The storied NY Yankees or frat boys
without the excuse of being drunken adolescents? From the NYTimes, on Chien-Ming Wang, who has gone 8-4 this season and shown remarkable composure and maturity in the process:
He is still subject to rookie hazing; after his start last Sunday, the veterans made him dress in a female cheerleader's outfit.Wang is 25 years old. The veterans in question are in their 30s and 40s. Surely it's beneath Derek Jeter's dignity to make a man dress up like a cheerleader and parade him around to be laughed at. I hope Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera managed to be absent if not to express their disapproval.
posted by rilkefan at 23:21
4 Comments:
If this is the first time you've seen something like this, you must have just started following sports. EVERY MLB teams does this to their rookies. Just as most NFL teams make rookies do skits, or sing their alma mater at lunchtime. No one cries. Everyone laughs, except overly sensitive bloggers grasping at straws for something to write about.
I know this happens in baseball, and on the NYY, but this year the image of Wang, who helped save the season with his poise and skill and has in my mind zero left to prove to his teammates, being put through a bizarre-to-him ritual with a whiff of homophobia about it (in a sport with a continuing problem with gays), that image grates on me. Hey, if he really doesn't care, fine, but I don't think I'd laugh at a picture of Lou Gehrig dressed like a girl.
Do a skit, sing the alma mater - that's different, that's not puerile humor.
They're lucky. The Red Sox made Craig Hansen dress up like a ballerina that day. Black lace top, long, flowing purple skirt. The Yanks clearly have a lot more taste. ;-)
And I must say...Robby Cano was adorable in that get-up. He's got the shoulders go carry off sleeveless...
Ok, the Cano comment is funny. Good for Rob ROY.
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