(Note: e-mails run from bottom to top...just
like in real life).
From:
Behrman, Tony [mailto:TBehrman@kaydon.com]
To: Tim Beloat; Burk, Bill;
Subject: RE: The Boss
Reminds me of the George
Carlin bit:
Poor John is gone, yea Poor
John.
Poor Bill is dead, yea poor
Bill.
What about Ed?
Nah, Ed that "jerk" is still
alive.
From:
Tim Beloat [mailto:tbeloat@gobaker.com]
To: Burk, Bill; Uncle Tony
Subject: RE: The Boss
Truly, isn’t the goal to get to the end of your
life, and have done so in a fashion which will
result in people NOT saying, “say what you will
about the guy……………..” To do so in a fashion which
leads to compliments without qualifiers. That
shouldn’t be that hard should it.
From:
Burk, Bill [mailto:BillBurk@mail.sunyjcc.edu]
To: Tim Beloat; Behrman, Tony;
Subject: RE: The Boss
Another Sports Guy gem…Steinbrenner was one of
those, “Say what you want about the guy….” And then
give him a backhanded comment like “he knew how to
win”. Which isn’t really true.
From:
Tim Beloat [mailto:tbeloat@gobaker.com]
To: Burk, Bill; Behrman, Tony
Subject: RE: The Boss
I think it proves that people are generally good
hearted and it seems cruel to bad mouth (even if
it’s the truth) someone who has passed. I think
people intuitively understand, if the person was
bad, then they are meeting the judgement for that,
no need to pile on. Good for us.
Now, saying things you don’t mean is bad. I like
the dance-around-the-edges comments. For
Steinbrenner it would be “He certainly had a burning
desire to win. He gave it everything he had. No
question about it, the guy was driven.” No factious
or gratuitous about that. All true and nothing mean
spirited.
From:
Burk, Bill [mailto:BillBurk@mail.sunyjcc.edu]
To: 'Behrman, Tony'; Tim Beloat
Subject: RE: The Boss
I heard him say to Jeter, “Tell the people one of
those great things that Mr. Steinbrenner did that
people never heard about.” And Jeter said, “He
spent a lot of money on his baseball team. And
Winfield just nodded his head like an idiot. What a
suck-up.
Why do we have to exalt in the life of everyone who
dies even if they don’t deserve it? On a Sports Guy
podcast on ESPN.com, they asked that question about
Gary Coleman…by all accounts a wife-beating child
actor moron…but he dies and he was a tortured soul
with a good heart.
From:
Behrman, Tony [mailto:TBehrman@kaydon.com]
To: Burk, Bill; 'Tim Beloat';
Subject: RE: The Boss
The worst was Dave Winfield
sucking up to the Boss yesterday…I mean the man
hired undercover bookies to dig up dirt on Winfield
and was then suspended from baseball for two
years…and now you think he was really a good man? Gimme
a break..you hated his guts…admit it.
From:
Burk, Bill [mailto:BillBurk@mail.sunyjcc.edu]
To: Uncle Tony; Bald Timmy
Subject: RE: The Boss
Freddie and I are synched…I am doing the
point-at-my-eyes, point-at-Freddy’s-eyes,
point-back-at my-eyes thing that I usually reserve
only for Timmy.
I’m beginning to think I NEED someone to say this
stuff….something about what a blow-hard
China-shop-clod this guy was. If you think about it
Steinbrenner is mostly responsible for two
generations of Yankee fans with something to shout
about…if he doesn’t drop 3 or 4 billion dollars on
salaries, Jeter plays for the Reds and we win 5
championships in the 90’s.
From:
Behrman, Tony [mailto:TBehrman@kaydon.com]
To: Burk, Bill; 'Tim Beloat';
Subject: RE: The Boss
Fay Vincent was on espn radio
this morning. Fay actually was the guy who
suspended George for life. When asked to describe
Steinbrenner he used he word “complicated”. Might
be the best word I have heard all along. He also
said George really didn’t have that big an impact on
baseball. Said he never participated in any
committee or decision making body within the game,
and even the credit he gets for the YES network was
actually done by Ted Turner 20 years earlier. You
could tell he struggled with really wanting to say
he was a loud mouth bully who cared little about
anyone but himself.
I received an earlier email
from Freddie today with the word Hudepohl…what are
the odds two people send me two different notes
referencing an obscure Midwestern beer? Maybe Bill
and Freddie are actually the same person..hmm
From:
Burk, Bill [mailto:BillBurk@mail.sunyjcc.edu]
To: Bald Timmy; Uncle Tony
Subject: The Boss
Notice how almost every comment on the passing of
Big Stein, except for the sycophants, and people who
never really met him (George Costanza? Really,
Jason Alexander has a quote on ESPN about him??) is
pretty guarded? Nobody is ready to say, “This was a
GREAT man!” They all say, “He really spent a lot of
money on his baseball team!” I never met him
either, but I’m guessing he’s somebody you wouldn’t
want to step on you, or that you would hose if you
given the opportunity (which almost nobody
could)….so where is the value in that kind of life?
Also, does anybody else substitute the word
“Hudepohl” for “beautiful” in songs?
Um…me neither.
