Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Foul Ball -uh - SHIRT at Yankees Stadium


Alex Rodriguez, the other superstar face of MLB’s New York Yankees, alongside teammate Derek Jeter, is dealing with plenty of unnecessary attention after Sunday’s loss to the Oakland Athletics.

Although the Yankees lost 11-5 in front of their home crowd, and Rodriguez, also known as A-Rod, struck out 2 of his 3 times at bat, this was the last thing on the minds of New Yorkers and even the Yankees management.

It was the wife of this decorated MVP baseball player that stole the show, ensuing more media reports on the couple's personal lives.

Did Cynthia Rodriguez run naked on the field and disrupt the live game?

Nope.

Maybe she got drunk in the stands and started a fight with some opposing fans. Nah, that didn’t happen either.

Mrs. Rodriguez wore a white tank top to the game that read F*** You in Old English lettering on the back between her shoulder blades.

Tacky? Yes. Outrageous and ruining the eyes of America’s youth, No. I would not like to be sitting next to her with this shirt on, as it is simply in poor taste.

I would also distance myself from an uncle wearing a t-shirt with a bald eagle wrapped in a flag and two guns pointing up. If my cousin dug deep into the closet and started sporting his hip hop Bugs Bunny tees with Looney Toons characters wearing sagging pants, I’d show him a mirror and tell him to rethink this decision.

There has been a large outcry from many journalists and fans, along with Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman over her poor decision to wear the profane laden shirt to this family event. Cashman had a discussion with Cynthia and Alex about the incident since the team has a policy prohibiting profane language on clothing and banners in Yankee Stadium.

A swift dusting of the hands and a stern look from the boss should have ended the entire fiasco. Ok, maybe with a bit of a misunderstanding once Alex got home later that evening that landed someone on the couch for the night.

Outside of this tacky display Cynthia put on all day Sunday, this tank top has turned into a firestorm of controversy on radio and TV instead of a simple violation of organization rules. Many outlets are pointing out that she was in the company of her 2 year-old daughter while wearing the filthy garment. Now we must assume that little “C-Rod” will be heading to her dollhouse tonight where Barbie will tell Ken about those choice words found on Mommy’s back. *GASP*

Now she will grow up to hate America, baseball, and apple pie. She'll be a fan of Al Queda, 9-11, war, shootouts, police chases!!!

Lets all just calm down. We take things way too seriously when it comes to English words that EVERYONE has seen or heard in their lives. I am a firm believer in rules and guidelines for kids regarding cursing.

In fact, I don’t think there is a place for children to curse. There just needs to be a point at which we stop to consider the reasons we’re outraged about things such as this. What do we really think is going to happen to the youth of America if they see a lady making herself look like a fool at a baseball game?

Instead of going to the chalk board to complete the Algebra problem in Mrs. Swanson’s class in New York, little Johnny will instead tell her “F*** you, I saw it on Cynthia Rodriguez’ shirt on Sunday.” Children have seen these phrases and heard these phrases many times, so the only thing that will keep them from throwing it around is a lack of appeal for it, and get this…a good talking to from their parents, the main influence in their lives.

On top of it all, we even have to censor the full story from each other. Its insulting to me as an adult to discover a news story about someone using a politically incorrect word and I have to read through blank marks and symbols of $#!& and @$$ just to try to figure out what happened.

This isn’t Wheel of Fortune and Pat Sajack isn’t giving the wheel a final spin. Does anyone in America not know what words Cynthia Rodriguez wore on her shirt? Despite the blurring of the word in the picture and the around about description of what was displayed, we have these amazing organs called brains.

If you don’t know what F*** you is covering up for, then you and your children will never say it anyway, so there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

By Jayar Jackson, 3BAAS Contributing Writer