Over the past few years, everyone has been captivated by the ideas of what social media can do for political change, how the amazing democratization of free, instantaneous communication could be employed to change the world. In Moldova, protests using the internet for organization were called the Twitter revolution. In Iran, people wondered if social media would destroy a disputed election. And, in America, on the eve of Midterm decisions that could change the very direction of our nation, baseball fans checked into Foursquare to let people know where the best riots in San Francisco are.

Yesterday we showed the lighter side of the TV reporter/fan dynamic. Unfortunately, now we can show what happens when things get substantially closer, louder, and uglier.

Today, the Yankees will get a ticker tape parade to celebrate their World Series win. One hundred years ago — in 1909 — a ticker tape parade made its way up Broadway celebrating a very different occasion — and very few millionaires were involved.

Congrats to the New York Yankees, who clinched their 27th World Series last night by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 7 to 3. The Yankees’ dominance of Major League Baseball is the stuff of legends. But let’s look at their success in a way that is relevant to our media coverage: let’s compare the payroll differential between the Yankees and the Phillies as if they were media outlets. Fair? Balanced? I think so!

Let’s get the facts out of the way first – Keith Olbermann went to see Game 6 of the World Series, watching the Yankees close it out, instead of hosting his show last night – the day after the first elections of the Obama administration. We know this because he wrote all about it on his MLB blog. There’s photo evidence he was hanging out…with a Fox News host!

At least in New York, the biggest single of the summer, and maybe the fall too, has been Jay-Z‘s “Empire State of Mind,” featuring Alicia Keys. Inside: Watch Jay-Z’s performances on September 11 and this week at World Series Game 2, and the official music video.

I was maybe 10 when my father handed me a bible, a tome that encapsulated the fundamental tenets of our religion. It was called The Yankee Hater’s Handbook. A masterpiece of framing, it armed me with any number of responses to claims of the greatness of the team, the excellence of Mssrs. DiMaggio and Maris, [...]