Going Bowling

Last week the Yankees held their second annual team outing.  The outing was held at an arcade and consisted of a tournament of a car racing video game, skee ball, and pop-a-shot. It seemed as if all of the Yankees had a great time at the team outing, but as Joe Girardi noted, some of the players had suggested other activities.  One of those activities was bowling; and it looks as if the Yankees have taken the advice of the players but they aren’t heading to a bowling alley.  The Yankees and the new Yankee Stadium will play host to a college football bowl game in 2010.  The game will be the first bowl game played in the Bronx since Nebraska beat Miami in 1962.

The game, which will be called the “Pinstripe Bowl”, will take place on December, 30th and will feature the 3rd place team from the Big East and the 6th place team from the Big 12.  Just to give readers a taste of what the game might be like, in 2009 the two teams that would have matched up were West Virginia and Missouri, and in 2008 West Virginia and Nebraska.  The Pinstripe Bowl will be sponsored by New Era.  The Yankees along with New Era and the two conferences have entered a 4 year agreement for the Pinstripe Bowl which will be broadcast by ESPN.  In future years the event will take place sometime between Christmas Day and New Years Day.  This event will be a major success for the Yankees because the Big East and Big 12 are two good football conferences, New Era is a big-name sponsor, it is broadcast on ESPN, and of course it is being played at Yankee Stadium.  While the game figures to be a great success, it will be quite different from most bowl games as most bowl games are hosted in warm climates or in domes and there almost surely figures to be snow on the ground in New York by December 30th.

While the bowl game will be the primary focus of non-baseball activity at Yankee Stadium in 2010, it will not be the first, or the only football game hosted in the Bronx.  On November, 20th of this year Yankee Stadium will play host to Notre Dame vs. Army.  Army has signed a multi-year contract with the Yankees to play one game a year at the stadium.  Army is lined up to play Rutgers at the stadium in 2011, Air Force in 2012, and Boston College in 2014.  Also, on June, 5th 2010 Yankee Stadium will host its first boxing match since 1976 when Yuri Foreman takes on Miguel Cotto. With Yankee Stadium beginning to take on other events that are non-baseball related I wanted to get the fans opinions. Do you think the Yankees should revert back to the ways of the Yankees from the 1920′s through the 70′s and host many events?  Do you think Yankee Stadium should host concerts, hockey games, football games, and boxing matches?  Give us your thoughts!

Photo courtesy of Zimbio.com

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