Dude of the Week

Sure, we’re a little biased here at NC, we love the New York Yankees. And part of the reason I’ve been slacking so much on posts is because I’ve been reluctant to continue hammering my completely New York objective sports opinions on all you poor readers. Really, why should you care about my thoughts on the Giants offensive line, Brett Gardner or my gambling picks? But in light of last night’s Yankee win, I have to give the DOTW nod to a man who has never quite gotten his due. That man is Andy Pettitte.

Yankee fans know what a stud this dude is, but we even take him for granted some times. Last night was Pettitte’s Major League record 41st playoff start and 19th win, and the dude was dominant last night. He’s 38 years old. That’s not just baseball old, that’s old-old. But he’s the best playoff pitcher of all-time. If you had to win one playoff game tomorrow, and you could pick any pitcher from the last 10 years in their prime to start it, how could you not pick Andy Pettitte? All the jibber-jabber was about how he missed 2 months with a groin injury and looked rusty in his September starts. How would Andy handle it? After 40 playoff starts, I think he know’s how to handle it. (Keep in mind that game 6 of the 2001 World Series never happened in my mind. If you ask me there was a strike that season. That’s not biased at all right?) Our man C.C. Sabathia, who’s pretty fucking good himself, said it best.

"I don't see what you guys are saying about uncertainty," Sabathia said with some out-of-character gusto when asked about the Yankees' rotation. "Andy Pettitte is the best pitcher in the playoffs in the history of baseball."

I know cynics will say Pettitte admitted to using performance enhancing drugs, but let’s face facts. Andy is the only athlete in the world who gets a free pass for that. As much as everyone wants to hate the Yankees and their “Evil Empire,” Andy seems to escape clean. It’s totally bizarre. Every other baseball player who was caught taking steroids has been crucified. But most people don’t even remember Andy admitted to it. But that’s just it; he admitted to it right away. And America loves people who come clean, pay their due and emerge a changed man. Friend of the Circle, Juan, has a interesting theory on the sympathy of American sports fans, and cites the most infamous event in its history as his theory. Juan thinks if O.J. had just come out and said “Hey, look; I murdered my wife. I was pissed, she was fooling around with some dude, I lost control for a sec,” he’d be out of jail by now, raking in $2 million a year in self-help book sales and appearances on celeb-reality shows. Guys all over the planet would be saying, “I mean, I don’t condone murder, but if my ex-wife was taking my money and fucking some guy I’d want to kill her. I wouldn’t do it but I sort-of understand the impulse.” Yeah, it’s fucked up, but it’s also America. As long as you come clean, show remorse and pitch a few kitchen products, you’re good to go.

And Andy is constantly overshadowed by his contemporaries, who happen to be some of the best of all-time. Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddox, Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens, those guys all have more name recognition than Andy Pettitte. But none of them have 5-Rings. And if I asked you who has more career wins, Pedro or Pettite, you’d think Pedro right? Wrong. Andy leads him 240-219, and they way things are going I don’t think Pedro is catching him. Whitey Ford is probably the quintessential Yankee pitcher, a Hall of Famer. He has 236 wins. Aside from sporting a 12-inch softee, Pettitte is a Hall of Famer, I don’t fucking care what you think.

"I have never felt so unprepared going into the playoffs," Pettitte said. "But it was just so similar."

Yup.

So here’s to you Andy Pettitte, Dude of the Week. I’ll be at the game Saturday, crushing $10 beers and waving a broom like a retarded janitor.

Video Game News

As I’ve said before, I’m not much of a video game guy. I’ve got two systems in my apartment; PS2 for Rock Band and a Super Nintendo. They’re both covered in dust. I’ll play the occasional classics, some Madden here and there, or get stoned and Rock Band it out, but really I’ve got better things to do. But this news is pretty cool. Michael Jordan appearing in a US video game for the first time ever in NBA 2k11. Kind of nuts when you think about it too; that he was never in any of those games. Why now? “It gave me an opportunity to be exposed to a generation that I'm probably more recognizable in terms of the 'Space Jam' as opposed to me playing." I see where you’re coming from Mike, but most people try to forget you ever made that movie. You know it’s bad when it’s higher up on the “mistakes” list than retiring in your prime to play baseball. I don’t think you have to worry about your acting “career” overshadowing your basketball accomplishments. You were out-acted by Larry Bird in that movie. And that was only his second best performance, behind Blue Chips of course.

Pretty cool idea about matching his best performances, but there’s one problem. Do you know anyone who really loves NBA video games? I mean, NBA Jam was awesome, but does anyone ever call their buddy and say, “Yo dude, wanna come over, drink some beers and play some NBA Live before we head out?” No. The 20-something-dudes-drinking-while-playing-video-games market is dominated by Madden and now NHL. NHL’s success in this department is nuts. You don’t need to like hockey or even know the rule, teams or players to enjoy that game. I know black dudes who love it. But this Jordan addition could change things though. We’ll see.

Enjoy the weekend. Go Yankees.