the watch of time

There’s a broadcaster for the New York Yankees baseball team who belts out whenever a Yankees player hits a home run, “See Ya!”.  I’ll grant that at least it’s a short phrase.  But it makes no sense.  And I’m not saying this because I’ve never cared a whit for the Yankees.  (I grew up a Montreal Expos fan.  As they’re not around anymore, I’ve reluctantly become a Toronto Blue Jays follower.)

To be fair, it may not be the dumbest catch phrase in sports, but if not it should be in the top five.  (After all, who knows what banality lurks in the caverns of unexpressed thoughts; not even The Shadow knows.)

Probably none of us know the catch phrases of all baseball announcers when home runs are hit.  But at least others I’ve heard make sense in the moment, such as “Up, up, and away!” or “It’s outa here!”.  Those are logical given the occasion.

There are two grating problems with the ‘See ya’ expression.

The first is its lack of logic given the context: except for whoever catches or retrieves the ball, precious few others are going it to see it again, and certainly not the announcer.  (However, the rare times the tagged ball represents a milestone, it will likely have an afterlife of exposure on eBay, or possibly in a hall of fame.)

Secondly, ‘See ya’ is an arrogant sounding phrase, especially as intoned by the Yankees announcer.  Rather than a strict celebration as inferred with other expressions, this one implies a ‘take that and shove it, opposing team’ attitude.  At the very least, it stands out in a broadcast like a verbal sore thumb; some literal medication would be a distinct improvement.

Be seeing you.