tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post3671165418842168271..comments2024-03-25T10:19:58.493-07:00Comments on the joy of sox: Valentine: A Lot Of Players "Frowning" At Increased Activityallanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673233312198832937noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-65712243436662953242012-02-17T12:21:54.371-08:002012-02-17T12:21:54.371-08:00We need to construct (or have someone in the media...<i>We need to construct (or have someone in the media construct for us) a narrative that fits within our experience and prejudices.</i><br /><br />This is true in every arena - sports, politics, business, many religions. It is true in people's constructions of their own personalities, what "made them" a certain way, be that their parents' treatment, their birth order, their ethnic heritage, or their DNA.<br /><br />In sports, you see it on the micro as well as the macro level: what has caused hit streaks, hitting droughts, win streaks, you name it.<br /><br />People have a deep need to fill in those gaps with whatever they have lying around.laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-50525743284131508122012-02-17T12:17:02.057-08:002012-02-17T12:17:02.057-08:00PS: Still keeping an open mind, I promise!PS: Still keeping an open mind, I promise!laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-72076566077733512152012-02-17T12:16:02.890-08:002012-02-17T12:16:02.890-08:00Why didn't he do what he wanted to do in sprin...<i>Why didn't he do what he wanted to do in spring training and shut the fuck up about some players' attitudes? </i><br /><br />This is not the Valentine way. And one reason I cannot stand him. <br /><br />I CANNOT FUCKING BELIEVE I will root for a team managed by Bobby Valentine. Cannot. Fucking. Believe.laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-13953585569541885532012-02-16T13:54:12.315-08:002012-02-16T13:54:12.315-08:00Bobby Being Bobby--is that a JOS nickname? B3?
A...Bobby Being Bobby--is that a JOS nickname? B3?<br /><br />Always two ways to light fires: in the manager's office, one to one--or on the field in full view of thousands or to the press. I can't imagine the second way is anything other than a way to humiliate, and I can't picture any young millionaire responding well to being shown up by his own manager.johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-40313351049658072122012-02-16T13:36:51.101-08:002012-02-16T13:36:51.101-08:00I have no problem with a manager lighting a fire u...I have no problem with a manager lighting a fire under the players' asses, but take issue when it is done in public by a guy who is still a week away from holding his first official workout. While I have not heard the interview, this sounds like Bobby Being Bobby, wanting everyone to know what he is doing behind the scenes, to either pat himself on the back or cover his ass.<br /><br />Sidenote: I'm sure the writers are salivating at the prospect of a Bronx Zoo Jr. in Boston (or, at the very least, a free-speaking Valentine) this summer.allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673233312198832937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-85282156229858089412012-02-16T13:13:18.259-08:002012-02-16T13:13:18.259-08:00I thought when Valentine referred to lazy payers h...<em>I thought when Valentine referred to lazy payers he meant MLB as a whole...</em><br /><br />I'm sure he was referring to MLB players as a whole--which connects to the dumb conventional narrative about how these guys should be grateful to get any pay at all for <em>playing a kids' game!</em><br /><br />When the Governor of Maine slags teachers for being freeloaders, he may not be talking about john a goldfine directly, but I still get pissed off. Why would a manager start with that lazy-kids shit unless he intended to go to war with his own team?johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-42216783155303343382012-02-16T11:18:25.508-08:002012-02-16T11:18:25.508-08:00I thought when Valentine referred to lazy payers h...I thought when Valentine referred to lazy payers he meant MLB as a whole, since he was talking about adding split-squad games to the schedule. You know, "kids today" -- heygetoffmylawn.allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673233312198832937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-62513567930954109592012-02-16T11:16:51.704-08:002012-02-16T11:16:51.704-08:00I also meant to include a link to this OtM piece: ...I also meant to include a link to this OtM piece: Brendan O'Toole's "<a href="http://www.overthemonster.com/2012/2/12/2776449/sunday-discussion-sports-as-morality-play" rel="nofollow">Sunday Discussion: Sports as Morality Play</a>"<br /><br />Things (September 2011 is but one small example) cannot simply go bad because they went bad. We need to construct (or have someone in the media construct for us) a narrative that fits within our experience and prejudices.<br /><br />(Plus, he gets points for using B-Ref as a verb.)allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673233312198832937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730822.post-58512948785430875802012-02-16T07:56:36.820-08:002012-02-16T07:56:36.820-08:00It sounds like a pretty dumb narrative to me: Some...It sounds like a pretty dumb narrative to me: Some players are team players who appreciate structure, while others are frowning grumbling overpaid spoiled lazy brats....<br /><br />Which will lead inevitably to some players being in the doghouse, a clubhouse divided pro and con Bobby V, and endless gossip, fingerpointing, and fodder for the sportswriters.<br /><br />Why didn't he do what he wanted to do in spring training and shut the fuck up about some players' attitudes? Why does he want to make public his problems motivating people (because he wants to see the problem as theirs, not his [one thing you learn in dogtraining: the problem is always you and your lousy technique, never the dog])?<br /><br />That shit about being able to tell a major leaguer from his 'tude. It is <em>such</em> shit!johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.com