The dog that didn't bark: Where was the Yankees' victory celebration?
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
The dog that didn't bark: Where was the Yankees' victory celebration?
NEW YORK — Hundreds of Yankees fans in New York City who hit the streets to revel in their team's 27th World Series championship have been greeted by an NYPD van, several patrol cars with lights flashing and officers standing on street corners.
Fans in Yankees jerseys and hats who watched the 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at sports bar Stout poured onto 33rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues early Thursday to celebrate and remained well-behaved.
"Hundreds" of Yankees fans? As Chase Utley might say, "Are you (bleep)in' kidding me?" Hundreds? Here in Philadelphia, we throw that many fans into a police paddy wagon in the first 90 seconds after a big victory. See that picture up top? That's Phillies fans a couple of weeks ago celebrating just getting into the World Series in a way that puts New Yorkers to shame -- there's no comparable picture from Manhattan or the Bronx last night to show, no NYC equivalent of Frankford and Cottman, where regular folks pour into the streets by the thousands. And we know from last year how crazy this town would have been if we had actually won this thing.
So what's wrong with New York? OK, there are two important caveats. One, and I know from my years in and around the Big Apple that this is important, is that close to half the people in the city who care about baseball are Mets fans who hate the Yankees more than you do, if that's possible. The second is that NYC is much more of a magnet for a) immigrants who've not yet adopted our strange and wonderful traditions of baseball and b) out-of-town transients seeking to make it in theatre, media, Wall Street, whatever. In other words, the so-called "penetration rate" of Yankees fans in New York is actually much much lower than the percentage of Philadelphians who get jacked about the Phillies, despite the disparity in World Series rings.
But I think there's something else in play. If you paid attention to what's happened in the Bronx the last couple of years, the Yankees have done everything to price out of their market the kind of fan who'd paint his chest and head out to a street corner with 10,000 of his newest bestest friends. In moving into the new Yankee Stadium this year, in the teeth of the worst economy since the Great Depression, the Yankees jacked up their average ticket prices by a mindboggling 76 percent, from $41.40 to 72.97. That's also about 40 percent higher than the No. 2 team, the Boston Red Sox, where a high fan base and Fenway Park's limited seating creates huge demand. The Yankees still drew fairly well this year -- in the nation's largest city, with more millionaires than you'll find anywhere else -- but also had a couple thousand empty seats right behind home plate for most games -- even some at the World Series! -- because of premium prices as high as $2,625 for one seat.
And you wonder why New York's Joe Sixpack wasn't excited last night?
I saw a sad story in the New York Times during the Series, about how moving across the street into their $1.5 billion palace -- which elected officials, who financed the infrastructure with tax dollars, claimed would be a boon to local merchants in the faded Bronx neighborhood -- had in fact devastated many of these local businesses, souvenir shops and working-class-style tap rooms. The article was kind of weak on explanation, but you have to think the kind of stockbroker dudes paying hundreds of bucks to see a baseball game aren't going to shop in, you know, the Bronx -- unless you count the Yankees' own clean and overpriced merchandise shop inside their elite fortress of a ballpark. That's great for the Yankees economically, which is how they buy the best players, but you don't have to grease your streetlamps for partying investment bankers when you win, either.
On the whole, I'd rather be in a winning Philadelphia, of course. But beyond that, I'd also rather be in the kind of city that goes wild for its two World Series wins, instead of the one that yawns at its 27 titles. Wouldn't you?
(Blogger's note: It's a long weekend for me, thanks to a scheduling flip. So I'll see you early next week.)
Comment removed.
Guess that abbreviation was offensive - try again. Haven't been to new Yankee Stadium and haven't been to the old stadium so this is a distant perception. I wonder if the new Yankee Stadium will do to Yankee fans what the Corestates/FIRST UNION/Wachovia Center has done to Flyers fans??— bird11- Comment removed.
- "Democratic stronghold Detroit could probably stand to win few more championships." SBVFT - Detroit gets destroyed when the Red Wings win a Stanley Cup and at the risk of making a racially insensitive comment I don't think many of the people I see "just robbin'and stabbin' and lootin' and shootin'" are hockey fans.— bird11
So, according to longshanks, Yankee fans have passion, but they choose not to express it. BWAHAHAHAHA!! That's a good one!— legatus- No, I haven't seen Beirut lately. Has it become a garden spot? I hope.— pj katauskas
- Really, Will. How can you use a racist term like "Paddy" wagon?— Ramon
- It just goes to show, a handful of Nuyoikers are worth a city full of philanderers ....— Merican
- Who $%^% cares? The better team won. Let them celebrate anyway they want.— Manny Trillo
- Most of the people wearing NY baseball caps are clueless Eurotrash who bought one in Times Square along with a cheap pair of Levis. They are not a team, they are a brand.— maude
- I lived in Manhattan for about 6 weeks back in the fall of 1996. That year the Atl Braves whupped the Yanks in the first two games of the WS by 12-1 and 4-0 scores - AT YANKEE STADIUM! After those two games the mood in NYC was ugly. Fans were outwardly hatin' on the Yanks, Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner. Many told me they weren't going to watch any more games. The Yanks were dead. Well the Yanks won four straight games and captured the championship. I'm sure every one of those haters attended the parade and professed their eternal love for the Yanks, Joe Torre and George. I'll take Philly any day. Good piece, Will.— A Friend
- "The worst part is seeing these celebrities sitting behind home plate at Yankee Stadium who you know have absolutely no athletic skills whatsoever and most defintely throw like girls (or, say, President ACORN). I'm talking Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels, Bloomberg, etc." So I guess everyone in Citizen's Bank Park are athletes just watching other athletes. Where do you play ball again?— BLUEDEVIL
- swifty could not hold the president's jock. What sport did bush play, tiddly-winks? Oh, yeah, forgot, he played golf after he said he would make the great sacrifice in giving it up for our guys in Iraq. What a trooper.— mike l
- Bush was a male cheerleader at Yale. Bwahaha......!— chasing history
- Comment removed.
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
