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Conventional thinking says that the Yankees massively screwed up the Stadium That A-Rod's Syringes Built. The seats behind home plate are so expensive that the stadium looks half-sold every evening. But more importantly to fans who aren't going to pay $100, let alone $1,000 for seats, they turned the place into a 21st century Coors Field. Stats are inflated to the point that Jeter and Cano are each roughly on pace for 30 home runs while Damon may reach 40. This skewing of baseball statistics, the most (allegedly) pure item this side of your little sister, casts a dark shadow on the game nearly as disgraceful as letting a black man onto a 1930's major league baseball team.
Clearly the Yankee braintrust screwed up. The same brain trust that decided to bring in Jason Giambi, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez, and Carl Pavano put an equal amount of rational thought into planning the new Yankee Stadium. And said foresight turned what should have been an American Treasure into an affront to America's Pastime where easy outs in Fenway (or anywhere else) become back-to-back-to-back home runs.
Well, probably, but maybe not.
Yes, Yankee Stadium gives up more than its fair share of home runs, but so what? So Johnny Damon gets 40 home runs this year and Jeter gets his 25. What's the harm in this? Other than those of you (like alleged SUS writer, SHMUCK) who had your 5+ fantasy baseball teams unexpectedly skewed by the new Yankee Stadium stats, what harm is being done by adding more offense? Machavellian minds would not just embrace the Yankee Stadium home run derbys; they would plan for it. Lots of baseball fans appreciate 1-0, 2-1 pitching duels. But home runs are freakin sweet too. And the best way to get the casual or disinterested fan into Yankee games is to include a nearly guaranteed 3 or 4 home runs in each game. It's this simple: chicks, kids, and retards all dig the long ball. So the best way to turn those generally elusive demographics into baseball fans is to provide them with homers. Lots of em.
So what we have now is a deviously intelligent group of Steinbrenners, no? Well, possibly. If you think that the new Yankee front office is capable of thinking that far ahead of the curve, then yes, the Steinbrenners really pulled one over on the American public by creating a stadium that is both an affront to traditionalists but sure to get the casual fans interested. But come on, let's be real for a second. Have you seen some of the Yankees moves since the lesser Steinbrenners took over? This is the same team that refused to part with a #4 starter, a career minor leaguer, and a good centerfielder for the best lefty in the game. This is the same team that plays up prospect after prospect, only to watch them fail. And when they finally get a bonafide prospect, they flip-flop over his relief-starter status more than John Kerry explaining a policy stance. (Assist: (1) Rove, Karl) So no, there's no way that this present Yankee regime, barely capable of tying their own shoelaces, is cunning and intelligent enough to do anything remotely as smart as building a stadium around a wind tunnel so that they can increase fan interest.
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