Dan Shaughnessy loves to revel in the failures of Boston area sports teams. There is plenty of evidence this is true. Here. Here. Here. And here. So when the Red Sox are struggling he just can't help himself but to rub it in just a little bit and bash the team for even considering they could be a contending team. He's looked stupid in the past when he's bashed the Red Sox and then the team turned out to win the World Series that same year. I'm not sure if that will be the case for the 2015 season, but his trolling and asshole-ish glee at watching the Red Sox fail, all while holding the team to a ridiculous standard by acting like their recent success isn't impressive, is very much annoying to read. His disdain for common sense and hiding behind his telling "the truth" is just one of the many journalistic crimes he commits. Jay Mariotti likes Dan Shaughnessy, so that tells me all I need to know even if I didn't ever read Dan's writing.
So here he is reveling at the myth that the Red Sox are a contending team. You can feel his joy at being able to bash them dripping off the computer screen. He bashed them here on June 2, then the Red Sox starting winning games so he jumped back on the bandwagon, then they started losing games and he bashed them again.
The Red Sox are a myth,
The entire franchise. It doesn't exist. The Red Sox are the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus of professional sports, just created to give fans in the Boston area something to cheer for during the summer.
The myth of the Sox is that they are some kind of perennial playoff contender.
This isn't a myth. Over the last 20 years the Red Sox have made the playoffs 10 times. 50% of the time over the last 20 years the Red Sox have made the playoffs. That's a pretty impressive run of making the playoffs. It could be better, but it could also be worse. The bottom line is going into each season, the Red Sox are contenders to make the playoffs. Dan can argue this is ridiculous based on the eventual outcome of a season, but his protests don't make the fact the Red Sox are consistently playoff contenders false.
You know . . . three championships in 10 years. Swell.
The only team that can say they have three championships in the last 10 years is the Giants. Before that, it would be the Yankees. Before that, it would be Oakland Athletics in the early 1970's. So the snide, "swell" is misinformed and needless. Three championships in 10 years is impressive, no matter how much Dan wants to downplay it.
But despite the hype, the highest prices in baseball, and the
$200 million payroll, the Sox are no longer legitimate contenders. They
are not a good team and they have not been a good team for quite some
time.
"For quite some time." They won the 2013 World Series. The Red Sox have won 90+ games 11 times in the past 20 years. They have had 3 seasons with a losing record in the last 20 years. All this while playing in a division (the AL East) which had a team from that division make the World Series 13 times since 1990. But yeah, the Red Sox haven't been good for "for quite some time."
Simply because Dan recites a lie doesn't mean this lie becomes the truth.
“When you look at this team — and I tell you we’ve analyzed this team —
this is a strong team,” said Henry. “They’ve just played not up to their
capabilities.”
What else would the owner say? Would he say he doesn't think they put a good team together? Perhaps after the season is over the owner may say this, but of course he will think the team is strong prior to the season starting and during the season. This quote isn't the result of a delusion, but the result of Henry really believing the Red Sox put a good team together.
The Red Sox bottled some lightning in 2013, but clearly that was an
outlier season, one that contributes to the ongoing phony narrative that
the cutting-edge Sox are ahead of the curve and loaded with talent
throughout the organization.
Ah yes, go ahead and crap on the World Series title in order to make it seem more significant than it was. Dan would really have freaked out if he covered the Red Sox from 1919-1945 when they didn't make the World Series once. The playoff set up was much different then, but the Red Sox were mostly terrible during that time. I imagine how bad Dan would flipped out believing the Red Sox wasted the golden years of Ted Williams' career. He would have gotten off so much bashing them in his column.
Wake up, people. Your baseball team is not smarter than all the other teams. Your farm system is not the best in the majors.
I'm not sure "people" think the Red Sox are smarter than other teams. They just try to use different methods of player evaluation from other teams. It's not them thinking they are smarter. Taking a different road to reach a destination doesn't necessarily mean the road you have chosen is the faster path (you can find that on a fortune cookie somewhere). The Red Sox having faith in the players in their farm system, and not wanting to trade players from that system, is a reflection that they like their own players. It doesn't mean the organization or fans think the Red Sox have the best farm system in the majors.
Your Red Sox are an aggregate 31 games under .500 (267-298) since Sept. 1, 2011. According to the Providence Journal,
the 2015 Red Sox entered Tuesday as Boston’s worst baseball team since
1960 in the area of run differential — minus-48 after 51 games.
It's so weird how Dan Shaughnessy uses September 1, 2011 as the cut-off date. I really do believe many of these sportswriters needed to take more statistics courses in college. September 1 is a sort of random cut-off date that intentionally tries to mislead the reader on the Red Sox record during the 2011 season prior to September 1. The 2015 Red Sox aren't a very good team. It doesn't mean the entire organization is fatally flawed.
Despite these inconvenient truths, folks at the top continue to say that
all is well. And rest assured the Sox soon will be OK because . . . you
know . . . they are loaded with prospects.
Yet another contention by Dan that the Red Sox believe themselves to be "loaded" with prospects, but amazingly he can't seem to include a quote from the Red Sox that supports this belief. It's almost like Dan is exaggerating (or at best, misinterpreting) the Red Sox expectations for their prospects in order to make his point seem stronger. Asked to characterize the state of his franchise, Henry answered, “From
my perspective, it’s never been better. I think we’re as strong
throughout the organization as we’ve ever been.’’
Henry says they are "strong throughout the organization," he didn't say they are "loaded with prospects."
“We have a strong commitment to winning,’’ added chairman Tom Werner.
“We play for championships . . . It is our intention to play baseball in
October every year.’’
Yep, nothing about prospects in that quote. Nothing about having a "loaded" system. The idea the Red Sox organization constantly talks about their loaded system is a fantasy that Dan tells himself in order to make his lies and deceptions seem more real.
Increasingly invisible Sox CEO Larry Lucchino (now “busy” with Rhode
Island’s Triple A team and Boston’s 2024 Olympics bid) chimed in with,
“We’re in it to win it, to win championships. If that means this kind of
manic-depressive kind of course, maybe that’s not so terrible . . .
We’re well prepared to be a successful franchise in the next several
years.’’
Again, there is nothing said here about being "loaded" with prospects. It's just talk about where Lucchino wants the franchise to go and where he thinks the franchise currently is.
National media folks gushed about the new Red Sox lineup and predicted
another worst-to-first season for Boston. Sports Illustrated and USA
Today picked the Sox to finish first in the AL East — which, of course,
is still possible in the toxic landfill that the division has become.
And when have national experts ever been wrong about anything? Just check out the ESPN experts' predictions for the 2014 season to see how wrong these "experts" were about the World Series participants. Expecting experts to be correct all the time, when that's not close to being the case, and then basing criticism of the Red Sox on not meeting the expectations of "experts" is ridiculous.
Sox starting pitchers mocked the naysayers, wearing T-shirts that
said, “He’s the ace,’’ and after Clay Buchholz outpitched Philadelphia’s
Cole Hamels on Opening Day, Henry noted to a reporter that the Sox did
indeed have an ace starter.
Outpitching Cole Hamels is now turned into a bad thing, because it wasn't a sign of things to come for the entire season.
And now here we are again. Worst-to-first has become worst-to-worst.
Yes, here the Red Sox are "again." The last time they finished in last place of the AL East in consecutive seasons was 1993-1994 and the Detroit Tigers were in the AL East at that point. But yeah, "again" the Red Sox are going to be in last place of the AL East in consecutive seasons. It happens all the time, just as long the fact it hasn't happened in over 20 years gets ignored.
But many of the Red Sox’ current problems are still rooted in arrogance,
NESN ratings (Messrs. Sandoval and Ramirez are looking like Crawford
and Gonzalez from 2011), an insistence that an ace pitcher is not a good
value, and a system philosophy that relies heavily on new metrics.
Except Sandoval and Ramirez are signed to smaller contracts than Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez were signed to, so Ramirez and Sandoval are not quite the burden Crawford and Gonzalez were on the Red Sox payroll. The new metrics have paid off for the Red Sox in the past ten years.
Turning their backs on arcane thinking (and 130 years of baseball
history), the Sox are out to prove that a team does not need a true No. 1
starter. Instead, the organization chooses to live on the cutting edge
of WAR, VORP, BABIP, DIPS, EqAS, and UZR.
So what? Other teams use these metrics and have success. At no point has any front office that uses advanced metrics stated these metrics are the end-all be-all to determine whether a player is successful or not. This is a constant misinterpretation baseball writers like Dan Shaughnessy (and Steve Dilbeck, Murray Chass, Jerry Green, Terence Moore) have, which is front offices that heavily use advanced metrics still factor in they need good players to be successful. They are simply using different metrics to evaluate players, along with the traditional player evaluation metrics.
OMG. LOL.
STFU.
Alex Speier’s feature on Mookie Betts in the Globe in
February informed us that the Red Sox partnered with a technology
company to measure how fast a baseball brain works. They developed a
proprietary SAT-like testing system to tell them who the good hitters
might be. One of the Sox draftees who crushed the neuroscouting tests
was Jackie Bradley Jr., who has batted .192 over parts of three big
league seasons.
This is compared to human baseball scouts who haven't missed on a prospect over the past 130 years, right? Human scouts are allowed to miss all of the time, but when new technology is used to scout or gather information about a prospect then it has to be correct 100% of the time or else it's considered absolutely useless. So the neuroscouting test didn't accurately show Jackie Bradley's skill level. Real human scouts use metrics that don't correctly evaluate a player's skill all the time.
A lot of big contracts have been given to the wrong people, and it might
be time for the Sox-loving world to stop perpetuating the fallacy of
Boston’s amazing scouting and player development.
They screw up sometimes. Yes, the Red Sox have missed on players who received big contracts.
There’s a nationwide insistence that no Sox minor leaguers can be dealt
to the Phillies for Hamels because the Sox are just too gosh-darned
loaded with great prospects.
Well, plus Hamels is a 30+ year old pitcher who is making a lot of money per year. He could end up being one of those big contracts the Red Sox have taken on which continue to perpetuate the fallacy of Boston's amazing scouting. Of course Dan complains the Red Sox have too many underachieving, expensive players and then bemoans they won't trade their prospects for a 30+ year old pitcher who has a large contract. I wouldn't expect him to be consistent in his criticism though.
the sad fact is that the Red Sox have not drafted and developed a big
league starting pitcher or an All-Star position player since Buchholz
and Jacoby Ellsbury were drafted by Theo Epstein 10 years ago.
What about Anthony Rizzo? (ducks as Red Sox fans throw things at me)
Another question. Shouldn't Hanley Ramirez and Justin Masterson count? They were both considered (and proved to be) ready for the majors when the Red Sox traded them and now they are back on the Red Sox team. I would probably count them both as players the Red Sox developed. Justin Masterson is a big league pitcher while Hanley Ramirez has made an All-Star team.
It’s fitting that the Minnesota Twins are in town this week. The
Twins share Fort Myers with the Red Sox, and we feel sorry for them all
spring. The Red Sox get all the attention and have all the fans and are
nationally acclaimed as the brilliant, big-money franchise, always ahead
of everybody else. The poor Twins have no payroll, no star power, and
no national following. They also have a first-place team with the third-best record in the American League.
This is absolutely laughable. With no sense of irony, in a column where Dan Shaughnessy bemoans that the Red Sox are "again" in last place in the AL East, he starts talking about the Twins coming to town. This is the same Twins team that has been last in the AL Central 6 times in the last 20 years. They have been next-to-last in the AL Central 4 times in the last 20 years. They have made zero World Series and one ALCS in that time, along with having a losing record in 11 of those seasons. THIS is the team he talks about as the antithesis of the Red Sox. Why? Because the Twins are currently in first place in the AL Central. Dan pays studious attention to the Red Sox recent history in an attempt to paint them as a failed franchise, while dismissing their successes, yet he pays attention to the Twins record this season and dismisses their recent history by simply not acknowledging it. He's the worst. This is what to expect from Dan Shaughnessy though. He's incapable of being a good writer when it comes to making a point outside of his trolling opinion.
We have the Red Sox. We have the myth.
The biggest myth overall is that the Red Sox are a failing organization. They may not be succeeding right now, but they have the resources to improve quickly. Of course, when that improvement comes, and it will, Dan is going to forget entirely that he wrote this column. Just like he forgets the variety of other columns he's written bashing the Red Sox. Dan's only purpose as a writer is to serve as a troll and be negative. It gets him attention, which is mostly what he craves. He's horrible.
To add to the hilarity, Dan wrote this column on June 2 and then on June 8 he changed his tune about these Red Sox team. All of a sudden, after a few wins the myth of the Red Sox being contenders may not be a myth. I will have Dan's contradictory column about the Red Sox in my next post. He's the worst. Just the worst. He can't even troll consistently.
The "new" Jay Mariotti certainly acts exactly like the "old" Jay Mariotti acted. I figured he wouldn't allow Bill Simmons to leave ESPN without taking a shit on Simmons. It's just the way that Mariotti is. The professional courtesy of not taking a crap on someone who he used to work with is not something that Jay is interested in. It's not hard to see how I feel about Bill Simmons. Check out my vast archives (seriously, it's way too long...eight years of writing here certainly accumulates a lot of posts) to see how I feel about Bill. The enemy of my enemy is not my friend, but the enemy of enemy is certainly an asshole who is dumping on the enemy of my enemy for lacking the same journalistic skills that my enemy lacks. So Jay wants the fanboy phase of journalism to end. I'm not a big fan of fanboy journalism either, but I'm really, really not a fan of the bullshit antagonistic journalism that Jay Mariotti does. How about both forms of writing are done away with?
The Internet has perpetrated too much disarray in the world, giving
semi-lives to people with no lives and adding too many reckless,
unqualified voices to the daily churn.
Says the guy who does Internet writing and just left a job (got fired? failed miserably?) where all he did was write on the Internet. OF COURSE now that Jay is no longer writing solely on the Internet where he had no print presence he takes a shit on those who solely write on the Internet. Jay hates what he can't do or has been rejected from.
Also, who the fuck is Jay Mariotti to decide which voices are reckless and unqualified? Is he suggesting that sports sites do background checks on the people they hire, just to make sure they haven't pleaded "no contest" to a crime? Probably a good idea. Wouldn't want reckless people like that around the news room.
(I'll go ahead and put the "a lot of cursing" tag on this post)
A new century gave rise to sports websites that had to compete against
legitimate journalists who actually broke news responsibly,
When the hell has Jay Mariotti ever broken news? He may have done this two decades ago, but he's a talentless asshole who simply writes reactionary pieces at this point in his career. The only news Jay Mariotti breaks is news like "This is my introductory column for a new site and here is why my old site sucks and everyone at it are assholes who don't understand real journalism and how many chances am I going to get to prove I don't suck?" interviewed subjects, understood libel/slander law and carried the profession with savvy.
I agree. The "Examiner" never should have hired you. This, we can agree upon. You have no savvy. You have no talent and the opinion you have of yourself is held by exactly 0 other people. So, to have any chance, many of these new sites went low-brow and hired
fans with no training in anything but how to wear a personally
customized jersey to an arena, drink three beers and cheer maniacally
for one’s team.
The idea that Jay Mariotti accuses any site of going "low-brow" in hiring writers is just hilarious. The only places that have hired him are places who are so desperate for pageviews that they make a deal with him, but eventually regret it. Going low-brow should simply be called "Hiring Jay Mariotti" just like "Jumping the Shark" is synonymous with a show no longer being any good. AOL, Sports Talk Florida and now the "Examiner" have hired Jay Mariotti and two of the three seemed to regret the decision. Lacking pageviews? Need your site's name in the news? Hire Jay Mariotti. You will hate yourself in the morning though. ESPN.com, then a digital embryo in a growing corporate empire, lured the
eyeballs of sports fans by hiring one. Simmons had some talent, spoke
the fan language and understood the fan perspective, so the hire was a
good one … as a blogging niche.
And when Jay is able to differentiate between the bullshit he writes about teams, which he calls journalism simply because he has some access, and a blogger like Simmons (who supposedly never really wanted access though he eventually got some) then he should just inform everyone. An article about how Michael Phelps is a loser for smoking pot or any of the other opinion-only pieces that Jay has written are basically just him blogging with a corporation behind him. His Sports Talk Florida site was as much of a blog as anything Bill Simmons wrote for ESPN.
So when Jay figures out why he is able to be so high and mighty about a blogging niche, I'd love to know, because I'm really confused. Sports fanboys began to read the fanboy sportswriter. Traffic grew.
Advertisers bought in. Simmons wrote two masturbatory books, both
best-sellers.
While true, there is a lot of jealously in Jay's words. Remember the time Jay left the "Chicago Sun-Times" because writing on the Internet is where the future of journalism was? Seven years and two failed writing ventures later and Jay is back with print media, his lack of humility is still intact, while his sense of irony is still desperately broken beyond repair.
Bill's books are masturbatory (maybe THAT is why Bill got so many letters from readers discussing masturbation?), but they were both best-sellers and Bill has consistently sold books and managed to advance his own little empire. Bill Simmons is who Jay Mariotti wants to be.
Jay wanted to write on the Internet with AOL. He failed.
Jay wanted to write AND have his face on ESPN so he can be taken seriously. He failed.
Jay wanted a multimedia empire with Sports Talk Florida. He failed.
Bill Simmons had/has the site that Jay desperately wanted to build. Jay wanted to be the editor-in-chief and get the validation as a real writer and editor that he so desperately craves. That was his goal with the Sports Talk Florida site. Bill did it without the training Jay thought he should have and he did it while making a ton of money in the process. This is Jay's jealousy talking. Jay, are you a little jel?
Suddenly, it didn’t matter if he never broke news and never quoted anyone but himself and his cousin.
What's the deal with Jay and his need for quotes? Any person hired as a beat writer or a press pass can get quotes. This doesn't mean this person is a respected journalist. ESPN created the original fanboy sportswriter, spawning a generation of
fanboy sportswriters who also don’t know how to break news responsibly,
interview subjects and cover sports properly.
Again, when Jay Mariotti starts breaking news then I would like to be present for this. I can't recall a single story that Jay has ever broken, unless he wants to count the news that he is a coward and will hide when confronted by an MLB manager as breaking news, but that's just something most people expected of Jay anyway. It wasn't exactly news. Friday, ESPN uncreated Simmons, choosing not to renew his contract.
At long last, an embarrassing business might have a chance again.
Bill Simmons is responsible for a lot of things I don't like about sports journalism, but he isn't the person keeping the business of sports journalism in the doldrums. If anyone contributed significantly to this then it was Jay Mariotti with his hateful, reactionary screeds posing as columns and refusal to treat co-workers, athletes or the public's sense of decency with any sense of respect.
The network has only itself to blame, enabling Simmons and turning him loose to the point he was uncontrollable.
I don't know, it seems like Simmons was controlled fairly well by ESPN through the various suspensions and reprimands they imposed on him. He's an opinionated guy who makes an easy target for some within his own organization. There is a difference between covering sports with fierce independence —
my philosophy — and being a megalomaniacal jackass like Simmons, who
never took a law class and, thus, didn’t understand why the company
suspended him for referring to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as “a
liar.”
Jay Mariotti keeps talking about how other writers "haven't ever taken a law class" like this is supposed to be a huge differentiating factor between him and others. Jay Mariotti may have had court-mandated counseling or taken a law class, but this doesn't make him Justice Scalia by any measure. If Jay HAD taken a law class and understood the law then he would understand Bill Simmons calling Goodell "a liar" probably wouldn't meet the level required by law as libel (as a statement made on a broadcast would qualify as being). Whatever though, Jay thinks because he took one law class that he's now qualified to write legal briefs and fancies himself a sort of journalistic Matlock. Goodell may have lied about what he knew in the Ray Rice case, but
Simmons did not have incontrovertible proof, which means the league
could have sued the network for megamillions — and may have done so if
ESPN wasn’t a broadcasting bedfellow.
If Jay Mariotti had taken more than one law class then he would know that the statement being made by Bill could be seen as an opinion and not a statement of fact (as Bill could easily claim his calling Goodell "a liar" was an opinion). The fact the comment is an opinion can be a defense to libel, and there is a higher threshold for a public figure to prove libel due to the public figure having to prove actual damages. There is a reason President Obama doesn't sue any member of Congress or random person who accuses him of lying and that's because it's a high threshold to meet and not worth his time. The same would go for Roger Goodell. I'm sure Jay knows this since he's taken a single law class and all.
I feel like I'm correct about this libel issue and if there are real attorneys out there who have taken more than one year of law school or a single law class and I am wrong, please do correct me.
Simmons also was unequipped to be editor-in-chief of Grantland.com —
I disagree entirely. I have my issues with Bill Simmons, but he's put a really good team around him at Grantland. I don't like every member of the team, but the site is informative even if it's not a huge financial success. Considering Bill had no past experience as an editor-in-chief, he's done a pretty good job at making Grantland what he wants it to be. His writing still sucks of course. Don't get me wrong.
Anyone else would have been fired after the Goodell and transgender
mistakes. Simmons kept his job both times only because ESPN president
John Skipper doesn’t acknowledge his own errors until he must.
At ESPN, other people who work there have said dumber things on air then to call Roger Goodell "a liar." The transgender thing was a big mistake and representative of Bill's lack of experience as editor-in-chief. That should not have happened. Still, I can't help but think Jay is jealous of Bill and that's why he's writing all of this. Simmons destroyed the commissioner because he didn’t immediately
announce a suspension in the Tom Brady deflated-balls scandal, and while
it’s fair to wonder why Goodell is waiting, his weekend pause doesn’t
warrant a nuclear explosion.
So Jay thinks Goodell deserved criticism, but not harsh criticism. Because Roger Goodell has dealt with so many issues over the past year in such a way that no harsh criticism of him should be allowed. I'm sure Jay is the guy who thinks he can do criticism without a nuclear explosion. Because Jay has proven he can criticize without his criticism taking on a life of it's own. I’ve had my squabbles with corporate management. But my complaints were legitimate —
Everyone thinks their squabbles are legitimate because everyone thinks they are right in these squabbles. No sane person has an issue with management and admits they are wrong the whole time. So yes, I'm sure Jay thinks his complains were legitimate. a Chicago radio station demanded I sign a sheet of paper that I wouldn’t
criticize the Bulls or White Sox, which would have painted me into an
ethical corner had I agreed. When I refused, I was fired the day after
Christmas.
Haha! So replace "Chicago radio station" with "ESPN" and replace "criticize the Bulls or White Sox" with "Roger Goodell" and Jay was in the same situation that Bill Simmons was in. Of course he doesn't see it that way, because Jay's complaints are so legit.
My bosses at the Chicago Sun-Times had business ties with certain sports
owners in town, and when they asked me to soften my opinions about
those owners, I said no.
This is almost the exact same situation that Bill Simmons was in when he was asked by ESPN to soften his opinion on the NFL and Roger Goodell. By calling him a liar, and then challenging the network to reprimand him
after doing so, Simmons no longer was fighting a free-speech war. He
was leaving himself vulnerable to a mountainous lawsuit.
Oh man, but he was not. Again, I recognize Jay has taken a solitary law class, but Roger Goodell was not going to sue ESPN and Bill Simmons for his comments. He has enough PR issues without suing a popular writer for libel. It would be the equivalent of PR suicide to take a public, heavy-handed approach in reaction to what people were saying about him. It wasn't happening, despite Jay's vast legal knowledge saying it would. Before he works again, the fanboy needs to take a law class or two. The
Internet has enabled recklessness by idiot entrepreneurs — such as the
assclown at Gawker Media — who think they can publish lies about anyone
because it’s difficult for a public figure to win a libel suit against a
web publication.
So Jay, with your vast law experience, has a public figure won a libel suit against Gawker media who has published lies? Has it happened? The Bleacher Report entrepreneurs, too, are sports fans, making them fanboys much like … Bill Simmons.
Well obviously Bill Simmons is responsible for the success of Bleacher Report and Deadspin. Naturally. Bill has influenced writers, but he's also responsible for some good writing that is being overlooked by Jay in his attempts to crap on every co-worker he's ever worked with. I should feel lucky that Jay isn't still taking a shit on Roger Ebert's grave.
One of America’s best sportswriters, Bob Kravitz, broke the Deflategate
story in his new position at an Indianapolis TV station/website. After
the Ted Wells report was issued, Kravitz wrote of unprofessionalism he
encountered in the New England media the last few months: “The people
who disappointed me most were the folks at The [Boston] Globe’s website,
Boston.com. They are renowned pom-pom wearers, so it wasn’t a surrpise.
But I was struck at the enthusiasm they displayed while carrying the
Patriots’ water. It shocked me that a great newspaper like the Boston
Globe would employ such rank amateurs and cheerleaders. Sad.”
Where did Simmons grow up? Boston.
From who did younger Boston.com sportswriters learn? Simmons.
Aaron Hernandez was just convicted of murder and may have committed more than one murder, all while playing for the New England Patriots. Tom Brady was revealed to have doctored footballs by deflating them while a member of the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick and the Patriot organization were shown to have been spying on opposing teams several years ago in order to gain an upperhand.
Where did Simmons grow up? Boston. (Except for when he moved to Connecticut of course) What is his favorite NFL team? The New England Patriots. This is not a coincidence either. Bill set up an atmosphere where Aaron Hernandez could commit murder and cheating was acceptable within the Patriots organization.
From whom did Brady, Belichick and Hernandez read glowing words about the organization and it's greatness which caused such hubris? In Bill Simmons' columns.
ESPN also killed sportswriting when it gave a major platform to a
statistics geek, Nate Silver, failing to realize that sport is best
covered via the exploration of human emotion, not the joyless crunching
of numbers.
It's not like Jay is capable of crapping on just one person in a column. He loves to spread his jealously and anger at being rejected by ESPN on every employee within the organization. It's still hilarious to me that Jay holds himself up as this journalistic ideal that every other journalist must meet by getting quotes, taking one law class and exploring human emotion, as if knowing how to say these things means Jay is actually good at doing them. In the process, the network chased off Rick Reilly, only the greatest
sportswriter of his generation and someone who broke news responsibly,
covered games and press conferences on site, interviewed subjects,
understood libel law and carried the profession with savvy.
Jay is very, very, very concerned about sportswriters knowing libel law. And if making sure while ON-AIR he gets credit for something and plagiarizing his own columns counts as savvy, then Rick Reilly was full of it. Of course, he was also full of something else. Next, ESPN is trying an African-American site with an editor, Jason Whitlock, who isn’t liked by many African-American writers
As has been noted repeatedly by Deadspin, but I'm sure Jay would like to gloss over this little fact. I appreciated my eight years at ESPN; the TV show was fun, and when I
was on, the ratings were much higher and the banter much livelier.
"EVERYTHING WAS BETTER IN THE PAST WHEN I WAS AROUND! SINCE I'VE BEEN GONE NOTHING IS THE SAME!"
Of course everything was better when Jay Mariotti was around. I wouldn't expect him to believe anything different. Most people believe their time at an organization was the golden era of that organization simply because that's how their own ego tends to view things in a more self-centric way.
It’s a political loony bin where Skipper, like Goodell, can’t maintain
consistency in issuing disciplinary punishments. Seems he finally got
one right Friday.
Watch out Jay! I know you know with your vast amount of law classes you have taken that you had better be careful calling Roger Goodell not consistent in his punishment. You wouldn't want to be fired in order to avoid a lawsuit. And, no, I would not hire Bill Simmons at this news organization if he applied. Our standards are too high.
I don't like Bill Simmons' writing, but if the "Examiner" was given the option of hiring Simmons, but dumping Mariotti, I think I know which direction they would go in. It's funny that Jay thinks the "Examiner's" standards are too high when his presence at the paper proves this statement as absolutely false.
I try to be fair here. You may not believe that, but I do try. I try not to make personal, mean attacks on those who I cover here on the blog. I want the focus to be on the work they produce and how terrible it can be. It's easy to focus on the work with some writers and harder to do others. Then there are sportswriters like Jay Mariotti. I just don't think he's a very good guy. I think he's a liar, he's deceptive and he's willing to bash "huge conglomerates" for taking over the sports media, all while trying to get a job with a huge conglomerate. He's consistent only in how inconsistent he is. I remember how he wrote an article about five years ago on how conference tournaments are worthless and then revised the entire column after the Big East Tournament had several thrilling games. Literally revised everything about the column, including whether the conference tournaments were a waste of time. Fortunately I had caught the post he had written when he was bashing the tournaments prior to not bashing them and posted it here.
Well now, after proudly going "indie" at Sports Talk Florida, Jay has gone back to the print media that he once declared was dying a bitter, sad death. Much like his previous employers have done when Jay lays them to waste by slipping out the backdoor in the middle of the night, Sports Talk Florida has removed every trace of Jay, except for his slimy picture. It's usually how it goes with Jay. It's a process:
1. Jay is hired by a sports company/newspaper after leaving his previous position with angry feelings all around.
2. Jay immediately begins bashing the old company/newspaper and talks about how his new company/newspaper is the direction ALL sports media is going, so his other company/newspaper will be gone soon.
3. Jay writes trolling articles and most people who read hate him.
4. Eventually people at Jay's employer start hating him, because he's generally not a likeable person.
5. Jay slips out the door due to the angry feelings he and his new employer feel towards each other and eventually finds a desperate sports conglomerate to hire him in order to bring in ratings.
Then the process starts over again. Well, Jay Mariotti has found a new sucker for an employer. Jay's new employer is a daily newspaper, "The San Francisco Examiner," the same kind of daily newspaper he declared was dead when he left the "Chicago Sun-Times" for AOL. I figured this would be a fun time to follow-up on the introduction he wrote upon joining Sports Talk Florida and see what a hypocrite Jay is. Due to Sports Talk Florida scrubbing all of Jay's columns, I will have to cover what he wrote based on what I wrote on this here ol' blog. It's always funny how Jay hates on those newspapers and big conglomerates that he eventually goes running back to.
I'll also cover a little bit of what I wrote at the time about Jay in italics. Here was part of the introduction:
See, Jay is all "indie sportswriting" now. Corporations suck and big
companies just suck the life out of you. This is rich coming from a guy
who made a ton of money working for big sports media corporations and
this money he made is how he can afford to "go indie" with his
sportswriting. Regardless, after making a career on television at ESPN,
writing at the "Chicago Sun-Times," and recently pitching his columns to
sites like Fox Sports, Jay completely fails to see the contradiction in
touting his new indie direction. Basically, he got rejected by the big
boys, so now he feels he is too cool and "indie" for them. Jay wants to
be The Man, not work for The Man. No really, Jay says something like
this in this not-so-brief introduction.
I’m excited to launch a multimedia production that I believe will be the
next digital prototype for sports commentators and columnists.
It was not. It was done after less than two years. It became the next prototype for why hiring Jay Mariotti is always a bad idea. Jay is 50% less talented than he believes himself to be. He sees himself as the white knight of sports journalism, while many others see him as an example of how print and sports journalism has handed it's soul over to tabloid and hot take journalism.
At a time when corporate interests have swallowed much of sports
journalism and left too much cooperative residue between leagues and
mammoth media companies,
Now Jay is working for a free newspaper that is independently owned! While Jay may say he's going even more "indie," he's now not only working in print media again, but is working in FREE print media. I'm sure he believes this to be a massive step-up...at least until the "Examiner" comes to their senses and has a falling out with Jay.
In partnership with Genesis Communications, my plan has come to life.
I’ve signed a multi-year deal to provide news and commentary about
anyone and anything in sports, media, culture, the world.
"Multi-year" being defined as "1.5 years." After that, Jay wears out his welcome. I wonder if Sports Talk Florida signed Jay to a multi-year deal and then got out of it or Jay got out of the deal with Sports Talk Florida once a better job in an industry he once declared is dead opened up?
In my days away, sports has taken complex and unprecedented turns, and
the need for robust, serious commentary and investigative reporting is
stronger than ever.
Which is probably why Jay Mariotti hasn't been an active part of sports commentary for the past 3-4 years. There was a need for serious commentary, which is why Jay didn't have a real job in the industry like he used to. Trolling readers and baiting managers into trying to beat him up is Jay's idea of serious journalism. Also, Jay has never done any investigative reporting, unless you want to count investigating how far up his own ass he can put his head. Sports is a multi-billion-dollar-business — should we be saying
multi-trillion now? — and it should be covered as such by commentators
who are editorially and financially detached from the mechanism.
That is, until a newspaper offers Jay a job and he has to take it because Sports Talk Florida doesn't want him anymore.
Remember that Jay said in 2009 the future is "sadly not in newspapers." Apparently we are no longer in the future, because Jay has gone back to a daily newspaper for employment. Isn't it weird how Jay bashes industries that he's simply jealous he's no longer a part of? It's almost like a trend with him. He bashes newspapers upon leaving the "Sun-Times" for AOL, bashes huge conglomerates after AOL and ESPN get rid of him for his legal issues and Sports Talk Florida hires him (all while trying to get a permanent job with Fox and ESPN and doing a free lance assignment for ESPN...of course), and now I'm sure he'll bash Sports Talk Florida in some way.
For anyone questioning this vision and my commitment to digital
evolution, rewind to 2008, when the Chicago Sun-Times (a newspaper in
the Midwest) broke a promise to improve its archaic Web site during our
coverage of the Beijing Olympics. I politely resigned after the Games,
left $1 million of guaranteed money behind,
This was when Jay Mariotti first declared newspapers to be dead. If you believe he resigned over a web site design then I have oceanfront property in the Midwest I would like to sell you. Look at the "Examiner's" web site. They have auto-play videos and everything! Maybe Jay is just a stickler for good web page design!
I should note I’ve had meetings with ESPN and Fox about joining their operations, and candidly,
They had no interest in hiring you? I think they’re too corporate, while they have their own opinions of me.
"Too corporate" being defined as "they didn't want to hire me" due to the opinion they had of Jay.
Jay really lives in his own world, doesn't he? He truly believes those things he writes. He convinces himself that he doesn't want to work for ESPN and Fox, mostly because they don't want him to work with him. I was stunned to hear ESPN’s Michael Wilbon angrily criticize Roger
Goodell, the NFL commissioner, as “gutless” after the league didn’t
punish Philadelphia receiver Riley Cooper for his racist remark.
That is a rarity, people.
Jay can't simply leave a previous job. In fact, I'm sure in his introductory column at the "Examiner" he will bash his previous employer. He's so slimy.
Having been painted by previous bosses into conflict-of-interest-driven
editorial corners, I’ve opted at this point to be the independent who
controls content within a franchise. The goal is to expand with more writers and voices while growing the
radio program for Genesis nationally and across Florida.
Then Jay opted to jump right back into the print media that he once declared was dead.
I’m not doing
this to get wealthy;
Because that's what the meetings with ESPN and Fox were for, to see if they would hire him so he could get wealthy. Fortunately, the "Examiner" came along and probably gave Jay a nice monthly paycheck, so he's in the business of getting wealthy again. Jay's agenda and perspective depends entirely on which media outlet is currently rejecting him or accepting him.
You’re seeing “franchise” sites pop up, such as Bill Simmons and
“Grantland” at ESPN and Peter King’s “MMQB” at Sports Illustrated. Those
are cool sites oozing of quality, but this will be more cutting-edge.
By "cutting-edge" Jay means "not having 1/100 of the success those sites had and will fail after less than two years." There was nothing "cutting edge" about Jay's site on Sports Talk Florida, so he had to go back to the "cutting edge" of sports journalism, which he suddenly believes to be print media.
I’m not in this business to publicize sports or masturbate to my own prose.
Yes, because Jay is now in a position as sports director to force others to masturbate to his proseand directly make others' live miserable by reminding them of how talentless they are compared to him. It's a dream job for him.
Time to work. With a portable studio — how I love 2013 — we’ll be doing
the radio show from L.A., Florida, the Super Bowl, a Mexican
bullfighting ring, anywhere and everywhere.
And now, Jay will write about how portable studios are the worst thing ever to happen to sports. That is until he gets an opportunity to do a radio show in a portable studio after the "Examiner" tires of him.
Then in his original first post on Sports Talk Florida, Jay goes on to call the woman who accused him of striking her as a liar who was in it for the publicity and claims he only settled so his family wouldn't have to be dragged through a court case. A court case he TOTALLY would have won, but a court case where his name would have been slandered by a system that was completely against him as a white, male who earns six figures per year. We all know rich white men are the real silent victims in the criminal justice system.
He didn't even make sense at the time when explaining his reasons for settling:
I took the high road, didn’t scream publicly about dirty tactics in the
case, accepted the no-contest route and wrote the book in September 2011
not to make money but so all of this could be on public record.
And any testimony at the trial would also have been a part of the public record.
Wrote Rieder: “Life is packed with nuances and subtleties and shades of
gray. But the news media are often uncomfortable in such murky terrain.
They prefer straightforward narratives, with good guys and bad guys,
heroes and villains. Those tales are much easier for readers and viewers
to relate to.”
This from a sportswriter who made a living off passing judgment on others. Remember the time he jumped all over Michael Phelps for smoking pot? Going forward, I suppose I could leave behind the daily sports grind,
write more books and dabble in other subject material. But why?
So that you don't bother anyone with your existence? Yes, I’ve had meetings with a few media companies about what I might do
next. A Fox executive asked if I would be changing my column approach.
“Nope,” I said. “Same guy, same column.”
And of course the "Examiner" didn't take the hint that the "same guy" who was claiming to have a different perspective lasted less than two years at his previous job. I guess they didn't care, but it's on them when this whole "hiring Jay Mariotti" thing blows up in their face like it is bound to do. I’m confident about this site because I’ve been there when so many
haven’t — 14 Olympic Games, 24 Super Bowls and a wealth of World Series,
NBA Finals, Final Fours, college football championship games, golf and
tennis majors, title fights, etc. I’ve written my 6,500-plus columns,
been on national TV a couple of thousand times, done my radio programs
for years.
Jay was so confident that he couldn't make it work. What is it about him that makes sports papers/sites continue to hire him? I don't get it. Does he throw his resume in their face and it's so overwhelming that they forget he is a talentless hack who wears out his welcome at nearly every single place he has worked over that last decade?
The Mariotti Show is a site firmly planted in 2013 yet detached from the government-like climates of corporate media.
The "Examiner" sports page will be firmly planted in 2015 when Jay suddenly thinks print media and newspapers still have a chance to survive, yet detached frompre-2009 when Jay thought the newspaper industry was dying and didn't mind telling anyone who would listen that his job at AOL was better. Then Jay decided his job at Sports Talk Florida, away from the AOL and ESPN conglomerate, was better. And now his job for the "Examiner" is better. Everything is better until it's not anymore.
I can tell the truth about any subject I want, anytime I want, and no
one can summarily spike content because your boss is friendly with a
commissioner or owner, your company is in business with a league or
team, your newspaper has a comped suite at the ballpark or your network
has a rights deal through 2082 with a major college conference.
It seems your have welcomed your self back into the world that you were so eager to leave...again. I can't wait for Jay to bash print media again after he has a falling out with the "Examiner" and finds a new direction (i.e. someone willing to hire him) for sports media in the future.
Like his fellow Twins-watcher Tom Powers, Jim Souhan thinks the Twins have been coddling their players too much under Ron Gardenhire. Much like Tom Powers, Souhan states this as someone who doesn't make his living in athletics where he could suffer a severe injury, unless carpal tunnel counts as a severe injury. Fortunately, the Twins have hired Paul Molitor to end the coddling of the Twins players. Previously, Twins players have missed games with brain injuries and torn muscle parts, but that era has ended with Paul Molitor in town. Now there's no excuse for missing a game. Just rub some cocaine and marijuana on it like Molitor did and get out on the field. If a Twins player is thinking about sitting a game out, take it from a guy who had an article written about him stating,
The amazing thing about Paul Molitor's recent bat-o-rama is not that he
has hit in 33 straight games but that he has played in 33 straight
games.
I'm sure Molitor's injuries were just a result of him playing too hard and trying too hard not to coddle himself. The idea a player who was famous early in his career for being injuredno longer allowing Twins players who are injured to be coddled is funny. From the first article I linked, here is a list of Paul Molitor's ailments from 1980-1986:
Molitor was voted to the American League's starting lineup for the
1980 All-Star Game but had to excuse himself. A pulled chest muscle
forced the Milwaukee infielder to miss almost a full month of play, from
June 24 to July 18.
In 1981, Molitor tore ligaments in his left ankle May 3 and was on the disabled list until July 12.
In 1983, a wrist injury bothered him all season, and his batting average, hit and RBI totals fell way off from the year before.
In 1984, Molitor hurt his right elbow in spring training, played 13 games before undergoing surgery May 21, and never came back.
In 1985, Molitor made the All-Stars again, but spent Aug. 13-29 on the disabled list with a sprained ankle.
In
1986, Molitor hurt his hamstring, was put on the disabled list from May
10-30, hurt it again three days later, and returned to the disabled
list from June 2-17.
I'm sure Jim Souhan thinks all of these injuries were from trying too hard and trying to be gritty enough to continue playing. There is nothing wrong with being injured and I am smart enough to understand Molitor can't rub dirt on his injuries and come back in the game. Unfortunately, Jim Souhan forgets about Molitor's past and decides that the coddling of Twins players has to stop...and Molitor is the guy to do it, while conveniently ignoring that Molitor had his own injury issues. As a player, Paul Molitor demonstrated competitiveness not with gestures or celebrations, but with stone-faced, head-first slides into spikes.
He slid "into spikes" as a player? That seems unnecessary to prove his toughness. The bases don't even have spikes on them, yet Molitor slid into bases with spikes anyway. That's toughness.
In 2001, he hinted at the fires within. The baby Twins, having led the American League Central for most of the season, were ambushed by a veteran Indians team in Cleveland late in the season. Molitor, then coaching under Tom Kelly,
Tom Kelly, a known pussy who somehow managed to ride the grit of Jack Morris and Frank Viola to two World Series titles.
thought the opponents and umpires were displaying disrespectfulness to his team. It took multiple people to keep him from bursting onto the field to physically make a point.
Leadership is physically assaulting an umpire and the opponent.
Last season, as the Twins lost 92 games, Molitor — promoted from coach to manager on Tuesday — again tried to remain below boiling temperature. “There were times last year when we’d get on the team bus after a loss and Paul would look over at me and just shake his head,” Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said. “He had that look in his eye, like he was ready to explode. And I know that look, because I was sitting on that bus thinking, ‘That was a game we should have won.’ If it weren't for the group of nine human vaginas on the field who can't play through injuries, these games would have been won. This isn't ballet guys, it's baseball. Suit up and play baseball...unless you can't like Molitor couldn't earlier in his career in which case that was fine for him, but totally isn't fine the current Twins players.
“We won 70 games last year. I think we should have won 78. To go from 78 to 88, or something close, I don’t think that’s unreasonable. I think we should be competitive this year.” At his first news conference as manager, Molitor said: “I’m coming here to win.”
BREAKING NEWS: A newly-hired manager states his intention is to win baseball games.
His first order of business should be introducing a new mentality to the clubhouse.
A mentality like cocaine use to work through any tired feeling or marijuana use to numb any pain the players may have?
During their four consecutive losing seasons, the Twins tried to exercise caution with injured or bruised players. Anyone complaining of an ache was given an extra day or two off. There is logic in that approach.
You mean an ache like an injured hamstring that Molitor had during the 1986 season? Or an ache like a pulled chest muscle that Molitor had during the 1981 season? There is also danger.
The Twins clubhouse became a place where you could collect a check without actually taking the field. One of the early tests of Molitor’s tenure will be his handling of his best player, Joe Mauer.
The player for the Twins who is a catcher and has suffered many of the ailments that a catcher will traditionally suffer, including concussions and knee surgery? The same Joe Mauer who holds the Twins' record for most games played at catcher?
Both grew up in St. Paul. Both played baseball at Cretin High. Both had the early years of their careers defined by constant injuries. The difference between them is important. Molitor’s desire to play was obvious. Mauer’s is not.
This doesn't really make sense. How does Souhan know that Molitor's desire to play was obvious and Mauer's desire is not? Is Souhan also able to visually determine a player's desire, even going back 30 years? Or is he just writing this sentence in a weak attempt to push Molitor's injuries off as something he couldn't fight through in an effort to head off the obvious contradiction in painting an oft-injured ex-player-turned-manager as a guy who will force his players to fight through injuries.
When the guy making $23 million a year begs out of the lineup because of a bruise, it’s difficult for the manager to push others to play through pain.
Souhan is referring to Mauer leaving a game with a bruised right elbow. This happened on September 23 and he returned on September 25.
Molitor’s predecessor, Ron Gardenhire, believed in maintaining cordial relations with key players. That approach worked for most of a decade. It appeared to fail in recent years with Mauer.
Mostly playing catcher, Joe Mauer has played in at least 113 games in every year of his career except for 2011 and 2004 when he was called up from the minors. Catchers are banged up a lot and in 11 seasons Joe Mauer has played 210 games as the DH and 920 games as the catcher, while Molitor played 1173 games as the DH in 21 seasons. Just saying, it's a lot easier to get banged up as a catcher. Can Molitor play the bad guy?
“Yes,” he said. “It is a necessary part of the job. But for me, it’s kind of like surgery. It’s kind of the last option. I want to reach people in different ways before that needs to be done. We all know that different players have different buttons that need to be pushed.
And hopefully Molitor can push the "Rub some dirt on it" button that his manager couldn't seem to be able to push for him early in his career.
“We can all talk nice and fluffy about, ‘Well, you can all get along, and then they’ll play for you.’ In reality, not everyone is going to fit into that mode. They’re going to challenge you along the way, and see where you stand. I will choose other things first, but yes, there will be times when you need to be tough.
Plus, winning. Paul Molitor will be trying to win games too. Don't forget that. It's a goal other managers tend to forget about.
Does Mauer expect to be managed differently? “Well, I’d like to think I don’t need a lot of managing, as long as I get in the lineup,” he said.
Which should happen since Mauer is still a really good hitter. That's getting lost in this discussion about how the Twins aren't a tough team and Joe Mauer left a game due to a bruise.
Does closer Glen Perkins, who is friends with Mauer and an admirer of Molitor’s, believe the new manager will have to push this group of players? “I think that there’s an inherent respect for him that’s going to make guys do the things they have to do,” he said. “I don’t think there’s going to be any lackadaisicalness. With him, it’s the same thing as with Terry Ryan. When Terry walks into the room, you stand up and shake his hand. He commands respect. Paul Molitor is the same way. Nobody is going to feel right about trying to get away with certain things. “The culture changes with just hiring him, and him being our leader. It’s a welcome change.”
"Pussies not allowed!" is what Glen Perkins is really saying. All of these Twins players who have been coddled are finally going to be forced to play through their injuries. Of course, Jim Souhan in typical talk-radio style only named one Twins player who he thinks has been coddled, but I'm sure there are many, many more that he just didn't have time to name in this column. After all, when indicating in the title there are multiple Twins players who are being coddled, it makes sense to only use the example one player, and for that one player to be the Twins catcher.
By the way, Yadier Molina (a guy I don't think anyone would state is not tough) has played in an average of 120 games per year in his career, while Joe Mauer has played in an average of 118 games in his career. The man who upholds all that is great and right in baseball, Brian McCann, has averaged playing in 124 games per year in his career. So catchers get injured and can't play in every game during a season. Now that Mauer has been moved to first, maybe the bar is higher, but he still has almost a decade of wear from playing catcher on his body. Not that it matters to Jim Souhan as he eats a pre-game spread and tosses back a Diet Coke before the game safely in the press box, it's just that Mauer isn't tough enough. Paul Molitor is obviously the cure.
Jim Souhan also wrote an article where he thought that Molitor should maximize the grit and toughness of the Twins team by hiring an entire coaching staff of Twins legends. What could go wrong?
On Tuesday, the Twins, for the first time, hired a Hall of Fame player to be their manager.
Why stop there?
Why not surround Paul Molitor with other famous former Twins?
Greg Gagne for hitting coach! It's the only way to win. Jeff Reardon for pitching coach!
Why not hire coaches who will inspire admiration, if not fear, in the Twins clubhouse?
"Admiration, fear...they are pretty much the same thing," said the future dictator of a Communist country.
Traditionally, major league coaches earn their jobs through years of minor league work and organizational loyalty.
The
advantage Molitor has now, and has enjoyed as a minor league instructor
and spring training coach, is that his reputation precedes him. If a
young player doesn’t know who he is, someone like Glen Perkins or Brian
Dozier will tell that player, “Listen to this guy. He’s in the Hall of
Fame, and he got there with his brain.”
That's a great story, Jim. Actually Paul Molitor got in the Hall of Fame with his ability to hit a baseball, but it sounds much, much cooler to say he got there with his brain.
In an otherwise empty Twins spring training
clubhouse in 1996, I was interviewing Chuck Knoblauch when Ron
Gardenhire, then a coach on Tom Kelly’s staff, came in and told
Knoblauch he was wanted on the field. Knoblauch said, “In a minute,” and
didn’t move.
Gardenhire, angry, left. Knoblauch said, “What’s he gonna do? He’s just a coach.”
Then Knoblauch went on the field and threw the baseball into the stands when trying to scoop the ball to the shortstop for a double play.
Knoblauch was being a jerk. He was also correct:
The average major league coach wields little actual power. The average
major league coach is seen as part valet, part worker bee.
Now imagine
a clubhouse filled with young players, run by a manager named Molitor,
and coaches named — take your pick — Dan Gladden, Jack Morris, Bert
Blyleven or Eddie Guardado.
Oh yeah, that's a great point. With guys like Gladden, Morris or Guardado in the locker room players will be like, "I don't know who the fuck that guy is because he isn't in the Hall of Fame like Paul Molitor is, but I am definitely going to respect that guybecause they are the average major league coach that wields little power."
My ideal Twins staff would be Molitor, Brunansky, Guardado as bullpen
coach, Gladden as outfield coach and Morris or Blyleven as pitching
coach.
Basically, Jim Souhan's ideal Twins staff has almost no experience actually being a coach at the major league level. I can't imagine how that wouldn't work out.
The Twins would need to hire a Latin American former player who could
communicate with the team’s Spanish-speaking players, and Molitor could
use a veteran bench coach.
That's a great point. Who can speak to all the Mexicans? Perhaps Rick Aguilera? Sure, he ain't no Mexican, but as long as he can spit a few words of Spanish out I'm sure it will appease everyone. What are the Mexican players going to do anyway? Paul Molitor ain't having any bullshit in his clubhouse, including any bitching about the fact there ain't no Spanish-speaking coaches. Go home if you won't play hurt and or you think that you need a translator! Paul Molitor and Jack Morris never needed a translator and neither do you!
All of the above were known for mental and physical toughness as well as
success. They are all capable of keeping a clubhouse loose, or getting
in a sluggish player’s face.
And that's really what it is all about, getting in a player's face. Boy, Jim Souhan really wants to watch grown men get yelled at, doesn't he? Just as Molitor can teach a young player the proper footwork required to steal bases in the majors,
"Run in that direction and then slide once you get close to the base." Guardado could show his own game films
That sounds like a good use of time. "Hey everyone, come see how good I pitched! No bitching about watching me pitch for two hours or else Paul Molitor will get in your face. I'm keeping it loose now, but when Jack Morris comes in raging that you aren't watching my game film, it's on you to calm him down." while demonstrating that velocity is not a prerequisite to pitching well in the big leagues.
"Throw slower and success will come."
Isn't that the direction baseball is headed? Softer throwing relievers?
Gladden can explain how he learned to expertly play left field,
"When the ball was hit to me, I used my legs to run and catch it. Here, now you try." Morris and Blyleven can take apart games pitch by pitch.
And Morris will always complete every game he takes apart pitch by pitch, just like he completed every game he started in the majors...including GAME 7 OF THE 1991 WORLD SERIES. Most big-league coaches are happy to have a job and hold little
leverage. The Twins would have to woo Morris or Blyleven away from good
broadcasting gigs offering scheduling flexibility. That would be
expensive.
(Twins management) "Bert, you can fart in the clubhouse."
(Bert Blyleven) "It's a deal."
(Twins management) "Jack, you can tell stories about GAME 7 OF THE 1991 WORLD SERIES and we will put a good word in for you to the Veteran's Commit---"
(Jack Morris) "It's a deal."
The organization strives to keep its best players close; they can’t get
much closer than wearing a uniform in the dugout during games.
The dynasty would then begin. Now Paul Molitor is going to go get in someone's face which will cause fear in the player, followed by admiration.
You know guys, I know who is going to win the World Series this year. I can't obviously tell you now who will win the World Series this year, because that wouldn't be fair, but I will tell you after the baseball season is over who will win the World Series. Also, I know who the next President of the United States will be. Again, I can't tell you yet, but it's going to surprise you. Don't worry, I will tell you after the next President is elected if I was right or not. Much along the same lines, Gregg Doyel has a list of baseball players he knows use PED's. He can't name their names right now, but when the new Biogenesis names come out he will confirm those were the players he suspected of PED use. The reason he knows these players used PED's is because it's so obvious when an MLB player is using steroids. Just take a look at this list. Who didn't take a look at J.C. Romero or Neifi Perez and say, "Now THAT is a player who is using PED's." I remember looking at Freddy Galvis' career statistics and knowing he couldn't have hit nine career home runs without a little additional help from illegal performance enhancing drugs. Pablo Ozuna's fastball doesn't dip and dive like that without a little help from the old Cream and Clear.
The best part about this column is it gives readers a chance to speculate in the comments about which MLB players are using PED's. So Gregg Doyel's guessing game---I'm sorry, that's wrong---scientifically accurate judgment based on visual inspection on which current MLB players are using PED's is a game that YOU TOO can play at home. This is an interactive column.
I have a list. So do you, right?
Oh yeah, I do. I have a grocery list, a list of improvements needing to be made around the house, a list of people who I will call and cuss out once I'm old enough to pretend to be senile, and a shit-list which had new names added every week. If you're a baseball fan and you're hearing that more names are about to be connected to Biogenesis, the cheatingest PED factory since BALCO, this is where you dig through your mental rolodex for the names of guys you're sure are cheating.
Nope. Don't have a list. I don't care. Players cheat and players I never dreamed would cheat (Hi, Clay Hensley!) are caught cheating. I enjoy the sport of baseball, and as much fun as it would be to speculate, I have long gotten over the PED name-and-then-blame game. MLB does testing, players will get caught, sportswriters will write columns about what a terrible person he is for cheating, and then I will cover a few columns on this site if the outrage is silly enough. Guess what? NBA and NFL players are using PED's too. I would give out my mental rolodex for the guys I'm sure are cheating, but I don't care enough to do that. If the NBA and the NFL doesn't care, why should I? MLB does care, which is why they have a PED policy. That's good enough for me at this point. I'm taking back my love of baseball by not worrying if there are certain players using PED's. It wouldn't be fair to say that list out loud, certainly not with a
megaphone as large as the one given to me here at CBSSports.com,
Well yes, that certainly would not be fair. It's much more fair to have a mental rolodex of these player's names and then write an entire column stating you know the players that have cheated because it's so obvious. Contribute to steroid hysteria by claiming you can name names, it's much more fair that way.
But I have a list.
Which Gregg will reveal immediately after the new Biogenesis names are announced. Once that happens, we will all see just how right Gregg was. Baseball deserves the scrutiny, even the suspicion, that its players
have stirred among us since the 1990s -- when the ordinary became stars,
and stars became superstars, and superstars began doing things we had
never seen before. Mark McGwire hitting 70 home runs? Barry Bonds
hitting 73? Roger Clemens posting a career-best 1.87 ERA at age 43?
Yes, baseball does deserve the scrutiny. Though I am very focused on the current players who aren't putting up crazy numbers like this. All of those numbers happened over a decade ago. What crazy, insane, hard-to-believe numbers are MLB players putting up currently that sends Gregg Doyel's PED radar off so much? Come on. To this day Bonds hasn't admitted he was cheating. Neither has
Clemens. So they're on another list, a list that seems fair to say out
loud, even on a megaphone as large as the one given to me here at
CBSSports.com. Given their superhuman results and their constant links
to PEDs, Bonds and Clemens -- and Sammy Sosa -- are on that list of
players we suspect used PEDs.
(Gregg Doyel drags 10 year old PED story horse out and starts beating it)
At some point, these sportswriters have to move past the Clemens, Bonds, and Sosa names. It won't happen for a while because these are the go-to names whenever PED's in baseball are brought up. PED use by these players is the gift that keeps on giving when some enterprising sports columnists needs to crap out a column about baseball's sordid PED history.
The players we suspect are using them to this day? That's another list,
and soon baseball will provide us with its own list, and we can compare
notes.
And I bet Gregg's list will have a few names that are revealed by baseball. Not that Gregg would ever have a list and then pretend some of the names that are revealed were on his list too. That's not something he would do. He wouldn't have to, because his PED list is so obvious, just like Humberto Cota's PED use was obvious to anyone willing to pay attention.
It would be foolish, not bordering on naive but bordering on outright
denial, to think baseball doesn't have a PED problem anymore.
I recognize this is a strawman argument, but where is the outrage and denial about PED use in other sports? Whey doesn't Julius Peppers' PED suspension not lead to angry columns from sportswriters about how the NFL has a PED problem? MLB has faced their PED problem and have very stringent drug testing. And yes, it would be naive to think baseball doesn't have a PED problem anymore. Just like it is foolish to think there will never be another murder in the United States. It's ridiculous to suggest baseball, or any sport for that matter, will be completely free of PED's. That doesn't mean there is a massive problem throughout baseball and it doesn't mean contributing to steroid hysteria is a logical reaction to this reality.
Here's a tip for you, so mark this down in ink: Baseball will always have a PED problem.
Here's a tip for you, so mark this down in ink: No shit, Sherlock. I don't think anyone has ever suggested baseball wouldn't have players trying to use PED's. I guess that makes it a problem if a person wants to be hysterical about it, but as long as humans are humans (and not dancer), then athletes are going to find a way to cheat. The fact there is a stringent drug policy in question that MLB is committed to which will lead to baseball players testing positive for PED's doesn't make it seem like a "problem" to me. It seems like the positive effect of drug testing.
The cheaters are always ahead of the testers, and while the PED police
eventually catch lots of cheaters -- as they caught Victor Conte of
BALCO and Anthony Bosch of Biogenesis -- there are more cheaters out
there. Baseball can't catch them, because baseball doesn't know they
exist. Not yet anyway.
So baseball can't catch cheaters they don't know about yet?No way.
Some things are so obvious that they don't need to be spoken. The fact baseball will have more players who try to cheat is an example of one of these statements. This doesn't mean baseball has a "problem," it means baseball players are human. As long as Sabermetricians are kept away from the sport, baseball will be played by humans and not computers. This means humans will try to cheat. So yes, the cheaters will always be slightly ahead of the PED police.
There's nothing new in this column. It's the same stuff as other PED hysteria columns.
The next Conte and Bosch think they're untouchable, because for now they
are. The cheaters are always ahead of the testers, and they're like
degenerate gamblers or thieves on a hot streak: They stupidly think
they'll stay ahead forever.
So what baseball needs are pre-cogs. People who can predict a crime before it happens so that the PED police can round up these future cheaters and punish them for the crime they are going to commit.
The fact these cheaters "think" they will stay ahead forever is why I would argue baseball doesn't have a PED problem. MLB may not be able to stay ahead of the cheaters, but they will catch up, and the players who have cheated by using PED's will be found out most likely. It's not a problem, because lateness aside, MLB has a system that enables PED users to be caught.
So the system works and MLB doesn't have a problem? Does it mean I have ant problem if I lay out ant bait systems in my house that attracts and kill ants or does it just mean that ants are going to find their way into my house and I have a way of killing them before they end up crawling on my food?
And I'm 100% sure before Melky Cabrera was caught using PED's he was on Gregg's list of players who DEFINITELY used PED's. I don't doubt that at all.
Nothing lasts forever, not even something as murky and vaporous as a
drug the police don't yet know exists. The cream that Barry Bonds took?
Drug testers didn't catch that because they didn't know what it was. Just as life finds a way to survive, evolving to adapt in the conditions it has confronted, cheaters are the same.
And yet, writers like Gregg Doyel trot out the same tired names like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and other "name" players to show the huge problem MLB has, as well as show how it's so obvious which players are using PED's. This is all done in a way to prove it's easy to figure out which players are using PED's, but conveniently ignores the hundred other players suspended for PED use whose name wasn't on any person's mental list. And people like us, we sit back and wait for the next wave of players to
be caught, then outed publicly, so we can scorn them like we scorned
A-Rod and Braun.
Perhaps it says something about me, but I don't wait for the next wave of players to be caught so I can scorn them. Is there some sort of self-satisfaction in scorning athletes publicly for using PED's that I just haven't chosen to experience to it's fullest morally superior extent? Athletes who use PED's deserve to get caught and suspended, but I'm very much over taking up my energy to scorn these players. When the next list comes out, I'll scan it for three names I'm sure are cheating.
These are three names Gregg KNOWS are cheating. No matter who they are, I'm betting those three names will be on the new Biogenesis list. It's obvious these players are cheating and Gregg would out them, but that's not the classy thing to do. It's more classy to vaguely refer to players you know are cheating, since it's so obvious who is using PED's and who isn't, and then gloat once these names appear on the Biogenesis list. But don't worry, Gregg will reveal just how right he was once that new Biogenesis list is revealed, just like I'll tell you all who is going to be the next President of the United States (because it's so obvious) just after the next Presidential election occurs.
What do I look for? I'll tell you some day, when the list comes out and
if any of my names are on there. I figure one of them will be at least.
This stuff is easy, really. It's simple to look at certain guys and just
think, just know, "He's not doing that legally."
Someone like Jesus Montero. Someone that is playing baseball and you look at and KNOW he can't be that slow and unable to hit the baseball well naturally. He must be secretly less talented and is using PED's to just bring himself up to the level of being a massive disappointment. What about Kevin Frandsen? He makes hitting .256 look a little too easy if you ask me. How did we not see his PED suspension coming? Especially given what we know about the nature of baseball, just like
the nature of sprinting and cycling. Certain things have never been
possible before, and while breakthroughs and advances do happen, there
are some ceilings that get cracked that just don't seem plausible. Not
legally plausible, anyway.
I'd love to know what ceilings have been cracked that don't seem plausible. It's been well-documented that hitters are striking out more and this is supposedly the age of pitchers (it's the pitchers who are using PED's!). No players are destroying home run records and no players are putting up the numbers seen during the Steroid Era. I'm just wondering what the advances and breakthroughs that are happening now are. Of course if Gregg Doyel told me now, it would ruin the surprise once the list comes out.
So my list is ready. Is yours?
Baseball's about to release its list, and while I have no idea who's
nice anymore, I have a strong feeling about which guys have been
naughty.
Of course you do. Just be sure to tell us how right your list was once the Biogenesis list is released. I'm dying to know how right you were and what factors you looked for that tipped you off to whether a player was using PED's or not. My guess is Gregg is going to reverse-engineer this whole thing and everything will look way more obvious once he gets the answers to the test questions. Of course we should have expected Player X! I mean, that one time he did that one thing! We should have known, just like it was obvious Antonio Bastardo was a PED user.
You may or may not remember Tom Keegan as the person who said Marcus Smart needed professional help after pushing a Texas Tech fan during the college basketball season. Well, he's back and now he's mocking the language used in Naadir Tharpe's press release stating he will be transferring from the Kansas basketball team for personal reasons. It turns out those reasons are to be closer to his daughter, who has medical issues. In a world where Adrian Peterson can be criticized for having children out of wedlock a mere couple of days after said child out of wedlock was killed, one would think that Naadir Tharpe transferring from a high-profile college basketball team to be with his daughter would be something that merits praise and a brief hand-clap. "Oh fuck no," says Tom Keegan. See the language used in the press released announcing Tharper's transfer was absolutely hilarious to Tom, so he just had to mock it. I can't decide if he's just not funny or he lacks good taste. It's probably a little of both.
Either way, in a situation that at best merits no mention from Tom Keegan regarding the language of the press release announcing Tharpe's departure turns into Keegan mocking a college athlete for daring to transfer and be closer to his daughter, because see, Tharpe used funny language! So an amateur athlete gets mocked for doing the right thing. But of course.
Interviewing him for three years, I never once heard Naadir Tharpe say, “At this juncture.”
No wonder Naadir Tharpe couldn't get consistent playing time prior to this season if Tom Keegan had been interviewing him for three years. That had to take up a lot of Tharpe's time.
See, that's a Tom Keegan-like joke except if he had written it then he would have said Naadir Tharpe couldn't get playing time because he's a lazy person who needs professional help for why he sucks so bad at basketball.
But there it was in the press release announcing his transfer, so he absolutely, 100 percent must have said it.
If Tom Keegan can't understand that people write a formal press release differently from how they speak, then he's even dumber than I thought he was. Almost no one talks like they write, especially when they are writing an official press release announcing their intention to transfer from college. The big and formal words come out for occasions like a press release, while these big and formal words aren't necessary when answering questions about a basketball game.
Not only that, Tharpe used the phrase “Due to extenuating circumstances”
for what I believe possibly could be the first time in his life.
Because Tom Keegan has heard Naadir Tharpe speak on a daily basis, so he definitely knows every phrase Tharpe has used over the entirety of his life. Keegan is like the Midwest version of Phil Mushnick, and yes, that is the very opposite of a compliment. Clearly, he devoted a great deal of time in crafting his quote. He must
have told himself: “I shan’t treat this matter with anything but utmost
gravity.”
Just hilarious. It's really funny to mock the language of a press release announcing that a college athlete is transferring schools to be closer to his daughter. What a laugh-riot!
This black college player is using big words! Let's mock him for it!
An excerpt from the release included this Tharpe quote: “Due to
extenuating circumstances within my personal life, I will no longer be
attending the University of Kansas.”
BUT TOM KEEGAN HAS NEVER HEARD THARPE USE THE WORDS "PERSONAL LIFE" SO CLEARLY THIS MEANS THERE IS NO WAY HE'S EVER USED THIS PHRASE!!! Then he explained that his daughter has medical issues that require weekly visits to her physician as well as with a specialist.
But did you ever hear Tharpe use the word "physician" when interviewing him after a game? If not, I doubt he even knows what this word means.
“At this juncture, I feel it is best to be closer to home where I can assist and support in any way necessary,” he continued.
Talk like you do after games! Don't use this "press release" verbiage. It only serves to anger Tom Keegan and make him mock you for how you write. It’s the right thing for a father to do, so I’m glad he’s doing it. I’m
also happy that he’ll have two years to complete requirements for a
degree. At least I would hope the NCAA does not consider him a hardship
case and let him play right away.
So after taking cheapshots at the way Naadir Tharpe writes a press release (or how the University of Kansas athletic department writes a press release, but does it really matter who wrote it?), Tom Keegan is going to try to come off nice and friendly regarding Tharpe's transfer...well at least until he decides to start mocking the language of the press release again like the bully he clearly wants to be. I’ve always liked Tharpe. Friendly, candid, good sense of humor.
But not a good speaker who likes to use big words. That's the important takeaway here. Tharpe didn't use big words and that's why Tom Keegan enjoys mocking him. You know what? Let's get back to making fun of the language used in the press release and indicating that Tharpe isn't smart enough to have written it himself... Pity I didn’t get to know the fine lad well enough to converse with him
to the point he felt comfortable speaking the King’s English.
Again, the press release is an official document where more formal-sounding words will be used, while Tharpe isn't going to start using big words when talking about a basketball game. I don't understand why Keegan is incapable of understanding this. I read the release and pictured him sipping tea with legs crossed, scarf
around his neck, patches on the elbows of his tweed jacket, lamenting,
“Oh dear, wherever did I leave the crumpets?”
Tharpe used the phrases "at this juncture" and "due to extenuating circumstances," which aren't exactly phrases only used in high society. It's simply in poor taste to criticize the language of a press release where Tharpe is transferring due to wanting to be closer to his daughter. I’m happy he’ll be playing somewhere in New England because it’s best
for his daughter, his daughter’s mother, for Tharpe and I suspect for
the Kansas basketball team.
Maybe that's why Tharpe is using the King's English, because he's from New England. It's like England where they eat crumpets, wear tweed jackets, and sip tea, except it's a lot newer...hence the name "New England." As long as Tharpe was in the program, coach Bill Self forever was going
to be tempted to play him, thus stunting the growth of players with
higher ceilings, such as likely recruit Devonte Graham and rising
sophomores Conner Frankamp and Frank Mason.
Oh, well I guess it's a good thing Tharpe is transferring because he didn't have a high ceiling. Good riddance you asshole, who doesn't speak as well as he writes! Tom Keegan won't miss you at all.
Tharpe did improve in every statistical category from his sophomore to junior year (except FT percentage), so the idea he doesn't have a high ceiling could probably be debated a little bit.
Do join me in sending a word Naadir’s way: Cheerio!
It sounds like Tom Keegan is the one who needs professional help if he thinks mocking a player who announces he is transferring to be closer to his daughter is an entertaining or funny thing to do. This was a stupid article that was in bad taste. Criticizing the language in a press release? Come on, don't be an ass.
Peter King allowed anonymous GM's to anonymously discuss Michael Sam in last week's MMQB. See, none of these GM's were willing to go on the record about Sam, but they wanted the world to know THEY weren't going to hold Sam's sexuality against him when it comes to where he gets drafted, but they know OTHER GM's would. But none of the GM's Peter talked to would hold it against Sam, it's just they didn't want to go on the record saying so and Peter knew they wouldn't go on record...despite the fact other GM's did eventually go on record with their opinion of Sam's draft status. This week Peter talks about Jonathan Martin, Michael Sam (maybe he'll find some more anonymous GM's bravely willing to criticize Sam anonymously), spends almost 25% of MMQB talking about hockey, and finally gets around to talking about NFL news/scoops in his "Ten Things He Thinks He Thinks." It's not like MMQB is a football column nor is it as if most people read MMQB to find out inside information about the sport of football from a guy who has a huge Rolodex of NFL contacts. Not at all, people read MMQB to find out what Peter thinks about hockey, Cate Blanchett, and what his favorite Tweets of the Week are. Sadly, Peter probably believes this is true.
Before we all get totally depressed about the NFL’s South Beach Locker
Room Reality Show, something good to start your week: T.J. Oshie.
Let's talk about hockey. It's not like this is supposed to be a column about the NHL. Did you notice what Oshie did Saturday, seconds after he scored his
fourth goal of the shootout against Russia—in the eighth round of the
shootout, against some of the best scorers on the planet—to give the
United States a 3-2 victory in a game that wasn’t for a medal but had
the intensity of the seventh game of the Stanley Cup? He slid the puck
through Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s legs for the winner, whirled,
raised his arms in jubilation, and then immediately pointed to his own
goalie, Jonathan Quick.
“What was that about?’’ I asked Oshie on Sunday.
Really, Peter? Oshie has just scored a goal to win the game for the United States in a shootout and you can't figure out why he pointed towards his own goalie after the shootout was over? The answer to this question is shockingly obvious. Of course Oshie was pointing to Quick because Quick managed to stop the Russians from scoring a goal and allowed Oshie to win the hockey game for the United States in a shootout. You should not have to ask this question. It's obvious.
“Well,’’ Oshie said from Russia, “it was a two-man team there. I have to
put the puck in the net, and he has to stop it from going in the net.
Then Oshie followed this up with his own question for Peter, "Why in the hell did you think I pointed to my own goalie after we had won a shootout for the United States? I just like pointing?" How do you not root for Oshie and his mates?
I don't know Peter. I don't think anyone in the United States is actively rooting against the United States men's hockey team. It seems easy to root against the United States if you are a citizen of another country, so that is how you don't root for Oshie and his mates. Much more with Oshie, and on the hockey game, later in the column.
Great because this column is called Monday Morning Goalie isn't it? If so, then hockey fits right in and feel completely free to not report any NFL news so your readers can find out which quotes and Tweets you thought were the most interesting, in between making obvious comments about hockey and complaining about having to travel so much. Really Peter, MMQB is about you. It's not like the column is supposed to be a weekly useful resource about the latest NFL news as told by a sportswriter who has deep connections in the NFL and can better inform the audience as to what this NFL news may or may not mean. Really, tell us how good of an actress Cate Blanchett is, because that's why your readers read MMQB.
It’s time for Roger Goodell to earn his $44 million—if that absurd sum
is possible for anyone running any sports venture. It’s time for him to
professionalize professional football.
While I agree, I also disagree in some way. The reason the NFL can run the way it does and get around the monopoly rules here in the United States is because each NFL team is considered a separate entity. I do agree that Goodell should come down hard on the Dolphins or at least ensure what has happened in the Dolphins locker room is at least enough of a warning to the rest of the NFL teams to ensure similar behavior isn't happening in their locker room. I don't agree that Goodell should be responsible for making sure on a micro-level that this behavior isn't happening in the locker room of NFL teams. It's Goodell's job to punish and set a standard that NFL teams must follow, I agree with this, but it's up to the NFL teams to police the behavior in NFL locker rooms. So I think creating a written code of conduct for an NFL locker room seems incredibly difficult to achieve and on a micro-level it's not Goodell's job to professionalize professional football.
Goodell can set a standard, but he isn't capable of enforcing that behavior on a day-to-day basis. This situation that occurred with Richie Incognito and the Dolphins team isn't because Roger Goodell did a poor job of setting a standard of what should happen in an NFL locker room. Honestly, Goodell shouldn't have to tell grown men how to behave in a locker room, but apparently that's necessary now.
In the past 60 days, Goodell, I’m told, has met with more than 30
players, asking them how to make the locker room a more tolerant, more
professional place. Players like Avant have told Goodell what he needs
to hear.
I think it's a little silly that the players are going to Goodell asking him to make the locker room a more tolerant, professional place. He's not in the locker room on a day-to-day basis, so the players and coaches have the most influence on how tolerant and professional that locker room is. At some point there has to be a realization these NFL players are grown ups and they need to learn to act that way without Roger Goodell looking over their shoulder. And I would bet some of these 30 players who want Goodell to step in and fix NFL locker rooms also think that Goodell oversteps his authority by disciplining players for getting arrested or may think he is exerting too much authority to try to make the game of football safer. It's funny how the players want Goodell to get out of their locker rooms and stop trying to dictate standards to them until they need him to do so.
In the end, Richie Incognito and his perverse and persistent bullying
and sister-raping jokes and goonishness gone mad will do a favor for the
league. All the gone-too-far frat boys in locker rooms around the
league can thank Incognito now, because when the NFL adopts a
locker-room and meeting-room behavior policy, it’s going to be for
adults. Will veterans be able to make rookies sing their college fight
songs? Yes. Will vets be able to run kangaroo courts and fine peers $100
for especially stinky farts? Yes. Beyond that, vets won’t be allowed to
shame young players the way it happened in Miami.
While I understand there may be a need for a code of conduct, though I really wish the NFL players could police themselves like adults, I philosophically have a problem with the NFL telling an individual NFL team what can and can not happen in their locker rooms. I just feel like these players should be adults and this code of conduct should be more understood than written down. I guess a written code of Hammurabi is necessary in order for NFL players to feel like it is wrong to make sexually explicit comments about a teammate's sister or mother. I'll remember this code of conduct is necessary the next time an NFL player claims he can determine for himself whether he should risk his mobility and health as he ages when complaining about safety measures Goodell has enacted to reduce concussions.
I say good. And good riddance to the bad-cop stuff—or whatever
disgusting crap—Incognito and John Jerry and Mike Pouncey were
advocating in the past couple of years.
It won't just magically go away. It will still occur.
And while they’re at it, the NFL is going to put in a seminar for
players and coaches and staff on sexual-orientation training. Call it
the Michael Sam Seminar. It’s coming, and it should. Homosexuality is
not going away, and there’s no reason why any gay player in any NFL
locker room should be subject to one-tenth of what Jonathan Martin had
to endure over the past two years.
As weird as this may sound, I think Michael Sam would be subjected to less harassment than Jonathan Martin was subjected to. Players in the locker room know homosexuality is a touchy, hot-button subject so it's easier to make fun of a straight guy and his family than it is to make fun of a homosexual guy for his orientation. One can be played off as just good fun, while the other can't be played off for much more than bigotry. That's just my experience. I think any harassing Michael Sam will endure is going to be completely behind his back and not in the way Jonathan Martin endured harassment. Get ready for several weeks (months?) of internal and external debate
around the NFL over how to professionalize the players’ workplace.
Don't be a dick, family members are generally off limits, it's fine to tease someone and if you don't know the point at which teasing becomes something more perhaps you shouldn't tease a teammate, and don't be a dick. I think that covers it all. Obviously it's easier said than done. the scathing Ted Wells report told the world what a soulless place an
NFL locker room can be. “Can” being the operative word, because I do not
believe there are many, if any, other locker rooms or portions of
locker rooms that go so over the top as the Incognito-led Miami
offensive-line group went.
Which means while I was a little offended by the behavior in that locker room, this is an outlying case it seems. I don't know if this outlying case should provide the impetus for Roger Goodell to provide a code of conduct for each NFL team's locker room. I'm a little surprised these players can't police themselves.
Roger Goodell has to suspend Incognito, and give more than a
slap on the wrist to partners-in-intimidation John Jerry and Mike
Pouncey.
I think this is the commissioner's job. I'm not sure telling each locker room how to behave as if it were a kindergarten class. Besides, what is and is not permissible to say and do seems easy in theorybut I can't help but wonder how it will work in practice.
Miami will have to fire offensive line coach Jim Turner, who the report says was complicit in the atmosphere of bullying.How
can owner Steve Ross say he’s serious about a respectful work
environment and keep employing a coach who went along with Incognito’s
incessant bullying of two of his linemen, going so far as to give a male
blow-up doll to one player whom the others chided as being gay?
Here's a great example of how it seems easy in theory, but I wonder how the code of conduct will work in practice. Is a male blowup doll to a straight player in and of itself offensive or bullying? Ignoring all the factors around it, if the Dolphins team got Player X a male blowup doll is that offensive and does that break the code of conduct? What if the doll is given to a straight player and the doll is female? Is this harassment or bullying in and of itself? I would argue I'm not sure it is. Now the background of the Dolphins team calling this Player X gay is what makes the blowup doll harassment and offensive. Can the Dolphins team give a gay player a male blowup doll if they have never teased this gay player for being gay? Is that in and of itself offensive and harassment? How about giving a gay player a female blowup doll? Again, ignoring all of the other factors would this present violate the code of conduct as harassment? I'm not sure it would. Depending on the situation, it can be in good fun. I'm afraid this code of conduct is going to be more subjective depending on each situation. Martin should have talked to Joe Philbin. Martinmight
be a fish out of water in the NFL and certainly deserves empathy for
having to deal with 18 months of mental beatdowns from veterans like
Incognito. But he should have told his head coach what was going on.
Then Peter's very next point negated this one and shows why his criticism of Martin for not going to Philbin doesn't really matter. For Philbin not to know anything definitive about the crisis
with Martin, he had to be either tone deaf or not paying enough
attention to his team. Head coaches have their locker-room sources.
And that is exactly why I don't buy Peter's criticism of Martin for not telling Philbin what was going on. Philbin should have known, and if he states he didn't know then he either, (a) is lying or (b) is negligent for not knowing what is going on with his team. I do understand he asked Turner about what was going on with his
players, and Turner told him everything was fine. But what caused
Philbin to ask Turner? Obviously his antennae were up. Philbin, whom I
find to be a good man, still should know better, and this had better be a
very good lesson for him, or his time in the head coach’s chair is
going to be short.
I obviously have zero inside information, but I think Joe Philbin knew what was going on and intentionally ignored it or didn't think it had escalated to the point where Martin had contemplated suicide. So yes, at this point I can see where Martin should have gone to Philbin, but perhaps Philbin should have gone to Martin first. For the NFL, Sam and this report are two firecrackers designed to wake
up anyone who can’t see that the league needs to have its collective
head examined. It’s time, and Goodell can’t let this moment get away.
This isn't just an NFL problem though. Bullying and sensitivity problems in the locker room or clubhouse can be found throughout sports. A year ago, the American sports media trooped to Indianapolis for the
annual NFL Scouting Combine, and the story was the distraction that
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o would be for the team that drafted him,
in the wake of the girlfriend hoax.
In the end, the Chargers drafted Te’o with the sixth pick of the second
round. Think back now: What do you remember about his rookie year, on or
off the field? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was unimpactful on the
field, particularly against the run, playing 56 percent of the defensive
snaps. He kept his mouth shut off the field. He’s a vanilla interview
anyway, and eventually the questions about the phony girlfriend went
away.
I don't think this is a very good comparison. Te'o's lifestyle wasn't the issue in regard to what questions he would be asked. Michael Sam is going to be the first openly gay athlete to play in the NFL, which is a totally different issue than what Te'o faced and introduces a whole new set of questions that can be asked of him and the team that drafts him. I think it's typical Peter King to say the NFL needs to change the entire way it polices NFL locker rooms and introduce a code of conduct for NFL locker rooms, partially because of Michael Sam, but also believe Sam will not be a distraction or a subject of great discussion at the Combine or prior to the draft. Apparently Peter seems to think the presence of Michael Sam in an NFL locker room is the type of great sociological change to the NFL that no reporter or team official will care to ask about or discuss in any depth. To urge the NFL to introduce a code of conduct, partially because of Michael Sam, but to claim his presence could not initially be a distraction seems like conflicting points of view to me.
IT'S A CULTURAL REVOLUTION IN THE NFL! Except, it's not really.
Now, Sam is likely to be just as big of a story at the combine. And,
unlike Te’o, Sam probably will be more of a lingering story, wherever he
is drafted. But I think Sam will be a mega-story only for several days,
when you might see Anderson Cooper with a CNN crew on the sidelines
early in training camp.
And now Peter starts backing down from his comment that Sam won't be a distraction. Well yeah, he will be a distraction for a little bit at the Combine (I capitalize it for some reason), immediately after the draft, and probably during training camp...but that's about it and the story will eventually die. Well yes, this is absolutely true. The issue is that the Michael Sam story will be a bit of a distraction for a period of time. I'm not sure anyone is suggesting that no one will talk about anything but Michael Sam for the entire training camp or Combine, but it's going to be a big story and whichever team drafts him will have to be prepared for Anderson Cooper to possibly be on the sidelines during training camp for a few days. Since Peter has such great NFL connections, he would know NFL coaches consider something like this to be a distraction. If Sam can play, his teammates will accept him—maybe with a hiccup or
two from a very religious teammate who disapproves of homosexuality or
an unenlightened teammate who thinks it’s cool to make gay jokes. And it
could be that some of those on the team will simply steer clear of Sam.
No one knows. But there won’t be much of a problem, I don’t think, if
Sam is contributing as a player.
I don't think there will be a problem either. I think any real problems will come from outside the locker room to make their way into the locker room, when one of Sam's teammates says something construed to be insensitive and then it has to be taken care of in the locker room. This is known as a "distraction" and no matter how much Peter denies it, I can see Sam temporarily being one with the media covering his every move. The issues won't come from the locker room, but from outside the locker room to make their way inwards. Think of all the Tebow over-coverage and how that seemed to eventually make it's way into the Jets locker room where the team was just tired of hearing about him.
Speaking of Tim Tebow, I would love to get his comments about being on the same team as Michael Sam. I'm sure he would be very polite, but I think I know how he would truly feel.
The 3-2 victory by the United States hockey team over Russia on Saturday
really wasn’t a significant event, if you consider that it meant
nothing in the medal standings. But you couldn’t watch the game and
listen to the explosions by the fans (particularly the Russians, who
outnumbered the Americans so clearly) and not feel there was something
riding on this.
It actually was a significant game because if the United States won their draw then they would have an extra day of rest before they had to play again. But that’s what great about hockey: Even in a game that’s being played for future seeding only, the players care so much.
This is true for most Olympic sports and not just hockey. Sunday, when I got to ask Oshie about it, he was still stunned about it
all. “The president tweeted about you,” I said. “America went pretty
nuts. The New York Post and the New York Daily News both had you on the back pages this morning, with screaming headlines. Yesterday morning, no one knew you. Now, this.”
Great question, Peter! Wait, that wasn't a question at all. Glad you could contribute to the discussion, Peter by not really asking a question when given the opportunity other than to say, "So how cool is all of this!" and then stare intently into the phone waiting for Oshie's reply.
Then Peter gives the play-by-play on what happened during the shootout because killing space is important.
I asked Oshie if he’d been the kind of kid who grew up—in Washington
state and Minnesota—shooting the puck into a net, imagining it was for
the Stanley Cup or Olympic gold.
Sweet Jesus, Peter certainly sucks at asking questions. No Peter, T.J. Oshie has wanted to play hockey professionally for his entire life but he never envisioned himself trying to score a goal in the Stanley Cup or for Olympic Gold. He's the only kid who ever grew up not imagining this.
Not to be snide, but what does Peter think the answer to this question is? Of course Oshie imagined shooting a puck at the net for the Stanley Cup or Olympic Gold.
“Yeah, I was that type of kid,” he said. “I did it a lot, playing in
the backyard, playing wherever, 9 or 10 o’clock at night, just before
you leave the ice, you’re alone, and you think, ‘This one’s for the
Stanley Cup,’ or ‘This one’s for the gold medal.’
Great, hard-hitting question Peter that got an answer where I learned nothing new from what I had already assumed to be true. Oshie skated in deliberately, as always. “If you skate in fast, you’ve
only got a chance to make one or two moves—that’s it,” he said. He swept
in toward the right, the back left, then right in on goal, and he saw a
little hole between the legs, and he aimed for it, and bang … right in.
Yeah, I needed Oshie to skate faster. He was going to slow for me. It worked obviously, but I think I lean more towards the "skate fast towards the goal" crowd. And then the quote America loved, about how he felt about being an
American hero, in a group interview with some American writers and TV
people. Oshie said to them, “The real American heroes are wearing camo.
That’s not me.”
Clearly Oshie is talking about the guys from "Duck Dynasty." “Thanks,” I said when we were about to get off the phone. “Hope you bring home the gold.” “Thank you sir,” said the 27-year-old hockey player, not hero, from Warroad, Minn. “We will sure try.”
Ignoring that Peter just threw a good portion of hockey discussion into his weekly NFL column, what was the point of transcribing this interview with Oshie other than to kill space in MMQB? There are better places to transcribe this interview with a hockey player than on a site dedicated specifically to the NFL. “I was a kid who made some goofball decisions. That’s been part of my
journey. Maybe it’s part of the whole Johnny Football deal that I’m
trying to get away from. I’m trying to show people I’ve grown up, and
I’ve learned from my experiences. I feel like you’re a stupid person if
you continue to make the same wrong decisions. I don’t want to hear,
‘Oh, anybody in his situation would have been doing the same thing.’ I’m
100 percent responsible for my actions.” —Johnny
Manziel, the Texas A&M quarterback who wants to be the first pick
in the draft to the Houston Texans, in an interview he clearly hopes will be image-altering with John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.
Oh, it seems like someone has found themselves a PR firm to do good work for him. I'm sure the notes given to Manziel from the PR firm were very similar to this:
1. Own your actions.
2. Explain how you have changed.
3. Refer to it as a "journey" so your actions in college seem like a minor road on the overall path you take to being who you are.
4. Explain how you've learned from this part of your journey.
“Bob McNair and Bill O’Brien. Those are the two guys I really want to meet.” —Manziel, to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
McNair owns the Texans. O’Brien coaches them. This was in response to a
question about whom the famous Manziel really wants to meet.
Great answer. Of course it's probably a lie and Manziel probably really wants to meet Kate Upton...assuming he hasn't already. “In light of the Incognito/Martin story, people would have you believe
that you have to be some raving lunatic to play in the NFL, wound so
tightly that the slightest spark will insight an insatiable inferno.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m 48 years old now and about
the least confrontational person you’ll ever meet. My fists have never
found purchase on the flesh of another man’s face. I’ve never been in a
fight. Yet I succeeded for many years in the trenches of the NFL, in
which there are several confrontations on every play. It can be done—
—Former NFL guard Mark Schlereth, in an excellent column written for
ESPN.com about how, from his experience, he feels what happened in
Miami is more of an outlier than common.
This brings me back to my point that I think an overall code of conduct for NFL locker rooms may seem to be a bit of overkill. Not that I don't think NFL locker rooms probably don't need changing in some aspects, but the Incognito/Martin issues seem to be the outlier and having the commissioner dictate what can and can't be said or done in NFL locker rooms seems a bit much. Of course, Peter also thinks Michael Sam won't be a huge distraction, yet he supports this idea of a code of conduct being passed down, which I'm still having trouble rapping my head around. I am still trying to figure out why NFL Network and NFL.com are based
in Culver City, Calif., and not in either Mount Laurel, N.J. (home of
NFL Films) or Manhattan (home of the league office).
I don’t buy the it’s-good-for-business-to-have-a-West Coast-presence
thing. You mean it’s good for business to be 3,000 miles away from the
capital of the capitalism world, New York?
Maybe, and this is just a guess, NFL Network and NFL.com don't want to be based in New York? Maybe that's a good reason to not move to New York. Of course Peter King has a massive East Coast bias and can't figure out why everyone doesn't want to move to the upper Northeast because that's obviously where anything important in anyone's life comes from.
Let’s say the whole operation was moved to One Sabol Way in Mount Laurel
(yes, that’s the address of the huge office park that contains NFL
Films). On a Monday after a big weekend, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles
or Giants receiver Victor Cruz could be in studio to dissect big wins on
the set, and they could cycle through NFL.com to be grilled by one or
two of the writers on site. Let’s say the Ravens are the hottest team in
football, with the best defense. On Tuesday, the entire Haloti
Ngata-led defensive front comes in to do the car wash on TV and the
website.
What if they want to have the Seattle Seahawks on the show or the 49ers have just won a big game and want to come do the car wash on TV and the website. There are NFL teams not in the upper Northeast, Peter. Sometimes they matter and win Super Bowls too. Shocking, I know.
Take a look.
Culver City to:
San Diego 129 miles
Santa Clara, Calif. (S.F.) 345 miles
Oakland 371 miles
Tempe, Ariz. (Cardinals) 393 miles
Denver 1,028 miles
Seattle 1,137 miles
Mount Laurel to:
Philadelphia 17 miles New York City 83 miles
East Rutherford, N.J. (Giants) 83 miles
Florham Park, N.J. (Jets) 88 miles
Baltimore 119 miles
Asburn, Va. (Wash.) 179 miles
Foxboro, Mass. (N.E.) 282 miles
Pittsburgh 321 miles
So: seven teams and the league office are within 330 miles of Mount Laurel. One team is within 330 miles of Culver City. I just don’t get it. Never have.
Maybe NFL Network and NFL.com don't care if they are close to NFL teams. I recognize that Peter hasn't ever thought about that because his East Coast bias warps his thinking, but maybe they don't give a shit if they are close to NFL teams. It's 2014 and there are other ways to interview or talk to an athlete when that athlete isn't in the same room as the interviewer. I know it shocks Peter to think that not everyone and every company wants to be based out of New York or based on the East Coast, but it does happen.
Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
Worst part about going someplace warm for three days and flying back
into New York in February: When you return, you fly low over inlets and
small fingers of water that are either frozen or ice-capped, and you get
off the plane and walk back into the freezer and think there is no way
spring is coming. Ever.
Hey, maybe this is a reason NFL Network and NFL.com don't want to be based in New York. Also, Peter chooses to live in New York so his bitching about the weather falls on my deaf ears. If only we lived in a world where Peter King could live anywhere in the United States of his choosing and wasn't forced by no one in particular to live where he does. What would Peter bitch about, besides free coffee, the service industry, and anyone else he comes into contact with during the week?
“Dempster is a real character. Wore a t-shirt around the clubhouse
with a picture of Shakespeare. ‘This **** writes itself’ it said.” —@peteabe, Boston Globe
Red Sox beat man Pete Abraham, on pitcher Ryan Dempster, who announced
Sunday he was walking away from a contract that would pay him $13
million in 2014 for physical and family reasons.
Let's say I'm a distant relative of William Shakespeare and my family runs a Shakespeare museum here in the United States. I'm also a teammate of Ryan Dempster, so does this count as bullying or harassment under the NFL's new code of conduct for the locker room? I ask because my family takes great pride in our relation to Shakespeare and Dempster has mocked me repeatedly in the past for loving reading Shakespeare's writing. He's called me a nerd and made derogatory comments about my love for reading. I know when he wears this shirt he is trolling me, which makes me upset. Would this shirt pass the code of conduct? Ten Things I Think I Think
2. I think I really hope one team—the Saints or
Ravens—challenges the idiotic tight end franchise-tag designation, a
$4.8 million difference between the tight end and wide receiver
positions. My feeling on this is simple: If Jimmy Graham and Dennis
Pitta are drafted as tight ends and used as tight ends and voted to the
Pro Bowl as tight ends, then their team’s salary caps should not be
punished by having them shown as wide receivers.
There's nothing idiotic about it. It's in the CBA. As it reads:
The CBA requires a franchise player be tendered at the position
“at which [he] participated in the most plays during the prior
League Year.”
If Jimmy Graham is lined up as a wide receiver for the majority of the plays during the League Year then he may have a good argument as to why he should be franchised as a wide receiver and not a tight end. It's right there in the CBA and it's not idiotic, no matter how much Peter wants to protect his friends who are NFL coaches and GM's. The Titans chose not to fight this fight with Jared Cook and the Packers settled with Jermichael Finley rather than keep fighting with him about this issue. Being placed in the slot or split wide on multiple occasions per game should not change their designation.
Maybe this "should not" change their designation, but according to the CBA the owners and players agreed upon there is a case that Graham being split wide or in the slot could theoretically change his designation as a tight end. Thems the rules. I can't figure out why Peter is so vexed by this. Just because a guy is drafted as a tight end doesn't mean that if he is used mostly as a receiver then he shouldn't get the receiver designation. The CBA specifically lays this situation out. 4. I think many of you have rightfully asked me, and
others who work in NFL locker rooms, how surprised we are about what was
in the Wells report...Now, I know lots of untoward stuff goes on, because it always has, and
there’s an Animal House element to every locker room. But I just don’t
believe what happened in Miami is common to every NFL locker room.
Again, this causes me to ask the question...if what happened in Miami isn't common to every NFL locker room, then why is it so necessary to put together a code of conduct for NFL locker rooms or enforce rules that teams must follow as to what is and is not proper conduct? If NFL teams do a generally good job of policing themselves, why overreact to an outlying incident? NFL locker rooms probably need a change in attitude and mindset, but no rules can make a player change his mind on what he thinks about a homosexual person. If that player's locker room is policed it won't be an issue though, because that issue gets squashed before it becomes a bigger issue. That's the hope at least. 8. I think, with franchise tags able to be used
beginning today, I would be stunned if defensive end Greg Hardy isn’t
tagged by the Panthers—who have the moderate sum of about $8 million in
cap space and will have to shed some contract in order to tag him. But
Hardy, 25, is the kind of player teams develop and keep, not develop and
let walk.
Unless that team has $8 million in salary cap room and has a secondary and offensive line they desperately need to improve, along with 26 free agentsthey may or may not want to sign.
9. I think the University of Missouri must be a great
place these days. A great journalism school, obviously, from the alums
who work all over our business … but I’m not talking about that. I’m
talking about the loyalty to Michael Sam. An AP dispatch out of Columbia
over the weekend quoted the student body president, Mason Schara,
thusly: “The majority of us knew [Sam was gay] and we just didn’t think
anything of it because that’s just who we are here.” And a large group
of students, hearing there would be a protest Sunday on campus opposing
Sam’s declaration, linked arms in solidarity as a protest to the
protest.
I hope this gets remembered the next time Peter or one of his sportswriting friends writes about "Middle America" and the supposedly conservative and overly-religious nature of the middle part of the United States. There seems to be a "Wow, Michael Sam was accepted in Middle America" vibe going on at times, as if citizens west of the Mississippi and east of Colorado all think being attracted to a person of the same gender is the same thing as being attracted to one of the farm animals that every family in Middle America has.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. A fond farewell tour is my hope for Derek Jeter. And that, to him,
would mean a 162-game regular season and playing well enough to lead the
Yankees deep into the playoffs. As I’ve written, I believe he’s the
best all-around baseball player and leader I’ve seen play a complete
career.
Or as Peter originally wrote this statement a few years ago, Jeter is "the best player of his generation" or some variation of this statement that was just absolutely absurd. Peter later clarified that he meant Jeter was the best player whose career he (Peter) has seen completely, which was a backpedal so hard that it left skidmarks.
it’s amazing to me how he not only played at such a high level, but led
at the highest level as well—and never the hint of a scandal, playing on
the team with the highest profile in American professional sports.
So Derek Jeter is the best all-around baseball player and leader Peter has ever seen because he doesn't give a good juicy quote? Sounds logical. d. Hey Pierre McGuire: Great call on the heretofore unknown T.J. Oshie
being one of the U.S. shooters in the shootout as everyone debated who
would get the call for the Americans.
It's almost like he gets paid to cover the NHL or something. i. Coffeenerdness: I’ve crossed over to the darker side now. Four shots
of espresso in a medium drink at Starbucks now. Someone has to stop me
before it’s too late.
If Cate Blanchett died of a drug overdose then Peter could tell us all that he finds her to be the best actress of her generation. She has to be dead before she gets this distinction though.
The Adieu Haiku
The combine’s this week.
Hearty welcome, Michael Sam.
Welcome to mayhem.
But not too much mayhem of course, because Manti Te'o wasn't a distraction so Michael Sam certainly won't be either. At least until he is a short-term distraction, but this doesn't count because it doesn't count and being the first active NFL player to be gay is the same thing as pretending you have a girlfriend who died and then lying about it for three months. The social issues and media interest from outside football are the same in each case obviously.
