Prior to the matchup between the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, members of both teams took part in a “standoff” during the national anthem. Naturally, not everyone was overly thrilled with the two teams turning the national anthem into a game on a national holiday, including longtime Yankees play-by-play voice Michael Kay.
Coming into the game, the Yankees were riding a horrible skid, losing 15 of their last 19 games. So the optics of this decision to participate in this “standoff” with the Reds start to form the narrative that the team wasn’t exactly locked in to perform on the field.
It also doesn’t help matters that the Yankees have a longstanding no-nonsense attitude that has essentially defined the organization for decades.
With this in mind, Michael Kay openly spoke about the team’s decision to participate in this standoff with the Reds on Friday’s edition of the Michael Kay Show, claiming that it “cheapened the organization”.
“What are we, infants? This is the New York Yankees,” said Kay. “The New York Yankees don’t play games like that. That’s silly, that’s stupid, it’s childish, it’s infantile. Let other ridiculous teams do that. Why would the Yankees do that? It’s dumb. . . . It makes the Yankees look small. They’re doing a stare-off like they’re in Williamsport? Like it’s the Little League World Series? The New York Yankees, you’re wearing pinstripes, baby. You don’t do stuff like that. And you’ve been losing and playing poorly, and this is what you resort to? Come on, guys, you’re better than that.”
Kay was not the only notable broadcaster to speak out against this move by both teams. New York Mets announcer Howie Rose offered similarly critical comments about the situation, calling it “juvenile”.
It’s understandable for Kay to feel this way. Considering the team’s struggles, the very last thing that fans want to see them do is take away their focus from the field for this kind of pregame activity.
To make matters even worse, the Reds got the better of both the anthem standoff and the game on the field, as they took an 8-4 victory on Thursday to complete the series sweep.
