The Nominees For The 2010 She-Fan Video Award/Best Yankee Fan Video Period Are…(WINNER UPDATE!)
This is the big finale – the showdown between such powerhouse video stars as Bill “Surf Dog” Connell and my own mother, the Grande Dame of She-Fans, along with a couple of surprise contenders. Who will win the golden fan in this major category?
You’ll be the judge and it won’t be easy. Without further ado, here are the nominees for the 2010 She-Fan Video Award/Best Yankee Fan Video Period…
(Drum roll)
1) Rachel, the Yankee Fan Nurse. In January, my husband Michael was a patient at Cottage Hospital here in Santa Barbara. I was understandably nervous when he was first admitted to his room, but when his nurse came in to take his history and I asked her if she was a baseball fan (I have no idea why I even brought up the subject, given the setting) AND out popped the fact that she and her husband were Yankee fans….Well, she became my new favorite person. She provided some much needed cheer and for that she deserves consideration this year.
2) Mom, the 93-year-old-soon-to-be-94-year-old Yankee fan. When I spent a month back east this summer, the trip afforded me lots of time with my mother, who was a runner up to Surf Dog Bill for last year’s She-Fan Video Award. This time the interview was so long that I had to split it into two parts. In Part 1, she discussed her affection for Mo (she uttered the memorable “Mo’s spit is different from A-Rod’s” line). In Part 2, shown here, she has a few words for readers of this blog.
3) Jane, the HOPE Week Yankee Fan. See what I mean about tough competition? I’m throwing Jane Lang and her lovable guide dog into the mix. Jane, as most Yankee fans know, was celebrated at the Stadium this summer. Although blind, she takes the train to the Bronx from NJ so she can “watch” her boys. When she was honored by Girardi and the players, she reached up and touched their faces, just as she did with mine after our interview – “to get a sense of you” is how she put it. How can Jane Lang not be a nominee?
4) Bill, the “Surf Dog” Yankee fan. Who can forget the guy with the hot dog stand here in Carpinteria, California? He singlehandedly turns even casual beach goers into diehards with his animated (OK, rabid) fandom. His cart sports a Yankees flag. He carries a Yankees wallet in his pocket. And he’ll talk about the Yankees to anybody who’ll listen – and I mean anybody. The 2009 champ, will he hold onto the golden fan? I interviewed him last month as the Yanks were still fighting for the division title. His predictions for them were a bit off, but they were spot on for the Giants!
So there you have it – four nominees that need your votes. (One vote to a customer.) Go ahead and pick a winner! You can do it!
UPDATE: WE HAVE A WINNER!
Yikes. It wasn’t even close this time. My mother won in a landslide and poor Surf Dog didn’t get a single vote. Nurse Rachel, on the other hand, was a better-than-expected contender and, of course, a couple of you championed Jane Lang. I can’t wait to tell Mom the good news. Thanks, everybody. I know it’ll make her day when I explain that she is now the holder of the golden fan.
Confessions of a She-Fan 
First off, Jane Congrats on another month on the summit of our great blog site. Always a pleasure to stop by your spot in the web universe and see you latest stroke of mastery.
My vote has to go to the She-Fan who spawned the original She-Fan.
Mom by a mile.
Hope she doesn’t kick me in the head for using the “S” word.
Rays Renegade
http://raysrenegade.mlblogs.com
Oh, Jane! I have to vote for Mom! I love Mom! I just want to give her the biggest hug. She’s a real gem. xx
Oooh, you’re always so thoughtful to come and tell me, Renegade. I’d be carrying on cluelessly if not for you. Mom by a mile, huh? Got it. I don’t think she’d mind anything you have to say, “s” word or otherwise.
You’ll have to come to NY the next time I go, Denise. We’ll visit my mother and you can give her that hug!
Another good tough choice, but my vote is for your mom. She is so steadfast and patiently certain in her Yankees love and has quite a way with words!
Congratulations to Jeter, Cano and Teixeira for well deserved Gold Gloves and congratulations on being MLBlog leader for October.
http://blithescribe.mlblogs.com/
You’re playing dirty sticking mom and the cute nurse in the same category.
Sigh.
Gotta go with She-Fan Mom.
http://www.paullebowitz.com/
http://princeofny.blogspot.com/
Yay! I was so hoping Mom would make it to the finals! No disrespect to the others — I have the utmost respect and admiration for nurses, Jane from Hope Week is one of the most inspirational and touching stories of the year, and Bill is hilarious, but Mom is an absolute treasure, and gets my vote hands down. Thanks for the great choices and a wonderful way to reminisce about the 2010 season! I miss MLB baseball ~96 days until Spring Training!
~Roseann
this was a hard choice but i vote for your mom. she sounds so lovely. i still can’t imagine how my mom didn’t know more about the yankees. just by living with my dad you would think she would know things and by having to listen to me. but i was always amazed when i would ask her who played 1st base and she couldn’t even answer. oh i loved her anyway but it was hard to fathom.
barbara
Wow, this one’s really hard to decide. Everyone is great and Bill is hilarious! But I just read so much about your mom and I love her comment. I definitely vote for her. Oh and btw, she absolutely looks fantastic for her age!
Maybe I can make it to CA next year (I’ll be definitely in NYC at the end of July). Yankee Games plus interviewed in front of the she-cam, then I can die happy, lol!
– Nadine
It has to be the Grande Dame of She-Fans, your mom.
And congrats to our Golden Glovers. Especially happy for Cano – well deserved and the first of many to come I’m sure.
Jane
Love them all, but your mom is the best.
Melissa
Why when I was at the hospital I got stuck with the non-baseball, non-cute nurse???? Gee, his husband is the luckiest man in the world, and Michael is the luckiest patient in the world. That said, my vote goes to the Eldest, wisest and She-Fan Creator, Your Mom. As Denise said, I want to give her a huge hug; she is officially (if it’s ok with you) my step grandmother (I didn’t have any, but she is exactly as I imagined mine). Tough choices, but your Mom is the best.
Nurse. I am SUCH a sucker for nurses. Do you really expect anything else from me 😉 ?
–Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
http://mtrredstatebluestate.com
She does have a way with words, blithescribe. She used to teach college Greek and Latin so academics come naturally to her. Even at her age she still leads her book group! Great news about the Gold Gloves for Jeter, Tex and Cano.
I couldn’t resist adding the nurse to this round, Paul – just to torture you. But you didn’t take the bait, I see, and went with Mom. Awwww.
Roseann, you summed up everybody’s attributes perfectly and explained why this was a tough competition. Mom is a treasure – and I miss baseball too! This is not my favorite time of the year. Ugh.
Yes, it’s interesting that your mother didn’t pick up on baseball, Barbara, given that Harold is such an ardent fan. You too, of course. But in the first part of that interview with my mother, she talks about how her father was such a fan and yet her mother paid no attention whenever he’d watch a game, just couldn’t care less.
I’ll tell my mother what you said about looking good for her age, Nadine. She’ll love that! So you’ll be in NY in July? Then a game in the Bronx is definitely in your future. Maybe I’ll be there then too, we’ll see.
That’s decisive, ladyjane. A vote for Mom it is. And yes, big congratulations to our Gold Glovers. I love Cano’s comment that he worked hard on his defense and plans to keep at it.
Thanks, Melissa. Well said.
Yup, James. Michael did get lucky when that nurse walked into his room and turned out to be so sweet. And yes, it’s perfectly OK with me that Mom is now your official step-grandmother. I’m sure she’d be delighted too.
HAHAHAHA, Jeff. You went with the nurse! Of course you did!
Your mom gets my vote!
Jane provides the only real competition to Mom, but I have to stay loyal. my vote goes to mother…. how are youi BTW? i miss baseball so much already. I want Lee and a nice surprise like Dunn or , i dunno, a surprise
O-kay, pinstripeperson2! (Love the name. Is there a pinstripeperson1?)
You’ve always been steadfast in your devotion to my mother, Mike, so your vote doesn’t surprise me. But a surprise for the Yankees? You mean like a real DH? A new catcher? A lefty for the pen? Someone besides Cliff Lee?
LOL on the memory accuracy of my mother, Dave. Don’t beat yourself up about questioning it. Whenever something doesn’t quite add up, we just go with it, if you know what I mean. And since I’m just as bad with dates (and math), I often make the same sort of “foggy” mistake. So I do understand your vote for Jane Lang. I was so surprised to see her sitting at the game I went to and was grateful she didn’t mind my heading right over with the Cam.
I soooooo wanted to vote for your mom, but in the end, it’s Jane. She was adorable on YES.
Congrats to Jeet, Tex and Robbie on their Gold Gloves.
…and p.s. — my true Yankee fan is Peggy — with our without video. 😉
Jane is a good choice, Diane. I wish I had Peggy on the Cam – if she and I hadn’t missed each other at the Dodger game, it would have happened – but maybe next season.
Oh, the Agony of making this choice…and since we can only vote for ONE of them…lemme break down my decision…
#4 — Love ol’ Surf Dog — he gets the Enthusiasm Award for any year, every year…but his predictions were quite a ways off for the Yanks — kudos to his sharpness on the Giants — but no, can’t vote for him in ’10.
#3 — Rachel — I’d give her an award for Rookie She-Fan of The Year — and ESPECIALLY because of the total surprise nature of the video! I mean, you didn’t even know she was a Yankee fan when the camera started rolling! That in itself deserves a special award for impromptu — but not my ultimate vote…
#2 — I feel Guilty as Sin Itself for NOT making the obvious, and unanimous(?) choice of Your Mom for #1. She is The She-Fan Supreme, and evermore shall be, praise de Lawd. But now I dare blaspheme…forgive me, She-Fan for the sin I’m about to commit…being an annoying auditor-type, who is too detail-oriented, I was confused by your mom’s comments about watching her dad being mesmerized by watching those baseball guys…’cause if your mom was at the tender age of 8 or 9, and my math is any good, then it means that she was watching her dad’s reactions in the mid-1920s. Unless Granpapa was a technological wizard, he couldn’t have been watching on TV…so your mom would have been watching her dad being glued to the RADIO. If you can do me the favor of clearing that up with her some day, I’ll feel better. But please forgive my little bit of heretical questioning…chances are, at her incredible age, some of the memories are a bit foggy…it shouldn’t matter, but for some goofy reason, it affected my vote. 1,000 pardons asked for, dear Jane…
#1 — this was SO tough — I mean, The Other Jane is already celebrated in the media everywhere, so maybe she doesn’t deserve this prize, too — but your little interview with her was really precious, and oh so special. Girardi taking her out to the pitching mound, and around the bases…wow. Another great video moment. Don’t know how you do what you do, She-Fan, but keep on a-doin’ it!! And please tell me your mom will forgive me someday…
Jane,
If the voting was close, I’d have to go with your classy and elegant mom, but since it’s not, I’ll cast my vote for nurse Rachel. First of all because she’s a pretty girl, but even more importantly, I loved her closing line, “The only thing I know about sports is Yankees.”
I’m going to go with nurse. It seemed serendipitous.
I loved Rachel’s closing line too, jojovanb. Her interview continued for another minute or so, but I edited it to end right where it did – with that line. Perfect!
Another vote for “the nurse,” kaiser. She’s very cute so I don’t blame you.
MOM. But I thought Rachel’s closing line was great AND I thought Jane was amazing. It was a very tough choice. Could we do some other categories and give out more awards?!
MOM. But I thought Rachel’s closing line was great AND I thought Jane was amazing. It was a very tough choice. Could we do some other categories and give out more awards?!
I know, Ellen. This was a tough one, but it looks like Mom is running away with it, barring any late surges for the others. More awards? Hmm. Let me think about it.
Thanks, Virginia. I’ll tell her!
Congrats to you adorable mother!!!
-Virginia
http//southernbelle.mlblogs.com