Who Do We Appreciate?

Staten Island Little League president Bob Johnson led a campaign to get corporate sponsors to assist with the team's travel expenses to Connecticut where they were playing in the Little League World Series. As part of that effort, he solicited the New York Mets and Yankees for money. He didn't hear from the Mets office, however he did receive a $5,000 donation from George Steinbrenner. So how did Johnson express his gratitude? By running to the NY Post and whining that it wasn't a large enough donation:

"For Steinbrenner, $5,000 is throwing dollar bills in the air," Johnson said. "Everything counts, don't get me wrong, but it's disappointing. And A-Rod, he plays $1,000 a hand in poker, he might as well throw $1,000 in our dugout. I don't want Steinbrenner's money. I want A-Rod's money. He's making $20 million a year."

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that 5k is more than little league teams are used to receiving from their neighborhood Jamba Juice, bail bondsman, or funeral home. I'm guessing that should have been enough for the team and their families to stay in a hotel in Connecticut for a weekend. What was Johnson expecting- for Steinbrenner to offer his private jet to fly the team to and from the games? These are 13 year-old American little leaguers who can't even score one f*cking run. Now if these were Cuban teens on the verge of defecting, it would be a different story.

As for A-Rod...well, first of all, I seriously doubt that he plays $1,000 a hand in poker. He strikes me more as a $3-$6 limit player who won't raise with anything but aces. But aside from that, he has motivation to be a little reserved about giving away his money. While his salary may be $20+ mil this year, if the Yankees' kangaroo court fines him for every clutch situation double play he grounds into or every error in the field, then he's gotta be running pretty low on funds by now. At this point, I don't even know if he could afford to take the little leaguers to a postgame pizza party at Round Table. So let's cut #13 some slack.