COMMENT: YANKEES OWNERS ON SHAKY GROUND

EVERY successful sports franchise is built on solid foundations. Perhaps the suits now running the New York Yankees should be concentrating more on their own performance – and that of the team - than concerning themselves with excavating the concrete at the new stadium that contained David Ortiz’s No. 34 shirt.

Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, along with president Randy Levine, may believe they have reversed the curse. But their reaction to the revelation by the New York Post that a Red Sox jersey had been buried in the concrete says more about them than the construction worker who committed this dastardly deed.

A hex so strong that Ortiz is currently averaging .070 with just three hits in 43 at bats. Rather than threaten legal action, perhaps they should congratulate perpetrator Gino Castignoli and ask him if he wouldn’t mind burying a Manny Ramirez shirt too!

Levine was pomposity personified, describing the job of working on the construction site at the new Yankee Stadium as a “privilege.” Hal Steinbrenner, meanwhile, was quoted as saying that his co-workers should “kick the c**p” out of Castignoli.

Are these the type of people we really want running our club? The same people who didn’t have the guts to fire manager Joe Torre but gambled on him being sufficiently insulted by their offer of a one-year contract to walk away from the job.

Say what you like about long-time Yankees owner George Steinbrenner but at least he had a bit more class than his sons.

With 26 World Series championships to their name, the New York Yankees are one of the most celebrated organizations in sports. But the power, the pride and the pinstripes are currently being tarnished by the mindless media soundbites spouting from the mouths of these misguided men at the helm.

With Red Sox Nation currently holding sway over the Bronx Bombers, you might think they would have the good sense to keep a low profile.

It’s now eight years since the Yanks last ruled the roost in baseball and results so far this season hardly suggest that’s about to change.

Judged on the first few performances by starting pitchers Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, it looks like management’s decision not to trade their “young guns” for ace Johan Santana in the winter is going to backfire.

With many of their aging “stars” coming to the end of their contracts, the new stadium is not the only rebuilding process the Yankees will be going through this year.

Are you confident that current leadership will make the right decisions on who should stay and who they should sign?

For a more than a century, the New York Yankees have been the biggest name in baseball. But nothing is set in stone. Not even David Ortiz’s jersey.