You are, of course, familiar with the ‘Hokey Pokey,’ that crazy dance you find at too many drunken parties. Well, what’s going on right now with the New York Yankees is one giant ‘Hokey Pokey.’

Put Joe Torre in. Put Joe Torre out. Put Torre in and shake him all about.

Put Hank (right) and Hal Steinbrenner in. Put Hank and Hal out. Put Hank and Hal in and shake ‘em all about.

Put King George in. Put King George out. Put King George in and shake the old geezer all about.

Put A-Rod/Mo/Jorge and the rest of the free agents in. Put ‘em all out. Put ‘em all back in and shake ‘em all about.

You get the idea.

What I will call the Yankee Leadership Council (King George and his many minions who want some authority) meets today in Tampa to discuss Joe Torre’s fate and begin figuring what next year’s team will look like.

It’s a mess. Not only does nobody really know what is going to happen, nobody knows who is really making final decisions on anything.

Could be The Boss, depending on whether the feeble old man shows up today or the blustery, cranky old guy who said Torre wouldn’t be back if the Yankees got ousted by the Indians. Could be Hank, who’s been showing some of his old man’s bluster lately. Could be Hal, who seems like the bean-counter in this group.

Probably won’t be Brian Cashman. He’ll get to share his opinion, but it seems like he’ll be taking instructions this off-season instead of giving them like he did last year.

Throwing a monkey wrench into the whole thing are reports that the likely successor to Torre, Don Mattingly, has apparently been telling people he doesn’t want the job under these circumstances.

No matter what happens, it promises to be an interesting couple of days in Yankee-land.

(– Ed Valentine is an award-winning columnist and former sports editor of two daily newspapers. His work can be found at Valentine’s Views and Big Blue View.)