ESPN Is Making The Yankees Play A Sunday Night Game In Toronto The Day Before A Doubleheader In Baltimore, So The Yankees Are Now Threatening To Boycott ESPN Unless They Change It
NY Post- In an effort to change the time of the July 8 “Sunday Night Baseball” telecast, the Yankees are threatening to boycott ESPN personnel all year, according to sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking.
“It is a tool in the toolbox,” one source said.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone, a former ESPN analyst, has been vocal in saying that the July 8 game in Toronto that was pushed back from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. should be reversed to its original time. The Yankees play a make-up doubleheader in Baltimore the next day. The first game was originally scheduled for 4 p.m., but has been pushed back to 5 p.m. The players think playing three games in two cities is unfair on many levels, including the integrity of the sport.
YES!! Fuck ESPN!!! This is incredible. So to catch everyone up on this major fuck-up by Major League Baseball, the Yankees have been forced to endure six rain outs so far in the early goings this year. As part of rescheduling these games, including the two that were cancelled this weekend in Baltimore, the Yanks now have a four game series against the O’s in July instead of a short two-gamer. A doubleheader on July 9th is now on the schedule, which follows a road series in Toronto. Originally the Yanks were set to play at 1:00 that Sunday and then get on their jet right after so they can get in at a reasonable time for the O’s. ESPN had other plans that would only benefit them. SHOCKER. They moved the Yanks Sunday day game in Toronto to Sunday Night Baseball. The reason being? Their All Star selection show is that night at 7:00 leading into their game. ESPN is hoping they can use the Yankees to boost their ratings for their meaningless show while completely disregarding the fact that New York will play three road games in two countries in just 30 hours. Aaron Boone, along with many in the organization, were furious when they got the news a few days ago. Now, they’ve gotten to the point where they are threatening a boycott of ESPN as a whole if the game isn’t moved.
While the Yankees couldn’t prevent ESPN from broadcasting future games, the players’ and management’s boycott would include being uncooperative with ESPN for its broadcasts and any extra features, like the ones commonly seen on “SportsCenter.” For “Sunday Night,” the ESPN booth team receives a special session with Boone during the pregame, as well as in-game access. ESPN often asks for TV interviews with players prior to the game and special access. The Yankees would just say no to all requests, a source said, if the July 8 game remains on the “Sunday Night” schedule.
I LOVE IT!! It’s so petty it’s incredible. You want us to play this bullshit game in Toronto to boost your ratings for your stupid selection show? Well, say good bye to Aaron Judge SportsCenter interviews. Aaron Boone mid-game interviews? Yeah no fucking shot. Oh you want Giancarlo or Gleyber or Gary or Severino in your new “This is SportsCenter” commercial. Go fuck yourself. They’re pulling a move parents do when their kid begs for a brand new expensive toy. Sure you can get this, but you’re not going to sleep away camp anymore. You’re eating vegetables the rest of the year and you can’t go to the game anymore with your friends. I’m pretty shocked Boone is pulling this card right after working at ESPN. He must have hated a lot of people at the company and this was just the final straw. Whatever it is, I’m all for it. Fuck ESPN.
Advertisement
Disclaimer: I originally had this whole blog where I was going to rant about weather and planes, including the Baltimore doubleheader. Right before I hit publish this ESPN boycott story dropped. Here’s some of that blog.
The New York Yankees are extremely good at the sport of baseball. They currently own the best winning percentage (.685) in the sport and have the fewest losses of any team (17). It’s June 4th and somehow they have played six less games than the Boston Red Sox. The top of the AL East is a really weird sight to behold.
The reason behind all of this is that the weather gods have tried all they can to prevent the Yankees from playing games. They already have six games to make up throughout the season, two of which will be made up today in Detroit. Doubleheaders are awesome for fans, especially on a Monday with the day game helping us get through the work day. But they suck for the teams. Disregarding the fact that you have to ask players to play 18 innings (or more) in one day, you have to manage your bullpen to get a ton of outs. Sure these make-ups are mostly against bad teams like Baltimore, Kansas City, and Tampa. But it’s pretty fucking hard to win both ends of a double header, no matter what team you are facing.
Never in my life have I had to check multiple weather apps before a game to see if they were going to get a game in. It’s ridiculous. I went shopping on Saturday because they were in a rain delay. SHOPPING! I don’t go shopping unless I have absolutely nothing better to do. I’d rather play a game of chess than go shopping.
The other issue is the Yankees ongoing problem with planes. Yes, I said planes. The Yankees’ Delta charter plane has underwent more issues than Office Manager Brett could possibly cook up. Sunday night was the Yankees third plane mishap this season. THIRD!!
First they were stranded in a DC airport. Then it was Texas. And now Baltimore. I mean what is going on here? This is a multi-billion dollar organization and we keep having plane malfunctions with the private jet. At what point do you just move on to a different airline? As a player I don’t think I would feel comfortable getting on that charter with all the issues it’s had. The Yankees game yesterday was cancelled hours before the scheduled start time. I jokingly sent out this tweet.
Advertisement
Somehow, someway the team found a way to get stuck in Baltimore. The biggest adversity this team will have to face moving forward has nothing to do with the sport of baseball: it’s weather and it’s airplanes.
It’s truly the Yankees against the world.