As if Teixeira didn't want to make you puke already

[Goober Noodles]

I was up in my room last night, and my roommate yelled up to me from the living room that I'd be flipping the #%@^ out if I was down there watching sportscenter.

I didn't even think about going down there.

[TonySoprano]

Well we now know one thing about the guy....he's a two-faced liar. That's worse than being a Yankees fan.



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...day/index.html

Here's the difference. Yesterday, he was playing up to the Yankees fans and organization at the usual press circus. His remarks to Sports Illustrated were made while he was still a member of the Rangers; he had no incentive to make those remarks. Later yesterday, he reported on WFAN - NY radio that he and his family were diehard Orioles fans. I know this is going to go against the general consensus here, but I would take the comments he made at the press conference as disingenuous script, coached by Scott Boras.

It's interesting how it's leaked to the press that he never wanted to come here, after he signs with the Yankees. Until then, all we heard from a tight-lipped MacPhail was we're still in it unless someone tells us otherwise.

Tex, like every Boras client, was chasing the money. We didn't step up to the table like a few others did. Instead, we counted on him taking a home team discount hoping he'd get misty every time "Orioles Magic" was played. MacPhail said that he "diverted from the plan" to pursue Teixeira, which tells me it was a move he wasn't 100% comfortable making. It's very possible that the allure of following Don Mattingly's footsteps was more appealing than Baltimore. But we sure as hell didn't seem to go out of our way to appeal to him relative to his other suitors. You know what they say about first impressions...

[SteveA]

I doubt there was all this hatred toward the Yankees before 1996...

Huh?????

There was PLENTY of Yankee hatred going back to 1977 when free agency began and they began gobbling up players. From 76 to 81 they won the division 5 of 6 years, dominated the headlines, went to 4 World Series, had an obnoxious owner, obnoxious fans, and were public enemy #1 in Baltimore.

[Hank Scorpio]

Being the next Cal Ripken for one. The hometown hero. Cal should have been used in the process. He's the Orioles ace in the hole...

Heck Cal could have met with him and told him all about being an Oriole. But the Orioles didn't even bother to invite him to help...

They could have given him the Pavano treatment with the new video screens. They could have done so much more in recruiting him that they failed to do because they felt they didn't need to sell him on being an Oriole.

Apparently they were dead wrong...

Dude you've gotta let this thing go for your mental health and the mental health of those around you.

HE WANTED TO PLAY FOR A WINNER. Get it through your dome piece.

[howie14]

I doubt there was all this hatred toward the Yankees before 1996...

I know this was posted last night, but I had to comment.

No, hatred of the Yankees by Oriole fans did not just spring up in 1996. We hated them in the '60s (they were the team we wanted to become by the mid-60s) , the '70s (the birth of FA, REGGIE!, the Bronx Zoo), the '80s (they still spent a boat of money, it just didn't work). And we certainly hated the bandwagoners who lived here and always reminded us that being a Yankee fan was somehow "better".

Jeff Maier didn't invent our hatred of the Yankees.

BTW, I remember Mussina's press conference ticking me off the same way. It's one thing to be happy to be where you chose to be, it's another to diss those who wanted you to be somewhere else.

Praise for NY without mentioning Baltimore would have been fine by me.

[Tony-OH]

Well we now know one thing about the guy....he's a two-faced liar. That's worse than being a Yankees fan.



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...day/index.html

Agreed. He fits right in as a Yankee. I was holding back a lot of things I heard about this guy from some people who knew him well because I thought he was perhaps a changed guy. Let's face it, he is who he is and regardless of the fact he's from the Baltimore-area, he's a bum. There's a reason teams kept trading him and moving him and part of it was the fact the guy is all about himself.

He had no intention of creating a legacy. He just wants to play baseball and cash some big checks. Nothing wrong with that of course, but when you have an opportunity to create a legacy and turn it down, it tells me a lot about that person. This was my main gripe with Mussina. He had the opportunity to go down in history as possibly the best Orioles pitcher ever, but choose a few more bucks rather than a chance at creating a legacy.

These guys are who they are, and that's something we all have to just accept.

[Mirko Crocop]

I'm around Teixeira's age. The Skanks weren't that great in the mid-1980's.

Why in the hell did they appeal to him?

Because he is a loser?

[TonySoprano]

http://www.boston.com/sports/columni..._teixeira.html

It wasn't NY at any cost; he wanted the money. From that article

"At the same time, I'm not going to lie to you guys. Contract was important. I wasn't going to take half as much money to play in New York. But when a team like New York steps up and is very competitive with their contract, it was an easy decision for me.

"I have so much respect for [the Red Sox], but when their offer wasn't with the Yankees' and it just didn't seem like they were going to continue to better their offer, and the Yankees came in and did what they did, it was an easy decision."

Substitute Orioles for Red Sox. The Red Sox made several offers but then drew the line. I don't recall the Nationals being solicited to make a second offer, but they did. We made one offer and waited by the phone. "It just didn't seem like they were going to continue to better their offer......"

[Mirko Crocop]

People would say, 'Why not Eddie [Murray], why not Cal [Ripken]?,' but there was just something about Don Mattingly."

That something is being an inferior player, with lower HOF credentials than either Cal or Eddie, Einstein.

Might as well have said "People would say, 'Why not Charles [Barkley] , why not Clyde [Drexler]?,' but there was just something about Brent Price."

[TonySoprano]

Agreed. He fits right in as a Yankee. I was holding back a lot of things I heard about this guy from some people who knew him well because I thought he was perhaps a changed guy. Let's face it, he is who he is and regardless of the fact he's from the Baltimore-area, he's a bum. There's a reason teams kept trading him and moving him and part of it was the fact the guy is all about himself.

He had no intention of creating a legacy. He just wants to play baseball and cash some big checks. Nothing wrong with that of course, but when you have an opportunity to create a legacy and turn it down, it tells me a lot about that person. This was my main gripe with Mussina. He had the opportunity to go down in history as possibly the best Orioles pitcher ever, but choose a few more bucks rather than a chance at creating a legacy.

These guys are who they are, and that's something we all have to just accept.

Can't it be said that winning a championship adds to one's legacy also? Mussina and Teixeira believe that playing for New York over Baltimore gives them the best chance. One can't objectively argue to the contrary, no matter how it turned out for Mussina. His team made the playoffs almost every year; the Orioles watched them on television.

[Tony-OH]

Ehhh, whatever.

Just cause he grew up in the area till age 18 doesn't mean he owes the Orioles or the Orioles fans a single thing.

No one has ever said he owes anybody anything, Moose. My main problem with him, besides the fact he grew up in Maryland as a Yankees fan, is that he gave up an opportunity to create a legacy. It's easy to have his talent and make a lot of money, but the opportunity to create a lasting legacy in the town you grew up in is something few players have the opportunity to do.

BTW, the Yankees were just coming off a dominate run in the late 80's and early 80s so yes, it was easy to be a front runner while being a Yankees fan. By the late 80s, neither the Orioles or the Yankees were very good besides the Why not season for the O's.

[Orioles Examiner]

Agreed. He fits right in as a Yankee. I was holding back a lot of things I heard about this guy from some people who knew him well because I thought he was perhaps a changed guy. Let's face it, he is who he is and regardless of the fact he's from the Baltimore-area, he's a bum. There's a reason teams kept trading him and moving him and part of it was the fact the guy is all about himself.

He had no intention of creating a legacy. He just wants to play baseball and cash some big checks. Nothing wrong with that of course, but when you have an opportunity to create a legacy and turn it down, it tells me a lot about that person. This was my main gripe with Mussina. He had the opportunity to go down in history as possibly the best Orioles pitcher ever, but choose a few more bucks rather than a chance at creating a legacy.

These guys are who they are, and that's something we all have to just accept.

Very well said. Most of us wanted to believe that Tex is something other than what he is - a money-chasing ball player. Like you said,there's nothing wrong with that. But now we know. He really kicked dirt on the idea that he's anything more than that yesterday.

If you're interested, here's my thoughts on the matter.

http://www.examiner.com/x-436-Baltim...e-at-Baltimore

It's tongue-in-cheek and it's supposed to be a light way of saying we (the O's fans who were rooting for Tex to come home) are moving on.

[gturner]

Ok my wife lived next to Tex when she was growing up and he was always an O's fan as far as she can remember. He lived in college station and then moved to Maryland area because his Dad worked with my wifes Dad as Northrup Grumman. So he is full of crap, and should be booed out of the stadium both here and Boston. Sorry but I had to say something. Later...

[jcroemer]

Very well said. Most of us wanted to believe that Tex is something other than what he is - a money-chasing ball player. Like you said,there's nothing wrong with that. But now we know. He really kicked dirt on the idea that he's anything more than that yesterday.

If you're interested, here's my thoughts on the matter.

http://www.examiner.com/x-436-Baltim...e-at-Baltimore

It's tongue-in-cheek and it's supposed to be a light way of saying we (the O's fans who were rooting for Tex to come home) are moving on.

Jay, that was an awesome piece. I think it said it very well.

[Tony-OH]

A. Mt. St. Joe's is a private high school. Teixeira went to Georgia Tech.

B. Tony's entitled to his opinion. It's easy and common to draw the conclusion that he's a punk front runner based on his "dream come true" comments about playing for the O's then jumping ship to the Yankees at the last minute. It's a punk move and reeks of 'front runner-ism'.

C. The comment about pulling his son's high school application was without a doubt tongue-in-cheek.

Looking back on it, YOUR comments are a little dramatic.

Yeah, my son's in 7th grade so we haven't even put in the applications yet. Besides, Mount Saint Joe's Wrestling team rocks.

People are going to have to face it that we get emotional too. I've spent a good part of the last 20 years living all over the place while in the Army, but in the end, I'm a Baltimore-area guy. I love my local teams and will always be fans or our teams through and through.