Wait a Minute - the Yankees Do Something Right?!?
We aren’t in the habit of giving the Yankees (as an organization) a whole lot of credit around these parts. The players are fine, but let’s just say Hank Steinbrenner doesn’t smack of class, tact or intelligence. That said, the Bronx Bombers did something pretty cool today, traveling to Blacksburg, Va. for a game with Virginia Tech nearly a year after the tragic shootings.
It was pretty cool to see and a good gesture. As Derek Jeter said quite perfectly “People always ask, well, what can you do? How does this help? I really don’t know. If it just makes people smile or enjoy themselves for the three hours that we’re here, it’s all worthwhile.” A distraction, sure, but a welcome one.
Now, a supremely jaded person might call this a publicity stunt, to which I would reply, the Yankees don’t really need the publicity, to which that person would say, they don’t need the publicity, they want it, and then he’d add that for a $200 million juggernaut, $1 million is hardly enough of a gift to the victims’ fund. But that supremely jaded person isn’t me. (Seriously.) Kudos to the Yankees for a nice gesture.
I have no idea what kind of person would make such a cynical argument, but that person might point out that the Yankees are not a $200 million juggernaut. The Yankees are worth over a billion dollars. So, yes, that cynical, soulless person could quite reasonably claim that one million is quite the pittance, relatively speaking. For example, they paid the Carl Pavano’s Classy Mansion and Indoor Pool Charity Fund $40 million for Pavano to essentially hang out and grab-ass with the team for four seasons. And they could only afford to give suffering and traumatized Va Tech one million? The aforementioned cynic would probably consider that a slap in the face. I would guess, anyway; I can’t read minds, let alone hypothetical ones.