BY DAN
KENNEDY
Serving the reality-based community since 2002.
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Sunday, February 15, 2004
There is less joy in
Mudville. Some counterintuitive first thoughts on the Yankees'
acquisition
of Alex Rodriguez following the Red Sox' long, protracted
efforts:
1. Remember, this wasn't about
upgrading the team at shortstop. It was about getting rid of Manny
Ramírez. Manny's still here, but guess what? He's still going
to hit a ton. Rodriguez may be a better player than Nomar
Garciaparra, but they're both going to the Hall of Fame. Ask yourself
this: did you really want to see Nomar leave town?
2. Psychologically, this is good
for the Sox. They've been the favorites all winter. Who needs that
pressure? The Yankees are better today than they were yesterday, but
not by so much that they look unbeatable. And now the focus is going
to be on George Steinbrenner and his $200 million payroll.
3. Major League Baseball's sickness
may be reaching its terminal phase. Two weeks ago, we all got to see
a professional sports league that does it right (except for
contracting out its halftime show). It's depressing to see how owner
selfishness has ruined baseball. Does any team even matter other than
the Yankees and the Red Sox? Every true fan - except those of us in
Boston and New York - will be rooting against both teams.
Sex, context, and hypocrisy.
Mickey Kaus has posted what, at first glance, appears to be a
striking
bit of hypocrisy on the
part of Joe Conason. Conason - who is properly outraged at Matt
Drudge's pathetic attempts to hang an apparently non-existent sex
scandal on John Kerry - turns out to have been very interested in
George H.W. Bush's sex life 12 years ago.
Context, please? I don't have
Conason's 1992 Spy article in front of me, but I can guess. In
1992, the Republicans - then as ever - were obsessed with Bill
Clinton's sex life, as though Republicans never carried on any
extramarital affairs. As I recall, a lot of liberals were appalled at
the single-minded focus on Clinton.
Allegations that Poppy Bush might
have had an affair were irrelevant. The possibility that the media -
spurred on by the Republican Attack Machine - were focusing entirely
on the alleged dalliances of the Democratic candidate while ignoring
evidence about the Republican candidate was important and worth
looking into.
posted at 9:26 AM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
