Two Big Gripes Surrounding World Series

The NY Yankees' Robinson Cano had just made the easy throw to first baseman Mark Teixeira for the final out, thus sewing up the 2009 World Series Championship. Yankee players and coaches emptied the bench in a sprint to rejoice with their teammates on the infield. But, as the FOX TV cameras tried to capture the joy of the human spirit and celebration, did you see something strange? I did.

Literally, less than 10 seconds into the start of the traditional team jumping up and down and piling on one another, here comes some non-athlete in a business suit. He rushes toward the players with an extended arm's length full of t-shirts. You know the t-shirts, the ones that you can buy so you, too, can wear the post-game celebratory shirt just like the pros? Right in the middle of congratulatory hugs between Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada comes this bozo trying to toss the official garb for the players to display. Then you see another logo-pushing, entry level marketing character distributing the official championship hats. Lastly, and not nearly as prominent, was someone else with the faux newspaper, complete with headlines proclaiming the Yankees' 27th World Series title.

Can't we give these guys just a little bit of space to enjoy the moment, something they had worked towards since spring training in February. After 162 regular season games and a total of nine more post-season games, do they have to have their party crashed by people wanting to hawk MLB promotional material? What would happen if they waited for the team members to settle down just a little bit before presenting them with these things for the post-game press conference and trophy presentation...they wouldn't sell as many t-shirts and caps? Come on people. It's sad that genuine spontaneity and emotions have to yield to someone trying to make money off of such cherished moments.

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Having spent most of my life around athletics, it makes me sick to hear the vulgar chants that have become so commonplace at a lot of stadiums and basketball arenas around the country. Why do we have to have organized cheers by so-called fans that are strictly directed at demeaning the opponents? Weren't we taught some kind of sportsmanship at a younger, more impressionable age? Weren't we taught to cheer for our own team, support our team, and let the opponent's fans have the same opportunity? What happened to all of this shaking hands after youth sports competition...doesn't it carry through to adolescence, the teens, then adulthood?

You know the chant to which I am referring; you heard it in Philadelphia in each of the three WS games there..."Yankees Suc__...Yankees Suc__". Yankee fans are not saints, but they know baseball and they know how to best support their team. You didn't hear "Phillies Suc__...Phillies Suc__" in Yankee Stadium.

Most younger people who enjoy yelling this stuff have no idea from where the "S" word originated. Suffice it to say it that the term has sexual overtones--not exactly what we want to have our young people promoting in public, especially among other fellow numbskulls that they don't know.

It's senseless, classless, and shows absolutely no kind of support for their own team.

Along the same line of thinking, if we can get the young college basketball fans on campuses around the country to give up on their infamous chant of "Bullshi__, Bullshi__, Bullshi__" when they disagree with a referee's call, we'll be moving in the right direction.

If we don't get this corrected we can look forward to more generations of idiot fans. What do you say parents, school teachers, principals, and civic leaders...can we get that done? I hope so.