Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Life without A-Rod

now that the dust is starting to settle and we can look at the yankee situation with out arod Im pretty confident to say that next year is going to have the late 90's feel. Ever since the yanx signed Moose (it was a great signing)they have been obsessed with bringing the best guy available to the team .can you blame them?? whether it was giambi or sheffield ,Matsui, Randy,Abreu, etc... the list keeps going.As a yankee fan you get excited when you see them bringing in one big name after the next..Now that we FINALLY realize that you dont win with a good team on paper, You always win (with a couple of exeptions )when you have a groupe of youth from the system with a sprinkle here and there of a veteran. Thats what always works.Just look at the the past 10 years with exception to the 2001 d-backs that was the combo that won.
Im confident that the new Yankee facelifted team which is injected with a refreshing youthfull core and veteran here and there(its a bonus if there from our system)I think that is the recipe for success .
The New yankee team is reminicent to the Old yankee team.The yankee team the won,the yankee team that almost every team tries to modell them self after.

ALL I have to say is its about damn time.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I would agree with you that the 08' team is good and should be good for a long time. Wan, Joba,Hughes,Kennedy,Olendorf and clippard are all AT LEAST # 3 starters, every one of them. That's unbelievable. Cano and Jeter are the only long-term offenseive forces as of now. I really believe that the key to our success is Humberto Sanchez, the guy everyone forgets about. He has the ability to set up Rivera like a Jonathon Broxton setting up Saito. If he can't ( due to injury), I don't think we'll win the division unless we sign Fansisco Cordero.

SAM I AM said...

clippard is nothing more than a 5th starter and you seem to be forgetting a steadt melky a solid end of the order guy

Anonymous said...

Wow sam this is a great article and let me back you up a little more. There is a theory around called the Ewing theory, The theory was created in the mid-'90s by Dave Cirilli,who was convinced that Patrick Ewing's teams (both at Georgetown and with New York) inexplicably played better when Ewing was either injured or missing extended stretches because of foul trouble.

Curious to see if this phenomenon applied to other stars/teams, Dave noticed people were pencilling in the '94-'95 UConn Huskies for a .500 season because "superstar" Donyell Marshall had departed for the NBA. Dave knew better; a lifelong UConn fan, he thought the Huskies relied too much on Marshall the previous season and could survive without him. Like Ali predicting the first Liston knockout, Dave told friends the Huskies would thrive in Marshall's absence -- and that's exactly what happened. By midseason, UConn was ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in school history; the Ewing Theory had been hatched.
Dave introduced me to the Ewing Theory three years ago, and we've been tinkering with it like Voltaire and Thoreau ever since. Eventually, we decided that two crucial elements needed to be in place for any situation to qualify for "Ewing" status:

1. A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him (other than maybe some early-round playoff series).

2. That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency or retirement) -- and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season.

When those elements collide, you have the Ewing Theory.During the '99 NBA Playoffs, Ewing tore an Achilles tendon during the second game of the Eastern finals against Indiana. With Ewing finished for the playoffs and nobody else on the Knicks who could handle Rik Smits, the series seemed like a foregone conclusion. As an added bonus, since Ewing himself was involved, that made this the ultimate test of the Ewing Theory; in fact, I e-mailed Dave that week to say, "This is the greatest test yet."So what happened? The Knicks won three of the next four and advanced to the NBA Finals for only the second time in 26 years. Had Jeff Van Gundy's crew shocked the Spurs in the Finals without Ewing, Dave might have his own line of "How-To" videos out right now (a Knicks upset was simply too tall of a task against Duncan and Robinson, Ewing Theory or no Ewing Theory).
Now examples from this year you dont have to look further then the giants tiki barber where everyone had written them off and now are a top 3 team in the league. Other examples Miami Dolphins, 2000: Dan Marino retires and everyone prepares for a rebuilding year in Miami; the Fins end up advancing to the second round of the playoffs with Jay Fiedler. Jay Fiedler!............And what gets me most excited is there already was a Ewing Theory involving A-hole i mean A-rod When Seattle Mariners, 2000: After allegedly "giving up on the season" by dealing their marquee players and with A-rod gone, (Junior Griffey) eight months after dealing their marquee pitcher (the Big Unit), the Mariners cruise to an AL wild-card berth and shock the White Sox in the first round.

So everyone get ready for a Pinstripe Parade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SAM I AM said...

louis that is a classic post

MSR said...

although i have studied the ewing theory myself, and I back the ewing theory, i do have one comment...
You would think that now that a-rod is gone, they yanks might have more team commoradary and the chemistry would be through teh roof. From what I saw this past season, just by watching teh boys in the dugout every game, they had plenty of good team chemistry. they did a lot of dancing, more crazy handshakes then usual, and everyone seemed to be pulling for eachother more and more. I thought that this was the ultimate team that should have gone all the way. The mix of young and old guys seemed to be perfect this year and the subtraction of a-rod will not make it any better. They will need a big right handed bat to replace him.
It's one thing to have team chemistry, it's another thing to have that produced onto the field of play. A-rod seemed to do that with his superstar season. I don't think he was holding anyone back like a Ewing would in a different sport. this is a team sport and it cannot be won or lost based on one player, even Wang from this year. A-rod should be cursed for his decision to opt out. The yanks really need to replace him with someone other than wilson betemit.