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Best: Enough With the Champagne Celebration


By Mike Silva ~ September 28th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva.

Interesting take from Neil Best regarding the traditional champagne celebration from MLB teams after winning a division.

Still, and I hate to be a party pooper here, but the increasingly ritualized practice of baseball teams spraying and/or consuming bubbly after every postseason achievement has gotten as stale as the carpeting in the Yankees’ plush new clubhouse after Sunday’s deluge.

Best went on to say that MLB should limit the celebration to the really big stuff (pennant, World Series) or ban it altogether like the NFL does. He makes an interesting point about the positive message it would send to young people about drinking and if players that take part in the celebration are sober enough to drive home. I never thought of either of those points.

I prefer to stay away from legislating how teams celebrate their accomplishments. Despite the big money they are away from their family, friends, and essentially have no lives for about nine months. If throwing some champagne around lets them bond and blow off steam then so be it. I am sure it’s not fun for the reporters that see their equipment and notebooks get wet. Wonder how many reporters in Kansas City and Pittsburgh would trade places with the guys in New York.

Interesting point by Best, but not something that I would make a big deal over. What do you guys think? Do the celebrations send the wrong message? With the extra layer of playoffs should they be only for pennants and championships. Look at the NBA, teams don’t celebrate divisions or anything until the conference finals.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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1 Response to Best: Enough With the Champagne Celebration

  1. Ceetar
    September 28th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    It sends no message about drinking/driving anything like that. The players are rarely even televised actually drinking the champagne. There is nothing wrong with celebration, whether it’s clapping after a game winning hit, or spraying champagne after clinching. It’s a big deal after a long grind of a season, and it definitely deserves some celebration for the hard work.

    sure, it’s old. blah blah blah. so are end zone dances. so are many of these same columns about the ‘clutchness’ of Derek Jeter, or articles about whether or not a team should retaliate for an inside pitch. big deal. If it bores Neil Best that much, maybe it’s time for him to switch careers. Imagine if I told my boss I ws tired of doing this project, we’ve done it every year!

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