Sports

Derek Jeter should’ve been at the All-Star Game!!!

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

I know, I know… For the past week or so I have railed against Derek Jeter for being voted as the starting SS for the American League; and yes I was even happy when Jeter decided his calf was still healing  so he shouldn’t play in the All-Star game.

But……

Derek Jeter was voted by the fans as the starting SS (foolish vote), he owes to the fans and I will even say it owes to baseball to be around All-Star festivities.  With the NFL and NBA in lockouts, this is an opportunity for baseball to shine and who better than the newest member of the 3000th hit club to highlight those festivities.  Jeter’s lame excuse for not attending the All-Star game was to rest his calf; the same calf that looked perfectly fine legging out doubles against the Tampa Bay Rays last weekend.  Even IF his excuse was legitimate he still should have been in Arizona to celebrate baseball.

I mean if it weren’t for baseball would we even know about Derek Jeter?

If not for baseball would Derek Jeter have made over $250 Million dollars (in salary) in his career?

So basically Jeter took the money he made for making the All-Star game; $500K to be exact and gave the finger to Baseball and the fans.  If I sound harsh, GREAT!!!

Fans come from all over to see the All-Stars and imagine how great it would have been for fans to see Jeter and take pics and get an autograph from Mr. 3,000.  I hate to remind Jeter but baseball is his job and sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do but we SHOULD do!  Besides this could be the last All-Star game Derek Jeter will be elected to; it would be terrible if this is his lasting memory as an All-Star.

Lastly it seems like The Captain failed to remember what Joe DiMaggio “The Yankee Clipper” once said,

“There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.”

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

Derek Jeter aka Mr. 3000

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Much respect and congratulations to one of the great Yankees; Derek Jeter is now part of the 3,000 hit club.  This is a tremendous accomplishment for Jeter as he was able to do this with the team that drafted him, and when you look at the historic history of the NY Yankees… Derek Jeter will go down as the ONLY NY Yankee to reach the 3,000 club; amazing when you think about all the greats to play for the Yankees: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle.

In joining the 3,000 hit club Derek Jeter did it in style…

  • 5-5
  • 3,000th hit, a home run
  • Drove in the game winning run in his last at-bat
  • Did it at Yankee Stadium 

I am not sure you can draw a more perfect story in Hollywood; keep in mind that Jeter had been struggling to hit the ball with any authority this season.  But in recent weeks Jeter like the Jeter that always steps up in the playoffs started driving the ball with authority like the Jeter of late 90s.  So today’s performance against the Rays was classic… There were no cheap hits and like the Jeter of old, if you make a mistake he will make you pay and he did just that with a HR for his 3,000th hit.

It’s no secret that I am no fan of the NY Yankees and I have been critical of Derek Jeter this winter and thru the 1st half of this season, but I cannot deny how amazing of a day Jeter had today in reaching a glorious milestone.

Even a Yankee hater like myself has to stand-up and applaud a GREAT player like Derek Jeter.

Congrats Derek Jeter aka Mr. 3000 and future 1st ballot Hall Of Famer!!!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

F-A-Natic Fridays – Jim Riggleman, Another Punk Ass Manager

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

So we have another MLB manager quitting on his team in mid-season; WTH is going on!  What happened to managers showing their players that giving up is not the thing to do, no matter what.

1st there was Edwin Rodriguez who quit on the Florida Marlins after suffering thru a 1-18 June and now we have Jim Riggleman quitting on the Washington Nationals while the team is playing some of the best baseball they have EVER played.

I can’t condone quitting of any type but in the case of Rodriguez you can probably argue the team was no longer responding him and it was time to move on (still he should have let the team fire him instead of quitting).

As for Riggleman, this kat resigned from the Nationals after they had a great win and again they have been playing some great baseball.  The team seems like it is finally coming together and everything is clicking for them; and they are doing this while they have some GREAT prospects flying through their minor league systems.

So why would Riggleman quit what looks to be a great situation??

Apparently Riggleman was upset that the Nationals were not picking up his 2012 option until further discussion at the end of the season.  Riggleman wanted more security and the Nationals were not hearing that, so Riggleman quit.

He quit on every player that played hard everyday for him and he in my opinion committed the most selfish act!  Baseball is a game where sacrifice is key and it is not about one players stats; unfortunately Riggleman let his stats get in the way.

What would we (fans) ever do if an athlete decided in mid-season that since his team failed to pickup his contract option that he would just stop playing and resign?

The media and fans would criticize that player until there was no end!

If Riggleman gets a new job, I wonder if he would support his players when they complain about their contracts.

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!

Militant Mondays – Former Marlins Manager Edwin Rodriguez Quits!!

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

With the Florida Marlins struggling and free-falling to the bottom of the National League East with a 1-18 record in June; manager Edwin Rodriguez did the unthinkable when he suddenly resigned Sunday.  According to ownership Rodriguez was not in danger of losing his job and his resignation was apparently a surprise to ownership.

Last year on June 23rd the Marlins named Edwin Rodriguez as the 1st Puerto Rican-born manager in major league history; unfortunately he could not last at least 1 year.

Rodriguez quitting is something you just don’t do in sports!! 

A reputation like quitting is something that can follow for the rest of your career; who can forget when Scottie Pippen refused to go back into the game when the final play was not called for him.  Even though the Marlins were struggling Rodriguez should have stuck it out; let the Marlins fire you.  At least then no one would ever challenge his mental.

Being the 1st Puerto Rican-born manager comes with responsibility, could you imagine if Frank Robinson (1st Black Manager in Baseball) would have quit?

Hopefully Rodriguez quitting does not have a negative affect on future Puerto Rican-born players with aspirations of managing when their careers are over; as for Rodriguez if he has any future ideas of managing I think he will find it difficult to get another shot.  He had a chance to lead the Marlins into a new era as they would have been moving into a new stadium next season, this will be an exciting time for the Marlins but now Rodriguez will miss out on that.  They have great young talent poised to have an impact in the NL East, good luck finding a new job Edwin Rodriguez!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!

Now the Yankees wanna fight…

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

So now the Yankees wanna fight….

After getting beat up physically and mentally by their hated rivals the Boston Red Sox, the NY Yankees decided that they would not be pushed around by the Cleveland Indians.  After Fausto Carmona gave up a bomb to Curtis Granderson, he decided to send a message to the next batter… Mark Teixeira.

Carmona threw a high fastball right at Tex hitting him in the back and sending him to the dirt; being that he was already hit earlier in the week I guess he had enough.  Tex got up and let Carmona just how he felt and that led to the benches being cleared.  No punches were thrown but at least the Yanks got up off their asses and did something.

BUT….

Why wait until now to clear the bench?

After the game Girardi talked about being tired of his players getting hit, and all that talk sounds great.  Unfortunately the Yankees are still SOFT!!!

And the reason why I am saying they are still soft is because they waited until the Red Soxs left town to open their mouths.  Where was all this fight when Boston was hitting Jeter, Rodriguez and Tex?  The Yanks wanted no piece of Boston but they were quick to go at the Indians, LOL!!

The past week has shown who the Big Dawgs in the AL East and it’s NOT the NY Yankees, they better get their weight up before Boston runs away with the division.

By the way, Alex Rodriguez hit a homerun in today’s game and then was hit later on in the game.  It Looks like teams are flat-out challenging the Yanks, the pitchers for the Yankees better step up and protect their teammates or else there are going to be problems internally with the Yanks!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

F-A-Natic Fridays – Are the Yankees SOFT???

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

As much I hate the Yankees I never thought I would ever think of the Yankees being SOFT, but after watching Boston come into Yankee stadium and sweep the series I think it’s time to starting questioning the mental makeup of this Yankee team.

Not only did Boston sweep the series but they also physically inflected some pain on the Yankees.  Boston pitching managed to hit 4 Yankees, including knocking Mark Teixeira from the game after getting plunked on the knee.

So how did the Yankees respond?

Well……

As I already mentioned the Yankees got swept at HOME by their hated rivals; so obviously Tex being hit didn’t ignite anything in them. Then on top of that David Ortiz went off on them AGAIN and blasted a couple of homeruns.  One of the homeruns Big Papi apparently offended Yankee manager Joe Girardi with the flip of the bat; so I guess this would be the time when the Yankees would definitely retaliate.  Girardi is an old school type of guy, so you have to believe something would happen, right???

Well……

So the Yankees did FINALLY respond as C.C. Sabathia hit Ortiz in the leg with a 97 mph fastball. Of course that only happened AFTER Josh Beckett hit Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

WTH!!!!

So the Yankees finally hit David Ortiz after 161 career games and 34 career homeruns against them; AND after the Red Soxs hit 3 of their star players.  I guess that seems like a fair trade-off, LOL!!!

Yeah, the Yankees are soft as baby shit!!!

There is no way the Yankee teams that had Paul O’Neil and Roger Clemens would have ever let that go down.  Without a doubt there would have been some kind of bench clearing brawl…

Where is Don Zimmer?  His old ass has more fight than these NY Yankees!!

No wonder the Yankees were swept at home, they have no heart.  I will even say that my NY Mets have more heart than these pretty boy Yankees; The Mets have 2 superstars down and they show more fight.

After Boston’s slow start the Yankees had the chance to bury their hated rivals; instead they let them stay in the race and now Boston is in 1st place.  Even though it is still early in the season (really not), I am not sure the Yankees have what it takes to challenge the Red Sox.  Of course the Yankees have proven me and others a lot smarter than me wrong before….

The only difference is those Yankees teams of past seasons had HEART!!

Dwight Gooden aka Dr K.

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

On Saturday May 14th, 2011 I was reminded of the no-hitter Dwight Gooden aka Dr K threw 16 years ago while pitching for the NY Yankees.  Yes, even as a Yankee I was still keeping tabs on Gooden.  Of course me being the Yankees Hater that I am the only Yankees’ games I would watch was when Dwight was pitching.  Now in 1996 Dwight was not the same pitcher he was back in the mid 80s, but every once in a while you would see a glimpse of the high rising fastball and the dominate curve ball aka ‘Lord Charles’ (nickname for Gooden’s 12-6 curve ball).

On May 14th, 1996 Dwight had it going once again and was on top of the world; it would be one of the last shining individual moments for Dr K.  So this past Saturday brought up a lot of great memories for me growing up in mid to late 80s as a Mets fan.

Dwight Gooden will always be 1 of my all-time favorite Mets; even though he has gone through some issues off the field I will always feel a connection to him. Growing up the only time you would catch me in the house was when Gooden was pitching; it didn’t matter if the game was on TV or if I had to listen to the game on the radio (before cable was in my neighborhood).  So it was only appropriate that my 1st baseball game took place 2 days after my birthday; the only reason I did not go on my birthday was because my dad wanted to wait until Dwight pitched.  It was a great day watching Doc Gooden  beat the hated Pittsburgh Pirates and what made the day even more memorable was Dwight (who loved hitting) hit his 1st major league homerun.  Of course in my book that was my birthday gift from Gooden, haha!!!

But as I mentioned earlier there was the good along with the bad when it comes to Dwight; there are few athletes that affect me outside of sports (Magic Johnson, and Alonzo Mourning).  Through the years when I would hear about Gooden getting into trouble it would be a sad moment; in all honesty it was like a family member disappointing me.

And like a family member you always find a reason to forgive them and hope to see them be good/great.  Hopefully there will be more good than bad moments for Dwight from this point on…

Happy Anniversary Dr K!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

Now You Want to Be Tough on Jeter???

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

So I wake up this morning and I see that longtime Yankee fan Stephen A Smith, wants to be tough on Derek Jeter.

Really???

Now you wanna be tough on Jeter Stephen A?  Dawg, you’re LATE to the game.  Stephen A is criticizing Jeter for his lack of productivity so far this season; ummmm…. NEWS FLASH Stephen, Derek Jeter is 36 years old!!!  What about last season gave you the idea that Jeter was going to have a productive season in 2011?

I know I know, it’s still early in the season and Jeter could turn this round and I actually think he will.  I don’t believe Jeter will hit .300 but he could be a .275 – .280 hitter.

I guess what pisses me off about all this is that so-called sports reporter Stephen A Smith is trying to come across as being tough on Jeter.  In my opinion Stephen A. is being the ULTIMATE MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK!  It’s easy to criticize Jeter right NOW, his numbers are terrible (at least for Derek Jeter standards).  You’re not being “TOUGH” on Jeter your just being “Captain Obvious”.  Anyone watching a Yankee game could have told us that Jeter is struggling.  Stephen A. likes to yell and rant in interviews and on the radio and show he has the biggest mouth in the room.  How about you show us some creativity Stephen A and report something I didn’t already know.

Step ya game up bruh, I am sure ESPN is paying you a lot of money to be a lil more creative with your reporting.

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!