|
|
Mariners vs. Yankees |
Mets vs. Cardinals
|
|
Wednesday, October 18
Giuliani joins clubhouse celebration
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- He wasn't part of the team, though technically his decisions have had plenty of an effect in and around Yankee Stadium. He wasn't a baseball player, his appearance resembling more of a foot doctor than an athlete.
Yet there was New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, in the middle of the Yankees postgame locker room celebration Tuesday. As television crews and reporters huddled around the mayor, pinning him against a support beam, utility infielder Jose Vizcaino snuck up from behind.
|  | | Mariano Rivera (right) and Orlando Hernandez celebrate after combining to finish off Seattle in Game 6. |
Vizcaino, armed with a full bottle of Moet champagne, officially welcomed the mayor into the melee, soaking Giuliani's Yankee jacket, Yankee hat and Yankee T-shirt with the sticky substance.
"This is the best," he said. "I love it."
As a politician, it's Giuliani's job to be as muddled and confusing as possible, not choosing sides and appealing to the majority. But don't expect that this weekend when the Yankees and Mets meet in the World Series.
Giuliani, who has supported both teams throughout their championship chases this season, has drawn the line. He'll be wearing pinstripes.
"Now that both teams are in it, I can officially cheer for the Yankees," Giuliani said as the champagne dripped off his chin. "I respect what the Mets did; they're a great team, but now it's time for the Yankees."
While Giuliani was at it, trading his politician's coat for a Yankees bomber, he even went on to make a prediction: Yankees in six.
Why not a sweep?
"The Mets are tough," he said. "I'd like the Yankees to take it in four. Take it in five. But I think it will be six. And if there is a seventh game, what an atmosphere it will be in New York. Just unreal."
Ahh -- the atmosphere. That's what most of the postgame questions centered around. Sure there was an occasionally inquiry about David Justice's home run, El Duque's eighth postseason victory without a loss and the resiliency of the 2000 Yankees, but every other question centered around the Mets and whether or not the world is going to end with a Subway Series.
"I don't think we'll even realize the magnitude until months from now," Chuck Knoblauch said.
Knoblauch, one of the few Yankees known to actually ride the subway, explained to reporters he'll be nowhere near the underground tracks in the next couple weeks.
"No way, absolutely not," Knoblauch said. "For no reason am I getting on there. So don't look for me."
Knoblauch, just a few feet away from Giuliani in the postgame mosh, caught the mist from Vizcaino's spray. But it didn't matter much, as Knoblauch was drenched already, from the button on the top of his cap to the tip of his cleats. Throughout the interviews, champagne was flying everywhere.
"I guess no shower for me tonight," he said.
When asked if this celebration was any sweeter, any more exciting, because of the difficult path the Yankees took to reach this point, Knoblauch had the most candid answer of the night.
"No, not because of the road we took," he said, "but because of the crazy-ass players we've added to this team. There are some partiers in this bunch."
In between swigs and aerial showers of champagne, Knoblauch took a second of his television interview to plead to New York residents for sanity when the Mets and Yankees hook up. After all, he said, it's just a baseball game.
"People, please be careful," he said. "Have a good time, cheer for your team, go nuts, but be smart about it. Don't do anything stupid."
Actor and die-hard Yankees fan Billy Crystal popped in on the celebration, as did drenched general manager Brian Cashman and owner George Steinbrenner. The Boss didn't show up until well after the heavy celebrating had died down.
A few Yankees, including Jose Canseco, Dwight Gooden and Glenallen Hill stayed behind the scenes, electing for a postgame meal instead of the champagne party.
Derek Jeter was one who avoided a drenching for most of the night, until coach Willie Randolph snuck out from behind a television curtain, nailing Jeter all over the face and neck with the spray.
"I gotcha, kid ? I gotcha," he said.
Jeter, at 26, will be playing in his fourth World Series. Something tells him, though, that it's going to be unlike the previous three.
"It's going to be crazy," he said. "You're going to have families battling against one another, co-workers, cab drivers, sons and fathers. Just crazy."
When things finally died down on Tuesday, a dried-off Giuliani returned and was left to answer the question of what all this hype means for the city. While Knoblauch rubbed his fingers together in the background, hinting at the money the city is set to make, Giuliani unleashed a flash of boosterism at its best.
"It helps us regain our status as the sports capital of the world," he proclaimed. "Not only are we the baseball capitol, but the sports capitol as well."
Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com.
|
|
 | 
|
