Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Did Tom Verducci and Sports Illustrated jinx the Yankees' 'Core Four'?

If the Yankees' season goes up in flames any time soon, I know just who to blame - Tom Verducci and Sports Illustrated!

Because as a firm believer in the SI Cover Jinx, I feel like this cover story about the Core Four is just asking for trouble - times four. It's why I was happy that Sports Illustrated picked the Phillies, and not the Yankees, to win the World Series. That jinx is powerful stuff - look what happened to the Mets' 2009 season after SI picked them to win the World Series!

I'll be interested to see if Verducci, not exactly one of my favorite writers, is able to conjure up a new angle - or new tidbits - about the four players. Not very hopeful, though, given that the cover line says they "broke in together 16 seasons ago," when only two of them - Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera - were playing with the Yankees regularly  in 1995. Jeter was a September callup that year and played 15 games. Jorge Posada played in exactly one game - without even a single plate appearance - that year. Posada wasn't on the full-time roster until 1997, and wasn't the No. 1 Yankee catcher until 1998.

But even the faint hope of new anecdotes isn't enough to have risked the tempting of fate entailed with putting those four on the cover. I have to get all A.J. Burnett here - again - and ask why, why, why did SI do it?

What do you think of this cover? Tell us about it!

No comments:

Search This Blog