Friday, July 18, 2008

Robbed of a Precious Family Heirloom?

This morning I read one of the most over-the-top "Voice of the People" letters to the New York Daily News I've ever seen. You've got to check this one out:

Mammon vs. Mariano

Manhattan: In the ninth inning, in the last All-Star Game ever at Yankee Stadium, Mariano Rivera was summoned to pitch. "Enter Sandman" starts to play over the speakers. Out of the bullpen comes the greatest closer in baseball history. The Stadium goes bananas. The energy is so tangible, I can feel it at home, over the television. I have a tear in my eye in response to this immense, once-in-a-lifetime moment of respect, awe and beauty in tribute of Mariano. Then - right in the middle of as moving an experience one is likely ever to have as a baseball fan - Fox abruptly GOES TO A COMMERCIAL?

The horror I felt was as though I had just been robbed of a precious family heirloom. Whoever is responsible should lose his/her job.

Does this sound overly dramatic? If you're not a great fan of baseball, perhaps. But I am a great fan of baseball. I was watching a great moment. Then it was stolen from me.

Shame on Fox television. Shame on them.

Name Withheld (for obvious reasons)

As many of you know, I love to occasionally comment on some of the more ridiculous letters I read in newspapers. This one had me literally in hysterics after I read it, and I wondered if this was sent to the News as some kind of a joke. But I bet the author (whose name I left off because it was so ridiculous) is absolutely serious.

So Fox didn't show Mariano Rivera, the alleged greatest closer of all time, coming into the All-Star Game in the ninth inning. Frankly, who cares? In about 99.9% of all pitching changes, the networks don't show the complete change, no matter what the situation, as they go to a commercial. (Money talks, bullshit walks, my friend.) Nobody at Fox is getting fired over this, as they were just doing their job.

To compare hearing Rivera come in to "Enter Sandman" and not seeing it to being robbed of a "precious family heirloom" is just a little over-the-top, don't ya think? Horror over this? A moment stolen away? Overly dramatic? I think you need to get out more often, buddy. I knew Yankee fans can be a bit silly and even moronic, but this letter made me bust out laughing.

Thanks for the chuckle, pal.

3 comments:

Jere said...

Hey, if you're such a great fan of baseball, and you waited for this precious moment for so long, why didn't you buy a ticket to the game so you wouldn't have missed anything? A truly "great" fan would've been there and not missed it, ha.

BklynSoxFan said...

I was thinking the same thing, Jere. If it was such an important thing for this fan to witness, and it seemed his life was depending on it, why the hell wasn't he there in person?

The "Voice of the People" continues to be a place for such high comedy, especially when Yankee fans get "up in arms."

Michael Leggett said...

Like "Seinfeld" Yankees Fans talk about NOTHING. They're not Noted For being "Rocket Scientists".