Battle of the Media, not the bats
The New York Post had a cropped picture of Shane Victorino, the Philadelphia Phillies center fielder, in a cheerleader’s mini shirt. Now does this have anything to do with the World Series? The media surrounding this particular series of games has been unpredictable and has been taken way too far.
Last week the front page of the New York Post read, “Gotham Trembles: The Frillies are coming to town!” Along with this demeaning headline, the Post had a cropped picture of Shane Victorino, the Philadelphia Phillies center fielder, in a cheerleader’s mini shirt. Now does this have anything to do with the World Series? The media surrounding this particular series of games has been unpredictable and has been taken way too far.
The New York Post has been the center of all this Phillies bashing on the front page along with articles inside the paper. The Post has somehow created a sex angle against the Phillies along with calling the city of Philadelphia second-rate in comparison to New York City. Yes, baseball has to do with these particular cities, but not which one is better. The media buzz surrounding the 2009 World Series is directly targeting the fans and players, mostly the Phillies by the New York Post. This bashing is not a positive influence on the sports of baseball in any way.
Joel Sherman, who has been covering the Yankees baseball association since 1989 and is the author of “Birth of a Dynasty, Behind the Pinstripes with the 1996 Yankees” said on CNN, “The idea is to get the casual fan involved. If you flip open the paper and read the words, it’s like one baseball team versus another, just like it’s always been.” Inside the Post the articles are bashing of the city of Philadelphia, its fans, and the baseball players themselves. There are no straight forwards articles inside the New York Post which states the hard facts about the upcoming games, only articles about A-Rod’s girlfriend, how great their cuisine is in New York, and so on.
The gossip surrounding this series is completely irrelevant to the players. Of course they are going to read about themselves in the paper, which might distract them from playing like they are able to in the games. Yes, the New York Post is not meant to give cold hard facts like the New York Times, for example, but it should still not have a biased opinion for the entire country to see.
In the Philadelphia Daily Item, writers have not included any articles or demeaning headlines to try and say the Yankees are any lesser of a team in comparison to the Phillies. Dean Grenfell, an avid Philadelphia Phillies fan of Bloomsburg University said, “All this mumbo jumbo is completely pointless. The sport of baseball just needs to be played with no questions or comments about it.”
Will Bunch, a senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News, said on CNN, “Now since the Phillies won last year’s World Series, Philadelphia is a more confident city. And now it’s like New York is mocking us.” The New York Post has no reason to bash the Philadelphia Phillies team other than out of want to influence the Philadelphia players and fans.
Fans of baseball wonder why this World Series is so much more monumental than the past series. The media has built up these potential seven games to be the biggest games in a couple decades. Along with the buildup, the media has brought the nasty side of journalism into the series and is attempting to influence the opposing team continuously. Baseball is known as the all-American past time sport and that should not be challenged or potentially ruined by a few articles written by bias sports writers of the New York Post.
