My Steinbrenner Story.

Or… “George Steinbrenner: Flying Tiger”… er, “Yankee”!

Amid the media coverage of the death of New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, I’ve heard stories and anecdotes from persons in all areas of sports and journalism.

But even a lowly Blogger, IT professional, and (alas, very) part time comic-book writer can have a George Steinbrenner story… and this is mine.

After attending a corporate conference held by the IT consulting firm that employed me in 1999, all the members of our New York office were flying home from Tampa.

Also flying back to New York from Tampa were Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner.

Naturally, Mr. Steinbrenner traveled in First Class and we were all stuffed in the back of the plane. In the terminal waiting area Mr. Steinbrenner was polite and gracious to this pack of New Yorkers – still feeling the high of two Yankees World Series Championships in the last three years.

The flight was the WORST I’d ever been on. Big storms most of the way. The plane moved up and down wildly. We were all scared. Some were sickened.

As the lightning flashed around us, and my body occasionally took to the air (despite being buckled) I mentally flashed to tomorrow’s page one headline:

“George Steinbrenner Dies in Plane Crash!”

And, in a tiny corner of page 12, “Entire IT Consulting Office Wiped-Out!”

When the plane landed, George Steinbrenner appeared to be in much better shape than any of us! Sort of the way we imagined he would be!

Hey, I didn’t say it was MUCH of a story… but that’s the closest I ever got to George Steinbrenner. …And the closest I ever got to an airsick bag.

One final note:

When George Steinbrenner died, his Yankees were the reigning World Series Champions, and had the best record in all of Major League Baseball.

That’s exactly how I’d expect he’d want to go!