Why people feel compelled to get behind the wheel after drinking is beyond me. I’m not going to get all preachy, but this is such a selfish act. Just call a cab, ask a friend, whatever. Just don’t turn on the car.

A top New York Yankees executive was charged with driving under the influence in Tampa.

Hillsborough County Jail reports show that Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior vice president of baseball operations, was arrested Monday night. He reportedly refused to take a blood-alcohol test. He was released several hours later on $500 bail.

Isn’t this exactly what precipitated the sudden departure of Steve Swindal from the Yanks inner circle, not that long ago?

Sheesh.

Kids today are wicked soft. There’s quite a bit of fun buried in that comment. Here’s why:

The Lowell Spinners (short season; NY-Penn League) are bringing back the Yankees Elimination Promotion for a fifth year, as the Red Sox affiliate works to eliminate New York Yankees teams from youth baseball programs throughout New England.

[...]

“The Yankees Elimination Promotion was originally built as a fun promotion in response to parent’s stories of children losing interest in the game after facing taunts simply for playing in a Yankees uniform,” said Spinners Vice President and General Manager Tim Bawmann. “Five years later teams are still eliminating the Yankees and the joy on the faces of the newly minted Spinners players on the field at LeLacheur Park reminds us why we love this game.”

Only in New England is this an issue. Booo-hooo.

So much teaching kids that life’s not fair, people are mean and that the Yankees suck. Go Spinners.

(thanks to Pete Toms for the heads up)

Is the answer really throwing more money via revenue sharing and luxury tax at the Rays? Or does this team need to either move elsewhere (out of state) or get out of their stadium into a better location within Tampa?

Stuart Sternberg, savvy owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, in a recent interview predicted that his team’s payroll must be sliced from more than $70 million this season to the $50 million range for 2011.

[...]

Renewal of season tickets, Sternberg said, is “bad … not good.”

Usually when a team goes to the World Series, there’s an attendance jump the following season, but the 2009 Rays fell short of the Major League average of 30,351, drawing a disappointing 23,148.

The Tampa market is not supporting its team. Is it then therefore fair that MLB subsidizes this team to stay afloat (“good money after bad“)? Is it any more fair that the Yanks can out-spend their nearest high-spending competitor by $65m (in 2009)?

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