PLAY IT AGAIN, HAL

Are you listening to Brian Cashman’s end of the year presser? WHY?! Why do it again? It’s like the same awful Christmas sweater that you bought in a pinch 10 years ago to make it a friends Holiday Party! Now you keep dusting it off to re wear each year. Throw it away! Donate it to Goodwill! Better yet don’t go the the next “Bad Christmas Sweater” get together…those parties are worse than fruitcake.

The Yankees are now like that Christmas sweater in a way. Sure, they’re still the NEW YORK YANKEES. They are synonymous with big time sports like the Tree at Rock Center is with Christmas. But the magic is gone! It feels like the years after we were told Mom and Dad were Santa (Though I’m still investigating that one).

Who changed it all? Well, it seems to be the 3 UNWISE MEN! Hal isn’t a baseball man or a competitive titan like his father was. He is a silver spooned bank teller who reads from a Steinbrenner script…but he can’t sell it. George NEEDED to win. He believed he owed it to New York. Hal hears about all the subways in the city and probably thinks they just have a lot of low-rate, chain sandwich shops! He isn't NYC.

It's like that movie “Funny Bones” with Oliver Platt and Jerry Lewis. The great comedian and his unfunny son. “There are some that can read funny, and there are those with funny bones…you’re neither.” See it. It’s great and sums up the massive gap between “The Boss” and “The Bust”.

Cashman is a clown. He was the wunderkind under the Stick Michael regime and just a figure head while the Dynasty was playing and winning. Then he took the massive checkbook at his disposal and found a way to get it done in 2009…still with Mo, Jeter and company.

He constructs bad teams! He makes dumb moves. Sure, the sun shines on a dog’s ass now and then but…well hell, I'll just shout Ellsbury and leave it there! He is defiant every year when the press asks why the Yankees are a broken record of broken teams. He needs to go! FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE!! They canned GI Joe Girardi and he was good! Cashman is like 10-week-old milk at this point. He stinks and you’ll get violently ill if you drink any of his nonsense. Hit the Deegan, Brian. You need to move on.

Then we have Boone. I like Aaron Boone. Had the chance to meet him a few times, He is genuine. He loves the game, and I KNOW he gets that he is the skipper of the greatest franchise in sports. He has been ok. Not great. Not the main reason they fall short. He’s been ok. But this is NEW YORK! Like Colin Quinn once said about New York audiences, “I don’t care if Jack Nicolson gets up on that stage…if he isn’t funny within the first 5 minutes he’s gonna get booed.” 

 

 

Boone is a nice guy…but my Uncle Jack is a nice guy, and he shouldn’t manage the Yanks either. I think Aaron would be better suited skippering the DBacks or Pads. He’s a So Cal guy and they can skate by with the laid back thing. NOT IN THE BRONX.

Sadly, ZERO will change. The great player we have…and we have 1…will be another year older and edging closer to the Pat Ewing, Charles Barkley club. Pitching is touch and go. Max is good, Cam could be great, and Cole is on a new elbow. They are selling a dream, and we haven’t shown interest in buying into it for years now.

Change is the only thing in life that is guaranteed…somehow the New York Yankee Brass is the exception to the rule. They won’t for yet another year. Firing a bullpen coach named Mike Harkey? He was the problem???

Look, I still believe in Santa. I stopped believing in the Yankees…and that is more of a kick in the head to my childhood than fading faith in a jolly elf from the North Pole, gang.

That's the bottom line.

--Mike O'Hara
BYB Contributor
Twitter: @mikeyoh21

JAMES DOLAN: THE WORST PERSON ALIVE!

I watched this Charles Oakley, James Dolan feud closely this week. Actually, I've been watching the antics of James Dolan for a while now.  I find the man shameful and embarrassing. I find it truly childish that an adult baby can have a toy like the Knicks, and own it for the mere reason of manipulating every aspect of the team for his own pleasure.   Not for the fans that pay to see the games, he doesn't care about you, and not for the players that work their asses off every single game. 

He cares only about himself and how great a leader he thinks he is. Dolan is no leader. Dolan is a loser.

Players don't play well when there is no one to lead them, and it starts at the top.  Now you can blame Carmelo Anthony or Derek Rose or Phil Jackson all you want.  But everyone knows that when morale is lost... it comes from the top.  That's James Dolan... a despicable leader in every sense of the word.  And that brings me back to Charles Oakley.

Charles Oakley has had his problems as a person. Let's be honest, who hasn't?

Photo: New York Daily News

But Charles Oakley gave his blood, sweat and tears to this New York Knick organization for 10 years.  Working his tail off during some of the better Knicks seasons, he always gave 100%.  In some regards, he should be remembered as a passionate player and leader and loosely named New York icon.  Fans love him!

Photo: Reuters News

After all... he's right there when folks rattle off Knicks of years past with Patrick Ewing and Johnny Starks.  Bottom line... Oak was right there, and now years later because of some personal spat between he and James "Cry baby" Dolan... the man is just "not welcome" by the Knicks anymore.



Now what happened this past week was insane to me.  Oak was at the Garden and Oak was asked to leave.  It wasn't that Charles Oakley was spilling beer on folks and looking for a fight.  Charles Oakley got a ticket like every Knick fan that night.  No doubt... he was rooting, and maybe in some regard, he may have even been shouting frustrations like many fans. Maybe some of that was at James Dolan.  We don't know... but what we do know is Dolan didn't like it, and that confrontation between Oak and security only happened because Dolan called his minions to have Oakley removed. 

But let me ask you something? Wouldn't a normal person have a one-on-one and squash the beef? Maybe an office meeting? Maybe you take it out into the hallway? Not Dolan... he's a wimp. Look at how pathetic he looks while his little minions are surrounding the superstar? Spineless much? "Wasn't me!"

Now someone asked me, "Did you see Oakley push those security guards?"  I quickly chimed in... "Acutally, did you see that security guard put his hands on Oakley, and then did you see Oakley push those security guards in defense?"  If someone was to touch me in a public forum because some bitch owner called for the order... I'd get physical too.  Oak and Dolan have a history... They hate each other.... last time I checked though... this was America! And if you want to go to a ball game, pay money for a ticket and get alittle loud about a team you played for and loved... you should be able to do that.

Sadly, Dolan thinks he's powerful in some regard and took his power to another level trying to humiliate a former Knick great.  He made a vital mistake, just like he's done with the Knicks and everything else he has dirty, fat fingers in.

If life tells you anything about humanity, humility and good and bad choices... karma will be on Oakley's side here.  The Knicks were wounded by this horrible display by James Dolan, not a leader... a baby.  That team will fall apart, their "stars" will fade, and Dolan's "empire" will be soon damaged. And this is why I believe that.... it comes down to reputation.

Charles Oakley is speaking out defending himself to the media hard... and he should! If Charles Oakley was truly guilty, he would go "get help", a shameful statement from Dolan, and then apologize and disappear.  But he won't, because in the trait of a human being, it is well documented... that if you truly are innocent, or believe you are wronged... you will fight back because your reputation is on the line. Notice Dolan is using the Knicks "press release". Notice Oakley took the gloves off and going man to man... a tough cookie, just like his playing days.

Oakley's fighting back because Oakley knows he is the victim here.  Dolan? He needs to go away.  He's a pathetic excuse for leadership. Don't believe me?

Just look at the pitiful Knicks.