Ashes to pinstripes

The Mike and Mad Dog radio show was a New York sports talk institution, until a salary dispute led to Mad Dog's sudden departure Thursday night. Yesterday Mike conducted a final show under that name, and the tone was emphatically funereal--people crying, recounting their memories, expressing condolences.

And then, pure whack.

A guy sent in photos of his recently deceased mother--one, on her deathbed, and another, as ashes in the first ever official Major League Baseball Yankees urn. The pics were shown to the camera for the TV simulcast as a way to make her an honorary participant on the last show.

Mike and the Mad Dog is a show that generates 15 mil in ad revenue a year, and the Yankees exponentially more. Yet they are both communal media, extensions of the self for fans who identify with them.

Even if it sometimes seems a bit much.