Happy Thanksgiving!

From all of us here at Yankees Suck, we would like to wish all of you stateside readers a very happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully all of you are already enjoying some fine food and family (maybe not so in the Jeter household).

As we continue to renew and reinvent YS.com, we feel it important to clarify that we are all people here, regardless of team, hero or villain. Happy Thanksgiving, and it's just 3 and a half months until the war is back on!

Cheers,
Jack Jablin

A mom's eye view

Someone recently asked me, "Now that it's the off season, what do you do for your baseball fix?"

There's an off season? Oh sure, there's no ball being played down the street at Fenway, but that doesn't mean there aren't things to follow. Look at the insanity of the Japanese "posting" system that may bring Matsuzaka to Boston. Trying to explain how bidding is different from negotiations and that the 51 million is not what he gets paid but what the Lions get paid is really difficult for people to get their heads around.

I still spend my days checking the Sox website for news releases and then maybe poking my head in on a few discussions here and there. Mostly, right now, I'm watching something interesting happen with one of my boys. He has decided he wants to be a pitcher.

The funny thing is, he's not in that hard core category of "baseball is everything or I will die" mode so many of his middle school peers are moving into. He is being somewhat ... dare I say it? ... scientific about it. He figured out that there are some winter clinics nearby he'd like to attend. He has a plan to try playing for the middle school team to get "a sense of the pressure" he'd experience and is trying to figure out how this all balances with his other interests.

But I find it interesting to watch the one kid I never thought had a real affinity for the game demand I measure him daily because he believes, to be a good pitcher, you must be at least 6' tall and, at the age of 13, he's only 5'11." (Which he often states with the eye roll and disdain that a 13 year old can truly muster.) Almost like he doesn't want to let himself think about this seriously until he hits this magic mark he thinks he must hit. Sometimes I want to pinch myself to see if it's a dream - this is the boy that used to chase butterflies in the outfield during little league. His brothers were the ones that were intense about the game - not him. His brothers have gone onto to running and lacrosse while he stayed with baseball, quietly growing into the game.

Rather than take the approach "it's all about baseball" - he is interested in what else players do. For example, he took up golf this year. He knows that baseball players tend to be intelligent, so he studies hard. He asks about the physics of baseball - how does a curve ball curve and other sorts of questions along those lines. So you see what I mean when I say "scientific."

While I know the odds of making it beyond high school ball are slim and slimmer still beyond college - there is that piece of me that wonders if people will be talking about him the way we discuss players? Will people be discussing his fantasy baseball values? Will I turn on XM and hear people call him a bum or a savior?

I have to admit, if I spoke Japanese, I'd love to sit down with Matsuzaka's mother and say, "So how do you handle it? How do you handle the reports and the stories and ... well, everything?"

To be honest, I know better than to even consider all that for real. Around here there are certain rules: homework first, chores second and everything else after those are done. The one thing this whole thing has done for me is it really has me looking at players very differently because now i'm thinking like a mom and I view those men through new eyes.

Hybrid Theory

Years ago, the man you all know as 'Lefty' started a small website. Today, that website is widely known as YankeesSuck.com, and it has blossomed into something previously unimaginable. The site was initially a satire on the modern world of Baseball, and it quickly became an internet phenom before the outbreak of 'blogging sites.' As of late, we have lost our focus, becoming a more straight-laced website.

Over the years, YS.com has undergone a series of changes, like the aforementioned. Some would say that we peaked in 2004/5, and some would argue that we were better far before the Red Sox won the World Series. However, there is one thing that we can all agree on: YS.com has gone through a lot. Writers, styles, formats, readers -- you name it and I can guarantee that we have gone through it like a schizophrenic goes through personalities. Well, today is no exception to the theory of evolution; in fact, today we plan to make the largest leap in the history of YS.com.

Over the past year, Lefty has branched out into other ventures, and while he loves YS.com, he has come to appeal for somebody to take his place as the head editor. I am proud to announce that I have been selected to fill this capacity, and that - together with Lefty - I have formulated a game plan that will make YS.com one of the greatest Sports Websites all over again! The first step is to listen to you, the readers, and follow your advice.

The first addition that you will notice is that we are bringing back the original comment system ASAP. This will allow anybody to state their two cents at whatever time they feel like it. What does that mean? Well, in short, it means that freedom of speech has returned!

In the days that follow, I hope to make this site a living contradiction. This site will EVOLVE through new writers, new polls, new columns and other innovative ideas, and at the same time we will DEVOLVE by adding (and retaining) some of the flavor that made this website so fascinating in the seasons prior. Above all other things, I hope to bring this site back to how it was years ago; satirical, witty and entertaining to a broader audience...

Furthermore, while YS.com is branching out and buying up the two cents of new writers, we also hope to invest in the greatest commodity that YS.com ever acquired - the knowledge and talent of a strong baseball community. It is for that reason that I am proud to escort you all into this new era, here at Yankees Suck dot com.

Thank you all, and enjoy the ride. It's true! The power is back in your hands!

Cheers,
Jack Jablin

Breaking News ... Sort of.

At 8:30pm, Eastern Time, we here at YS.com will be making an announcement. Stay tuned, readers!

Cheers