In this case the workers knew full well what they were throwing, but they threw it anyway. They were too caught up in the excitement, though, to care. And that simply is not a sufficient excuse. Time and again we hear about companies and government agencies failing to treat people's private and confidential information as private and confidential ... in spite of regulations and laws requiring them to do so.

As for the "Yankees" angle, that is superfluous to the story. That Big Daddy Steinbrenner was once a felon (he was pardoned, so he can't really be called one now) is also not relevant. But neither of these things means this story should not be of interest to consumers. It should, and we should be angry about it. That the story has a Yankees angle, and that this was done by what appear to be Yankees fans, does not mean that other Yankees fans should be defending this impermissible breach of privacy and condemning the report in its entirety.

You win the comment of the day with that one.

You earn your star every day, mama mcgee.

I do hope that someone investigates where those files came from and penalizes the dummies who did the throwing.

Although I do agree with MBD that this is not really a consumer issue. (But I'm glad the Yankees got mention. The losers don't appear on The Consumerist.)

EVERYONE would take that bet! I'd be super-rich!

I could also bet things like, "That Model T thing is really going to catch on!" "The Boy Scouts will still be around in 100 years!" and "Radio's going to be huge!"

@rhobite: Sure they do. Clearly anyone who thinks Jeter deserves any of his Gold Gloves has a good sense of humor.

And where does that money come from? The fans.

So far that formula has been working pretty well, id say, as yankees have one of the largest fanbases in teamsports.

@RandomHookup: It's in my apartment...and thus legally in my possession...

Unfortunately, I don't know where it is.

And I recently received a Braves jersey in cat size...strange.

@Smashville_now with Monster Energy: Do you have it or is it missing? I'm confused.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): There have *always* been communists and they have always hated America and Jesus.

@Toffeecake: See Charles Lindbergh. That stuff falling on his parade was ticker tape.

@mbd: I'm offended by your post and intend to let you know directly.

It is irrelevant to this story that George Steinbrenner was convicted of donating too much money to Nixon's campaign 35 years ago. He served his time, and has since been pardoned, and it has nothing to do with some unknown third parties who disposed of confidential information in an insecure manner.

It is irrelevant to this story how much the Yankees pay their players. Including this when it is clear that the Yankees were not responsible for the issue at hand serves only to attempt to degrade the Yankee organization for the action of others.

It is irrelevant to this story how much Yankee stadium cost to build. The story is not about Yankee stadium, or any action taken by the New York Yankees. Including this serves no purpose other than to again degrade the Yankee organization for the action of others.

Same for the design and politics of the new stadium. Nothing to do with the story at hand.

Personally, I am offended that the Consumers Union allowed this biased piece of crap to be published, and I intend to let them know directly.

@MostlyHarmless: I dunno...there could be implied racism if she called the actual MVP a raccoon.

@pecan 3.14159265: Oh dear lord, all you had to do was mention good eats and I am so tuning in.

The only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner.

@Jeremy82465: Well, I also feature at 7 am coffee talk hour and a 3 pm mid-afternoon snack hour. And I show that pecan-themed episode of Good Eats.

@The Porkchop Express:
アライグマ

Literally, "washing bear".

@pecan 3.14159265: How can you claim your news is "fair and balanced" when all you do is spread fear about sleepiness?!?

@Smashville_now with Monster Energy: yes he is....or is he?

All this reminds me that I have a missing MLB.com gift card...

@subtlefrog: Everyone knows that the World Series MVP was actually a giant lizard.

@pecan 3.14159265: So in English, Hideki Matsui is a raccoon named Sean Carter?

@floraposte: Why does it matter, huh? Are you raccoonist? What if we had a raccoon in the White House? Would you deny him or her his clams?! WOULD YOU?!

/has had soda this afternoon.

@Kogenta: Well, with the passing of the Equal Raccoon Act of 1965, raccoons can now become World Series MVPs just like everyone else.

Here is Steinbrenner's Petition for Pardon.

[www.thesmokinggun.com]

@subtlefrog: Soon we'll all be making our own news at home. Action News 5 at 11 o'clock: Pecan Pi is feeling sleepy.

My ratings aren't going to be very high past 11:30 pm, I suspect.

@GitEmSteveDave_OverSleptThisMorn: This is actually a plan from Governor Paterson to collect money for state coffers. I sense a conspiracy.

I immediately thought that too. Took me a minute to realize that the raccoon was not, in fact, Jay-Z.

@Smashville_now with Monster Energy: Apparently, he's the World Series MVP.

Note: this does not stop the entire state of Michigan from picking on the Lions. ;)

Isn't it a federal offense to give out medical records, the name of the company should be on the documents, so then they should get fined for doing that.

And everyone who throw personal documents should get fined also.

Why do people get so offended when a sports team is the butt of some jokes/jabs? Are you on the team? Do you own the team? Is anyone on the team actually from your city?

I'll admit that I enjoy sports and rooting my city's teams, but I could care less when someone tries to drag me into some stupid rivalry/argument about it.

Besides all that, it's fun to pick on the successful teams. Who's gona take any joy in making fun of the Clippers?

Who is Sean Carter?

@Miraluka: I always thought consumerist was in/from NY.

@Miraluka: Some people love the Yankees. Some people hate the Yankees. Most people totally agree that the team is overblown with bought talent. Even non-sports fans can debate at length about how much money is sunk into that team. A team that treats itself that seriously and spends that much money like water deserves a little ribbing.

@Alex Chasick: You've dashed that raccoon's dreams. He'll never wear the pinstripes.

@gparlett: It's called a "ticker tape" parade because traditionally, the left-over ticker tape was thrown out the windows. Ticker tape was what a ticker tape machine would print out the current stock prices on; it was basically a fancy telegraph. It probably hasn't been used in 30 years or so. So, no one has ticker tape, so stock brokerage statements are the next best thing!

I guess the Yankees' lack of previous championships makes the fans wacky when they finally do win one?

Wait, what's that? 26 times before this year? My bad.

You're always going to run into people dumb enough to throw documents out with personal information.

At last Friday's championship celebration parade, featuring World Series MVP Sean Carter (left)

When I read "Sean Carter (left)" I immediately looked to the left, like I would for a regular news article. Therefore, the raccoon is actually World Series MVP Sean Carter.

That said, no one can take responsibility for stupid people except the people themselves. How stupid do you actually have to be in order to toss sensitive documents as confetti? I mean, if you're that desperate to litter, at least run the papers through cross-cut shredders first!

Maybe that'll be the newest product to show up in the Yankees gift shop - cross-cut shredders with the Yankees logo.

"disrespect for the law will trickle down to the fans."

Acting as though you've never done anything stupid. You might as well just say "everybody in New York is dumb" and pretend like it's fact.

Get off your high horse and your spectator sports jealousy and bitterness. This isn't the venue for it.

Thankfully, though, NYC is the land of a thousand lawyers, so this shouldn't be that hard to track down and sue up. I did hear that when this report aired, a moan of pleasure came out of Andrew Cuomo's office.

My favorite flavor of Haterade is Sour Grape. It tastes SO GOOD.