Valentine Takes His Lunacy One Step Further On 9/11 Comments

All this clown needs a pair of big shoes and a red nose.

Bobby Valentine shoved his foot in his mouth on Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of 9/11. It was comments that never should have been made, let alone on one of the most horrible days in our country's history. Then he escalated things after Yankees vice-president Randy Levine responded with a much more thought out statement.

Valentine's exact comments to Evan Roberts and Joe Benigno on WFAN radio Wednesday:

"Let it be said that during the time from 9/11 to 9/21, the Yankees were (not around). You couldn’t find a Yankee on the streets of New York City. You couldn’t find a Yankee down at Ground Zero, talking to the guys who were working 24/7.”

 "Many of them didn’t live here, and so it wasn’t their fault. And many of them did not partake in all that, so there was some of that jealousy going around. Like, ‘Why are we so tired? Why are we wasted? Why have we been to the funerals and the firehouses, and the Yankees are getting all the credit for bringing baseball back?’ And I said ‘This isn’t about credit, guys. This is about doing the right thing.’”¹

Valentine has been controversial in the past and loves to draw attention to himself, but this time he stepped beyond the bounds of good taste. I'm not a fan of Levine, but he deftly handled Valentine's comments, which of course Valentine could not leave alone.

Levine's statement to Newsday:

It’s very sad that Bobby Valentine would pick this day. This is a day for reflection and prayer. The Yankees have always remembered the heroes of 9/11 and continue to do so. What Bobby Valentine should understand is that nobody wants to hear about his opinion as to who does what better. He should be silent and remember.”

“This is not the day to point fingers at anybody. This is a day to reflect. Moreover, since he only thinks about himself, he must have forgotten when the Yankees visited Ground Zero, St. Vincent’s Hospital, the Armory, the Javits Center, where rescue crews were working.”²

Valentine responded to Newsday in an email:

"Sorry, I must have missed that. If it was between the 11th and the 20th (of September) it was my mistake. I might have missed it. I will follow Randy’s lead and be silent.”

Did anyone think Valentine would be silent?  The mouth that roared then went on NBC Sports Radio and stuck his other foot in his mouth.

“I don’t know if I was trying to take credit for the team. I was trying to make a fact, that 12 years of hearing what was done and (hearing) it reported incorrectly, I just thought I’d speak for the record that, that week, there weren’t any Yankees out there. And if there were, Mr. Levine can just come up with a photograph of somebody at a firehouse or a funeral or at someone’s house.

“All I remember is people asking for the Yankees and me making excuses for them not being there.” ³

The New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand, then with mlb.com wrote this after talking to Joe Torre on the 5th anniversary of 9/11:

"After the workout, Joe Torre, Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and other members of the Yankees visited the rescue staging area at the Javits Center, the Armory and St. Vincent's Hospital, though they were unsure of the roles they were supposed to play. Most of the people they were set to encounter had either lost loved ones or were holding out hope that their family members would emerge from the disaster from five days earlier."

"At the Armory, I felt very uncomfortable, like we needed someone to go in and test the waters to see if we had any right being there," Torre said. "One family looked up at us, and with their eyes, asked us to come closer. I remember Bernie going up to someone and saying, 'I don't know what to say, but you look like you need a hug.' That was probably the most emotional part of the whole thing."

"My role in the world seemed very insignificant; I hit a ball for a living," Williams said. "There are people out there who have great jobs that impact people in a way I could never imagine, and it took this incident to realize what kind of impact I actually did have, just by playing for the Yankees."

Jeter remembers feeling uncomfortable during the trip downtown, but he knew that, despite his own feelings, it was a trip he had to take.

"What do you say to someone who just lost a family member?" Jeter said. "It made you feel good, though, because there were people who were happy to see us. It put a smile on some faces, so I was glad we were able to go." ⁴

Perhaps now that Valentine has both feet in his mouth he'll shut up. Yeah, you are right, not a chance in hell of that happening.


1 - New York CBS Local
2 - Newsday.com
3 - New York CBS Local
4 - MLB.com

A Decade Later

It's hard to imagine that a decade has past. 10 years? How is that possible? 2001 was a tumultuous year in my life, in both good and bad ways. My Mom passed away; I got married; other friends and parents lost parents that year too. It was a very emotional time. And then September 11th came along.

My wife and I, and our Beagle Virginia had just come back from vacation in Cape Cod on Saturday the 8th. I was working from home that year, a great fringe benefit the company I worked for provided for those of us with long commutes to work. So I was home on that fateful Tuesday, sitting at my computer working when I received an email from a friend. A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I repeated what I read to my wife and we put the television on, not having any idea of the scope of what was to take place.

Moments before we put the TV on, the second plane crashed in the north tower. Two planes, two towers, two "no-accidents". It was instantly chilling and terrifying as we watched things unfold. It was clear that something earth shattering was taking place and our world would never be the same. We were sat that there transfixed, not fully grasping what was going on, especially since no one at the news stations knew either. Then the horrible news came that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon. My wife had held it together until that point, but that was the final straw. We held each other tight in our joint terror. When United 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field all we could think of was, "Where next?"

I don't have to play out the rest of the day for you, you all remember what it was like. At one point, after hours of being glued to the TV, we took the dog for a walk. It was a beautiful day out; a cloudless,sunny day with comfortable temperatures. To this day, when the weather is the same as it was that day, I think about 9/11. I try not to, but I can't help it.

This year things will be a little odd on 9/11. We'll be returning home from another trip and will pass the Pentagon. It will be eerie. I'm sure plenty of people will be glued to the TV on the 10th anniversary, watching retrospectives and remembering back, but I don't plan to watch any of it. I remember it. The terror, the tears, the fear, and the death. The devastation on the faces of the people that lost loved ones. The grime covered civilians trying to get out of the area. The rescue workers bravely risking their own lives in attempt to save lives.

There are some that want 9/11 to be a national holiday with all business and government agencies closed, but I disagree. To me it's giant middle finger to terrorists to go about our daily lives on each 9/11. We should take time out toreflect back on what happened that day, and then go about our usual business as if it were any other day.

You hurt us deeply, but you will not stop us.

Steinbrenner Field Honors 9/11 Victims

The Yankees unveiled a new tribute to the victims of 9/11 prior to yesterday's spring training game with the Pirates. The foundation of the memorial is shaped like the Pentagon, while the Twin Towers rise above it. A piece of steel from the towers sits on the base as well. The surrounding grass represents the victims of Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.

The memorial was presented by the Gene O'Kane Division of retired NYC firefighters. Member Joe Holland, whose son, and fellow firefighter, Joseph was killed in the towers, threw out the first pitch to Tino Martinez. He was accompanied to the mound by his son Bryan, Derek Jeter and Joe Girardi.

The Plaques

The Plaques