NEW YORK YANKEES, WORRIED ABOUT a SHIRT?

Paranoia setting in? In what has to be one of the silliest stories I've ever seen, a construction worker, working on the new Yankee Stadium, decided he would show his allegiance to his favorite team, the Boston Red Sox, by burying a David Ortiz shirt in the concrete of the new Yankee Stadium. Big deal, right? After all, for several decades, Sox fans had to listen to the "Curse of the Bambino" crap, and that was OK, right? We deserved that. We traded him to the Yankees. So, for several decades, we had to listen to that bull.

Along comes two World Championships, in the past 4 seasons, for the Red Sox, and the "Curse" is officially over. No more Babe stories, no more Bucky Dent stories, or Aaron Boone references. We even brought back Billy Buckner, to forgive him for something that wasn't his fault anyways. For the first time in almost a Century, Sox fans have something to celebrate. So, one of our fans buried a shirt at the new Yankee Stadium. I shrugged it off as amusing, but irrelevant. Who would care? Could the Yankees be cursed by a shirt? I think not. End of story, so I thought.

As the Sox prepared for their first series of the season against their rivals, another story surfaced. J. Damon, a former Sox fan favorite, when he patrolled Center Field for us, commented that the guy who buried that shirt should be fired by Yankee Ownership. Fired? Come on ex-Captain Caveman, a bit of an over reaction, don't you think? Again, I thought, who cares about a shirt? Now it's the end of the story, so I thought.

After two very well played games on both sides, the first series is even. As I looked forward to the rubber game on Sunday night, another shirt story. Construction workers dug up the shirt, buried in two feet of concrete. Are you kidding me? How much did that cost in overtime? So now, the shirt is gone, and there is no chance for a curse. Unless of course, the guy buried 5 shirts, and only talked about one. Who knows? Better dig the whole place up, just in case!

I am a lifelong Sox fan. Every time I try to find it in my heart to try to like the Yankees, something happens. I have a co-worker who is a Yankee, fan. Nice enough guy, but he can't wait to see me when the Sox lose. Last night, after the Sox won, I couldn't find him. So, I took the higher road, and didn't say anything to him about the final score. When I finally saw him, I didn't even bring it up. It's a long season, after all. He mentioned the game briefly, and I told him I enjoyed a well played game, but it is a long season, so let's relax about all of this. He nodded, but then injected "But when the Yankees end up taking two of three...," I guess I wasn't going to win my battle.

Keep on talking,. Keep bringing up the past history lesson of 26 World Championships. I'll just sit back, watch some good baseball, and get ready for next year's ring ceremony. Maybe I'll even go out and buy some David Ortiz shirts, because you never know when they will come in handy!