Around the Yankee Universe: Let's talk football

by Ed Valentine on Jul 23, 2009 10:28 AM EDT in New York Yankees News

Our New York Yankees are two games up in the American League East. They have won six straight. So, let's begin today's look Around the Yankee Universe by talking about ... football.

The Yankees have now added annual college football games at the Stadium thru 2014. There is even talk of adding a bowl game, which has been dubbed 'The Boss Bowl.'

That's nice. It's all well and good and will probably add money to the already overflowing Yankee coffers. But, there is a little problem. Check the diagram from Lohud. Umm, fellas ... the football field doesn't fit. The end zones reach into the dugouts and the bullpens. Do we see a little bit of a problem here?

I have to agree with Pete Abe on this one. Wouldn't you think that if the team was considering bringing football games to the Stadium they would have designed the place so that the field would fit?

Now, the Yankees will be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Amazing to me that just a year after the place was built there are going to need to be changes to the configuration to suit football games. Great planning, gang!

Now, let's look at some other stories making news around the Yankee Universe.

This one is not a Yankee story, but it does concern the Bronx Bombers. Seems the media in Boston is calling for a mid-season overhaul of the Red Sox roster -- including a deal for Roy Halladay.

Epstein has to have his hands in the Roy Halladay hunt. No longer can anyone say pitching is not a need for the Red Sox. The once-deep rotation is now minus 11-game winner Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka, with two No. 5 starters in John Smoltz and Brad Penny who aren’t cutting it, and a youngster in Clay Buchholz who to some degree is still on training wheels.

The season is a loooong way from over. For now, though, it's nice to see a little panic coming from the Beantown boys.

Don Mattingly's son, Taylor, a former Yankee draft pick, has been arrested and charged with attacking his mother.
A construction worker injured while working on the new Yankee Stadium is suing the team.
Brian Bruney tried to laugh off Wednesday afternoon's atrocious outing, in which he surrendered a pair of ninth-inning home runs.

"I just wanted to get Mo another save," Bruney said, tongue firmly in cheek. "That's what a setup guy does. That's a pretty good job, I thought."

Hey, Brian, it's not funny. You have a 12.27 ERA in July, and you are rapidly punching yourself a ticket out of town.

Ian Kennedy is on the mend and the Yankees are apparently hoping he will pitch winter ball.
There is a lot of discussion about whether or not the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Jesus Montero will ever be able to catch at the big-league level. The Star-Ledger says that if Baltimore's 6-5, 230-pound Matt Wieters can do it, so can Montero. Personally, I don't care about this whole size thing. I just want to know if he can block pitches and throw adequately.

NOTE: I answered some questions from our A's blog, Athletics Nation (OK, a whole slew of questions). Check out the post. I will have their answers to my questions later on.

Current Series

4 game series vs Athletics @ Yankee Stadium

Oakland Athletics Athletics Nation @ New York Yankees Pinstripe Alley Thursday, Jul 23, 2009, 7:05 PM EDT Yankee Stadium Vin Mazzaro vs CC Sabathia Mostly cloudy,rain. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 75. Yanks tee off then shut down, let up then sweep out in 6-4 Win posted by CrazyYankeeChick about 17 hours ago 18 comments \| 0 recs Don't Slow Down Now! posted by jobaroxthesox62 about 21 hours ago 4 comments \| 0 recs Complete Coverage >
Fri 07/24		7:05 PM EDT
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Comments

ha. Boston's fan base

They have a young pitcher who’s having some growing pains and they’re freaking out? What a bunch of losers.

Also, I want desperately to believe that it’s the diagram that’s messed up, and that they can find a way to fit a football field in the stadium. Otherwise, they’d be pretty stupid. Though I will say, I once met someone who played high school football upstate. He played a couple of games at the ballfield at Cooperstown, and he said that they couldn’t fit a full football field in the ballpark, so one of the end zones was just 5 yards long. (I always wondered why they didn’t just make each end zone 7.5 yards to make it fair.) Maybe the Yankees will do that.

by long time listener on Jul 23, 2009 10:41 AM EDT reply actions

Is it me?

…or if you just turn the field a bit counter-clockwise, it fits?

In any case, if the Yanks’ brass isn’t concerned about I don’t why we as fans should care…

All I care about, being a ND football fan from birth, is seeing my beloved Irish in my beloved Yankees’ own Stadium. My grandfather was at the famous 0-0 Army-ND game at the old Stadium back in 1946, I can hardly wait to carry on the tradition.

by NumberSeven on Jul 23, 2009 10:53 AM EDT reply actions

It does seem like it would fit better if it went straight from left field to the first-base line. I hope they figure it out before kick off.

by long time listener on Jul 23, 2009 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions

Well

maybe this gives them an excuse to move back the OF Walls?

Oh yea, you know what’s better than 1 game up in first?? 2 Games up.

And that little 4 games sweep of the Pissants by the Rangers is very a nice too!

Montero may not be Mauer (who’s 6"6 BTW), but Wieters is a good comparison. I’ve never heard anything said about Wieters not being the greatest thing since sliced bread, but actually he’s not the greatest behind the plate.

by FreeBradshaw on Jul 23, 2009 11:02 AM EDT reply actions

That diagram can't be right, can it?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but from home plate to straight-away center is 408 feet at the stadium. A football field, including end zones is 120 yards, or 360 feet long. and yet the diagram shows only the warning track visible in center field. I believe the warning track is generally only 15 feet deep, so where’s the other 33 feet of grass that should be visible? That’s over 10 yards (at least in straight-away center), more than the depth of one end zone.

I think there’s something wrong with the scale on that diagram.

by TF-FAST on Jul 23, 2009 11:25 AM EDT reply actions

It's weird

But remember, look at how the stadium narrows as you flare out away from home plate and dead center. I have no idea how they are going to do this without knocking out a row of those luxury seats and moving the wall back. But, we shall see.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 23, 2009 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions

you may be right, but...

what has me confused is that, if the scale of the football field in the diagram is correct with respect to the stadium, then AT LEAST in dead center you should see 10 yards of grass, even if its only a strip a foot wide.

I’m not saying they won’t have to make any modifications, (i.e. the corners may not be wide enough) I’m just saying I don’t think that diagram is an accurate depiction – the football field is just too long, given the stadium dimensions in centerfield.

by TF-FAST on Jul 23, 2009 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions

FB in the Stadium

Aren’t the field dimensions the same as the old Stadium? I attended Giants games there as a kid, and while I agree the layout is far from ideal for football, they were able to fit the field in.

On further thought, maybe not. The goal posts used to be at the goal line, not at the end line like they are now. Is the end zone deeper than it used to be?

by django48 on Jul 23, 2009 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, but ...

Don’t forget that behind home plate there is only 20 feet to the backstop now. There were 40 feet or so in the old Stadium. So, the playing surface is smaller.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 23, 2009 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions

It used to be 460 feet to left center

by New York Sports Jerk on Jul 23, 2009 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Also

The left-center field wall was removable. The concrete permanent one was behind Monument Park. So, there was flexibility. This Stadium doesn’t have that.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 23, 2009 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions

hate to beat a dead horse...

…but look at the diagram – it appears that the back line of the end zone is lined up right at home plate. I still don’t understand how the opposite end zone butts up against the warning track in center field, approximately 393 feet away, when the football field is only 360 feet long.

Ed – do you know the source of that diagram? How they scaled the football field overlay onto the stadium? the more I look at it, the more I’m sure that the scale is off – certainly it appears too long, and maybe it’s too wide as well?

Could be that this whole discussion is based on an inaccurate diagram, and that a football field would fit just fine in the new stadium…

by TF-FAST on Jul 23, 2009 12:53 PM EDT reply actions

I don't think it's to scale

It’s like they just slapped a generic football field down on a stadium seating chart.

by New York Sports Jerk on Jul 23, 2009 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions

it helps to know...

that the warning track in CF is 48 feet wide at the new Stadium.. ha.

by NumberSeven on Jul 23, 2009 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't know

I woudl guess it came from the Yankees. I will try to find out.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 23, 2009 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

if that's true...

then the diagram is DEFINITELY not to scale, as the warning track should appear to be about twice as wide as the end zones, and actually it looks to be the opposite – that the end zone is twice as wide as the warning track…

I agree with NYS Jerk – I think the diagram is out of whack and useless for determining if a football field will fit inside the stadium.

by TF-FAST on Jul 23, 2009 1:43 PM EDT reply actions

my comment

was a joke. not necessarily funny, but a joke nonetheless.

by NumberSeven on Jul 23, 2009 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions

went over my head...

I actually started doing research trying to figure out how you found that out…Ha!

by TF-FAST on Jul 23, 2009 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Fitting a football field into the Stadium

Here’s how Yankee brass describes it:

On a modified field extending from the home and visitors’ dugouts, straight out through the center of the infield and into both bullpens, Army will play four formidable opponents.

I wonder what they mean by a “modified field.”

by django48 on Jul 23, 2009 1:58 PM EDT reply actions