When the Yankees signed Jason Giambi after the 2001
season, all us Yankee fans were envisioning him to be
the best left handed bomber since the Bambino himself.
But the recent steroid news about him has clouded his
future with the team, and his relationship with the
fans.
One of the things I am eager to wait for in the
start of next year is how Yankee fans will receive
Jason. He may not be booed right off the bat, but he
will have the shortest leash of any Yankee player in a
long time. In my opinion, we as Yankee fans need to
support the man who was expected to lead this offense,
even if he did use steroids. America is a very
forgiving country, and while I don't condone the use
of performance enhancing drugs whatsoever, we should
support our guy. Giambi has tried hard to be
recognized as a real "Yankee" in his stint here at the
Bronx, so I think we should support the man. It will
say a lot about our loyalty as fans, and it will
motivate our first baseman and maybe help bring him
out of the shell that he has been under for the past
two years. The pressure that he has been under is
strong enough to crush his biceps. The point I'm
trying to make is that we should make him at least
feel comfortable, because when he was in Oakland
winning the MVP, he was at ease, and we need to make
him feel that way. Giambi knows that he made a
mistake; he doesn't need others to make him feel worse
about himself because I’m pretty sure that no one
feels as bad about Jason as he himself.
This steroid controversy is something that the
team can use to rally on. It is a dark cloud that will
hover around the Yankees next year, and we know that
other teams' fans will let Giambi know about it. Red
Sox fans are sure to shower Jason with "Steroids!" all
year long. Whenever he hits a homerun on the road, he
will be reminded about the big mistake that he made.
It is critical that the Yankees support him, because
if his contract doesn't get voided, we can't make him
feel like an unwanted man. I hope that guys like Derek
Jeter and Bernie Williams stand by him to make a
statement to the relentless media. The Yankees have to
unite as a team and let Giambi know that they have his
back. However, Giambi still has to prove himself,
cause it is pretty hard to root for a .214 hitter who
makes about $17 million a year. Giambi is going to
need as much support as he can receive because he is a
good guy who wants everyone to like him, so if we show
him some love, we may receive a .300/30 HR/120 RBI
man. We aren't getting that if we boo Jason - he’ll
just continue to diminish and go down as the biggest
mistake in Yankee history. We don't want that in our
2005 team. We want a ring, and a productive Giambi can
put us over the hump.
I will be cheering for Giambi more than any other
player next year, and I encourage everyone else to
join me.
