Sunday, August 20, 2006

A hack getting his hacks

Red Sox land is not a happy place this morning, but this man is despicable.

His effort in today's Globe is appalling writing:
  • "The sun no longer shines on the handsome head of young Theo (wonder if he's signed his much-celebrated contract yet). The computer-geek management style has been thoroughly exposed in the last two days"
So now, 4 years into the reign of Theo, we are back with the "young" quips - despite the fact that there are now other, younger, GM's in the game, CHB falls back on young as an insult - Dan, you are an old man, get over it.

I do love the use of irony though - telling an advocate of a sabermetric approach to management that his style has been discredited in two days... I mean you were being ironic, right Dan... sample size... two days proves a style of management is exposed?

And really Dan, 4 years later, you still don't understand that the Sox are more than just stats, or was it that that was just the cheapest, easiest shot you could take?
  • "he might need it to hide from an angry Nation of paying customers who want to know why nothing was done at the trade deadline"
See here is the thing, all right thinking Sox fans know why nothing was done - the right deal couldn't get done at the right price. Does that mean that right thinking Sox fans think that getting nothing done helped the team - no Dan, but we are able to make a distinction.

Of course what the Sox should have done was trade Lester, Hansen and Delcarmen for Jeff Suppan level replacement pitchers, and at least when the Yankees were whaling on them this weekend, they couldn't be accused of doing nothing...

The thing is, if they had done that type of stupid deal, Dan would be writing a story about how the Sox had stupidly mortgaged the future for a bunch of useless arms, but that is the joy of being a journalist at times, power without responsibility.
  • "young Theo, who was unavailable after yesterday's carnage, is getting his lunch fed to him by one Brian Cashman as the Sox threaten to suck all the wind out of what's left of summer."
Again with the young insult.
  • is anybody rethinking that Johnny Damon decision now?
This is part of a theme that really gets to me - the idea that Sox management don't know that losing Damon was likely to hurt them this year, and most likely next as well. Same arguement with Pedro last year - man his loss really killed us, and look at what the replacements have done... Clement... headcase... Beckett... headcase... Wells... fat headcase...

Except, we all knew this might hurt us, and the moves were in part made to stop Dan writing in 2007 and 2008 headlines along the lines that "keeping the pieces of the 2004 WS team together was a dumb move - the young computer geek has been proven to be a sentimental idiot... wonder if he has signed that celebrity contract yet?"

Unlike you Dan, Sox management are held to account for their output, and they will be held to account in 2008, as they are being in 2006.
  • Too-good-to-be-traded Manny Delcarmen coughed it up in relief again yesterday and was part of 11 straight balls and two bases-loaded walks in a five-run Yankee sixth.
You see, he is 24 (why is young not used as an insult here) and really despite never having pitched at this level he should be able to deal with the best lineup in the majors with no hiccups... and dammit now he has tripped, we should really trade him... where is Jeff Suppan these days?
  • The cruise is over and so is the free ride for Theo. No disgrace in that
So if there is no disgrace Dan, what the hell is this article about... using the young insult three times in the article... calling him a geek... talking about hiding from an angry nation...


Man, if anything was designed to get me back on the "sinking" ship, it is garbage like this that is aimed at the absolute worst type of fan, the fan that thinks he is entitled to something, that these types of performances are a personal slight... if that is your audience Dan, you are doing a great job.

2 threw a strike:

At 9:45 pm, Blogger allan said...

good stuff -- i mean you, not the chb.

he can write well when he wants to, but he clearly opts for mailing it in most of the time. (and then he'll accuse manny of being lazy.)

what galls me is that the national media go to him to find out what the "average Red Sox fan" is thinking. and he's probably the worst person to ask that question to.

 
At 10:09 pm, Blogger Neil Hay said...

Thanks redsock - I guess part of his role is to get people talking, but that really is a terrible piece today.

There are legitimate questions that can be asked about the lack of movement at the trade deadline - was Theo working to hard on the huge deal rather than complimentary deals? why can't the Sox seem to construct a workable pen? - but it just seems that he was angry and posted that - I can get away with that as a blogger, he shouldn't get away with it as a senior collumnist for a major newspaper.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home