Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Weasel of the Week: the New York Yankees

For 20 years, Derek Jeter has been portrayed as a total team player with the Yankees. So why would the Yankees, and authorized ticket resale agents such as StubHub, overprice tickets for Jeter's final home game, set for Thursday?

Greed, of course. The Yankees have spent all season hyping the final season for Jeter, the current team captain, and the last link to their dynasty of the late 90's-early 00's, hoping to punctuate it by making another post-season run. As of this writing, though, it doesn't appear as though that is going to happen, and Jeter, like Mariano Rivera last year, will go out without making the playoffs in his final season.

There are people, I'm sure, who are tired of all the excess hype. Rivera didn't get this kind of genuflecting last year. Jeter's been a playboy, having dated the likes of Mariah Carey and Minka Kelly, among others, but has stayed above all the scandal and controversy that goes with working---and living---in New York. He is the opposite, then, of disgraced teammate Alex Rodriguez, and one tabloid went so far as to suggest that he get the same treatment next year, assuming it's his final season. Please.

The late George Steinbrenner took care of his stars, sure, but he'd be turning in his grave, seeing how the excess hype and genuflection is being done on his sons' watch. Did they authorize it? Or were they fleeced by some slick marketing rep looking for the ultimate easy payday? We'll never know. The bottom line, though, is that the Yankee "high command", and the ticket brokers authorized by the team, including StubHub, which has paid for advertising on game broadcasts, will get a box full of Weasel ears for cheapening the retirement of one of their greatest players by letting greed get in the way. Shame on you all!

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