Thursday, August 05, 2004
Nomar and how to deal with the media
Ok, so I’m still pissed off at the team in general, and considering boycotting them all together. Ok that’s not true, I still love several of the players: Pedro, Manny, Damon, Wake, D-Lowe…of course two of those players will likely be gone after this year. Blah. I didn’t really want them to win it all this year, for purely selfish reasons. (I’m in Australia and wouldn’t get to properly celebrate.) I also hate some of the newer players like Millar and Schilling, who pretend like they run the team. This isn’t your team. This is my team.
Ok enough irrational babbling. To continue from yesterday’s post, I told you I was going to try and summarize Nomar’s career on the Red Sox, and suggest measures our team could take to avoid the swirl of negativity that has ruined three of the last 5 teams we’ve had: (2000, 2001, 2004.)
Nomar represents, along with Pedro, the last star from my childhood, in any sport. That’s why seeing him traded, and seeing the negative reaction of many fans and media members stings so bad. I don’t know if I will ever love players the way I loved these guys, for a few reasons. First of all, I know too much about baseball now. I have read too many statistical reports, thus I can pick out flaws in every baseball player. When I was 16, I couldn’t care less that Nomar never walked, and that he swung at the first pitch so often. Now I know that by doing so, he is lowering his chances of succeeding by 23% and taking the Red Sox from an expected run output of .7 per inning to .53 per inning. The Horror. The Horror.
Well I can’t unlearn this information, unless I keep smoking weed at February 2002 levels. Thus I have been trained to find the flaw in every player. That combined the fact that the further the players time in Boston gets in my memory, the more their legend grows in my mind. No one, no player, will ever pass Mo Vaughn for me. I will never declare that any pitcher was better than Pedro. Chalk it up to youthful innocence.
Sentimentality aside, Nomar was a legitimately great player for the Red Sox for all 6 of his healthy year (1997-2000, 2002-2003.) Unbiased sources have calculated that he currently rates as the 8th best shortstop of all time, and the greatest Red Sox shortstop of all time. Several of the other shortstops ahead of him (Arky Vaughn, and Honus Wagner to name two,) played so long ago that its almost silly to compare them to present day players. The game was so different then. For example there was this thing missing from the majors, called minorities, or players who weren’t white. Hard to compare to today I think.
Plus he was a fun player to watch: although I generally don’t care about things like that. I am a sucker for big fat slow sluggers, who most people consider not as aesthetically pleasing as versatile players of the Nomar/Ichiro variety. Getting to watch him every day, plus sentimentality, plus his actual greatness, combine to make this a very tough loss for me.
As I mentioned before, Nomar’s ugly exit from Boston, was not the exception, but the rule for ex-Red Sox stars. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I think this atmosphere is a hindrance to winning the World Series. As I mentioned in this post, three of the last 5 years the team has underachieved at the end of the year in a maelstrom of bad karma leading to underachievement. In my opinion, the shift in behavior needs to come from the players, the organization and the fans. The media will never change their behavior, because negative columns 1) sell papers 2) turn the writers into the story themselves when other media shows etc. read their columns and react to what they’ve written, generating more interest for said writer.
Ideas for the Players
1) The Manny Ramirez strategy- Pretend to be stupid. It helps if you are not from the U.S. and can pretend you don’t speak English, even if like Manny, you have lived in the US since you were 8 and went to an American high school. I guess people like Gabe Kapler could pretend not to speak English, but the media might catch on. If you are dumb, and don’t say anything interesting, the media won’t have anything to do but call you stupid.
2) The Mo Vaughn strategy- Be a Giant Badass. Mo was the master at calling out the media, saying he hated his bosses, yet still being popular enough within his clubhouse to have the backing of his teammates. Basically, he knew he was strong enough to take the flak of the media for everyone and still perform. Nomar and Pedro benefited immeasurably from having Mo there because he would take the heat for everyone, yet still do his job on the field, meaning a media-shy person like Nomar could concentrate on what matters, playing baseball. That, along with several other reasons, is why Mo is the greatest.
3) Do anything but the Kevin Millar strategy- Don’t go around pretending to be everyone’s friend and trying to deflect attention when you are a mediocre first baseman who is new to the team. Definitely don’t go on Sportscenter and talk about how much better A-Rod is than Nomar before the trade for Nomar has been completed
Ideas for Management
1) Do what the Patriots do. Belichick is also known as a boring interview, because he only talks about game strategy, and never gets involved with the soap opera stuff ever. This works. It pisses the media off to no end, but it works. This also means when something incredibly unpopular happens, and you are getting roasted in the press, you have to stick to your guns and shut the fuck up. Classic example: we cut Lawyer Milloy right before the season, he signs with Buffalo, who then murder us 31-0. The Pats management was getting killed. Not a peep from them. They were confident they had made the right move. 15 straight wins and another Super Bowl ring was all the vindication they needed. The Red Sox management screwed this up big time with the Nomar trade, which wasn’t getting nearly the bad press that the Milloy move was.
2) Build an us versus them mindset from the top down. Grady Little was actually very good at this during his tenure. He was also an advocate of the Manny Ramirez strategy: he was so damned boring to interview that the media gave up. Where the media thrives is on exploiting tensions within the organization, like Nomar or Pedro versus ownership, or Jimy Williams versus Dan Duquette/Carl Everett. Make sure everyone is on the same page, and that everyone within the organization understands that they are more important than getting good press. Make it known that conflicts should be dealt with in-house. Make sure it’s known that anyone, Manager, GM, Ownership, has an open door at any time. Limit press access if you have to.
3) Don’t let yourself get into a situation like this year, with 6 unsigned free agents, and Nomar having already basically been traded and guaranteed to be unhappy. If you do manage to get yourself into a situation like this, pretend to the end that everything is fine, even after a player gets traded.
Ideas for the Fans
1) Stop listening to Talk Radio. I will be publishing a list of great mp3s for you to download in the next two weeks. Listen to these songs 10 times each. You’ll never go back.
2) Stop pretending like you are owed something, especially if you are younger than 30. When Red Sox fans say, “we are cursed,” they are also insinuating that because of said curse, they are entitled to a World Series championship. As I said before, I have only been a conscious fan since 1987, and plenty of teams haven’t won since then. So I’d be in the same boat if I were a Mets fan, Cardinals fan, Giants fan, Mariners fan, Cubs fan, White Sox fan, Tigers fan, Rangers fan, and a whole other host of teams who haven’t won since then. Chill out. Dickwad
3) Remember why you love baseball. Be happy that you got to see Hall of Fame caliber players like Pedro and Nomar play for your team. Root for the team to do well, and root for the players to succeed. Realize that its just a game, and that is freaking hard to win the World Series. Remember the Patriots, and that it can happen. Be patient, and enjoy the road to wherever it may lead, be it a championship, or falling just short. Be thankful that something like sport gives you such joy.
Ok enough irrational babbling. To continue from yesterday’s post, I told you I was going to try and summarize Nomar’s career on the Red Sox, and suggest measures our team could take to avoid the swirl of negativity that has ruined three of the last 5 teams we’ve had: (2000, 2001, 2004.)
Nomar represents, along with Pedro, the last star from my childhood, in any sport. That’s why seeing him traded, and seeing the negative reaction of many fans and media members stings so bad. I don’t know if I will ever love players the way I loved these guys, for a few reasons. First of all, I know too much about baseball now. I have read too many statistical reports, thus I can pick out flaws in every baseball player. When I was 16, I couldn’t care less that Nomar never walked, and that he swung at the first pitch so often. Now I know that by doing so, he is lowering his chances of succeeding by 23% and taking the Red Sox from an expected run output of .7 per inning to .53 per inning. The Horror. The Horror.
Well I can’t unlearn this information, unless I keep smoking weed at February 2002 levels. Thus I have been trained to find the flaw in every player. That combined the fact that the further the players time in Boston gets in my memory, the more their legend grows in my mind. No one, no player, will ever pass Mo Vaughn for me. I will never declare that any pitcher was better than Pedro. Chalk it up to youthful innocence.
Sentimentality aside, Nomar was a legitimately great player for the Red Sox for all 6 of his healthy year (1997-2000, 2002-2003.) Unbiased sources have calculated that he currently rates as the 8th best shortstop of all time, and the greatest Red Sox shortstop of all time. Several of the other shortstops ahead of him (Arky Vaughn, and Honus Wagner to name two,) played so long ago that its almost silly to compare them to present day players. The game was so different then. For example there was this thing missing from the majors, called minorities, or players who weren’t white. Hard to compare to today I think.
Plus he was a fun player to watch: although I generally don’t care about things like that. I am a sucker for big fat slow sluggers, who most people consider not as aesthetically pleasing as versatile players of the Nomar/Ichiro variety. Getting to watch him every day, plus sentimentality, plus his actual greatness, combine to make this a very tough loss for me.
As I mentioned before, Nomar’s ugly exit from Boston, was not the exception, but the rule for ex-Red Sox stars. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I think this atmosphere is a hindrance to winning the World Series. As I mentioned in this post, three of the last 5 years the team has underachieved at the end of the year in a maelstrom of bad karma leading to underachievement. In my opinion, the shift in behavior needs to come from the players, the organization and the fans. The media will never change their behavior, because negative columns 1) sell papers 2) turn the writers into the story themselves when other media shows etc. read their columns and react to what they’ve written, generating more interest for said writer.
Ideas for the Players
1) The Manny Ramirez strategy- Pretend to be stupid. It helps if you are not from the U.S. and can pretend you don’t speak English, even if like Manny, you have lived in the US since you were 8 and went to an American high school. I guess people like Gabe Kapler could pretend not to speak English, but the media might catch on. If you are dumb, and don’t say anything interesting, the media won’t have anything to do but call you stupid.
2) The Mo Vaughn strategy- Be a Giant Badass. Mo was the master at calling out the media, saying he hated his bosses, yet still being popular enough within his clubhouse to have the backing of his teammates. Basically, he knew he was strong enough to take the flak of the media for everyone and still perform. Nomar and Pedro benefited immeasurably from having Mo there because he would take the heat for everyone, yet still do his job on the field, meaning a media-shy person like Nomar could concentrate on what matters, playing baseball. That, along with several other reasons, is why Mo is the greatest.
3) Do anything but the Kevin Millar strategy- Don’t go around pretending to be everyone’s friend and trying to deflect attention when you are a mediocre first baseman who is new to the team. Definitely don’t go on Sportscenter and talk about how much better A-Rod is than Nomar before the trade for Nomar has been completed
Ideas for Management
1) Do what the Patriots do. Belichick is also known as a boring interview, because he only talks about game strategy, and never gets involved with the soap opera stuff ever. This works. It pisses the media off to no end, but it works. This also means when something incredibly unpopular happens, and you are getting roasted in the press, you have to stick to your guns and shut the fuck up. Classic example: we cut Lawyer Milloy right before the season, he signs with Buffalo, who then murder us 31-0. The Pats management was getting killed. Not a peep from them. They were confident they had made the right move. 15 straight wins and another Super Bowl ring was all the vindication they needed. The Red Sox management screwed this up big time with the Nomar trade, which wasn’t getting nearly the bad press that the Milloy move was.
2) Build an us versus them mindset from the top down. Grady Little was actually very good at this during his tenure. He was also an advocate of the Manny Ramirez strategy: he was so damned boring to interview that the media gave up. Where the media thrives is on exploiting tensions within the organization, like Nomar or Pedro versus ownership, or Jimy Williams versus Dan Duquette/Carl Everett. Make sure everyone is on the same page, and that everyone within the organization understands that they are more important than getting good press. Make it known that conflicts should be dealt with in-house. Make sure it’s known that anyone, Manager, GM, Ownership, has an open door at any time. Limit press access if you have to.
3) Don’t let yourself get into a situation like this year, with 6 unsigned free agents, and Nomar having already basically been traded and guaranteed to be unhappy. If you do manage to get yourself into a situation like this, pretend to the end that everything is fine, even after a player gets traded.
Ideas for the Fans
1) Stop listening to Talk Radio. I will be publishing a list of great mp3s for you to download in the next two weeks. Listen to these songs 10 times each. You’ll never go back.
2) Stop pretending like you are owed something, especially if you are younger than 30. When Red Sox fans say, “we are cursed,” they are also insinuating that because of said curse, they are entitled to a World Series championship. As I said before, I have only been a conscious fan since 1987, and plenty of teams haven’t won since then. So I’d be in the same boat if I were a Mets fan, Cardinals fan, Giants fan, Mariners fan, Cubs fan, White Sox fan, Tigers fan, Rangers fan, and a whole other host of teams who haven’t won since then. Chill out. Dickwad
3) Remember why you love baseball. Be happy that you got to see Hall of Fame caliber players like Pedro and Nomar play for your team. Root for the team to do well, and root for the players to succeed. Realize that its just a game, and that is freaking hard to win the World Series. Remember the Patriots, and that it can happen. Be patient, and enjoy the road to wherever it may lead, be it a championship, or falling just short. Be thankful that something like sport gives you such joy.
# posted by Marmaniac @ 6:34 AM 
