The Bronx is Burning

It’s a turbulent time in the Bronx.

The good news, it looks like Joe Girardi is going to be the next manager of the Yankees. He’s the guy I’ve been hoping would land the position…



Of course, it will be weird not having Joe Torre in the dugout, no matter who winds up with the job. I’d love to see Torre’s No. 6 retired (do they retire numbers for managers?), but after they way his exit was handled, I’m not holding my breath.

The bad news is the apparent departure of Alex Rodriguez. I can’t say I’m surprised that he’s opting out of his contract, but I’m certainly disappointed. He had his ups and downs in New York and it took a while for many fans to accept him. But I was always rooting for him to succeed, to prove his worth and shut up the Yankee-haters.

I think A-Rod certainly earned his stripes this year when he put up amazing numbers and helped drag the Yankees out of the cellar. Who wouldn’t want him back? It became apparent this year that if he remains healthy, Barry Bonds won’t be the home run king for long. I would have loved to have seen him break that record in a Yankee uniform. Oh well, that's me -- the eternal optimist.

BTW, it was not cool at all for his agent to try to upstage the World Series by making the announcement A-Rod was opting out of his contrat during Game 4. I understand he wants to get as much attention for his client as possible, but c'mon. Taking the focus off the game on the field is pretty low class.

Now we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of Jorge Posada, Andy Petite and Mariano Rivera. Next year, it’s going to be a whole new ball game.

SIDE NOTE: How cool is it that you can now embed ESPN video?!?