I could not help but notice the article by Kyle Sullivan in the March 1st issue of The Chronicle titled, “Every Yankee game isn’t a Yankees Classic,” and not cringe a little. While I thoroughly enjoyed the opening half-paragraph celebrating the history behind the greatest sports franchise in North America, everything after that seemed entirely flawed. Perhaps it takes a Yankee fan to understand the method behind “Yankee Classics” mayhem, but I can promise I didn’t expect a Redsox fan to understand anyway.
A classic is defined by dictionary.com to mean “having lasting significance or worth,” so forgive me if I whole heartedly disagree with somebody when they write that a June game against the Pittsburgh Pirates had no lasting significance or worth. Now, to a non-Yankee fan, maybe even a non-diehard Yankee fan, it may have seemed like a typical, close interleague game that meant nothing. However, if someone were to look beyond the scorecard like a true journalist should, they would realize that that was the turning point of Jason Giambi’s entire season and potentially a revamp to his career. It is a well known fact that Giambi struggled for two years both on and off the field. When he does something like hit a walk-off home run and once again finally show signs of becoming the player he was signed to be once again, the game is going to have a lasting impact. After that game, Giambi went on a tear for the rest of the season and ended up as the Comeback Player of the Year in the American League.
The argument presented would mean that a 12-4 Yankee blowout victory (not even a close game this time) on April 26th (less than a month into the season) against the Angels also should not have been considered a classic. However, once again, when a little research and hindsight is taken into account, anybody can realize that that was the game when Alex Rodriguez “gained his pinstripes” by hitting three home runs and driving in 10 runs.
While I agree the July 1, 2004 game against the Red Sox was probably the greatest regular season game I too have ever seen, that does not mean every classic has to live up to that billing. It is on the Yankee’s network, which means the classics should be considered classics according to the Yankee team, not necessarily if it is a back and forth epic final. Sometimes individual performance, momentum, records being set, or in the case of that Yankees-Sox game, a really amazing two team performance, can all lead to a game being considered “a classic.”
Sullivan said himself, “If I’m watching a classic game I want to see a game that meant something for the Red Sox.” Well, perhaps you should understand other teams a little more before you judge what is meaningful and meaningless to their fans.
For the record, the NESN channel actually has a program that similar, but completely inferior to “Yankee Classics.” It is called “Renewing the Rivalry,” where they simply show any Yankee-Red Sox match up regardless of outcome or if the game was even exciting or not. If YES executives or the Yankee ownership can be considered crazy, then the NESN executives and John Henry need to be admitted immediately.
In addition, the Yankees also have a rewind immediately after the games; it’s called “Yankee Rewind”, the exact thing that was claimed to be non-existent by Sullivan. Then again, maybe there should be more poorly researched articles written by Red Sox fans. It gives me yet another reason to rip their franchise, sort of like being one of the only teams to be pathetic enough not to win a world championship for 86 years.
