Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Respect Jeter's Gangster Year in Review

Our Year in Review will remain at the top of the page through the first week of the new year. Scroll below for new posts and all that gangster goodness your soul craves.

It was last January that we started this blog and since then we've seen it grown from a site where no one would visit or comment on anything we ever did, to what it is now. Its been an amazing year, one worthy of review. If you are visiting for the first time, this will catch you up to what we've basically been doing for the last year. If you are a regular reader or poster on the blog, we want to thank you for checking us out all this time. We hope to see you throughout 2009!

2008 Respect Jeter's Gangster Blog Review

Early Accomplishments:

Invented a new stat.
Wrote a three part epic story about Jeter's gangster (1, 2, 3).
Prophecied the Rays Emergence as Contenders.

Deron Peter's Columns:

Deron Rages
Deron Vents

Carl Pavano's Online Diaries:

Carl Pavano Online Diary Entry 1
Carl Pavano Online Diary Entry 2
Carl Pavano Online Diary Entry 3

Stellar Commentary:

What's a blog without someone with no knowledge of baseball commenting on baseball? Here are some of our scathing criticisms and commentaries on baseball.

Worst Shortstop in Baseball?

Worst Shortstop in Baseball pt. 2?
MLB Drug Problem Out of Hand
Julio Lugo's Biography
Greatest Sentence Ever

Groundbreaking Interviews:

Throughout the year we had the honor of interviewing several beat writers and book authors about the Yankees. Check out some of the interviews we did over the year:

New York Times Best Selling Author Richard Bradley
Trenton Thunder Beat Writer Mike Ashmore
Journal News Beat Writer Peter Abraham
Daily News Beat Writer Mark Fiensand
Former Yankees PR Director Marty Appel
Journal News Columnist Sam Borden

Our Award Winning* Investigative Team:

Want to kill some time at work? Read through some of our award winning* stories from the 2008 season.

Iwamura Okay After Attempt On His Life
Yankee Clubhouse Restless After Rays Brawl
Home Opener Delayed?
Joba's Fist Pump Destroying Baseball
Yankees Make Mariners Cry After Sweep
Goverment Leak Attests to Jeter's Gangster
Slow Start Explained
Yankees Hire Motivational Speaker
Mechanical Flaw Root of Cano's Slump
Jeter Finds Root of Season Long Slump
Varitek's Off Season Training Regimen
Baseball Players Feeling Economic Woes
Cashman Handles Demotions Coldly
Hank to Run for Commissioner
Hank 's Plan to Rebuild 2009 Yankees
A-Rod's True Hollywood Story
Transcript of Jeter's and Sabathia's Phone Conversation
George Steinbrenner's Risky Investment Pays Off

*No awards were actually awarded.

Creative Accomplishments:

This was fun!

Penned an epic halloween poem.

Bronny Cash Phone Conversations:

See all transcripts of our phone conversations with Yankees GM Brian Cashman. Start from the bottom and work your way up!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great job on Peter's blog today. Don't listen to the negative stuff. (I was going to offer myself as one of Pete's pinch hitters, but those comments scared me off.) Yankee fans need to lighten up! Keep up the great work. You guys perform a public service by not taking everything so seriously.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Not taking things seriously is what we do best! I expected that people would either hate it or love it. Not much in between when it comes to satire. My main goal for doing it was to get new people to view our blog, and I think some people really liked it and are discovering us for the first time. If we can get some regular readers out of it then I am content.

The negative comments don't bother me. I'm sure that as a real writer you get your share of negative feedback. A lot of people feel the need to get nasty, but that says more about them as a person than it does about anything else. Yankee fans have many a bitter soul in their midst. I guess they missed the '96-'00 championship runs and now take out their frustration on anyone they come across with on the internet.

Fred Trigger said...

Reading through the comments on Petes blog, I thought you handled the criticisms well. I dont understand why people were so negative about it. Its one thing to give feedback about what they didnt like, or what could have been fixed, but to just say it sucked without citing examples is just flat out dumb. I personally thought it was really funny, especially as you put it, its really tough to make a post when you only have 500 words. Not to mention you guys dont use swear words, and it still makes me laugh out loud. That in itself is a feat to be proud of. Keep up the good work guys, and dont let the haters keep you down.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Thanks Fred, we appreciate the support and feedback from all you guys. Pete Abe's blog will pay for this! Just kidding. We more or less expected this, we should have live blogged Pete Abe's comment section. Maybe next year.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I do get negative feedback sometimes - some of the customer reviews on amazon can be pretty snarky - but it comes with the territory. As you point out, humor is very subjective. I bet you get a lot of new readers for the blog.

Bucky7588 said...

Well I thought you were hilarious, and as the biggest elitist I know, that means you are the best.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Fred, yeah, I found that there was little in between. People either really liked it or really hated it, and the people who really hated it made sure to make it known. I generally had expected for it to be like this. I think a lot of people wanted another post about the state of the Yankees. We can do that, but its so boring. I'd rather make a few people laugh and have some people hate us, then to have another post out there about the Yankee bullpen. I did underestimate the amount of negativity a post about punching a horse in the face could generate, but that's what we do here at the RJG.

Jane, I hope so! Some people did really seem to like it, and a couple of them were very vocal about it. If it gains us a few regulars, and maybe a few more people who comment, then I'm happy with it. This kind of approach is different, and I think it appeals to some people, and turns others away. We saw that today.

And those amazon reviews can be pretty mean. You know how it goes though, if people were sitting in front of you they would sugar coat everything, but get them behind a computer and they suddenly have all the scathing remarks in the world. As you said though, it comes with the territory!

Fernando Alejandro said...

Thanks Bucky!

Anonymous said...

I started reading this blog about 6 months ago. I really did not care for it at first, not many people are use to a funny sports blog. Many blogs just report the same things as Pete, or ESPN, and they carry no originality. I read a lot of Yankee blogs just to get different takes on the same news, but most blogs just spin the same thoughts, so I stopped reading most of them. So as a blog reader I will give you guys your first award: Best Yankees Comedy Blog.

PS- The best is Bronny Cash

Keep up the good work!

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Bronny's going to hate hearing that. It means we'll keep calling him. I'm sure he really regrets getting that satellite video phone.

Raven King said...

"I had the letter tested for DNA and it came up positive for Tornado Thunder and Barry Bonds"
It made me laugh like nuts.

Raven King said...

As to those negative comments, well, Yankees fans aren’t famous for loving, caring and having sense of humour.

Anonymous said...

I was looking forward to your PH-ing. to me, you guys planned it all wrong. I mean nothing beats jeter emoticons.. that made my freckin' week lol..but still, I loved the post. I will never look at the mailman the same way again....i thought mailman cant deliver letter without a return address??/ it was prolly robbie cano.. tryna save his best buddie from trade..so he teams up with igawa!!!!! ahahahah I've solved the hidden part of the mystery!! YES!!! (now thats one mailman I would love to get a delivery frm O_*

Fernando Alejandro said...

You know Ruthie, I thought the same thing about the Emoticon post, but we had to turn the Pete Abe thing in on Tuesday, and my brother didn't come up with the Emoticon thing until yesterday.

Anonymous said...

*\o/* TEAM RJG *\o/*
I heart the approch from you guys.. iam slowly tryna edge my way toward journalism, but seeing you guys react to the negative comments and still stay G's is comforting..if it counts for anything,consider me one of you biggest cheerleaders..

Fernando Alejandro said...

Yankee Magic, thanks for the award. We accept it humbly and with absolute gratitude. I'm glad we grew on you.

Ruthie, thanks! Journalism is a great thing to study, but you're right in that sometimes your writing will be berated. Even Pete Abe, who has the most popular Yankees blog out there, still takes crap on his own blog for the things he writes. As Jane said yesterday, it comes with the territory. However, don't let that dissuade you. If you're good at something, might as well get paid for it.

trisha said...

Alright I didn't want to come across as an elitist and say depracating things about people who couldn't appreciate your humor, pointing out that it obviously emanated from a lack of high intelligence coupled with a tragically dour, critical, and altogether misguided self-important nature - so I didn't. :)))))

"To the Left" managed to get me at two extremely inopportune times in the last two days. One was when I was driving in a funeral procession (thankfully nobody close to me), and the other was today in church, during the visiting priest's homily. His homily was painfully long and rambling, and I did my very best to pay attention; but soon I found my mind wandering, and a less-than-angelic force caused a vision of a karaoke-singing Brian Cashman to enter. I tried to fight the demon but the scene became more and more vivid, and I was forced to visualize a Cashman with "tude", first pointing to himself, and then pointing to Ian Kennedy.

Simply flipping brilliant. The ability to marry total silliness with high-witted concept is indeed one heck of a gift. If I hate you for anything, it's because you have it and I don't! That and because I laughed out loud during a priest's sermon - and I assure you there was no high humor involved in his telling of the story of three kings who had to travel approximately 1200 miles via camel!

Fernando Alejandro said...

Trisha, that's pretty funny! I think the visual image is the best way to appreciate it. If you can't picture Cashman singing karoake, then its going to be a little less funny.

Anonymous said...

More Bronny Cash in '09!

Fernando Alejandro said...

Oh Bronny Cash is here to stay!