The 1990's Edition

Although many of you rely on the Yard to sift through the worldly events that our staff randomly chooses to sift, reminiscing about the 1990’s has been a media darling of late. UCLA football was thumping USC for eight straight. The Dodgers were only a few years removed from their last World Series title. The Giants had never won anything during their half century in San Francisco. Those were heady days for a young sport’s myopic. The Yardlets were coming growing up and asking about the world as it related to them. Bill Clinton showed the world that a twangy governor from Arkansas could rise up and become the leader of the free world. He also provided many unique parenting moments. The children of the Yard are millennials. They were rarely without a cell phone and the Internet once they were old enough to decipher a dial pad or key board. Sex is pervasive in our culture and at times not transparently. Not sure if we ever had “the talk” but the Clinton impeachment news every night on the television did much of that for us. Sex is a large, nebulous subject but when Billy Bob attempted to justify his actions of only having oral sex with that woman it was an awkward dinner bomb. It was not a dinner topic. It was on the evening news regarding our hillbilly leader and his first captured post-election transgression that was being revealed to the public nightly at 6:00 PM. Adolescence is as tough to navigate as it is to explain the subset of sex that is oral sex. We chuckled at Clinton for his creative interpretation of infidelity and reviled him for shaming the office formerly known as the leader of the free world. It still is a surprise how the former governor of Arkansas is so revered by many as an elder statesman. Obama trotted him out at both national conventions and the crowds went wild. We are certain the oral sex he enjoyed with his staff intern in the Oval office was not his first transgression or his last. Either way, Hillary knew she was off the hook for providing those services forever. Both Clintons were relieved with that outcome. Baseball players and fans got one more chance to cheer Derek Jeter in his final All-Star appearance of his storied career this past week. The Yankees have always been the hated ones in Dodger history. Going back to Brooklyn, the Bombers have beaten the Dodgers eight times in the World Series. There were two particularly ugly series in 1977-78 that forever stitched Yard sanctioned hatred for the pinstripes. Jeter has been on five championship teams but never got a chance to beat the Dodgers in the Series through no fault of his own. The Doyers have not been in the Fall Classic during Jeter’s career. When the Yankees retire his number in the coming years, that will leave only the lonely number 6, unretired in the single digits. The Yankees were the first team to put numbers on the players jerseys so that fans would buy programs with the numbers listed. It is no coincidence that in the early days Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were numbers 3 and 4. It was also their places in the batting order. Derek always batted leadoff and wore number 2. He is an old school contrarian who is respected by fans, team mates, competitors and umpires. In the rich history of the Yankees, from Ruth to DiMaggio, Mantle and all of the other retired numbers, he is the only one to have 3,000 hits. He did it with a solo shot in July 2011 with the understated flair that is the hallmark of his career. He is humble and gracious laced in genuine ilk. Contrast him at shortstop with the supreme narcissist A-Rod playing third in their salary busting infield. Jeter is the most beloved and Rodriguez the most hated players since Barry Bones. Jeter is fortunate to not have to play with A-clod this season or ever again. In the summer of 1999, we had our first opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the house that Ruth Built. It was in those heady times when one could work for a firm named Coyote Technologies and claim to succeed. The Yankees were a championship team while Coyote was lowering the bar faster than what had been explained to us in the comp plan. The Yard and the Yankees have always reviled each other with the Yard maintaining all knowledge of this rivalry. It was subway ride to a bucket list game. The Yanks won that night which they did often from the first season Derek Jeter started at shortstop. The Yankees and Jeter won four World Series championships in Derek’s first five seasons. The Yanks would sweep the Braves in the 1999 World Series. On that summer night in August 1999, Derek Jeter showed to a pre-Yard adult who he was and all he was going to be. Jeter made a play that we had never seen in an MLB game before or since. Some long forgotten Yankee right fielder lazily caught a fly ball and causally flipped the ball on one hop into a waiting Jeter hovering near second base for the second out of the inning. It was a meaningless play with no one on base. Jeter grabbed the ball and fired it back at the right fielder. He banged his glove on his head while barking at his teammate to make a better throw. The startled outfielder made a much better throw into a demanding Jeter. We have never seen a coaching moment like that except in the Pasadena Southwest Little League. We have remembered no other impactful play with less meaning in our strident study of baseball. The Yankees won three straight titles from 1999-2001 with a 26 year old Derek Jeter leading a veteran team. He may be the last of his kind as the wolves get closer to his campfire. Not sure if the Yanks have the starting pitchers to make a run in his final campaign but it does nothing to diminish his legacy. He has more hits than Mickey and has been banging more solid Manhattan trim than the Mick ever imagined. Jeter had enough sense not to get married as the anguished Mrs. Mantle was to the Mick. Extra Innings: Dodgers and Giants this weekend in a pivotal series. It is a long season that is getting shorter each week. Giants are winning just enough to stay in first and the Dodgers are just not winning enough. Neither team looks good enough to win a championship although no MLB team does right now. It all might be about getting hot in September or who gets David Price at the trading deadline.

Fourth and Lebron

Lebron James opting out of his contract with the Heat was not a surprise. Pat Riley’s transparent press conference about Miami’s loss in the NBA Finals was a few weeks back. Yard staff could sense that James was tired of dragging Wade’s legacy along with his history. At his press conference, Riley was calling out the team not to quit just because they got knocked off. He said to all that this is not about quitting this was about coming back. With his best Tony Montana, he challenged his players to respond to getting rolled by the San Ancient Spurs. We think he was only speaking to one. Decision II will hopefully be less pretentious. Is Lebron headed back to Cleveland as the Prodigal Son returns? It will be great theater to see how Miami courts Lebron, who deserves the max salary while not disrespecting an aged Dwayne Wade. James acknowledged that he would seek the max contract and he deserves it. He has been paid well but he is still barely in the top ten of NBA salaries. He trails behind Kobe, Dirk and Amare Stoudemire among others. Lebron is 29 and he will be 30 before 2015. A max contract is for a lot of money from what Yard finance has uncovered. If Lebron gets what he deserves, Wade and Bosh have to take big pay cuts. Socialism in NBA pay only gets to the Finals four times before the big dog needs to get paid. James left $20-30 million on the table when he took his skills to South Beach. The King got the titles he needed to deserve the crown but is he done in Miami? The Heat was never Lebron’s team. The team and the City will always be Wade’s. He led the Heat to their first NBA title in 2006. It was also Riley’s first NBA title since Laker Showtime in the 80’s. Wade will always be revered. Riley sees this as his last chance for a dynasty to call his own. Magic and Dr. Jerry own the original Laker dynasty. There have been others and just like Kobe, someone still has to do the day to day grind. James carried the team while Riley and Wade prepared to race each other to the championship podium. During the regular season, King James showed up every night and willed that team to the Finals. Lebron started 77 games and played the equivalent of 30 more games during the season than Wade. D-Wade was resting his knees for the playoffs while channeling Kanye planning his wedding to Gabriel Union. Lebron was vilified for getting cramps in Game One of the Finals and missing key minutes. He outscored Wade in that game and was the leading scorer in every other game. Wade never got any heat for shooting 43% from the field while averaging 15 points per game over the five games. He was 4 out of 12 with 11 points in the season finale. The Heat got run out of the Finals and without James they would not have been there. Riley can no longer use Wade to lure James to stay on with the promise of the Big Three. Riley has to show James he can build a solid team to support the Big One and the declining two. Cleveland has had two number one picks in the past three years. Kyrie Irving is rounding into a solid point guard and just signed his max contract. He would flourish with James on his wing. Last year’s top pick Anthony Bennett is being considered a bust. He was the best freshman in a solid Mountain West Conference in 2011. He has a decent outside shot and averaged 16 and 8 as a 19 year old. He might not be a #1 pick but he will be a better player. The Cavs drafted Andrew Wiggins with the first pick this year. He could be the next Kevin Durant. Kyrie is 22, Bennett is 21 and Wiggins is 19. There will be plenty of salary cap in Ohio for the next three years. Mrs. King wants to bring the kids back home to raise them. With the King on the wing, they might be able to bring Cleveland a ring. Magic owns LA, Michael owns Chicago, Carmelo owns…nothing. Lebron it is time to lead Cleveland back into your legacy. The LA Kings bandwagon was such a nice ride and it has been hard to step off it as shallow a ride as it had been. We have since been all in on World Cup and US Soccer until the 120:00:01 mark today. We are still in for the future but that was an unnecessary speed bump when we had barely applied our safety apparel and protective head gear. Fortunately, the Dodger bandwagon is shining up a seat for us. There still seems to be some acrimony in the clubhouse and the outfield. The Dodger starting pitching is scary for any opponent and the best still seems to be warming up. The Giant hallmark pitching staff is showing their wear earlier than their age. The Giants were looking in their rear view mirror when the Dodgers passed them on the inside last night. The Giants had that 9.5 game lead on June 9th. The Dodgers had never won more than three games in a row since last season at that time. It is not easy to make up nearly ten games in the standings in 20 games played but alas they did. The Dodger burst was sneakier than last year without all of the Puig and circumstance. It is solid defense, pitching and timely hitting by a team that is well paid to do that. Long ways to go but the horses in blue seems to be rounding into form. The pumpkin colors not so much. Up Next: It has been a good run for the City by the Cabernet but the natives from Easter Island want Bruce Bochy to return their head. We are not being alarmists. Manager Bochy has more than 62% of his body above his waist and 35% of that weight is above his neck. The similarities between missing relics and Bochy’s cranium are Discovery Channel worthy. This is more of a public safety and historical issue than Yard snark. San Francisco is in an active earthquake zone. That pumpkin has teetered on his neck without straps for too long. It is unlikely it would ever be launched during his Sausage Race like trot out to the mound when yanking another starting pitcher but who wants to take that chance? The upper girth launches Bruce forward at 55 degrees with legs barely able to stabilize the G forces. It is an anomaly that Newton never pondered. It may seem like Yard bile but we challenge you to look just once through our prism. You will be unable to un-see it.