New Yorkers Are Also Thought To Have A Keen Sense Of Faux Modesty And Are Expert At Exuding A Convincing Yet Hollow Self-Effacing Manner*
I still want “Cliff Lee” to become a verb for screwing over New York City, or at least being cooler than cool, or perhaps even shorthand for something along the lines of spurning better deals and “sacrificing” tens of millions while still receiving a $100 million-plus contract, but this Ed Koch observation deserves more mental space:
Lee, the prized pitcher who helped the Texas Rangers reach their first World Series, snubbed New York. He turned down the Yankees to join the Philadelphia Phillies, and though he is not the first player to reject the Yankees, the circumstances left some wondering whether he does not think highly of New York. The Phillies offered him less money, a minimum of five years and $120 million, than the Yankees, who dangled seven years and $148 million.
New York, the city of yes, has always had trouble dealing with no.
. . .
“New Yorkers are thought to be very tough and thick-skinned,” former Mayor Edward I. Koch said Tuesday. “Just the contrary: we are very thin-skinned. We don’t like to be insulted.
“Most people who live in New York weren’t born here. They come from every country in the world, so they bring with them their own traditions. And one of the traditions is being thin-skinned.”
*We can call it “Woody Allenism.”
Posted: December 15th, 2010 | Filed under: New York, New York, It's A Wonderful Town!, Sports