A couple of weeks ago, the Yankees, my favorite baseball team, were in the throes of the worst stretch of baseball woes they'd experienced and been a party to since 1995. They couldn't do anything right. And the Red Sox, their arch-rivals, had a ridiculous 13 and a half game lead on them.
There they were in Toronto playing the Blue Jays.
There were two outs, runners on 2nd and 3rd, and a high fly pop-up had just been launched in the direction of the shortstop, symptomatic of yet another frustrating attempt by the Yankees to score with fewer than two outs and runners in scoring position.
The pop-up was, in baseball lingo, a can of corn.
Then Alex Rodriguez, while running behind the Blue Jay shortstop on his way to third, said "I got it!"
Keep in mind that the shortstop is supposed to be the captain of the infield.
If he calls for a ball, he takes the ball.
Even if it's close.
And nobody - I mean, NOBODY - calls him off it.
Did we get that?
The shortstop calls the ball.
Nobody calls him off it.
No exceptions.
Period.
Especially on a routine pop-up like this one.
Yet as soon as he hears Arod, the Blue Jay shortstop jumps out of the way.
The fans groan.
Understandably.
The ball falls in for a hit.
Obviously.
The Yankees go on to win that game, and eight more after that.
Woes over.
Aggressive stupidity, Naivitee, self-centered justice just beginning.
The shortstop, a 20/30 something year old, complains bitterly to the third base umpire.
The Blue Jay manager joins the gripe session.
Can you imagine?
Sure, you say.
But can you imagine that the umpires actually took what he was saying into consideration? Had a group confab right then and there on the field?
Decided that there was nothing they could do?
That after the game, Joe Torre, the Yankee manager, said it was not the most appropriate time for Arod to say something like that?
That for a week or so after that, the Media kept printing headlines like "Arod Told To Keep Mouth Shut"?
Please.
This wasn't a check from behind that endangered the physical well-being of the player.
It wasn't a blind-side hit.
It wasn't even a hard slide into third, spikes up.
Nor a play at the plate, which has resulted in concussions for the catcher on many occasions.
Nor was it shouting obscenities to distract a player.
It was a psych-out.
And it worked beautifully.
Do you think if someone said that to Derek Jeter, the Yankee shortstop, he would have jumped out of the way?
Let's say it together.
"No."
Cut to "The Bobby Orr Story."
This was about the great Bobby Orr, defenseman for the Boston Bruins.
It was a kids book. Is a kids book.
At the beginning of one of the chapters, Orr is playing in one of his first games in the NHL.
He's skating out of his own zone when suddenly a voice in his ear says, "Bobby, I'm right behind you, drop the puck."
Orr does so.
The crowd groans.
Turning around, Orr helplessly watches Yvan Cornoyer of the Montreal Canadiens go in on a breakaway and score a goal.
Did Bobby Orr, a future hockey hall of famer, a player to be reckoned perhaps the greatest defenseman in NHL history, complain to the referee?
No.
Did he think what had happened to him was unfair?
Most likely.
Did he look for retribution?
For some higher authority to step in and "make it right"?
No.
Why not?
Because he knew that the play and its outcome, painful though they be, were the result of his own, and only his own, poor judgment.
Did he look to blame someone else for his foolish, rookie mistake?
No.
It was his action and, in the final analysis, his choice.
Did he learn from it?
Apparently.
My, how times have changed.
It wouldn't bother me so much if this were one isolated incident.
It isn't.
The incident brings to the fore a disturbing trend in the world view of 20/30 something year olds.
The next generation.
It is a dangerous trend.
We must address it.