Final thoughts on The Boss

After George Steinbrenner passed away yesterday (on my birthday) a lot of thoughts run through your head as a Yankee Fan. You think about all the times he was a jerk. The times he fired, hired, then fired Billy Martin again. You think about the time he ran through the club house after 2001’s World Series defeat promising changes. You think about all the times he wasn’t a nice guy. On the flip side, you think about the championships. You think about the 11 pennants. You think about the 37 years he was in charge of the greatest franchise in sports and how he revolutionized the sports business. You can’t have one George without the other.

The Boss, as my brother Mark put it to me earlier in the day was a visionary and a great American period. He is correct. He made mistakes like all great men do. He was loud, boisterous, and at time unbearable. He was also known to go into a coffee shop and get to talking to a clerk just to find out that clerk was working his or her way through college and Mr. Steinbrenner would quietly without an ESPN special, pay that persons college bills. That was the kind of man he was by all accounts. He was a generous man and a hard business man all wrapped up into one. A ying and a yang I suppose.

As a fan I will always remember his ever looming presence. If Joe Torre didn’t perform he was threatened with getting the ax. Never mind that he just won 4 out of the past 5 World Series Championships at the time. He demanded perfection. Maybe it was his ever present father standing over him demanding he always win or just his competitive spirit who knows. Everyone who has ever spoken to Mr. Steinbrenner said he hated to lose more than he loved to win.

As a fan I would say we got that feeling every day and frankly we were thankful for his attitude. He spent the money to make the team better. He turned our franchise (I stress ours because when you are a Yankee fan you feel apart of the family) into something special. I got a chance to watch a Yankee Dynasty in the mid 90’s that I will never forget. I owe that to Mr. Steinbrenner because without him I would never have had those feelings. That feeling of watching something truly great unfold in front of your eyes.

In closing, thank you Mr. Steinbrenner. Thank you for all you did for sports and my favorite team the New York Yankees.

Share With Friends on Facebook

About Michael Genovese

Mike is a sports columnist. He has written for My Hometown Sports in Utica New York as well as a regular guest on WIBX950AM before he moved to New Jersey. Mike is a co-founder of Scrambled Sports and has a Master's Degree in Sports Management and Administration/Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University.