After hearing that Yankees President Hank Steinbrenner "slashed" ticket prices last week in response to fan concerns and empty seats in Yankee Stadium, one might think that the head man of the New York Yankees had finally gotten it. But you would be wrong. Steinbrenner, after weeks of criticisms from fans, lengthy articles from sports writers, and much discussion about the exorbitant prices of the most coveted Yankee Stadium seats, decided to put into place his newest propaganda campaign.

Like his father ("General George" Steinbrenner) before him, Hank Steinbrenner gathered his minions, and in front of large numbers of the press, announced that the Yankees were cutting ticket prices for the most expensive seats to games.

The seats in question, those located closest to the infield of the magnificent stadium, cost $2,500 each per game. The fact that so many of the seats sat empty through the first few home stands of the new season did not seem to bother Hank or the rest of the Yankee family. Steinbrenner continued to assure all those loyal servants of the Yankee Kingdom that everything was okay. But despite his continued protestations otherwise, Steinbrenner remained unconvincing, much like when President Richard Nixon animatedly proclaimed, "I am not a crook."

Last week, Steinbrenner reluctantly showed some chinks in his armor as he announced that the Yankees, in light of the economy, would review the pricing of a small number of premium locations at Yankee Stadium; specifically, the Suite Seats. After showing that he was just as concerned about the American economy as President Obama, Hank Steinbrenner announced that the Yankees were cutting the price of those most expensive seats in half — to $1,250. Likewise, the Yankees were also cutting other similarly priced seats. As a lifelong Yankee fan, I can attest that I have never been able to afford the priciest Yankee ducats. Steinbrenner dropping specific Yankee seats to $1,250 each is like the real estate agent telling me the new, five bedroom house has just been greatly reduced to only $1.25 million. It doesn't apply to me. It also didn't apply to me or most loyal Yankee fans when the Steinbrenners raised ticket prices year after year for the decade before they moved from the old (and still perfectly good) Yankee Stadium.

Let's not forget that one of the main reasons the new stadium was built was because the poor Yankees could barely scrape by with the few, inadequate luxury boxes that existed in the old Yankee Stadium. The new, state-of-the-art Yankee Stadium provides the Steinbrenner family with millions in additional revenues but lacks the one intangible that helped make Yankee Stadium such a tough place to play all those years — very loud Yankee fans.

The current stadium, with its empty seats so close to the field and its wealthy clientele, often seems like St. Patrick's Cathedral moments before Sunday Mass — quiet and reserved. This is not the way it used to be. What truly loyal Yankee fan has not felt the entire old stadium shake as Mariano Rivera got two strikes on the final opposing batter on his way to another save, Yankees win, and the blasting of Frank Sinatra's, "New York, New York" on the stadium loud speakers? It probably won't be the same now because the "rich people" will probably leave the stadium well before Mariano jogs out of the bullpen to "Enter Sandman" so they can beat the traffic. Even if they do stay, the level of noise they contribute to the Yankee home field advantage will most likely consist of mummy pleading with her son, "Mortimer, don't jump about so much, it's unbecoming!" Apparently, the landed gentry do not like to make a lot of noise. Yet that is exactly the type of people Hank Steinbrenner wants to commiserate with.

In fact, Steinbrenner has been disingenuous on more than one count. Hank had the audacity to inform the public that most of the empty Yankee seats had actually been sold but that the owners of those tickets had simply not shown up. So as entire sections of seats remain empty, Hank Steinbrenner expects us to believe that the patricians who own the seats closest to the Yankee modern version of gladiator battles not only don't show up but don't offer those prized seats to a friend, or God forbid, someone less fortunate. Imagine the joy of some blue-collar Yankee fan as he is given four prime seats, seats he could never afford on his own, to a Yankees game to bring his wife and kids. Because if Hank Steinbrenner is as concerned about the state of the economy as he says he is, he could make this happen. Don't hold your breath. We all remember that Steinbrenner offered us those two seats in the bleachers with restricted views for only a "sawbuck." Two seats to a Tuesday night game against Seattle, 565 feet from home plate (at least we think it's home plate) for only five dollars a piece. Talk about fair and righteous treatment of the peasants. Marie Antoinette has nothing on Hank Steinbrenner.

So while the very rich, the rich, and the not-so-rich decide whether they will purchase these new bargain price tickets to watch baseball played by the most storied franchise in history, I will remain in my T.V. room on my couch and watch the Yankees in high definition.

But Mr. Steinbrenner, if someone calls you up and tells you they can't use their six second-row tickets for the big series with the Red Sox, give me a call. I would love to bring the wife and kids to the stadium. Even if I do have to sit next to that little brat, Mortimer.

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