Palladino: Jets, Giants, Yankees Have Embarrassed Themselves Of Late
By Ernie Palladino
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By the end of the week, the Jets, Giants, and Yankees will have supplied us with enough silliness to fill a new sequel of "Dumb and Dumber."
As if Monday's political train wreck of a debate didn't supply ample material for the stupidity-inclined, Todd Bowles, the Giants at large, and Yankees management amply filled whatever gaps blowhard Donald and untrustworthy Hillary left during their journey into the ridiculous.
Starting with a future event, the Yankees will honor retiring Boston slugger David Ortiz on Thursday before his final appearance in the Bronx.
Granted, the celebration of the few opponents we really, really love to hate has become fairly common these days. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera both had farewell tours. The Mets took a direct hand in this new, rather odd tradition when they toasted franchise-killer Chipper Jones during his last visit to Citi Field in 2012. The fans even gave him a standing ovation, just like the crowds at every ballpark who honored Jeter and Rivera for beating their hometown heroes' brains in on a regular basis.
That's the thing about these farewell deals. They don't seem natural. In fact, they seem rather dumb. These are opponents, after all. And it wasn't so long ago that players didn't fraternize with the enemy without risking part of their paycheck.
Imagine what an old-time manager like John McGraw, Casey Stengel, or Joe McCarthy would think of these ceremonies. Ortiz? "Good riddance," they'd say, especially after the five postseason homers, 17 postseason RBI, and all the regular-season horrors he inflicted. "Here's a going away present for ya (cue fastball under the chin)."
Better the Yanks should recognize probable Rookie of the Year Gary Sanchez for sparking whatever playoff hopes were left in Joe Girardi's team before the lights went out over the weekend.
The Giants offered their own brand of stupidity Sunday in a 29-27 loss to the Redskins that should have never happened. And we're not talking about Eli Manning's interception with 1:02 left that ended their final drive. The kicking net's one-punch knockout of Odell Beckham, Jr. also rates a mere honorable mention here when considering the cost of special teams rookie Andrew Adams' personal foul in the fourth quarter.
Why he felt it necessary to pop a kick coverage guy a mile and a half from Romeo Okwara's blocked punt to offset Trent Murphy's flag for an illegally batted ball at the Washington 18 belongs in a psychology journal.
If Adams keeps his mitts to himself, the Giants might have scored a touchdown instead of the field goal they got after the ensuing re-kick. That would have given them enough for a winning cushion and a 3-0 start.
Add the ignominy of center Weston Richburg becoming the first player in the league to get ejected under the new rule regarding unsportsmanlike conduct, and the level of dumb grows another notch.
And now comes Bowles, whose decision to allow Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw six, count'em, six interceptions against the Chiefs was nothing short of mind-boggling.
Or was it? In doing so, Bowles either kept Fitzpatrick in the game for fear of losing his quarterback mentally for the season or because his distrust for Geno Smith runs so deep that nothing short of an injury will get the backup on the field.
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If it's the first reason, Bowles should have definitely pulled Fitzpatrick. He's a big boy, a smart guy. Fitz has been around long enough to know that his world wouldn't end with a benching during a horrendous outing.
If it's the second reason, then Bowles basically admitted to the world that he doesn't have a viable backup on the roster. If that's the case, shame on general manager Mike Maccagnan for not trading Smith somewhere, anywhere, getting what they could for him, and signing a veteran backup Bowles could actually stomach.
Either way, dumb move keeping Fitzpatrick in the game.
Stupid all around.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
