Do I feel bad for A-Rod? Kind of because he will have to deal with this for the rest of his life, but in the same token this is the price you pay for doing something so stupid.

Do I like the author of this book? NO. And now because of all this stupid coverage your getting I will not buy your book, I will buy Darryl Strawberry’s. Everything I need to know about A-Rod has been out in the media anyway now. What’s gonna be different in your book versus anything else the media has said? NOTHING. Unless they got a good story of A-Rod’s love of Hannah Montana dolls…I won’t read it.

You did steroids…we get it.

People are going to call you A-Fraud…we get it.

In about two years if you keep yourself out of the media (which I doubt he will) we will all forget anyway. Just ask Kobe Bryant, Mike Tyson, Ricky Williams and even Michael Jordan (remember his gambling addiction?).

Everyone in America has some form of ADD and the media is the biggest offenders of that. Someone else will come along in another sport to cause a lot of coverage and A-Rod will ride off into the sunset…until he does something stupid again.

Dear Sports Media-

I don’t care anymore about the A-Rod story. Your getting just as annoying as the swine flu stories.

Please stop. I just want to watch highlights.

- JP

JP is the producer for the podcast “Wheelhouse Radio” that you can listen to LIVE every Sunday – Thursday @ 8pm EST at www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse

If you would like to check out their homepage and listen to “medium-definition” podcasts you can at: http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com

You can also subscribe to their show on iTunes for Free by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”

The stadium as I have said before is amazing. You walk around in awe. The stadium is awesome and a great gift for yankee fans & baseball fans combined. I have never seen so many “outside” fans in a ballpark in my time at the old stadium.

I really like (being a bleacher fan) that you can enter from anywhere and that monument park is accessible to all the fans. Cause in the old stadium (if you sat in the bleachers) you could not access the bleachers.

The Yankees museum is awesome. The Hard Rock cafe is awesome. They have made easy for the casual fan to go to the stadium.

Thank you Steinbrenner family for giving us an awesome stadium to watch our team play (hopefully) october baseball, season after season.

- JP

JP is the producer for the podcast “Wheelhouse Radio” that you can listen to LIVE every Sunday – Thursday @ 8pm EST at a href=”http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse”>

If you would like to check out their homepage and listen to “medium-definition” podcasts you can at a href=”http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com”>

You can also subscribe to their show on iTunes for Free by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”

On this Wheelhouse, Bower and “The Sweet Nasty” Chris Cause suffered their first technical malfunction in weeks with an ever-so-slight POWER OUTAGE that deleted the recording of the first 10+ minutes of the show. Not to worry, because the REAL “radio gold” came later in the show and is all captured in this PODCAST (…blogtalkradio.com should have it all…) so you’ll get to hear the TRASH TALKING that Bower had to endure and the 3 SONGS YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR IN THE NFL DRAFT ROOM when you are waiting to be drafted…

Download it here: a href=”http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/despite-a-power-outage”>

- JP

JP is the producer for the podcast “Wheelhouse Radio” that you can listen to LIVE every Sunday – Thursday @ 8pm EST at a href=”http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse”>

If you would like to check out their homepage and listen to “medium-definition” podcasts you can at a href=”http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com”>

You can also subscribe to their show on iTunes for Free by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”

Right off the bat (no pun intended) the stadium is a structural masterpiece. They really did a great job taking what the old stadium (pre 1970s rennovation) and turning it into something modern. When you enter the “great hall” (where all the pictures of old time Yankee players are) you are in awe and I was telling my friends that it was like being in the Mall of America for Baseball. There is a huge high-definition screen showing Yankee highlights with the typical Yankees team store right below it.

Next to the Yankees team store is the Hard Rock Cafe (something I have not yet gotten a chance to eat at…nor do I know if I can afford it currently lol) and there I head up the ramp to my favorite seats in the entire ballpark…the bleachers (you know the cheap seats).

What’s great about the new stadium is that you can access the bleachers from ANY entrance. The bleachers (and the creatures) used to have enter a completely different entrance as if we were a different species (some may actually be) or the “peasants” of the stadium. Maybe that where the whole “us vs. them” attitude that the Bleacher Creatures have kind of came from.

Once you enter the ballpark itself it’s a beautiful ball park. The two games I went into you kind of just take a step back and take it all in like a kid on christmas day. Eventually that feeling of being in awe will eventually wear off but you can’t help to be in awe of the huge present that the Steinbrenner family gave the Yankees fans (well it’s not really a present since it’s basically being paid for by NY taxpayers).

Now this is where I start to get pissed about the new stadium. 

At the old stadium when I sat in the bleachers I could see anything & everything. In the new stadium they have visibily obstructed seats where the damn mohegan sun sports bar (the huge thing center field with the black windows) that blocked the ENTIRE right field during my first game I attended there. Thankfully they were allow the “public” (as they put it…kind of sounds demeaning don’t ya think?) in the bar before memberships (some that cost up to $700) are issued. But I have two more games where I’m sitting there and I’m not a happy camper about it.

Why would you build a new stadium and have seats that the “blue collar” Yankee fans sit in and can’t see. Are you trying to tell them something by that or are you just basically treating them like crap? I don’ get it and never will since this stadium will probably be around way before my time. And thankfully I learned my lesson not to sit in those seats after this season…no matter what. I don’t care if they put Pamela Anderson in the seat next to me, I’m not going to sit there.

Stadium = beautiful. Blocked seats = shitty. Prices = to be continued for the next blog. 

- JP

JP is the producer for the podcast “Wheelhouse Radio” that you can listen to LIVE every Sunday – Thursday @ 8pm EST at a href=”http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse”>

If you would like to check out their homepage and listen to “medium-definition” podcasts you can at a href=”http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com”>

You can also subscribe to their show on iTunes for Free by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”

I am a huge Yankees fan, die-hard. Not bandwagon dynasty Yankees fan either. I was Danny Tartabull, Jim Abbott, Bernie Williams with the thick glasses and good ol’ Donnie Baseball die-hard Yankees fan. And this is from a guy who grew up in a Mets family. With that being said I was very sad to find out that the Yankees were going to have a new stadium in 2009.

I spent most of the off-season waiting for new pictures of the new stadium to get an idea of what’s ahead for the ’09 season in the ballpark. Bought some tickets (for the 19th & 21st) and was lucky enough to sit in the Moehgan Sun Sports bar (with an awesome view) for the entire 19th game (with my $10 beer) and then sit with the faithful Yankee fans over in Section 202 in right field. Those outside the Yankee fan realm would know those people as the “Bleacher Creatures” and they are by far the best fans in all of sports. Maybe the Raiders black hole is a close 2nd but they do not hold a candle to these guys. They live and breathe Yankee baseball.

So the Moehgan Sun Sports bar was cool despite the overpricing of food and beverages (not neccessarily surprised this is a 1.6 Billion dollar stadium) but the bleachers were a whole nother experience…

There is beer back in the bleachers and after what I saw last night probably won’t be for long. The faithful bleacher creatures (you know the actual fans) behaved themselves didn’t get rowdy and didn’t act like a drunk fool. But then you have the asshole occassional (someone call most likely still in college) fan that can’t hold there beer and they gotta make trouble. From Inning 1 to Inning 8 myself and some of the other Yankee faithful watched a group of what I would call occassional, still in college/possibly out of college fans drink way to much, chant the most un-funny and dumbest shit in the world, butcher the entire Y-R-U-Gay song and start a fight with another group of occassional, still in college/possibly out of college, A’s Fans.

Both of these groups probably knew nothing (maybe a select few) about either team to even one point I heard fan mention something about Tim Hudson being a better pitcher the Andy Pettitte. Hello, Tim Hudson hasn’t played in Oakland for what now 2-3 seasons? They also seemed surprised when a good portion of the Yankee fans got up and applauded Jason Giambi (who they didn’t know was back in Oakland) for his time spent on the Yankees (which is a whole nother blog).

The beers were flowing with both groups and the fine folks at the NYPD came over about 2-3 times asking them to sit down and basically shut the fuck up.

Then came the insults from both groups. I heard the typical “are you GAY” to one of the guys and the “your a pussy” insult. Both clearly original and currently used by a group of 8th graders as we speak.

The beer muscles were kicking in and everyone wanted to be a tough guy. Thankfully the drunk girls with each group got in between slurring their words to stop the mayhem. Every guy knows what i’m talking about the group of girls at a party that get in your face with their beer breath and bloodshot eyes telling you to back off and “STOP IT…SERIOUSLYYYY.”

The joke between all the faithful around me during the game was not the ERA of Chien-Ming Wang but how much longer beer will be served in the bleachers.

Personally I hope the beer lasts forever, but I just don’t see it happening when you let these assholes that come to one-game a year and don’t know who Brett Gardner is (they thought it was Melky Cabrera or Johnny Damon) into the big ballpark in the bronx.

Now that I got my offical fan rant out of the way I’ll talk about the actual stadium itself in my next blog.

- JP

JP is the producer for the podcast “Wheelhouse Radio” that you can listen to LIVE every Sunday – Thursday @ 8pm EST at www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse

If you would like to check out their homepage and listen to “medium-definition” podcasts you can at http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com

You can also subscribe to their show on iTunes for Free by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”

3. Alex Rodriguez – Any athlete that poses in front of a mirror kissing himself deserves to be on any negative sports list in the face of the earth. Whether it be biggest D-Bag, biggest tool, most likely to be gay etc. etc. A-Rod needs to be on that list. And this is coming from a Yankee fan. Anyone remember when A-Rod attempted to slap the ball out of Keith Foulke’s hand in the 2004 ALCS. If A-Rod was running with a purse down the line I wouldn’t have been surprised. A-Rod is more concerned with his physical features then swinging a bunch. Definately someone I wouldn’t want backing me up when shit hits the fan.

2. Jose Canseco – Jose Canseco is the A-Rod of the 1980s/early 90s. Though he looks like a brick wall and was part of the famous “bash brothers” with Mark McGwire…he just never came off to me as someone who was tough…at all. This is a guy that ratted out all of his friends, teammates and the entire world of Baseball just so he could get an extra dollar for his book…and it worked. Controversy DOES create cash they say… So with the features of throwing all your friends under the bus I must put Jose on the list. He is just someone that if a fight broke out you could picture running away only to come back when the fight was OVER to be like “what happened?…There was a fight?…I was in the bathroom the whole time must have been the chicken wings I ate.”

1. Mike Piazza – The last time I saw a picture of Mike Piazza he looked like a butch lesbian that was going to co-host with Ellen Degeneres. The guy never ever came off tough at all. Case in point: When a bat is throw at you. He let Roger Clemens (who despite being an steroid freak I do consider actually tough) throw a bat in front of him in the WORLD SERIES and never cold clocked Clemens when he stepped up to the plate or at an All-Star Game. C’mon what’s the worst that could happen? A suspension? Ok…but by that time you were just on your way to ending up in San Diego & Oakland where your career would slowly die anyway.  AT LEAST go out with a bang and maybe Selig would have cut you some slack since Clemens was a jackass. That is why Piazza in number 1 on the athlete I WOULDN’T want backing me up in a bar fight…

- JP

JP is the producer for the podcast “Wheelhouse Radio” that you can listen to LIVE every Sunday – Thursday @ 8pm EST at www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse

If you would like to check out their homepage and listen to “medium-definition” podcasts you can at http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com

You can also subscribe to their show on iTunes for Free by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”

The subject title…which Athlete would I want backing me up in a bar fight? Now that right there offers up a potential list of many athletes I would want (excluding MMA/Boxers/Hockey players…c’mon they fight ALL the time) backing me up. So with that being said here are my Top 3 I WOULD want backing me up in a bar fight…

3. Ron Artest

This guy is a beast, not many basketball players (or athletes and maybe even human beings for that matter) have the snapping ability that this guy has. He jumped into the stands to FIGHT A FAN. Not another basketball player, a FAN. We have seen him scuffle with other athletes but an actual fan which is usually “off-limits” is just amazing. He was part of one of the biggest and infamous brawls in sports history.

2. Frank Thomas

He isn’t called “The Big Hurt” for nothing and seems like the guy that would sit at the corner of the bar minding his own business. But the minute one of his buddies got into a scuffle he would slowly place his beer down, take his jacket off, roll up his sleeves and begin to beat the living crap out of anyone in his way.

1. Ray Lewis

Anyone who has ever watched a Ravens game let alone a football game knows that Ray Lewis is probably one of the toughest S.O.B’s to ever put on a pair of shoulder pads. He has had some of the sickest hits ever in NFL history and is one bad ass mofo. If Shaft was a football player his name would be Ray Lewis. He is definately the #1 athlete I would want backing me up in a fight.

Coming up in the next blog: What three athletes I WOULDN’T want backing me up in a bar fight!

- JP

JP is the producer for the podcast “Wheelhouse Radio” that you can listen to LIVE every Sunday – Thursday @ 8pm EST at www.blogtalkradio.com/thewheelhouse

If you would like to check out their homepage and listen to “medium-definition” podcasts you can at http://wheelhouseradio.wordpress.com

You can also subscribe to their show on iTunes for Free by typing in “Wheelhouse Radio!”