The Yankees Do it Again

It is alarming and comforting at the same time that as we continue sliding through the worst recession of our lifetime, the New York Yankees are now on the hook for spending $805 million on four, yes FOUR, salaries. Alarming because while the rest of us fear for our retirement and our jobs, the Yankees are still lavishing their overpaid players with salaries that have nothing to do with performance (remind you of anyone else in New York?) while most other baseball teams continue to lament and fume in mediocrity with no hope of ever improving. And it’s comforting that the Yankees and the Steinbrenners in particular still have not learned that money and payroll can’t always buy you a championship and a collection of great stars does not guarantee a great team. Just ask a Mets fan about that last fact. And the Yankees still have no clue why the rest of the baseball world loathes them.

Many blame Scott Boras for these signings (Teixeira, A-Rod and Johnny Damon are just three high-profile Boras clients who recently signed with New York), but Boras is just trying to get the best deal for his clients. Others will blame the Red Sox for blinking or not upping the ante, but I actually admire Boston’s steadfast rules with player contracts – namely no contract longer than four years and a reluctance to engage in a bidding war with Boras or any other agent. And while Boras did represent Daisuke Matsuzaka last year, he was only dealing with Boston and if Boras did not complete a deal Dice-K was heading back to Japan.

No, Teixeira only got this obscene contract because Boras knew the Yankees would do what they always do – offer the most money and the longest-term contract, and with a no-trade clause to boot! Ever since the Steinbrenners came aboard, this has been the Yankee M.O. – how much do you want and for how long? This worked in the 70s when free agency was in its infancy, but the Yankee free agent track record in the last decade or so has not been stellar. Kevin Brown, Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, Damon, Carl Pavano, Andy Pettite’s second turn are just some of the higher profile busts. Others were a bit better – Mike Mussina and Roger Clemens (steroids notwithstanding) – but they certainly haven’t produced a championship. And as teams like Boston and Tampa Bay have recently shown, there’s still something to be said for a good farm system and solid prospects. Posada, Jeter, Rivera and Joba Chamberlain are fine examples.

But what is most disturbing is what I have ranted about long before – how baseball’s class system is contributing to the long-term decline of baseball’s relevance today. Baseball still ranks fourth in popularity of all professional sports. The luxury tax has helped a bit, but the Teixeira signing could finally be the straw that breaks the Pittsburgh and Kansas City’s fans backs. Every other sport has a salary cap to prevent these inequities, and perhaps this could finally pave the way for this to happen in baseball.

And something else is lost too. When I was a kid, my dad would often take me to games at Yankee Stadium, where we would often sit near first base. Total costs for transportation from Jersey, parking, hot dogs, tickets and souvenirs would be less than $30 for both of us. Now, as this great Sports Illustrated article illustrates, attending professional sports games is practically impossible for a middle class family.

It has also been disgraceful to see a team with the Yankees’ wealth fleece the City of New York for another $259 million in tax-exempt bonds on top of the $940 million they were already given to build their new billion dollar stadium. No city, especially one with New York’s budget issues, deserves to lavish public subsidies on a team that does not pay property taxes.

Perhaps Teixeira and Sabathia are the missing pieces the Yankees need to win a championship. But even if that is the case, there is still something artificial and greedy about the whole affair. I recently read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with my kids, and I realize the Yankees have become Veruca Salt – getting whatever they want no matter what the cost is to them, to their fans who ultimately pay for it, or whatever they sacrifice in respect and class along the way.

Song of the South: Disney's Great Unknown

One of Disney World’s most popular rides is Splash Mountain, which is based on the 1946 Disney movie “Song of the South.” When my kids asked about the movie, I couldn’t tell them anything because I’ve never seen it. It has never been on video or DVD in the U.S., has only been sporadically re-released in theaters (the last time was in 1986) and Disney has no current plans to change this policy.

While the ride focuses on the animated parts of the film with Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, Brer Fox and the rest of the Briar Patch crew, Song of the South was actually Disney’s very first foray into films that combined live action with animation, decades before Mary Poppins. Fans of Southern literature also may know the movie is based on the Uncle Remus tales of Joel Chandler Harris that were published after the Civil War. Harris based his (fictional) Uncle’s tales on stories told by freed slaves in the South at that time.

There’s a few web sites that are dedicated to the movie, most of which are petitioning Disney to finally release it. The movie’s animated sequences are told outside of the live action sections, where Uncle Remus tells Chandler’s stories to both black and white children. Allegedly Remus and other African Americans live as sharecroppers on a huge, white-owned plantation where they are extremely happy with their lives and work. And that appears to be the main reason why Disney has kept Song of the South in its vault despite growing requests to release it, most likely spurred by the ride. When released, the NAACP condemned the movie for its sugarcoated master/slave depiction and the alleged happy subservience of African Americans to their white landowners. I say “alleged” and “appears” a few times here since I haven’t seen the movie and can’t say whether this is accurate.

Perhaps when it was released in 1946, Song of the South was a product of its time and Disney did not think it was racist. And it was depicting the Reconstruction-era South, (which did not have slavery but life was not much better for African Americans then either). But the film won two Oscars – a special one for James Baskett, who plays Uncle Remus and another for best song (Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah). Baskett was the first African American man to ever win an Oscar and Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah remains one of Disney’s most popular songs. You can see and hear clips and songs from the movie on Disney compilation DVDs and CDs, and videos of the whole movie have been released overseas. But nothing in America.

Should Song of the South be released, or kept in the vault because of its (potentially) racist undertones? I have two ideas. The first would be to remake the movie. There is more than enough demand and new interest thanks to Splash Mountain for Disney to make an updated Song of the South with new animation while keeping the classic songs. At the same time, I’m quite sure Disney could do a much better and updated job with handling the racial climate of Reconstruction in the 21st century, and I bet lots of today’s big African American celebrities would jump at the chance to either be in the movie or do voice-over work.

The second idea would be to finally issue the movie on DVD, but use the occasion to properly frame the movie in its context of both 1946 and the time it represents. Disney can have plenty of material on the DVD that could address the film’s history and its reluctance to reissue it. Confronting the issue properly could start very useful dialogue with kids regarding our past.
When we have America’s first African American president about to take office, I vote that it’s time for the public to finally view Song of the South and determine either if the movie was truly racist in the first place or if it has been a lost and misunderstood classic. If that never happens, the movie will eventually enter the public domain in 2039.

More Info: Song of the South Fan Site, including info about the film, pictures and how to petition Disney to rerelease it.
Urban Legends on the Movie from Snopes
A Two Minute YouTube clip from the movie - Short, but judge for yourself

The Nepotism Factor

Before we collectively marveled in revulsion at Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich offering Barack Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder, I seemed to be one of the few equally perturbed that Caroline Kennedy, a respectable woman with absolutely zero interest and experience in politics or public affairs until a few months ago, was being considered as a front-runner for a New York Senate seat that was also to be filled by special appointment.

I have always been allergic to nepotism in public and private practice. Maybe it’s because my parents didn’t have a business where I could start as a vice president right out of college because they told me I had to earn my career the hard way. And there certainly was no political seat they kept warm for me either. And unlike Caroline, Paris and others, the Jacobson name doesn’t open many doors or ensure you’re born on third base or home plate either. But when many deride the special interests that consume politics, they should make room for the most special interest of all – families from the Bushes to the Kennedys on down trying to form oligarchies to govern plebians like us.

I’m not from Massachusetts and I don’t buy into the Kennedy mystique. In my home state of New Jersey, voters recently denied Tom Kean Jr., son of a former governor who had amassed an unspectacular record as a state senator, a U.S. senate seat in 2006. And I don’t think they would re-elect any senator who had gone through the driving and drinking trials of Ted Kennedy either. But if you look around at the recent political families that run so much of our country, you find little to assure you that these families are winning elections because of their brains. From the slew of Kennedys here to the Landrieus of Louisiana and the Daleys of Chicago, the overall track record of these families is pretty mediocre. While that may be no better or worse than your average politician, it’s safe to say that Hillary Clinton was Hillary Smith and Caroline Kennedy was Caroline Jones, do you think either of them would be considered for or elected to Congress with their track records?

And guess who may take over Joe Biden’s seat in Delaware? That’s right – Joe Biden III! In a move that Blagojevich would approve, Delaware Governor recently appointed Vice President-Elect Joe Biden’s chief of staff to fill his seat while Biden III prepares for a quite obvious run when he returns from Iraq. At least Biden has currently served almost 18 months as Delaware’s attorney general, giving him far more experience than Caroline Kennedy.

Nepotism is nothing new in American politics. The Adams of Massachusetts, the Roosevelts of New York and the Tafts of Ohio existed long ago and more families will arise. Name recognition is always important when running for office. But it’s a shame that so many voters and governors who must appoint members to Congress never look beyond pedigree or last name.

My Nomination to Fix Detroit

It is very, very difficult for any of us to feel sorry for the U.S. auto industry. For years we have watched these once-mighty titans get their behinds kicked by foreign automakers, who have run rings around them in innovation, fuel efficiency, worker relations and cars that are just better and more fun to drive. And while Detroit comes to Congress with its hat in hand, foreign automakers are doing just fine, insourcing thousands of jobs to America and opening new plants. Toyota is opening a new plant to meet the huge demand for Priuses down in Mississippi while GM is still scrambling to get the cost of batteries in its still-nascent Volt down to the level that Toyota already has.

Much has been made of the Big Three’s ride on corporate jets to Washington and having no concrete plan for what to do with the bailout money. Not quite as much has been made about the ridiculous contracts the UAW extracts for its workers that helps bleed these companies. It took ample PR embarrassment for the unions to finally drop the JOBS bank, which literally paid downsized workers the bulk of their wages while they did no work for years. Imagine how much better these companies would be if these executive and union perks were cut years ago.

Many are trying to place the blame on either the executives or the unions. Like the financial services industry or the Iraq war, failure this massive cannot be drilled down to a single issue but rather spread out among collective idiocy. Even if the Big Three’s compensation and benefits were in line with foreign automakers, can anyone at GM tell me the difference between Buicks and Pontiacs? Why keep both of these lines of business? And a special dummy prize must be shared among the longtime Congressmen and Senators from Michigan, many of whom fought tooth and nail against raising fuel standards, giving incentives to hybrid cars and doing anything possible to shield Detroit from the smarter foreign competition that was eating its lunch. I fully understand why they were trying to protect the businesses and constituents in their state and districts, but part of being a Congressman requires tough love and explaining to these companies why some of these mileage and environmental rules would make them more competitive. And let’s not forget all those consumers who kept giving the junkie drugs by buying SUVs and minivans they clearly didn’t need.

So should Detroit get its bailout money? I am honestly on the fence about this. Bad behavior should never be rewarded, and all of these executives, union chiefs and congressmen like John Dingell, Dale Kildee, John Conyers and Senator Carl Levin should all resign for collectively helping to destroy the auto industry. But just as the financial services industry could not be allowed to implode, the auto industry is in a similar position. Our economy is far too fragile at this stage, and if even one of the Big Three went bankrupt or disappeared the ripple effects would make the recession far worse than it already is.

There’s widespread agreement that an “auto czar” should be in charge of the industry. But who? Some have recommended Steve Jobs. I have two ideas. The first is Lee Iacocca, a man who’s been though this before and could be the right one for the job.

Now here’s my other idea: James Spears, Britney Spears’ father. Say what? Here’s where I’m going. A year ago Britney was out of control – wasted on drugs, flashing strangers in public, spending truckloads of money on crap and hanging out with undesirables who catered to her every whim. Then her father stepped in and now she’s on a tight allowance, has kept her clothes on, is only with people who can help her out and has her career back on track.

OK, maybe not. But that’s the discipline Detroit needs to end its self-destruction. If your kids wreck your car, you don’t just give them a blank check and tell them to buy whatever car they want. Let’s hope Congress doesn’t do the same.

More Info: Mitt Romney was for the auto bailout before he was against it.