Ed Rotondaro
04-15-2008, 04:47 PM
This was in today's Times Union. (My hometown paper)
Yankees could use some papal inspiration
By Mike Lopresti, Gannett News Service
So the pope is playing Yankee Stadium next weekend.
If he thinks the Sistine Chapel is awe-inspiring, wait until he gets a load of the price of a hot dog. I just hope he doesn't need to find a place to park.
An interesting idea, holding a Mass in the stadium. Timely, too.
Just next door at the new ballpark, construction workers, jackhammers in hand, foiled a plot Sunday to bury David Ortiz's jersey in cement as an eternal curse on the home team. The evil-doers and conspirators from Fenway Park are everywhere.
So if malevolence by representatives of the Boston dark side must be reversed, why not bring in the A-Team?
Presumably, New Yorkers will be polite and won't call Benedict XVI the same names they call every other visitor appearing in uniform in Yankee Stadium.
The official schedule says he is to offer a homily. He's in the right ballpark. The man upstairs has delivered plenty of homilies over the years in Yankee Stadium. The man upstairs in the owner's box, anyway.
No worry about offending the occasionally cranky guys in charge now. What could Hank Steinbrenner do to a pope, complain to his boss?
Some orientation for the Holy Father is probably in order, if he's going to be hanging around the Bronx.
When he hears about The House That Ruth Built, he should understand that's not the Ruth from the Old Testament.
If anyone mentions a Cardinal, it is probably about Albert Pujols.
In case he's wondering about any local saints, someone needs to tell him St. Joe doesn't work there anymore.
And if he wants an example of a consecrated New York document, they could show him a copy of Alex Rodriguez's contract.
By the way, Benedict is also conducting Mass at the new Nationals Park in Washington. So he is the first interleague pope in history.
One wonders the differences that you see on a papal visit to a famous ballpark, from an ordinary game with the Blue Jays.
For instance, does Mass have ticket scalpers outside? Some guy standing on the corner and a sign that says, "Need two?"
Do the luxury boxes get filled with high-roller Catholics?
Are the souvenir stands open?
Will the pope be like so many other first-time visitors to Yankee Stadium and leave with a Derek Jeter jersey?
Does some of the congregation sneak out early to beat the traffic?
And lastly, when Benedict is finished, surely they're not going to subject him to 29 repeats of Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York" like they do at Yankee games?
The pope is on such a tight schedule in New York, since he probably can afford to spend only two days in the city, just like most other tourists. But since his itinerary has something of a sports motif, there are other quick visits he might want to consider.
He could stop by Madison Square Garden and offer absolution to the Knicks.
Benedict XVI could drop in on the NFL offices in Manhattan and remind the commissioner that Roman numerals were not the Super Bowl's original idea.
He could have an audience with old Yankee Roger Clemens, and become the latest official in a high place to be solemnly told that Roger really wasn't at Jose Canseco's pool party.
Since the Mets are out of town, he could also hold a service at Shea Stadium. That way, New York could have the Subway Mass.
But undoubtedly a highlight will be his Sunday afternoon in Yankee Stadium, although I doubt he signs many more autographs than Barry Bonds did when he visited.
It would be fascinating to get the pontiff's views when he is finished. What he thinks about Monument Park, or the short right field. The guess is he'll gather his flock and ask the same question so many others do. "How has a team with this payroll not won a World Series since 2000?"
As a long suffering NY Yankee fan and Catholic I approve these sentiments.:D
Yankees could use some papal inspiration
By Mike Lopresti, Gannett News Service
So the pope is playing Yankee Stadium next weekend.
If he thinks the Sistine Chapel is awe-inspiring, wait until he gets a load of the price of a hot dog. I just hope he doesn't need to find a place to park.
An interesting idea, holding a Mass in the stadium. Timely, too.
Just next door at the new ballpark, construction workers, jackhammers in hand, foiled a plot Sunday to bury David Ortiz's jersey in cement as an eternal curse on the home team. The evil-doers and conspirators from Fenway Park are everywhere.
So if malevolence by representatives of the Boston dark side must be reversed, why not bring in the A-Team?
Presumably, New Yorkers will be polite and won't call Benedict XVI the same names they call every other visitor appearing in uniform in Yankee Stadium.
The official schedule says he is to offer a homily. He's in the right ballpark. The man upstairs has delivered plenty of homilies over the years in Yankee Stadium. The man upstairs in the owner's box, anyway.
No worry about offending the occasionally cranky guys in charge now. What could Hank Steinbrenner do to a pope, complain to his boss?
Some orientation for the Holy Father is probably in order, if he's going to be hanging around the Bronx.
When he hears about The House That Ruth Built, he should understand that's not the Ruth from the Old Testament.
If anyone mentions a Cardinal, it is probably about Albert Pujols.
In case he's wondering about any local saints, someone needs to tell him St. Joe doesn't work there anymore.
And if he wants an example of a consecrated New York document, they could show him a copy of Alex Rodriguez's contract.
By the way, Benedict is also conducting Mass at the new Nationals Park in Washington. So he is the first interleague pope in history.
One wonders the differences that you see on a papal visit to a famous ballpark, from an ordinary game with the Blue Jays.
For instance, does Mass have ticket scalpers outside? Some guy standing on the corner and a sign that says, "Need two?"
Do the luxury boxes get filled with high-roller Catholics?
Are the souvenir stands open?
Will the pope be like so many other first-time visitors to Yankee Stadium and leave with a Derek Jeter jersey?
Does some of the congregation sneak out early to beat the traffic?
And lastly, when Benedict is finished, surely they're not going to subject him to 29 repeats of Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York" like they do at Yankee games?
The pope is on such a tight schedule in New York, since he probably can afford to spend only two days in the city, just like most other tourists. But since his itinerary has something of a sports motif, there are other quick visits he might want to consider.
He could stop by Madison Square Garden and offer absolution to the Knicks.
Benedict XVI could drop in on the NFL offices in Manhattan and remind the commissioner that Roman numerals were not the Super Bowl's original idea.
He could have an audience with old Yankee Roger Clemens, and become the latest official in a high place to be solemnly told that Roger really wasn't at Jose Canseco's pool party.
Since the Mets are out of town, he could also hold a service at Shea Stadium. That way, New York could have the Subway Mass.
But undoubtedly a highlight will be his Sunday afternoon in Yankee Stadium, although I doubt he signs many more autographs than Barry Bonds did when he visited.
It would be fascinating to get the pontiff's views when he is finished. What he thinks about Monument Park, or the short right field. The guess is he'll gather his flock and ask the same question so many others do. "How has a team with this payroll not won a World Series since 2000?"
As a long suffering NY Yankee fan and Catholic I approve these sentiments.:D