Was that an SNL Skit or did it really happen?

As I was flying out to Austin on Monday morning on JetBlue, I chuckled when I saw the TV's reports on the Red Sox jersey (David Ortiz, #34) that a construction worker buried in the foundation of the new Yankees Stadium to put a curse on the Sox hated rival.  I expected the Yankees organization to shrug it off.   To point to their tee shirts that show how many World Series rings they have won in recent years vs. the Sox measly two in the last four years.  They don't believe in curses.  They''ll settle this one the way they always do -- on the field.

The shocker is that they took it seriously, to the tune of at least $30,000 to dig up the offending jersey and threaten to press charges against the Sox fan who buried it. 

That's when I thought for sure this was a joke.  But it wasn't, as the New York Daily News reported:

But on Sunday, we witnessed an inane spectacle that should wholly frighten any taxpayer or serious baseball fan. At the cost of about $30,000 and the wasted sweat of 5-1/2 hours' toil, the Yankees directed construction workers at the site to drill for a tattered David Ortiz baseball jersey a Red Sox fan/construction worker had buried beneath considerable cement.

This uniform shirt would never have been seen by anybody, and it might have provided a nice bit of urban lore. Hank Steinbrenner might have diffused the situation, with a simple quote: "A Red Sox jersey has been buried beneath our new stadium, and we hope soon to intern that team's hopes for decades to come."

In another 42 years, if the Yankees have not won a title for half a century, maybe it would be an amusing public relations stunt to dig up the jersey, as if it were a time capsule, and break some imagined curse.

Instead, we get panic at McComb's Dam Park - or whatever is left of that once graceful green space. The silliness and wasted resources invested in this enterprise were frightening, fully endorsed by an organization making important financial decisions that impact millions of residents and supporters.

New York's D.A. must have thought it was pretty funny since he laughed it out of his courtroom as a waste of his time.  But the Yankees still may file a civil suit against the construction worker. And the Yankees President plans to auction off the jersey to benefit The Jimmy Fund.

The Big Bad Yankees are getting pretty upset about a prank involving the jersey of a dreaded rival who is struggling to get back his timing at the plate.  That's not communicating confidence. 

And we thought the players had superstitions.

Game on, gentlemen. . .