The Virginia Tech Hokies baseball team lost to the New York Yankees today, 11-0, but in reality, everybody won.
By all accounts, the Yankees' charity exhibition at Virginia Tech -- an 11-0 New York victory -- went off without a hitch, less than one year after 32 lives were tragically lost in the shootings of April 16, 2007.The Yankees brought their "A" lineup behind starter Jeff Karstens for the seven-inning exhibition, departing sunny Florida on an early-morning flight and returning to their Spring Training routine the same evening. The regulars played for three innings before resuming their roles as ambassadors, and it was a detour for a good cause -- one that no member of the organization particularly would mind.
"This is something that affected everybody in this country," said Yankees general partner Hal Steinbrenner, who traveled with the club from Florida. "Our hearts went out to these people. I'm just happy and proud to be here and extremely excited we were able to make this happen."
And the quote of the day comes from Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez:
"People in New York ask what's the most important game of the year -- playoffs, World Series, whatever," Rodriguez said. "To me, this is the most important game of my Yankees career. It makes you realize -- makes you think about -- how fragile life can be."
You can say that again.
But this was a classy move by the Yankees.
However, isn't this kind of like Mike Tyson agreeing to get in the ring with Dakota Fanning?