puh-leeze!

-Unfortunely for me, all of this spending does not guarantee a championship. (Although seeing Tim Salmon squat at the plate for all those extra games wasn't so hard to take, or maybe it was hard... )

-Lastly, as far as George "No, really, I'm not gay" Brett is concerned, I'm sure he's caught lightning in a bottle and put the bottle in his, well, you know.