Ah... the irony!

Just last week I put up the video of Yankee fans throwing things into the bullpen during the playoffs. On the heels of that comes this little gem:

Perhaps the Rangers’ greatest sales pitch simply was having Kristen sit in the visiting family section at Yankee Stadium during the playoffs. She says there were ugly taunts. Obscenities. Cups of beer thrown. Even fans spitting from the section above.

“The fans did not do good things in my heart,” Kristen says.

“When people are staring at you, and saying horrible things, it’s hard not to take it personal.”

Who knows if the fans’ behavior will have any affect on Lee’s decision. Nothing ever unravels him, Kristen says, unless something interferes with him during deer hunting season, which starts Nov. 13 in Arkansas. Free agency can wait a little longer.

Yes, Yankee fans just can’t learn what it means to comport themselves with the pride the franchise is supposed to embody. If the Bronx Zoo were written today, it would most likely be about what goes on in the stands than what goes on in the clubhouse because all too often Yankee fans at the Stadium behave like animals.

I went to the Stadium for many years as a fan and truthfully I know what I saw and heard made it a lot easier for me to switch allegiances. Taking in a ballgame across town at Shea was always a better time and more friendly than it ever was a Yankee Stadium.

And the thing about all of this that is really odd is the fact that the Yankees have this pedigree of winning so one would think the fans could at least be somewhat gracious in their success. Instead there is just too much alcohol flowing and far too much rowdiness that is never addressed. I can’t think the organization isn’t aware of it and on some level doesn’t encourage the rabid devotion of the fans (probably because it factors into increased revenue).

And fans themselves know it because I’ve spoken to friends who are fans and they readily acknowledge they aren’t inclined to take their wives or children to a game at the Stadium because of the atmosphere and have noticed themselves how different the experience of taking in a ballgame can be even in the same city.

Yankee fans though are used to the franchise buying the biggest name on the market each off-season, even if it isn’t what will produce a World Champion - Jason Giambi anyone, anyone? Mike Mussina, anyone, anyone? AJ Burnett? Nick Johnson? History is just scattered with names of players who the Yankee paid top dollar for and ultimately didn’t fit in with the overall plan.

In Cliff Lee though, there is something of a proven commodity and while I am sure Lee and his agent want the Yankee in on the bidding (if only to drive up his price), anyone who thinks his wife’s experience won’t factor in somehow in the decision of where to continue his career is really living in a state of denial.