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Italian heritage group cries foul after Yankees' minor league team changes name

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Italian-Americans are pretty low on the list of people who suffer from the use of ethnic slurs, but they’ve still got a pretty short fuse when it comes to being stereotyped. If you want to get an Italian-American good and wound up, asking, “You’re Italian, huh? I bet you know a lot of people in the Mafia” works every time.

But there’s a big difference between getting angry at being stereotyped and getting hair-trigger offended at lighthearted fun that has nothing to do with ethnicity and everything to do with one of the coolest Internet memes of 2015.

That’s right … the New York chapter of the Sons of Italy have an issue with Pizza Rat.

The heroic rodent became an Internet sensation when it tried to haul a slice of pizza down the stairs of a subway station, drawing more than a few comparisons to Master Splinter delivering the favorite food of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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In 2016, when the Staten Island Yankees held a fan vote to name the team, the Pizza Rats won that fan vote, and there was a bit of hue and cry when the team decided, “Boaty McBoatface” style, to ignore the will of the public in favor of a muted choice of simply reflecting the parent club in the Bronx.

But this season, the club has brought back Pizza Rat for five games, dressing in Pizza Rats uniforms, which are of course available for sale in the team store (including one of the coolest hat designs ever devised).

And this is where they drew the ire of the Sons of Italy.

On July 21, the club is hosting Italian-American Heritage Night, and it just happens to be one of the five games where they’re wearing the Pizza Rats uniform.

Do you think 'Pizza Rats' disparages Italian-Americans?

The statement from one Vincent R. Capodanno looks like it was printed out by the Outrage Machine’s press release robot.

“S.I. (Yankees) management has decided to promote the Staten Island Yankees Team by temporarily renaming it ‘The Staten Island Pizza Rats.’ Yes! I would not kid you about such a thing,” Capodanno wrote. “If you are slapping your forehead and asking, ‘What are they thinking?’ you are not alone. In their infinite wisdom, they have decided to add ‘Rats’ to ‘Pizza’ ( Yes, pizza, one of the few positive things people automatically associate with Italians and Italy).

“To add salt to the wound, July 21 falls on one of the five home game nights in which the Staten Island Yankees are renamed and called the Staten Island Pizza Rats. In addition, S.I. (Yankees) management also intends to distribute a lot of ‘Pizza Rats’ logos and memorabilia that same night. Yes! The night we would have been there to celebrate Italian heritage and culture. Furthermore, just think about what that does to the already unjustified tarnished image of Staten Island. As a proud, long standing resident of Staten Island, I am appalled.”

Wait, people are actually proud to be from Staten Island, the borough everyone hangs on when you ask them to name the five boroughs of New York City? A place that gave the world the “Jersey Shore” cast and “guido” culture.

And “youse guy”s aren’t pleased about being stereotyped?

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It wasn’t enough that Capodanno has seemingly never been on YouTube or had his family or friends share things with him on Facebook. He also criticized the team for holding “Star Wars Night” on the same July 21 game date.

The Sons of Italy have pulled out of the promotion, taking their 50 fans (yes, 50) and going home.

Minor league baseball is full of these sorts of mashed-together promotional nights. As Barry Petchesky at Deadspin pointed out, last Saturday featured not only Pizza Rats merchandise but also “Space and Science Night,” a drawstring bag giveaway, a Special Olympics-related torch run featuring law enforcement, postgame fireworks and a sleepover for Scouts.

Someone send a copy of Mike Veeck’s “Fun is Good” to Capodanno and his buddies at the lodge and tell them to read it. Veeck, the guy who runs the St. Paul Saints independent minor league team, literally wrote the book on exactly what the Yankees are doing this season.

And while you’re at it, send them a link to that YouTube video. I’ve spent time in New York City and rats are everywhere and if I dropped a slice of pizza, I’d certainly let the rats have it rather than try the five-second-rule thing.

But if Pizza Rat doesn’t make you smile, your life has lost all joy.

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Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Birthplace
Boston, Massachusetts
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting from University of Nevada-Reno
Location
Seattle, Washington
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Sports




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