Anyone else think the absence of Roger Clemens - both in person and on the highlight reel- was conspicuous?
It was less than a year and a half ago, the stadium was whipped into an orgasmic frenzy when he stood arm in arm with Steinbrenner and announced that he was coming back to pitch a half season with the Yankees.
Was it the Mitchell Report? Heck, Pettitte and Giambi were featured in it and they were treated like kings.
Petitte and Giambi have been somewhat contrite. Clemens has been the same defiant jerk he's been his whole life. I really think that's all there is to it. It's just as well; Clemens might have been a distraction on this great night.
Hell, I'm not even a Yankee fan, but I'm a New Yorker (more specifically, a Bronx guy), and a baseball fanatic. I've seen Yankee Stadium with my own eyes (be it on the Major Deegan on the way to work, or attending a couple of games a year when a good visiting team is in town), basically every day of my life. When it's no longer the first thing I see when I get south of the Cross Bronx every day, it's going to be quite a shock to my system. As it was, last night's ceremony got me very emotional.
Yankee Stadium is part of Americana; not just baseball, not just New York City. It is, pardon the cliche, truly the end of an era.
"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
