North of the border, up Canada way

This is a good year to be a Yankee fan. Removed from the mundane concerns over winning and losing, we can stand back and objectify our experiences--say what we mean. And even though it hurts to admit that all those drunken fans in Fenway have been right lo these many years, the Yankees do, indeed, suck.

For now.

But teams that suck yet lose with dignity have something to recommend them--a sportsmanlike quality that earns them, if not more wins, at least less disdain. But then there's A-Rod. The other night in Toronto, as he raced behind the third-baseman ready to catch a popup, he yelled something. The third baseman, one John Macdonald, distracted into thinking that someone else was going to catch the ball (and in order to avoid a collision) backed off. Nobody else caught the ball, a run scored, and when Jason Giambi singled to center, two more runs scored.

OK, I understand: baseball is loaded with trick plays. The hidden-ball maneuver is designed to catch an unwary baserunner napping, and a pitchout is designed to...well... to catch an unwary baserunner napping. But the A-Rod move transcends that, not because it was A-Rod who did it, but because the tactic put other players in jeopardy, risked an injury to young men who are, despite the difference in their uniform color, colleagues of A-Rod.

Look I'll live with the Yankees' swoon and suck it up the way Red Sox fans did for the entire twentieth century. But I won't defend embarrassing behavior by high-priced prima donnas who damn well ought to have a little respect for the game itself, if nothing else.