Okay, some odds and ends. First, we've had a handful of non-baseball gatherings by the Lightning squad. Jason, Nannette and I met for chicken wings and trivia at Jason's former place of work in Brooklyn. Despite the fact that Jason stood toe to toe with me in trivia the whole night (when my entire career -- indeed my entire life -- is devoted to pop culture), Jason was not happy when I squeaked out a victory on the final question. He wanted to WIN!
Bruce and Pat and I met at S'Mac, a lower east side establishment on 12th street that specializes in macaroni and cheese. It was in fact very, very, very cheesey. I recommend getting the "small/gnosh" portion and don't forget the bread crumbs on top. And for god's sake, stay away from their bottled soda, which is wired with massive amounts of pure cane sugar. I stayed awake till 5 in the morning with visions of elbow macaroni dancing in my head.
Friday night is Hawai'ian Shirt Night in the bleachers per the Section 39 blog. Dress accordingly.
Finally, a sensitive topic. I thought the Yankees were wrong when they decided to sport a black armband all this season after the tragic plane crash that took the life of Cory Lidle last year. It's not that Lidle doesn't deserve this tribute, it just seemed extreme for a player that had just joined the team and that most fans had barely heard of. Half-mast flags when they heard, properly inviting his wife and children to Opening Day where he would be properly honored, this all seemed in proportion and classy. But I worried that wearing a black armband all season was too much, like weeping and wailing at the funeral of an distant uncle you barely knew. What would you do when an iconic Yankee died? Wear a black armband for two seasons?
Now my very fears are met with the passing of Scooter. The players will sport a #10 on their sleeves right above the black armband for Lidle. I hope it doesn't take anything away from Lidle to say that the armband for him makes the tribute to Scooter seem less impressive. Obviously, we don't want to rate every passing Yankee and say this guy deserves a two month salute and that guy's numbers mean he deserves a four month salute and so on. Just use common sense and deceny -- a brand new Yankee like Lidle that we barely knew deserved an appropriate tribute at the time and on Opening Day since the sason was over. Scooter -- a Yankee icon -- deserved the season-long tribute. A sense of proportion, please.
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I'd say the fact that Lidle died in such a public, tragic manner, plus the fact that he was on the roster and teammate of the current players contributed mightily to the decision to wear the armband.
If he'd died peacefully in his sleep, at the age of 89, given his modest Yankee accomplishments, there'd likely be no armband tribute.
Oh, you're absolutely right nuovorecord. No question about it his sad accident is the only reason they over-reacted so much. I just thought at the time that attending the funeral and marking his passing on opening day would have been very tasteful and in no way slighting of the guy but doing a season-long homage for a newbie meant it would be impossible to pay proper respect to a Yankee legend. And that's exactly what happened.
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