Neil Best, often the master of diplomacy, on Suzyn Waldman’s emotional reaction to Roger Clemens’ reintroduction at Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon — an outburst the Newsday columnist found “undeniably entertaining, arguably unprofessional and singularly wacky.”
“Oh, my goodness gracious!” Waldman gushed in the middle of the seventh inning. “Of all the dramatic things, of all the dramatic things I’ve ever seen, Roger Clemens standing right in George Steinbrenner’s box announcing he is back!”
Reading it doesn’t do it justice. She sounded as if she might pass out from the excitement.
Just after noon yesterday, Waldman said she wasn’t aware that her take had become a bit of a sensation, not to mention a source of some amusement, but she was unapologetic.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve watched 10 different pitchers trot out there,” she said. “I don’t know what to tell you. I am who I am. I get excited. I get emotional. That is who I am. People either hate it or love it. I can’t change.”
Waldman called Mike Francesa – who had big fun with the Clemens clip on his Sunday night TV show – “a good friend” and said criticism and/or ridicule comes with the territory.
“Do I get hurt when people rip me? Yes,” she said. “I’m extremely sensitive and very emotional and it hurts. But if I can’t get used to it and I can’t take it, I should do something else with my life.”
Waldman, who at the end of the game welcomed Clemens “home,” seemed surprised that her reaction had caused a stir.
“I’m here and I’m not going anywhere and I don’t apologize for who I am,” she said. “I never said I was Vin Scully or Bob Costas. That’s not why I’m here.”