It's been amazing, watching George Steinbrenner's legacy be burnished by the sports media immediately after his death. But it reinforces a notion of mine. And since this appears to be Murray's Notions Week at Writing Boots, why don't I go ahead and share it?
Steinbrenner, a minor criminal and rich jerk whose name was synonymous with megalomania, workplace bullying and general broad-brush foolishness, is now being remembered for the good things he did, which amount to: purchasing players and managers who won some World Series rings despite his insane hectoring, and giving money away to charity, which all people do, for tax breaks.
(Or, as Steinbrenner's entry in dickipedia describes him, "an American entrepreneur, the principal owner of the New York
Yankees, the guy who ruined baseball, and a dick.")
And yet, as a society, we strain to remember the good things.
That's something to keep in mind as we live our own lives: Unless we do something unforgivable or permanently damaging to people—I guess this would include rape, murder, spousal abuse or child abandonment (and arguably workplace brutality, but whatevs)—we are remembered for the good we did do.
And that's as it should be. Our minor mistakes and failings don't set civilization back. But our achievements of empathy and intellect, our contributions to relationships, the lessons we teach, the love we share, the good humor we show—all this nourishes everybody we know and everybody they know and the children of all of those people, and the children of the children, who go on to nourish one another.
The good we give, we give to the cosmic wash.
(And what a comfort: If they love George Steinbrenner after he's gone, think of the good things they'll say about you!)
No, it’s a simple calculation. We pilloried Steinbrenner while he lived. And he’s been practically dead for 10 years. And the Yankees are awesome, so he retains the shared glory. But really, it’s just that we let out our anger years ago.
That’s part of it, agreed. Still, Yossi, focus on the larger point I’m making, will you?
[insert asinine winking grin emoticon right here]
And ironically, Seinfeld did much to rehabilitate Steinbrenner.
[insert equally asinine i’m-ignoring-request-of-resident-of-city-which-may-have-cause-to-dislike-particular-baseball-team-but-not-taking-this-personally emoticon right here. A squirrel emoticon might do]
David, I agree in part.
1. I agree with your overarching point that we love to sanctify our recently departed unless they’ve done something egregious. The media coverage after the deaths of Strom Thurmond and Ronald Reagan (or even Robert Byrd or Ted Kennedy, for the sake of bipartisanship) are good examples of this point. From the media coverage following his death, you would think that Strom Thurmond’s raison d’etre was defending federalism just for the sake of federalism.
2. With Steinbrenner, I think there is something else at play. Most of the glowing remarks I’ve seen in the last 24 hours have come from people within baseball. To those people, Steinbrenner changed the game and business of baseball to their substantial economic benefit. With Steinbrenner as owner of the Yankees, major league baseball owners could not meaningfully collude to depress player salaries, because Steinbrenner wanted to win at any cost. Over time, that led to dramatic upward pressure on player salaries as teams tried to compete with the Yankees. Thus, I do think it is surprising at all that people within baseball are celebrating the effect that Steinbrenner had on the business of baseball, and would not attribute the celebration of his life — at least not entirely — to our need to rehabilitate the recently deceased.
Yet more good points, Jason.
Another Steinbrenner ally who got airtime yesterday was Bobby Knight, who cooed that every time he got himself into a jam via his raging, uncontrollable asshole-ism, Steinbrenner “would be the first to call” with support.
I wonder if jerk-offs have a phone tree, or belong to some Assfacebook network ….
A much more balanced portrayal:
http://www.economist.com/node/16592532?story_id=16592532
You know, if the jerk had bought the Cleveland Indians like he originally wanted to and then bought all the good players and won a bunch of championships I’d remember him a lot more fondly.
Sincerely,
Disgruntled and Discouraged Cleveland Fan