CC Sabathia takes another shot at Cleveland Indians organization at Yankees Oldtimers' Game I saw...

CC Sabathia takes another shot at Cleveland Indians organization at Yankees Oldtimers' Game

I saw a clip of the Yankees Oldtimers' game today, with Kim Jones interviewing CC Sabathia in the dugout. She wanted to know how he felt about George Steinbrenner even though he was relatively new to the team. Among other things said while gushing over Yankees elitism, I remember this quote from CC (I hope this is exact):

"This is a top-flight organization. I've never been part of something like this."

The way he said this, it was clear he was contrasting with previous organizations he was in, especially the way he paused and reflected for a brief second before continuing with the second sentence. I got a strong impression he was trying to say the previous organizations he was in were bush-league compared to the Yankees. I guess providing superstar players with unlimited amounts of cash separates a real top-flight organization from the bunglers...

Can't find source yet. Hope the interview will be published somewhere, but I saw it with my own eyes.

almost 2 years ago V-Mart Shopper 51 comments 0 recs |

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Seems like quite a bit of inferring to me. The other quote was worse.

LGT's resident moderate Yankee hating fan.

by Joe. on Jul 18, 2010 2:44 AM EDT reply actions

This. He is just talking up the Yankees in wake of Steinbrenner’s death.

by The Grimace on Jul 18, 2010 3:30 AM EDT up reply actions

I don’t know, all he’d have to do is change the second sentence to something like, “It’s such a thrill to be part of something like this.” The “I’ve never” seems pretty pointed to me.

by Logodaedalus on Jul 18, 2010 9:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Especially after the other comment. This one isn’t as bad on its own, but in context…

by Logodaedalus on Jul 18, 2010 9:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes, it is the way you are describing and it’s more obvious when seeing it on video tape as opposed to reading the quotes. I may try to contact yes network and see if they will be publishing that interview anywhere or its transcript.

In the new Geico commercial, Marte sings "Let me be myself" on Wedge's front lawn (with the cavemen).

by V-Mart Shopper on Jul 18, 2010 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions

See, I read it differently – the other comment could’ve been his not thinking and being wistful about the good ol’ days (not something I believe, but I’m trying to give some benefit of the doubt). This, and I really would like to see it if the interview is released, is a direct and deliberate snub to both the Indians and (to a lesser extent) Brewers.

I just want to believe.

by mjmarble on Jul 18, 2010 10:44 AM EDT reply actions

I take this as evidence that Sabathia just simply doesn’t understand the economics of the game. He may be a jackass, or anything else you want to call him, but he just doesn’t get it, and I react to this quote no differently than I would to a cle.com comment.

by 7foot3 on Jul 18, 2010 10:51 AM EDT reply actions

What? What’s to understand? Even the simple-minded, non-sports fan has some idea of how the Steinbrenner Yankees blew everyone else out of the water with their spending habits. I think he’s just pandering to his organization and fan base at the expense of the team who developed him.

If you don't respect Aaron Laffey, I will fight you.

by Cap'n Snegiryov on Jul 18, 2010 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Many think it’s because the Yankees just want it more than the next guy. If the Dolans just spent more, then people would roll through the turnstiles, and then the Indians would be able to spend even more on players. Of course he’s pandering to his organization. But putting this together with the last comment we saw from him, he thinks a ‘top-flight organization’ is one that would have ‘kept everyone’. How is that any different than something you see at cle.com?

by 7foot3 on Jul 18, 2010 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

It’s not.

by Jay on Jul 19, 2010 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions

It’s not even just their spending habits. It’s their earning habits.

by Brick. on Jul 18, 2010 10:41 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Well, yeah. But I have a hard time believing Sabathia is that dumb. Dude has been around professional baseball for a decade. Hell, even if he didn’t catch on himself, at some point you’d think his agent would have explained it to him (you know, like when he was approaching FA).

If anything, I think the sum of Sabathia’s comments since signing with the Yankees reveal a pretty great capacity for self-delusion. As someone pointed out in an earlier thread, it seems like his last set of comments (about how it was the Tribe front office’s fault the 07 team got broken up) were part of a psychological coping mechanism. Not that Sabathia should feel guilty about doing what he did, but he can’t stand to see himself as the guy whose failure and voluntary departure signaled the beginning of the end, so he’s rewritten history to make himself feel better. I see these comments as an extension of that—there’s no way he’s that ignorant. He simply is forcing a more palatable version of reality on himself. I’m pretty sure pro athletes do this all the time.

If you don't respect Aaron Laffey, I will fight you.

by Cap'n Snegiryov on Jul 19, 2010 7:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Not just pro athletes. Twenge & Campbell in The Narcissism Epidemic (2009), cite a study of 11,000 14-to-16-year-olds who were asked, “Are you an important person?” In 1951, 12% thought so. In 1989, something like 78% did.
Oddly, it’s Ayn Rand’s fault. Though I don’t absolve David Huff’s mom.

by YoDaddyWags on Jul 19, 2010 7:47 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I remember when I was 13 and had to read Atlas Shrugged, that’s when I changed my mind about myself.

by Roger Dorn on Jul 19, 2010 8:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Zeitgeist, dude, Zeitgeist.

by Logodaedalus on Jul 19, 2010 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

But I have a hard time believing Sabathia is that dumb

i really, really don’t.

by Brick. on Jul 19, 2010 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions

did he even finish high school?

I hate the steelers the way a mother loves a child.

by notthatnoise on Jul 19, 2010 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

You don’t have to be that dumb to rationalize to this degree. You just have to want to see yourself as a good person.

by Jay on Jul 19, 2010 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions

On principle, I do not eat at Subway anymore, no matter how healthy and delicious the sweet onion teriyaki sandwich.

by gte619n on Jul 19, 2010 5:06 PM EDT reply actions

Jay appears to hit it on the head… (“You don’t have to be dumb to rationalize to this degree.”)

While listening to a podcast recently, I heard this research study mentioned. It explains a lot of the comments we are hearing from the CCs and LeBrons of the world. A simple study of college swimmers shows that self-deception enhances motivation and performance during competition. Self-Deception & Swimming

Taken from the paper: “Current theorists have described self-deception as a motivated unawareness of conflicting knowledge (Sackeim & Gur, 1978) in which threatening knowledge is selectively filtered from consciousness as a psychological defense, thereby reducing anxiety and inducing a positive self-bias (Paulhus, 1986; Paulhus & Suedfeld, 1988).”

The dumb people seem to be the media who don’t take these players to task and put them on the spot when they make obnoxious comments.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin

by Spidey on Jul 19, 2010 11:53 PM EDT reply actions

Athletes, owners, agents, ESPN, Fox Sports, it’s all one big circle jerk. You’re surprised that LeBron/Maverick/Gray/ESPN/Heat got together to promote LeBron/Maverick/Gray/ESPN/Heat and then we all got on board to watch? I’m not.

“There is no such thing as bad publicity”. Brendan Behan

Resident LGT results-oriented boob.

by mauichuck on Jul 20, 2010 1:00 AM EDT up reply actions

LeBron got genuinely bad publicity last week. He very possibly lost $100+ million in income based on damage to his brand.

by Jay on Jul 20, 2010 8:01 AM EDT up reply actions

Not disagreeing, but where did you come up with the $100 million figure?

Where's your crown, KIng Nothing?

by Turkmenbashi on Jul 20, 2010 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions

I assume it’s the same line of thinking that Silver outlined here:

If an athlete’s endorsement earnings are proportional to his positive Q rating, and James suffers the same 41 percent penalty that Favre did between 2008 and 2009, he will have reduced his earning potential by $150 million.

Of course, James may able to redeem himself through athletic success; Favre’s numbers recovered some following his solid play with Minnesota last year. But the rewards may not be as great as they would have been in Cleveland, New York, or Chicago, and the public’s tolerance for failure may be much less.

…with an adjustment that $150 million is probably worst-case scenario.

by Voltaire on Jul 20, 2010 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes, that is the line of thinking.

I actually think LeBron permanently damaged his brand, and if forced to give it a guess, I’d go a lot higher than $100 million. LeBron eventually was going to win a ring with the Cavs or even some other team. He simply can’t be much of a global icon while helping to win that other guy’s second ring.

Think about how much bigger Kobe is now that he won without Shaq. That’s how much smaller LeBron just got. His only chance to recover that is for Wade to go down for most of a season and all of a postseason and for LeBron to win it all anyway. With its exceptionally top-heavy roster, however, the Heat will have a tougher time competing through major injuries than other clubs would have.

by Jay on Jul 20, 2010 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions

That’s just for LeBron. The multiplier has to be huge. Wade also takes a hit. I can’t imagine the impression of schoolyard bullies to be strongly popular beyond Nike. There won’t be any McDonalds ads with these guys playing Horse.

The Miami Heat will be a big draw for attendance around the league but the net difference is steeply negative. The Heat would have been near eelpouts with Wade and Bosh. The incremental gain is small while Clevelan will drop substantially and the Knicks are still a rather tough sell.

Perhaps the biggest draw for the NBA will be the Finals if the Heat make it that far. If the Heat do not, that will be a lot of starpower on the golfcourse. So, the risk-reward doesn’t match up with Lebron going to any other team.

Then, consider the lockout – neither the owners nor players gained any pity points from this Free Agency experience.

I think the only guy who has an overall positive impact is Bosh, mainly because he is coming from a situation of no endorsements.

One final surprise: David Stern. I really thought he would stick his nose into this mess to have NY or Chicago “win”; and at the very least manage the whole free agency with an eye to the longterm impact on the league.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin

by Spidey on Jul 20, 2010 11:24 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

near eelpouts

Wut?

by JulioBernazard on Jul 20, 2010 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow- I meant “sellouts”. I really have to be sure I set this iPhone to horizontal mode when typing (instead of vertical, which makes reading the pages easier).

In the end, Lebron did what is in the best interest of Lebron. He has his right to do that, but he has no idea of what he sacrificed (and he will deceive himself when reflecting on anything else he is missing out on.

The man could have been as big as Muhammad Ali. (Have you seen “When We Were Kings”?). Instead, he will win a few NBA championships.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin

by Spidey on Jul 20, 2010 1:25 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

No International Eelpout Festival for you, then.

"Facebook is bad news. It and Jason Donald both crush dreams." - JRontherim

by woodsmeister on Jul 20, 2010 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

The world is more wonderful than I can imagine.

by Voltaire on Jul 21, 2010 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions

One moment an iPhone typo, the next a celebrated marine creature.

by YoDaddyWags on Jul 21, 2010 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Not surprised; I’m just calling a spade a spade. The athletes really are not dumb. They are just afflicted by self-centered memory filters.

I didn’t watch ESPN and have watched it only to see World Cup coverage since the Decision. One of the reasons I have gone to MLB and NFL networks has been the incessant “Summer of LeBron” coverage over the past 2 years. ESPN has been working that story for all it’s worth. In the end, the network backed itself into a corner and had to show The Decision ad got burned. In fact, all of the circle jerkers got burned.

Maybe I am just overly spiteful, but I removed all ESPN links and ESPN apps on my computers/iPhone, replacing them with other sports media. Until these other outlets do something as pitiless as ESPN, I’ll be turning to them for news and scores (along with LGT and SBN).

So, surprised? No. Disappointed? Yes. Angry enough to extract some type of vengeance? At least enough to do what I can.

In the end, all of the participants in that fiasco got burned, and I’m somewhat surprised none of them thought enough to make some type of course correction. The short-sightedness will cost hundreds of millions of dollars for LeBron, ESPN/Disney, the agents, and everyone else associated with the NBA.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin

by Spidey on Jul 20, 2010 11:04 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

The circle jerk persists. Did anyone else read the recent ESPN article attempting an analytical proof of why LeBron is still “The Man.” It was written in response to Jordan’s recent comments. ESPN is selling out Jordan to elevate LeBron. I won’t link to it because it’s awful, and the promotional agenda is so transparently phony.

The Heat might play some beautiful basketball, but joy is gone from the NBA.

ESPN is a monster.

LeBron and the sport he represents has become so incredibly dull. We think it’s cute when Free Darko and Bill Simmons ascribe personality to the league that isn’t really there, but how much longer can they keep this up if there is no joy left?

In 10-20 years soccer will become the ball-and-goal sport that captivates us the most.

by jhon on Jul 20, 2010 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions