|
EVENTS
Sportsman of the Year
Heisman Trophy
Swimsuit 2001
CENTERS
Fantasy Central
Inside Game
Multimedia Central
Statitudes
Your Turn
Message Boards
Email Newsletters
Golf Guide
Cities
Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
Sports Illustrated
Life of Reilly
Television
SI Women
SI for Kids
Press Room
TBS/TNT Sports
CNN Languages
COMMERCE
SI Customer Service
SI Media Kits
Get into College
Sports Memorabilia
TeamStore
|  |
A Subway Series
A New York-New York matchup offers all sorts of fun
Posted: Monday October 16, 2000 1:10 PM
Updated: Wednesday October 18, 2000 2:16 PM
NEW YORK -- I see a Subway Series. I see it in the wild eyes of cab drivers and the hot dog vendor on the corner. At least I think that's the Subway Series.
I see it in the neon on Times Square and on the back pages of the tabloids. I hear it in the screams at Shea Stadium, where Mets fans find themselves -- believe this or don't -- actually pulling for the Yankees. This from people, you understand, who'd rather pull out their eyebrows with a pliers.
Also, I see this ...
Hotel rates in Manhattan, already higher than Timo Perez fans, jumping quicker than the price of crude oil.
Fourteen thousand public choruses of "New York, New York," enough to send every man, woman and child screaming to San Francisco for a Tony Bennett fix. Anything to cleanse the mind of Start spreading the news ...
Rudy Giuliani placing a bet, with himself, on the outcome of the series. And losing.
The phrase "fuhgedaboudit" spelled 11 different ways, with none of them right. On the scoreboard at Shea on Sunday, it was spelled "Fug-Ged About It." That's not right, either.
Some wiseacre in your office, when the subject comes up, putting on the world's most gawdawful New York accent you ever heard. "So, I says to my cousin, Vinny, I says "Hey, Vinny! Fuhgedaboudit ..."
Yawns in a lot of places around the nation, but maybe not in as many as you'd expect. In many towns, seeing a pair of New York teams beat up on each other is considered great fun.
Better ratings than the Olympics. But, then again, even Dennis Miller gets better ratings than the Olympics.
A lot of "I got your World Series right he-ah" type of statements.
Yoko Ono doing the national anthem before Game 1. OK, that one's a tad fuzzy. Maybe it's Billy Joel. I can't quite make it out.
The catchphrase of the rest of the month: "Yo!" It's done like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, even though we all know Rocky was just some moke from Philly.
Wherever there is talk about New York, there are the inevitable New Jersey jokes. Get ready for them. "Hey, you from Jersey? What exit?"
The word "freaking" popping up in the most unusual of places. Hey, you see that freaking home run Piazza hit? Un-freaking-believable.
Bagels and cream cheese, cannolis, pizza, hot dogs, shopping, high culture and all things quintessentially New York, even if they're not originally New York.
Too damn many plays of "Who Let the Dogs Out," or whatever that annoying bass-brained song is. It has nothing to do with New York, of course, but you can't escape it.
"Big Apple" references out of the ying yang.
No explanation, anywhere, of exactly where the ying yang is.
Noise. I see a lot of noise.
Regis Philbin. Everywhere. With his face, like, three inches from yours, too. And yelling. Strangely, I don't see Kathie Lee.
A bunch of annoying New York celebrities, guys like Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld and Spike Lee and -- well, you know the lineup -- taking up all the good box seats.
I see tickets in the outfield getting scalped for, like, $1,000. Some of them, even, might not be counterfeit.
I see people taking the No. 7 train to Shea and absolutely nothing happening.
I see a fight in the stands, and the SP -- the Stadium Police -- escorting some fine, young, bloodied, cursing man through the bowels of Shea. And I see that fine, young man, just days after, bragging about it.
I see comparisons between Mets fans and Yankees fans, and between the Bronx and Queens, ad nauseum. I see everybody outside of the city scratching their heads. They're all New Yorkers to everyone outside of New York.
I see six games. I see four good ones. I see...
No, not yet. Not just yet.
John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
|
Copyright © 2001
CNN/Sports Illustrated
An AOL Time Warner Company.
All Rights Reserved.
|
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.
|
|
