I never liked Hank Steinbrenner.  He strikes me as that privileged kid turned loud obnoxious man who is used to getting everything his way.  Say what you will about George, he EARNED the right to say whatever he wanted and usually he had a valid point.  When George spoke, people listened and regardless of what they thought of him as a person, they at least respected him.  Hank hasn't done anything to earn the vast respect and fear that George's mere presence demanded, yet he talks like his opinion matters.  Curt Schilling acts the same way and I think we can all agree he is a douchebag of the highest order.

Now look at the idiot son.  He's said some pretty asinine things this year.  I thought this comments about Red Sox Nation were naive and stupid.  He actually thought that that term meant the nation of the U.S., when it means New England.  I just shrugged and ignored it, but now he's said something even dumber:

“My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century,” Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. “They need to grow up and join the 21st century.

“Am I (mad) about it? Yes,” Steinbrenner added. “I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”

He's blaming the rules of the National League for Wang's injury?!  I'm as upset as any other Yankee fan about the injury, but come on!  This is a freak injury.  Things like this just happen.  Remember when Sammy Sosa went on the DL because he threw his back out sneezing?  Sometimes, freak injuries just happen.  They all suck, but we have to deal with it.  And someone has to say it, so it might as well be me.  Getting injured from running?  Not the greatest statement of the Yankees strength and conditioning regiment.  Yeah, Wang is a pitcher and is not accustomed to running bases, but I thought Joe Girardi was supposed to be a drill sergeant type of manager.  Didn't he remove all candy from the clubhouse for health reasons?  I would think someone who does that would make his players at least run some wind sprints every practice.  Bottom line is that this injury is tragic and never should have happened, but blaming the rule and telling another baseball league that the way they do things is wrong?  Not the smartest move Hank.  He sounds like an immature child playing the blame game.  His brain can't seem to comprehend that bad things can happen to him, so he needs to vent against something.  At least that's the way he comes off to me.  And Hank should know that the DH has only been around since 1972, and National League baseball has been played since the turn of LAST century.  Respect that.  I like how both leagues differ on this rule.  It creates another disparity that helps differentiate the leagues.  I personally grew up with the DH and being a Yankee fan, I've never seen it as strange, but I can certainly understand why National League fans and purists object to it.

Now if he wanted to gripe about how interleague play is an abomination, then I'd be with him 100%.  If you're going to blame someone or something for the injury, blame interleague play.  I think enough time has gone by to show what I've known since 1997: that interleague play is a freak show that has destroyed the integrity of the major leagues.  It only matters to TWO fan bases: the Mets and the White Sox.  But that's another topic for another time.