Another Awful Conspiracy Revealed

Every day I see stories that work well on so many levels and they are such incredible bringdowns, it's like shooting ducks in a barrel. Here's one that involves my favorite TV show, baseball.

The bottom line in all this is that Steinbrenner got nailed for giving Nixon money and he spent years begging for a "pardon" to get out of it. If I had a nickel for every pardon I would need I'd be in bed doing nothing for life. So Reagan pardons him, and I'm sure Steinbrenner stopped giving money to the GOP at that point (duh hey), and now he's clean as a whistle.

Of course to get you have to give, and Steinbrenner "allowed an organized crime sting" at Yankee Stadium? What a guy. Good thing Steinbrenner is dead, or he'd be dead for sure.

Next he "cooperated on a case that involved a terrorist matter." Does Major League Baseball know about this? Did Steinbrenner tell his fellow owners? And what the hell terrorist matter does Steinbrenner know about anyway? Were the terrorists responsible for the thing at Coors Field where they hit more home runs there? And the whole altitude thing was bullshit?

It doesn't surprise me because the Yankees are a reflection of this win at all costs amoral bastard. And so are their fans. The Yankees have won like 80 World Series and if they lose ONE game on a Tuesday night their fans will call into the radio show.

"They gotta gid rid of Girardi."

"Fucking Jeter sucks."

"What are we gonna do about this bullpen?"

They expect to win EVERY game. If the Yankees could spend a billion dollars and field a team of RoboCops that could pitch like Bob Gibson and hit like Willie Mays and win every game 100 to nothing that's would they would do. And their fans would like it. They have no interest in the game whatsoever. They must win, and they "will pay any price, make any sacrifice" to get there. And the downer is that they DO win, and every Yankee fan reading this will say, "duuuuuh we won 27 World Championships and dah dah dah dah dah abbadabba." Goddamn them all.

Now I'm remembering the greatest thing was when Steinbrenner would make these psychotic Douglas MacArthur style speeches. I'm sure MacArthur would've ratted out some wiseguys if he could have, but he died before they could get him in there.

Though the plotline would have even seemed outlandish on the set of "Seinfeld," recently declassified documents reveal that George Steinbrenner aided and cooperated with the FBI on cases involving national security.

But a James Bond or Jason Bourne, the late New York Yankees owner was not.

Though his exact role remains unclear, Steinbrenner initially agreed to things like allowing an organized crime sting at old Yankee Stadium because he was trying to clear his own name.
His help to the F.B.I. in the 1970s and '80s helped lead to his receiving a pardon from President Reagan in 1989 for a conviction for illegal contributions to Richard M. Nixon's 1972 presidential re-election campaign.

There are no details of what assistance Steinbrenner provided, or the role he played, in his pardon petition or in an F.B.I. memorandum. Both were heavily redacted before release.

In addition to the gambling syndicate sting in the Bronx, it was revealed that Steinbrenner also helped "without hesitation" on a three-year undercover case that his lawyer claimed to have involved a "terrorist matter."

It is not surprising that Steinbrenner helped the F.B.I., to help his case for a pardon but perhaps also to demonstrate his avowed patriotism. But clearly, he wanted a pardon.

Seeking pardon or not, this is still a pretty fascinating and fun story, and one that will have us lamenting the lost opportunities that "Seinfeld" may have been able to mine.

[yahoo! Sports]