Sports in General

New York Minute
by Thomas Scherrer

It's a shame to some extent that we cannot look inside ourselves and see just how fickle we are as sports fans. We want our teams to be everything good-successful, classy, respectful, and professional-and not have any warts to show the sporting world. However, no organizations are perfect, no man unblemished. No companies without the proverbial skeleton in the closet...they just are present; it is all a matter of how pronounced things are. When you work, live, and play in the city of New York however, the slightest of pimples can turn into Mount Everest. Sadly, hammers come down fast, newspapers run to sensationalism, and in the cutthroat world of high society, he who finds it first wins.

On Friday, a "source" unofficially officially ended the Jerry Manuel-Omar Minaya era for the New York Mets, and this goes without stating the obvious, but it was an era that many thought would not last much longer than this season when the 2010 MLB season started. This "source" was SI.com/SNY/WFAN baseball insider, Jon Heyman, a man who usually gets his stories right on target. Not always 100% accurate, but again, to err is to be human. This "report" was a "done deal" that Manuel and Minaya will not be retained in their current roles following the conclusion of this weekend's season finale in New York.

Not surprisingly, Heyman's "report" was piled on by the copious and carnivorous New York media saying that it was a done deal that both men would be gone after this season. First of all, the mere fact that Heyman's "source" is anonymous says all you need to know about: someone within the organization has a motive. Secondly, the mere fact that there are still 3 games left in this Met season and that there are two men whose jobs are not twisting in the wind, but livelihoods. At the genesis of Manuel's presser Friday afternoon, he reiterated that he was not given any indication of his future and that for now he is the manager. The same can probably be said for Minaya. Finally, media's enjoyment with all this. I am a native New Yorker, through and through. I now live in New England where the sensationalism is equally as high and I just cannot stand this anymore.

I consider myself a media type person: I have two blogs, a radio show that I volunteer for, I read a ton of information about all things. I like to be in the know of course. When you are not on the cutting edge, you are falling behind-hence the media's pile on approach after Heyman's story came out. You stay classy....New York Media. Editors, talking heads, tired acts like Joe Benigno speaking irrationally to a large, intense, and perceived smart fanbase. New York fans are street smart fans: they can smell a fake from a bridge away and that what they know best.

The whole circus is in town and the ringmaster (in this case Heyman) can be anyone in the media...the clowns (other members of the media) then come in from inside their Volkswagen and treat the ringmaster like his word is gospel and search to find more ways to pile on to the story. Instead of possibly holding judgement until after the season ended or maybe writing some as logical as Wait, this is unfair to Manuel and Minaya, they still have a job to do this season. Let's wait until after the season ends to speculate.

I do have an answer for this: anyone who risked writing that risks being unread or worse, laughed at. Anyone who read it wouldn't care. The Mets were another big market, overpaid disappointment this season, finishing under .500 again. Let's not ignore some facts: this was another injury-riddled season but there are no excuses for that most would argue. Fine. How about this fact? Jerry Manuel is a classy professional who handled adversity well but also handled said New York media very well. Another fact: when Manuel had a healthy team, which was for about 80 games in 2008 (before Billy Wagner's elbow turned into confetti), they played about 20 games over .500, so I don't get exactly where fans think Manuel is a bad manager. He won a division title in Chicago, was a former Manager of the Year, would have likely been one in 2008 had the Mets made it into postseason play. All of that though, doesn't matter to fans or media a like: the manager is a bum-get him out of town.

Could not be farther from the truth. Manuel has handled every grenade about as well as you can in New York, with one exception: winning enough. That is all it comes down to in this city is winning and winning big. Maybe fans don't care how you win anymore just as long as the ends justify the means. You don't win...we'll go find someone else.

As for Minaya, well perhaps this was coming as well. Overpaying for underperformed players, unable to solve staying away from guys with injuries, failing to sound competent throughout the whole Tony Bernazard fiasco last year...plus the lack of winning as well. However, another classy baseball man with a family, just like Manuel. Sadly, both of them are heading for the same bridge in New York. All sport fans know this bridge, call it the Unfinished Bridge.

The Unfinished Bridge always seems to look good, well built, functioning, and operating well. However, the bridge when you come to its end is unfinished, either by indifference, being torn town, or perhaps just never being committed to being finished. As mangers, coaches, and general managers drive along to the end of this bridge, they may or may not sense the bridge isn't completed and hit the brakes. Only the last part of the bridge is greased up, making the car skid out of control, spinning off to its unfinished end, and the driver and any passengers (family) suffer the end-the nadir of the Unfinished Bridge.

Most fans know that bridge exists, however nobody in the media wants to explain it. Why? Because it is an easy, easy, EASY mark for the media to help push the car further along to the end or in some cases, sabotage the brakes or even help tear the bridge down even more to help expedite the process. Nobody want to openly defend or support the Lame Ducks. Doing so is unimaginative or weak. It's easy to give someone the boot out than it is to give them you hand to be held up. Takes less effort, of course. That is why I felt compelled to talk about this...

Do I think that Manuel and Minaya deserve to keep their current roles in the Met organization? Of this, I am uncertain. I see how hard the Mets keep on playing at the end of this season, not giving in or going through the motions of a lost season. There is some promise on the horizon in the years to come with Ike Davis, Josh Thole, and some other young players who have played for just one major league manager in their tenure. I can see why letting of go of Jerry Manuel is the right decision. As a fan, you cannot be happy with losing. You can choose to be neutral and objective, but we aren't. Same goes for Minaya: 6 years, one playoff appearance, one historic collapse, one mini-collapse, and numerous questionable organization decisions but we forget that before Minaya arrived, the organization was rudderless: anyone forget the Howe/Duquette "we battled..." era...anyone? What, burned out of your brains? Thought so. So just remember what Minaya first made you feel like-we have a chance. You still might with him as your GM but again, understandable to see why he should not return.

Credit goes to maybe the best broadcast team in America: SNY's Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez. Cohen addressed the issue on-air most of the same things I brought up and some more. They are great to listen to because I feel like they bring a true sense of clear and present objectivity. In Cohen's case, he was "puzzled" as to why this story was leaked. Darling called it "heinous" and questioned SNY and other network's coverage of lack of "personalizing" both Manuel and Minaya. Hernandez used "sensationalism" and said that it was created to buy papers and tune into talk radio, but Hernandez said that nothing has changed. Totally rational. And so was this line, which only was reported on the telecast. When a reporter asked Manuel what he would say to the next manager (which was probably the lowest shot you can take as a media member) to help him with the team to which Manuel said, "What are you doing here? This team is MY team" as Darling said over the telecast. May not exactly have been 100% accurate, but a great line by Manual. This is still his team until someone else tells him. Last night, Josh Thole won a ballgame for Jerry Manuel's team. Will he ever do it again is still a question that appears to already been answered.


Thomas Scherrer is a blogger who on occasion, makes sense. His regularly featured blog, "Bowling Philosophy" is available on the archive section on leftyism.blogspot.com.