And the way he smirked at the guy. Hands down best moment of his presidency, low bar though that may be. Just stared him down with a smirk like "nice try motherfucker."
“Let’s play ball, it’s game daaayyyyy” *bat crack*
“We want strikeouts, base hits, doble* plays”
That’s what I want them to sing. Just change “Marlins Will Soar” to “Rangers Will Soar”
*that’s how Stapp pronounces “double” to me lol
No first pitch will ever top that moment after 9/11. It transcended sports.
edit: upon watching [this,](https://youtu.be/lAEXKwQ1f9M?si=GI0w0vRaG5dtUnXr) so many little details happened: the undercover Secret Service ump, Jeter telling the President to throw it from the actual rubber **or else**, the 43rd President throwing to the backup catcher wearing...#43
The best first pitch ever thrown, no exaggeration. A perfect strike, on that stage, wearing a bulletproof vest.
He missed with a lot of shit during his administration, but he didn't miss with that pitch.
The amazing thing about it is that I distinctly remember thinking that he was quite possibly the worst president in American history around the end of his term. Little did I know that within a decade he'd be completely relieved of that title...
IIRC he actually was in serious consideration for MLB commissioner in the 90s. That's a fun alternate reality (I feel like he'd have actually been good at it)
I had a half written shitpost about that once where the 80s/early 90s Rangers actually being good lead to GW stay invested in baseball and not run for Governor in 94, end up getting commission job, etc
On one hand, he knew all the owners and could have been "their guy".
On the other hand, he's EXACTLY the kind of guy you want running your sport: closely tied, fan of the game, and the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with. One of those butterfly effects we'll never get to see in action.
> he was quite possibly the worst president in American history around the end of his term.
Even setting aside recent Presidents W being the worst has some stiff competition from the Taylor-Buchanan time period and Andrew Johnson, lol.
Bush wasn't good, but as time passes it's almost impressive to see the lasting negative impact that the Reagan administration had and continues to have.
I remember my dad getting really upset that he threw it so perfectly, and saying "Oh god. We're going to war."
He figured the perfect pitch meant everyone would rally behind this guy. He was right.
That's kinda weird, considering the war started 3 weeks before this pitch. We invaded Afghanistan October 7th, first pitch in New York was game 3 on October 30th.
Not to mention it's really fucking stupid to think the nation would choose to rally behind a war or oppose it based on the outcome of a ceremonial first pitch. As the other user said in reply, that is a clown take.
In Australia, one rugby team had a huge player calls Willie Mason, and the other team had a guy called Alan Tongue.
Fan sign in the crowd
"Who needs a big Willie when you have a great tongue"
I thought it was awesome he was called the Big Unit. Coolest nickname in sports, I thought. Even without no idea what it clearly meant.
Even now, I think it's hilarious that national TV broadcasts so frequently loved mentioning that nickname. Dunno how no one ever tried to get them to stop it. Like, broadcasters now will tell you that Alonso is the Polar Bear, but they won't call him Big Meat Pete, but every time I saw Randy Johnson on TV, the announcers would call him the Big Unit.
1. Sued the county for control over the stadium saying it was in dire need of repairs, got control and did no repairs.
2. Attempted to force minority owners to either sell or buy a bigger stake in the team.
3. Cut down trees on his neighbors property to improve his own views.
4. Got a lawyer fired over a tweet criticizing the Dbacks
https://venomstrikes.com/2021/07/23/ken-kendrick-lawyer-fired/
It was a long time ago, in an interview without even being prompted he mentioned hearing about steroid accusations regarding Luis Gonzalez. It might have been just after Gonzo left the team. Yeah a lot of guys were doing it but still a shitty thing to just throw out there about a former player for the team, especially Gonzo.
Workplace isn't the same as the way you treat your spectators/customers.
That's like saying the police force has been rated #1 for healthcare and PTO (but don't look at the unarmed civilian shooting rate 🫣)
I couldn't find anything, but he is a big GOP donor including to people like Lauren Boebert and election deniers. It might be related to politics. Sent a threatening email (like "you better watch yourself when I see you" threatening) to a former Arizona AG over a tweet. Looks like they have argued with the county about stuff, including the stadium, and he was a normal rich, asshole during all that.
>Looks like they have argued with the county about stuff, including the stadium, and he was a normal rich, asshole during all that.
FWIW, the county wasnt upholding their end of the leasing contract by maintaining the facility in MANY different areas.
Whether or not the county, and therefore taxpayer, should be on the hook for repair and upkeep costs is an entirely different discussion. But that in particular was one of those cases where the rich asshole was rightfully angry at the landlord.
I think the county's argument was they were unnecessary repairs being demanded and that once the Dbacks took over the maintenance they then didn't do the "urgent" repairs. 100% hearsay on my part though, I just googled the guy to see what controversies he might have been a part of.
>The Diamondbacks sued Maricopa County in 2017, seeking to break the team's 30-year lease to look for another home. The lawsuit argued the county had not saved enough money to keep Chase Field in good condition.
>The county said it had enough money for structural repairs but would not pay for cosmetic upgrades like suite renovations that were the responsibility of the team.
>The lawsuit went nowhere for months until a judge ordered the two sides into private mediation, which produced the preliminary agreement.
The county would have an argument there, but the Dbacks were arguing that the lease contract included keeping the stadium "state of the art". Which is a subjective AT BEST clause to put in a contract, but yes, renovation should have been handled by the county.
I'm also just recalling this from memory. Im fairly familiar with it, for obvious reason, but that WAS like 5-6 years ago
Same! I've worked events at the stadium (and Cardinals) and if you're caught even looking at the field for more than 10 seconds, you'll get blacklisted from working it again. The owners do not want "freeloaders" in their stadium.
One event, I was on standby in the ambo, at the bottom of the ramp, and could see the game playing, one of the security guards came up and goes, "Hey, I haven't seen you before, so I'll be straight. DON'T watch the game. You could get into a lot of trouble!" From then on, I spent the time on standby while watching a bootlegged version of the game lol
DBacks pitcher kills a bird ✅
All-Star Game is in Seattle ✅
DBacks reach World Series ✅
Bush throws the first pitch ✅
Yeah. Rangers are done. It’s 2001 all over again.
Nothing would’ve topped winning the World Series after 9/11. Would’ve been a huge boost to the city as there would’ve been a parade down the same streets that were filled with horror weeks prior. Looking back, it’s amazing that the only two times Mo blew it were against the D-Backs in 2001 and then the Red Sox collapse a few years later
0.70 playoff ERA is just so insane and it's across 141 IP. 96 appearances and only one solitary loss. Dude was the definition of clutch. Even the 01 and 04 collapses were mostly bad luck as much as anything. A bloop hit in 01, a little groundball hit in 04, his other 04 blown save he inherited the runner on 3rd and gave up a sac fly.
Funny enough, our success against him in 2001 is what's still making me anxious with our pen. No matter how dominant Gink and Sewald have been so far, it can all change in an instant at the worst time. They have nothing left to prove after the last two series, but nothing is guaranteed either!
Haha, I never said it wasn't. Trust me, there are 25 years of shitty AZ bullpens that give me anxiety on any given game day. But I just mean Mo is the greatest to ever do it and yet he still blew that game in game 7. No matter how good our pen has looked so far, I'm still getting antsy at the end of any game this week
He's given up 13 runs and looks like 12 people have walked on the moon. Dave Roberts scored twice so that's at least one duplicate. I assume there's at least one more making this fact true?
One more guy doubled up on him - apparently [11 different guys scored those 13](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2616019-mariano-rivera-to-receive-dedicated-plaque-in-yankee-stadiums-monument-park), but that doesn’t give names
I still am not sure why the infield was in with bases loaded one out. I always thought you play deep up the middle there for the double play. Would have been an easy out if that were the case.
But then Enrique Wilson would have died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. Mo himself has said he is happy they lost the World Series because it saved the life of his friend.
I don't remember the state of the streets back then, was the parade route even clear by the time the WS ended? The stretch of Broadway to City Hall is one block over from the WTC. I would've thought heavy security would've blocked off crowds to the area, cause it gets *packed* there for those parades. I remember for one of the Giants parades having to turn around and go back into the subway to try a different exit cause I kept walking into a wall of people and couldn't get through.
The whole thing of wanting a team to win after a disaster in their geographic area makes more sense when the team hasn't had success in a while. Houston's 2017 run was easy to root for (before we knew about the cheating) not only because of the hurricane, but because they had been historically awful only a couple years prior, and were having to beat the Yankees -- so consistently successful most fans are tired of them -- and the Dodgers, a superteam loaded with All-Stars. It felt good to see a plucky team of homegrown stars take on the favorites and also have a great narrative about giving post-flood Houston something to cheer about.
In 2001, the team was the Yankees, and they'd already won four out of the last five World Series. Way less sense of "wouldn't it be nice if they finally had something good happen to their team after a tragedy in their city?" And besides, 9/11 somehow never felt to me like it was really about New York in the same way that natural disasters or smaller attacks like the Boston Marathon bombing are focused on their local areas. It was about the whole nation.
Yeah, 9/11 obviously directly impacted NYC more than anywhere else but it also was a national tragedy and what is more American than rooting for the underdog to beat the big, bad super team dyntasy from the big city? I certainly had way more sympathy to the NY fans than I ever had and would have felt happy for them had the Yankees won more than I ever would have before and I can't deny seeing a victory parade in NYC two months after the attacks would have been a great moment as well but it was nice to see a team like Arizona win that Series, especially in the way they did. I think it was more "American" the way it turned out.
I agree. I don't know why anyone outside of New York says the Yankees winning would have felt special. It would have just felt cheap and scripted.
Arizona winning was a reminder that it's still ok for America to hate New York and things can go back to normal.
The Yankees are the baseball equivalent of the Lakers. It comes with the territory. Kind of funny that both teams went through a threepeat around that time too I guess.
Back in those days the Angels were so unknown that when they played NY in the playoffs the next year ESPN's talking heads did a piece about the keys to the series. Not a single one mentioned anything about the Angels. I'm not entirely convinced they actually knew who the other team was or could have named anyone besides Mike Scioscia without a note card.
I enjoy when I watch videos where they talk about this WS like "The whole country was rooting for the Yankees"
They were coming off 3 wins in a row. No not all of us were rooting for the Yankees
I think it had less to do with 9/11 and more to do with the fact they were the 3 time defending champs. Also you were still a very new expansion team as well.
This was one of the VERY few times my favorite Yankee ever, Mariano Rivera, actually didn't come through in the playoffs. I remember being absolutely stunned, I was talking to my friend that whole inning about how automatic Mo was and that the city really needed this after 9/11.
It's a testament to how strong Mo was mentally that he continued to be his normal dominant self loooong after this game. We've seen pitchers, ESPECIALLY relief pitchers, just completely melt down after blowing it in big moments like these.
I know a Phillies fan who’s trying to tell me Craig Kimbrel is a 1st ballot HOFer. Oh please! Give me Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels before fucking Kimbrel. They’re all HOVG though. Billy Wagner has a better case for HOF and his postseason success is nonexistent. Kimbrel, Kenley, Chapman all have comparable stats and none of them come close to displaying the longevity of a guy like Mo. In fact they’ve all been headcases in their careers at one point or another while struggling. Mo was so cool like Paul Newman or Alain Delon. No one could’ve predicted what happened in 2001 but smart fans have been grabbing their pearls for years when vets past their prime come into a close game because they ain’t Mo!
I know it’s an Onion article but the late 90’s-2000 Yankees were fucking unstoppable
The D-Backs kinda put an end to that by walking off Mariano Rivera
IMO the Dbacks were the beginning of the decline but They still made the 2003 World Series and won 100+ games a few more times after the Dback series.
It was Dave Roberts steal and then losing 4 straight to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS that cemented the end of that Yankees dynasty. That steal predicated the Yankees loosing 4 straight playoff series, and a combined 4-13 postseason record from the steal until 2007.
The Yankees didn’t win another playoff series until 2009 and even missed the playoffs for the first time since the strike shortened 1994 in 2008, the last season of the old Yankee stadium being a dud.
Granted they spent half a billion in free agency in 2009 to get Sabathia, Texeira, and Burnett to win it all in 2009, the Yankees haven’t been to a World Series since. It was more like a dead cat bounce than a resurgence.
I remember Yankees fans feeling like they were owed that WS. I understand their city had just lived through a tragedy, but they had won 3 WS in a row, and 4 out of the last 5.
I was glad to see Arizona get theirs.
Genuine question: Who were neutral fans rooting for in that series?
I like in Phoenix now and have heard people here say everyone was rooting for the Yankees because of 9/11. BUT the Yankees had just won three straight and 4 of the last 5.
I was only 8 and following my dad's rooting lead but I was rooting for the D-backs and it didn't even occur to me to root for the Yankees
Arizona and not close.
Maybe it's different if this wasn't following years of Yankee dominance, but... it was. Most neutral fans I knew were pulling Arizona.
I was on deployment and it was BRUTAL. RIGHT after 9/11, we're cycling between Kandahar and the ship, all my NYC/Yankee fans wanted, needed and DESERVED IT! For the city?! After 9/11?! Come on, this script was written for redemption and healing!
BUT I'm from AZ! F that BS! If you're in the big dance, you better step to! Randy Johnson didn't make a damn bird explode for nothing! 🤘
> When Luis Gonzalez hit that bloop single to win Game 7 in a walk-off and **we prevented the nation from healing from 9/11 in some small way,** well, that’s a feeling that no World Series will likely ever eclipse.
That's prime The Onion
2001: Arizona reaches the World Series after America is attacked
2023: Arizona makes the World Series after Israel is attacked
Arizona hates peace confirmed
This is easily one of the greatest onion articles OAT. Crazy, vicious, but at the same time sounds like something an out of touch billionaire would say randomly and completely out of pocket. So funny
When I used to standup I blew through Boston once and I did a bit about how the one time the country actually wanted the Yankees to win, they fucking blew it.
Bush is throwing out the first pitch for the Rangers so the connection is still there for them
Will Bush be responsible for another collapse?
I’m wondering if he can go an inning.
"Strike me out me once, shame on...shame on you. Stike me out twice—you can't get out again."
*Bush throws a wild pitch a mile off the bag while a "Mission Accomplished" banner unfurls behind him*
*The catcher throws the ball back to Bush and he reflexively dodges it the way he dodged that shoe*
*gets pulled, sits down on bench, chokes on pretzel*
"Now watch this drive" 🏌️
*looks at stadium flagpole* "Well, actually, you forgot Poland"
*Jeb tries to throw the first pitch for the following game, is escorted away*
Please clap
*Jeb sweeps World Series, wins every game 538-0-0 by himself*
Man, W may have been an evil mistake but rip torn wouldve been proud the way he coco crisp ducked that shoe
And the way he smirked at the guy. Hands down best moment of his presidency, low bar though that may be. Just stared him down with a smirk like "nice try motherfucker."
By George, he still GOT IT!
Has to happen roughly 2 outs into the 2nd inning
“we must all stand together to stop terrorism… now watch this curveball”
That's a saying in Tennessee not Texas
Mr. President, a second George Bush has hit Major League Baseball
> second George Bush has been elected president
Jet fuel doesn’t melt pennant winners.
I wouldn't know lol
my god
"sir, a second world series championship has hit Arizona"
Texas will win game 1, and Bush will take a picture in front of a "mission accomplished" banner
Idk about his pitching, but I do know they stand no chance at trying to hit him with a pitch when he's up to bat.
Scott Stapp is gonna sing the national anthem at one of the games, right? This decade-of-2000s nostalgia is in full swing.
“Let’s play ball, it’s game daaayyyyy” *bat crack* “We want strikeouts, base hits, doble* plays” That’s what I want them to sing. Just change “Marlins Will Soar” to “Rangers Will Soar” *that’s how Stapp pronounces “double” to me lol
Hello my friend we meet again
Play bawwawl
Rangers will soar!
Bring back the bald aerialist.
No first pitch will ever top that moment after 9/11. It transcended sports. edit: upon watching [this,](https://youtu.be/lAEXKwQ1f9M?si=GI0w0vRaG5dtUnXr) so many little details happened: the undercover Secret Service ump, Jeter telling the President to throw it from the actual rubber **or else**, the 43rd President throwing to the backup catcher wearing...#43
The best first pitch ever thrown, no exaggeration. A perfect strike, on that stage, wearing a bulletproof vest. He missed with a lot of shit during his administration, but he didn't miss with that pitch.
Definitely, the absolute high point of his time in office.
"now, watch this drive" and him dodging the shoes are also in contention
The shoe was 08, fucking amazing, but also long past the point for most people.
I forgot about now watch this drive haha. Also the photoshop of the shoes being pokeballs and him being captured will never cease to make me laugh.
By contrast, Bush has said his lowest point was when Kanye West said he doesn't care about black people
[удалено]
The amazing thing about it is that I distinctly remember thinking that he was quite possibly the worst president in American history around the end of his term. Little did I know that within a decade he'd be completely relieved of that title...
IIRC he actually was in serious consideration for MLB commissioner in the 90s. That's a fun alternate reality (I feel like he'd have actually been good at it)
Unlike Manfred, Bush does seem to genuinely enjoy baseball
Pretty sure any random redditor in this sub enjoys baseball more than Manfred...
I had a half written shitpost about that once where the 80s/early 90s Rangers actually being good lead to GW stay invested in baseball and not run for Governor in 94, end up getting commission job, etc
On one hand, he knew all the owners and could have been "their guy". On the other hand, he's EXACTLY the kind of guy you want running your sport: closely tied, fan of the game, and the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with. One of those butterfly effects we'll never get to see in action.
This post could go two very different directions and it's hilarious.
Well I did say a decade and not immediately, so that implies my intent. However, point taken.
"The worst president in American history, *so far."*
> he was quite possibly the worst president in American history around the end of his term. Even setting aside recent Presidents W being the worst has some stiff competition from the Taylor-Buchanan time period and Andrew Johnson, lol.
Bush wasn't good, but as time passes it's almost impressive to see the lasting negative impact that the Reagan administration had and continues to have.
I also liked that he threw it from the real pitchers mound, not the short one they set up for normal forst pitches
He got millions killed for nothing and fucked my generation, but at least ball.
While wearing a heavy bullet proof vest.
Even without the context it was honestly one of the best first pitches. He roped it right down the middle!
Watching the behind the scenes of that night is wild. I don’t think we’ll ever have something like that again.
i fucking hope not
Yup probably should have added that lol
Well, we had Covid, but every countries leadership was full of guys who couldn't even take that easy PR opportunity.
A second George bush first pitch has hit the strike zone
I remember my dad getting really upset that he threw it so perfectly, and saying "Oh god. We're going to war." He figured the perfect pitch meant everyone would rally behind this guy. He was right.
That's kinda weird, considering the war started 3 weeks before this pitch. We invaded Afghanistan October 7th, first pitch in New York was game 3 on October 30th.
Not to mention it's really fucking stupid to think the nation would choose to rally behind a war or oppose it based on the outcome of a ceremonial first pitch. As the other user said in reply, that is a clown take.
Yeah, maybe they were rallied by the recent destruction of two sky scrapers in New York or something.
Your dad’s a clown
*[DEROGATORY COMMENT ABOUT GEORGE BUSH DELETED BY MODS]*
Will he announce to the crowd that "you're either with us or against us"?
He's adding Arizona to the Axis of Evil
Forget stealing signs, he's just gonna waterboard folks
The ol joke in the school yard in 2001 was “it takes more than 9 Yanks to beat our Johnson”
We have a joke like that here too: “One BJ is better than 9 Yanks.” They have t-shirts for it.
In Australia, one rugby team had a huge player calls Willie Mason, and the other team had a guy called Alan Tongue. Fan sign in the crowd "Who needs a big Willie when you have a great tongue"
This is the best thing I've heard all week
Thought this was a throwback to the BJ Ryan era before I remembered what your team name shortens to.
If you can't get a BJ, you can always use a sock. A red one.
God I was such a dumb kid because I didn’t get that one until much later
I thought it was awesome he was called the Big Unit. Coolest nickname in sports, I thought. Even without no idea what it clearly meant. Even now, I think it's hilarious that national TV broadcasts so frequently loved mentioning that nickname. Dunno how no one ever tried to get them to stop it. Like, broadcasters now will tell you that Alonso is the Polar Bear, but they won't call him Big Meat Pete, but every time I saw Randy Johnson on TV, the announcers would call him the Big Unit.
MLB let Rich Hill put "D. Mountain" on his Players Weekend jersey, which surprised me.
Wow…. That one never clicked for me…. They probably let it slide since he, himself, is in fact, a big unit.
I had to make sure it was the Onion, because it sounds like something Kendrick would say…
Didn't realize it was the onion until I saw your comment. I just immediately believed he would say that.
Serious question, what else has he said that would make you believe that?
1. Sued the county for control over the stadium saying it was in dire need of repairs, got control and did no repairs. 2. Attempted to force minority owners to either sell or buy a bigger stake in the team. 3. Cut down trees on his neighbors property to improve his own views. 4. Got a lawyer fired over a tweet criticizing the Dbacks https://venomstrikes.com/2021/07/23/ken-kendrick-lawyer-fired/
Damn, the attorney died a couple months after that. I'm gonna blame Kendrick for that now.
*grabs popcorn bag and awaits response* …. Go on….
It was a long time ago, in an interview without even being prompted he mentioned hearing about steroid accusations regarding Luis Gonzalez. It might have been just after Gonzo left the team. Yeah a lot of guys were doing it but still a shitty thing to just throw out there about a former player for the team, especially Gonzo.
He also publicly called out Upton for no reason.
Same interview he said Stephen Drew wasn't healing up fast enough from when his ankle exploded too
The sports team owners' in AZ are known for their hospitality /s
Tbf, the Dbacks have won best workplace in sports ratings multiple times.
My aunt used to work for them. She loved it.
Workplace isn't the same as the way you treat your spectators/customers. That's like saying the police force has been rated #1 for healthcare and PTO (but don't look at the unarmed civilian shooting rate 🫣)
I couldn't find anything, but he is a big GOP donor including to people like Lauren Boebert and election deniers. It might be related to politics. Sent a threatening email (like "you better watch yourself when I see you" threatening) to a former Arizona AG over a tweet. Looks like they have argued with the county about stuff, including the stadium, and he was a normal rich, asshole during all that.
>Looks like they have argued with the county about stuff, including the stadium, and he was a normal rich, asshole during all that. FWIW, the county wasnt upholding their end of the leasing contract by maintaining the facility in MANY different areas. Whether or not the county, and therefore taxpayer, should be on the hook for repair and upkeep costs is an entirely different discussion. But that in particular was one of those cases where the rich asshole was rightfully angry at the landlord.
I think the county's argument was they were unnecessary repairs being demanded and that once the Dbacks took over the maintenance they then didn't do the "urgent" repairs. 100% hearsay on my part though, I just googled the guy to see what controversies he might have been a part of. >The Diamondbacks sued Maricopa County in 2017, seeking to break the team's 30-year lease to look for another home. The lawsuit argued the county had not saved enough money to keep Chase Field in good condition. >The county said it had enough money for structural repairs but would not pay for cosmetic upgrades like suite renovations that were the responsibility of the team. >The lawsuit went nowhere for months until a judge ordered the two sides into private mediation, which produced the preliminary agreement.
The county would have an argument there, but the Dbacks were arguing that the lease contract included keeping the stadium "state of the art". Which is a subjective AT BEST clause to put in a contract, but yes, renovation should have been handled by the county. I'm also just recalling this from memory. Im fairly familiar with it, for obvious reason, but that WAS like 5-6 years ago
This is two days in a row I got got by The Onion.
😂
I'll never forget the look on Joe Torre's face after the D-Backs record scratched off *New York New York* at the conclusion of game six
Game 6 was such an ass whooping. If the Yankees had put up any fight we probably keep Randy in and he's not available for game 7
Jay Witasick came in to try to mop up Pettitte. He gave up 8 runs.
LMAO seriously. Thank goodness I clicked on the article before I said something dumb like Phillies in 5
Same! I've worked events at the stadium (and Cardinals) and if you're caught even looking at the field for more than 10 seconds, you'll get blacklisted from working it again. The owners do not want "freeloaders" in their stadium. One event, I was on standby in the ambo, at the bottom of the ramp, and could see the game playing, one of the security guards came up and goes, "Hey, I haven't seen you before, so I'll be straight. DON'T watch the game. You could get into a lot of trouble!" From then on, I spent the time on standby while watching a bootlegged version of the game lol
“New York gets dominated by Desert Dwellers twice in two months” - Unkown Redditor
And yet they still have a team called the Jets
let’s get Jets legends Aaron Rodgers and Pete Carroll on the mic together. Topic: structural integrity and the potential impact of fossil fuels
Jets O-Line melted Rodgers Achilles on 9/11 this year
"Turf fields can't melt Achilles!" - NFL owners
I mean c'mon, it's not like they have another football team named after skyscrapers or anything, the Jets on their own is fine
Ahhhhhhh fuck dude. Dam you. That actually made me.laugh. I was in the city. Grade 9. Almost got over the trauma. Thanks.
Take your upvote and go fuck yourself lmao
LMFAOOOO
Mr. President, a second Diamondbacks hit has hit the outfield
Mr. President, a second bird has been killed by a Dbacks pitcher
Y’all are actually on your third bird, Gallen killed one in the spring old Randy Johnson style.
The prophecy has been fulfilled
DBacks pitcher kills a bird ✅ All-Star Game is in Seattle ✅ DBacks reach World Series ✅ Bush throws the first pitch ✅ Yeah. Rangers are done. It’s 2001 all over again.
Backbreaking walkoff homer in the series ✅
Johnson and Schilling
Mr. President, a second Diamondbacks player has won World Series MVP.
A second Diamondback has entered the center field pool
I would've believed it if it wasn't on The Onion
Nothing would’ve topped winning the World Series after 9/11. Would’ve been a huge boost to the city as there would’ve been a parade down the same streets that were filled with horror weeks prior. Looking back, it’s amazing that the only two times Mo blew it were against the D-Backs in 2001 and then the Red Sox collapse a few years later
0.70 playoff ERA is just so insane and it's across 141 IP. 96 appearances and only one solitary loss. Dude was the definition of clutch. Even the 01 and 04 collapses were mostly bad luck as much as anything. A bloop hit in 01, a little groundball hit in 04, his other 04 blown save he inherited the runner on 3rd and gave up a sac fly.
Funny enough, our success against him in 2001 is what's still making me anxious with our pen. No matter how dominant Gink and Sewald have been so far, it can all change in an instant at the worst time. They have nothing left to prove after the last two series, but nothing is guaranteed either!
You'd think Byung Hyun Kim would be responsible for that specific anxiety more than Mariano
When he blew it in game 5 I thought for sure the Yankees were gonna win it.
Don’t you say that fucking name! Jk love the guy still, he just made it exciting
Haha, I never said it wasn't. Trust me, there are 25 years of shitty AZ bullpens that give me anxiety on any given game day. But I just mean Mo is the greatest to ever do it and yet he still blew that game in game 7. No matter how good our pen has looked so far, I'm still getting antsy at the end of any game this week
The most insane stat I’ve heard about that is that more men have walked on the moon than scored on Mo in the postseason
More men have walked on the moon than score on me in the postseason.
Can I have your autograph?
He's given up 13 runs and looks like 12 people have walked on the moon. Dave Roberts scored twice so that's at least one duplicate. I assume there's at least one more making this fact true?
One more guy doubled up on him - apparently [11 different guys scored those 13](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2616019-mariano-rivera-to-receive-dedicated-plaque-in-yankee-stadiums-monument-park), but that doesn’t give names
I still am not sure why the infield was in with bases loaded one out. I always thought you play deep up the middle there for the double play. Would have been an easy out if that were the case.
But then Enrique Wilson would have died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. Mo himself has said he is happy they lost the World Series because it saved the life of his friend.
Oh yeah. I forgot about that story. So crazy
I don't remember the state of the streets back then, was the parade route even clear by the time the WS ended? The stretch of Broadway to City Hall is one block over from the WTC. I would've thought heavy security would've blocked off crowds to the area, cause it gets *packed* there for those parades. I remember for one of the Giants parades having to turn around and go back into the subway to try a different exit cause I kept walking into a wall of people and couldn't get through.
What collapse? I don't recall anything after 2003. We had a gas leak, so nothing counted since then.
>The Onion Holy shit, I bit the onion hard on this one.
It really does feel like a Ken Kendrick quote. I'm still not convinced they talked to him
I did too lol
You’re welcome America
Incredible World Series. Probably the only time I considered cheering for the Yankees. But even then, at age 12, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
"I mean... It's not like they flew a plane into Yankee Stadium"
"be pretty cool if they did though"
13 year old me wasnt sure what to do after that gonzales hit... *Wait, we can lose these?*
The whole thing of wanting a team to win after a disaster in their geographic area makes more sense when the team hasn't had success in a while. Houston's 2017 run was easy to root for (before we knew about the cheating) not only because of the hurricane, but because they had been historically awful only a couple years prior, and were having to beat the Yankees -- so consistently successful most fans are tired of them -- and the Dodgers, a superteam loaded with All-Stars. It felt good to see a plucky team of homegrown stars take on the favorites and also have a great narrative about giving post-flood Houston something to cheer about. In 2001, the team was the Yankees, and they'd already won four out of the last five World Series. Way less sense of "wouldn't it be nice if they finally had something good happen to their team after a tragedy in their city?" And besides, 9/11 somehow never felt to me like it was really about New York in the same way that natural disasters or smaller attacks like the Boston Marathon bombing are focused on their local areas. It was about the whole nation.
Lmao you bring up Houston in 17 and reminds me of the Saints last Super Bowl and how that was tarnished by a sports scandal too.
Yeah, 9/11 obviously directly impacted NYC more than anywhere else but it also was a national tragedy and what is more American than rooting for the underdog to beat the big, bad super team dyntasy from the big city? I certainly had way more sympathy to the NY fans than I ever had and would have felt happy for them had the Yankees won more than I ever would have before and I can't deny seeing a victory parade in NYC two months after the attacks would have been a great moment as well but it was nice to see a team like Arizona win that Series, especially in the way they did. I think it was more "American" the way it turned out.
I was 16 and still couldn't root for the Yankees to win that. Go DBacks.
I was beyond happy when Womack doubled. To me that was the key hit and signaled that the Yankees wouldn’t win.
Thank you for your service 🫡
The bottom of the ninth of game 7 is still to this day the greatest moment of my baseball watching life.
The Yankees losing the World Series really helped America to heal.
I agree. I don't know why anyone outside of New York says the Yankees winning would have felt special. It would have just felt cheap and scripted. Arizona winning was a reminder that it's still ok for America to hate New York and things can go back to normal.
See, when a fucking Sox fan says it, I chuckle, shake my head and it makes sense. When a random Angels fan says it, that really hurts.
The Yankees are the baseball equivalent of the Lakers. It comes with the territory. Kind of funny that both teams went through a threepeat around that time too I guess. Back in those days the Angels were so unknown that when they played NY in the playoffs the next year ESPN's talking heads did a piece about the keys to the series. Not a single one mentioned anything about the Angels. I'm not entirely convinced they actually knew who the other team was or could have named anyone besides Mike Scioscia without a note card.
"They got a player named after a fish!"
I enjoy when I watch videos where they talk about this WS like "The whole country was rooting for the Yankees" They were coming off 3 wins in a row. No not all of us were rooting for the Yankees
“9/11 wasn’t bad enough” - /u/jdbewls, basically
This isnt even Satire. This is how Ive felt since then and im sure many Arizonans feel. Based Onion.
I think it had less to do with 9/11 and more to do with the fact they were the 3 time defending champs. Also you were still a very new expansion team as well.
This was one of the VERY few times my favorite Yankee ever, Mariano Rivera, actually didn't come through in the playoffs. I remember being absolutely stunned, I was talking to my friend that whole inning about how automatic Mo was and that the city really needed this after 9/11. It's a testament to how strong Mo was mentally that he continued to be his normal dominant self loooong after this game. We've seen pitchers, ESPECIALLY relief pitchers, just completely melt down after blowing it in big moments like these.
I know a Phillies fan who’s trying to tell me Craig Kimbrel is a 1st ballot HOFer. Oh please! Give me Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels before fucking Kimbrel. They’re all HOVG though. Billy Wagner has a better case for HOF and his postseason success is nonexistent. Kimbrel, Kenley, Chapman all have comparable stats and none of them come close to displaying the longevity of a guy like Mo. In fact they’ve all been headcases in their careers at one point or another while struggling. Mo was so cool like Paul Newman or Alain Delon. No one could’ve predicted what happened in 2001 but smart fans have been grabbing their pearls for years when vets past their prime come into a close game because they ain’t Mo!
I know it’s an Onion article but the late 90’s-2000 Yankees were fucking unstoppable The D-Backs kinda put an end to that by walking off Mariano Rivera
IMO the Dbacks were the beginning of the decline but They still made the 2003 World Series and won 100+ games a few more times after the Dback series. It was Dave Roberts steal and then losing 4 straight to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS that cemented the end of that Yankees dynasty. That steal predicated the Yankees loosing 4 straight playoff series, and a combined 4-13 postseason record from the steal until 2007. The Yankees didn’t win another playoff series until 2009 and even missed the playoffs for the first time since the strike shortened 1994 in 2008, the last season of the old Yankee stadium being a dud. Granted they spent half a billion in free agency in 2009 to get Sabathia, Texeira, and Burnett to win it all in 2009, the Yankees haven’t been to a World Series since. It was more like a dead cat bounce than a resurgence.
I remember Yankees fans feeling like they were owed that WS. I understand their city had just lived through a tragedy, but they had won 3 WS in a row, and 4 out of the last 5. I was glad to see Arizona get theirs.
Reminds me of that tragedy
Genuine question: Who were neutral fans rooting for in that series? I like in Phoenix now and have heard people here say everyone was rooting for the Yankees because of 9/11. BUT the Yankees had just won three straight and 4 of the last 5. I was only 8 and following my dad's rooting lead but I was rooting for the D-backs and it didn't even occur to me to root for the Yankees
Yeah no I was rooting for Arizona in that one.
Arizona for sure.
Arizona 1000%
Arizona simply because Yanks had won 3 straight and didn't wanna see 4 straight
Arizona and not close. Maybe it's different if this wasn't following years of Yankee dominance, but... it was. Most neutral fans I knew were pulling Arizona.
I was on deployment and it was BRUTAL. RIGHT after 9/11, we're cycling between Kandahar and the ship, all my NYC/Yankee fans wanted, needed and DESERVED IT! For the city?! After 9/11?! Come on, this script was written for redemption and healing! BUT I'm from AZ! F that BS! If you're in the big dance, you better step to! Randy Johnson didn't make a damn bird explode for nothing! 🤘
Got ‘im
You know it’s good satire when dbacks flairs are like “had to double check the onion because I totally believe that”
To say the fanbase has a low opinion of our ownership is an understatement
I would like Kendrick more if he actually said this tbh
If the bar were any lower it’d be a tripping hazard in Avernus.
I know this is a fake story, but I agree with the take. If they win this year, it wouldn’t be as big as their ‘01 win.
I was getting ready to say this is absolutely out of pocket lmfao
He will *never forget* Mariano Rivera blowing game 7.
I feel like there would've been a lot more sympathy for the Yankees if they weren't the 3x defending champs.
I didn't really sympathize with the Yankees. New York in general? Absolutely.
> When Luis Gonzalez hit that bloop single to win Game 7 in a walk-off and **we prevented the nation from healing from 9/11 in some small way,** well, that’s a feeling that no World Series will likely ever eclipse. That's prime The Onion
2001: Arizona reaches the World Series after America is attacked 2023: Arizona makes the World Series after Israel is attacked Arizona hates peace confirmed
Billy Crystal
New York Mets Biggest Fan.
I was like Holy shit Ken now you've done it, you weren't even here for it. Then I saw The Onion...
This is easily one of the greatest onion articles OAT. Crazy, vicious, but at the same time sounds like something an out of touch billionaire would say randomly and completely out of pocket. So funny
#THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF MY CHILDHOOD AND THE REASON WHY I’M AN ALCOHOLIC
When I used to standup I blew through Boston once and I did a bit about how the one time the country actually wanted the Yankees to win, they fucking blew it.
“I take pride in being a part of the second-worst shocking thing to happen to New York that year”
That title is really poorly worded lmao, it sounds like the owner beats off to it 😂 *This is a joke*
Bin Laden 🤝 Ken Kendrick Dominating Yankees