Today's Max Kellerman and Brian Kenny show featured the return of Brian Kenny (he had been away on vacation last week) who injected a healthy dose of realism into the discussion of the Yankees and their history.
In discussing the Yankee pen, Max acknowledged Edwar Ramirez's meltdown in yesterday's game, but then said (I was driving at the time so this is a paraphrased) that "Ramirez in his failure shows how he's the supreme stud relief pitcher on earth." To this Brian Kenny responded something to the effect of "look at the malarkey you are throwing out, he blew up."
I like Max, but sometimes he seems to get a little too caught up in the hype that he creates, with negative results when the situation implodes. Prime examples are most of the Knick roster such as Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, Randolph Morris, Renaldo Balkman - the list of hyped prospects and acquired talent goes on and on. You would have thought that they would win a championship with all the "talent" that Max was describing before the last NBA season started. I wonder, if Brian had been riding shotgun earlier, would Max have continued to hype how great the Knick 2007-2008 team would be? Brian is the voice of reason that tempers the show when the hype seems to get a little out of control, kind of like are wives can be for us when we go a little too far with our daydreaming. But that's a conversation for another day...
Another interesting point dealt with Goose Gossage and his devoting some of his time during his Hall of Fame induction speech to stumping for the admission of George Steinbrenner into the builders wing of the HOF. I did not hear or see the speech given, but it sounds like a selfless act from a player who when interviewed over the last few weeks made statements like "I got the Yankees out of jams that even G-d could not get them out of."
The callers instigated a discussion about A-Rod and his ability to perform under pressure. In this, the hosts initially acknowledged that A-Rod does not perform well in the clutch, based on his numbers this year. Then later in the show the tide of the discussion turned as they began to mention his on base percentage and how taking a walk may be beneficial (certainly more than an out) when the team is down a run in the late innings.
In my opinion, by channelling the conversation about whether its better to take the walk or swing for the fences, Max brought an element of Torah thought into the conversation. In the Purim story, Mordechai asks Esther at 4:14, the rhetorical question of "who knows if for this very purpose you became the Queen." In so doing he says to Esther - Hashem has put you in the position where you can be the savior if you choose to act. This may be the very reason that you find yourself where you are. Now while A-Rod coming up to the plate is not nearly the same level of significance as Esther saving the Jewish nation, the concept is similar. He can be overly picky with his plate selection and take a walk, thus leaving it to someone else to be the one who determines the outcome of the game. Or, he can go after the pitch that might be slightly outside or low and in so doing take the initiative. Hashem puts everyone in the situation they are in for a reason, its for us to try to understand what is expected of us once we find ourselves in that spot.
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