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Mr. Met isn’t smiling tonight…

There is a saying in sports that you can’t fire the owner and you can’t fire the players. A certain baseball team in New York is showing this rule applies.

First was the embarrassing events that took place this week with my favorite baseball team, the New York Mets. Quick back story on the situation. The Mets fired their manager Willie Randolph after about a month of speculation about his job tenure. Managers get fired all of the time, no biggie there. I personally don’t think the terrible play was completely Willie’s fault, which I’ll get to later.

The problem was the way that the situation was handled. The Mets were about to head to California for a road trip and Randolph told Omar Minaya, his boss and general manager of the team, that he didn’t want to go on the trip if he was going to be fired. Randolph wanted to leave the job with dignity, if it was possible. According to speculations, Minaya told him that he wasn’t going to get fired and the team headed to California. Then after the Mets win three out of four games, things seem well. However, after the Mets won a game against Anaheim, Minaya fired Randolph and announced it on a press release at 3 a.m. in the morning.

What a joke. I see how the Mets were working, from a PR prospective. They wanted to sweep this firing under the rug so that no one would notice. That’s why they did it during a road series, to avoid the New York media. However, that move may have worked twenty years ago, but not now in our current digital age.

The problem with that organization is a lack of accountability. The Mets collapse towards the end of last season and their uninspired play to start this season comes down to everyone. Randolph deserved some blame but Minaya deserves blame for putting together an old, slow and injury prone team as well.

It seems like if you’re an old, Latin ballplayer, Minaya has you on speed dial. Enough with the old guys. I’ve always said that I would rather see my teams lose with young players than old players. Just ask the San Francisco Giants how having an old team has been the past few years.

The Mets have the budget and the resources to have a good player development organization, yet they seem to be stuck with old guys. Delgado, Castillo, Alou, Pedro Martinez, Fernando frickin Tatis. Really?

Let’s look at the top teams over the last few years and some teams that have emerged this season. All of them have embraced young players that have developed properly in their systems. Some teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels and Cubs bring in some veterans but still have acknowledged that they need to mix in some young players to stay on top. Then you have teams like the Rays, Indians, A’s, Twins, Phillies, Marlins, Brewers and Diamondbacks who have overhauled their teams with young players and have bright futures. I don’t see that with the Mets. Minaya is a blame for this.

However, someone had to hire Minaya and this is where ownership comes into play.

They need to just overhaul everything and start over and only keep Reyes, Wright, Beltran and maybe Wagner even though he’s older.

It is what it is and resident Mets fan Jon Stewart summarized it best below.

Are no Black baseball players a problem? Not to me

So I was recently reading an article in the Nashville Rage this week in the sports section discussing the lack of black players in baseball. The story profiles some Middle Tennessee black players and speaks to coaches in this area about the struggles of getting kids to play baseball. Its well-written by Mo and here’s a link to the article, I seriously recommend that you scan it before you read what I have to say on it: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/SPORTS07/805190335/1002/SPORTS

OK, now that you’ve scanned the article, here’s my opinion.

I really don’t care.

I really don’t care if there are no black players who ever play baseball again…or any sport for that manner, as long as there isn’t any discrimination against someone playing the sport.

The argument that I hate most for why someone will watch a sport or play a sport is the racial makeup of the players. I loved hockey back in the day and I saw hardly any black players in the sport. I loved the sport, not the color of the players.

It irritates me to hear black people tell me that they don’t like watching a sport such as hockey or golf or tennis because they’re aren’t enough black people in it.

It goes the other way too. There has been more than one occasion when a white person has told me that they don’t like the NBA because there are too many black people. Yeah, scary stuff, but I keep it real with people and they tend to keep it real with me, which I appreciate.

I used to get so much crap for being a hockey fan as a kid in New York. I would go to Rangers games and when I was desperate Islanders and Devils games and people would come to me and wonder why I was there. They would tell me that black people weren’t supposed to like hockey. That made me mad.

Thankfully my mother has always taught me to look at things for what they are and not what they look like. She always encouraged me to watch all sports and not focus on the lack of black people in it. I was trying to watch golf before Tiger Woods even entered Stanford. I’ve always watched auto racing, especially F-1. I watched the NBA and the NFL just as hard. I didn’t care.

This from a woman who grew up in South Carolina in the 50’s and 60’s and had some negative interactions with white people and could have taught her son to be negative. Special woman.

Anyway, I understand that the issue becomes very complicated when it comes to a sport like baseball where the expense of youth travel teams is a problem and economics becomes an issue. Therefore, scouts aren’t inclined to see certain players, etc.

In the end, life’s a bitch and sports are even worse. It isn’t fair. The prep player the article profiles may be an outstanding player and feel that he got short changed with scholarship offers for baseball, but that’s the way it is. He needs to bust his ass at Cumberland University and if he’s talented, he will get his shot.

I don’t like how the racial makeup of sports, particularly baseball, has become an issue. Is it the end of the world that only around 10% of the players in MLB are black, not at all. Let’s keep prospective.

From a baseball prospective, there are more minorities playing the sport than ever. The influx of Latin players, Asians, Europeans and even Canadians have made the sport more global than ever. Black people, including myself, need to realize that when people like Larry Doby and Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente were playing in the 40’s and 50’s, they were fighting for the equality of all players. I repeat all players. To make this a woe is me black issue is shortsighted of the progress baseball and other sports have made towards minorities playing. I realized this years ago and I hope others do too.

And from a general prospective, compared to all the problems/issues that we have in society from the war in Iraq, terrorism, the bad economy, gas prices, poverty, general safety and countless others, who really cares if there aren’t black players in baseball?

I fear many things in this society and as someone who eventually wants to have a family, I have concerns for the world I’m bringing my future kids into.

That sounds cruel, but as I’ve gotten older and matured, the less I care about sports and its issues.

Sports is my job, I spend a majority of time working in the industry, and I still love it. However, we have a lot more pressing issues in our society. I mentioned them earlier and we need to focus on solving those.

If we want to keep in sports, we can. I don’t like seeing the lack of minority in high-level positions in college athletic departments. Furthermore, I don’t like the lack of women in that regard as well. I don’t like being the only minority at various sporting events in the press box. Those are things that I’m trying to make better from a sports prospective.

I don’t need a black role model to make me want to be an athletic director. I don’t need a black influence to become a sports general manager. I would like to interact with good AD’s and GM’s. That’s what I need.

The racial makeup of the players of the games that I work at, not too concerned about.

I hope this post gets picked up by somebody huge and I can be on some panel or something and discuss this further because it’s a topic I love talking about. Or I can be labeled a racist against my race. What would that be called?

I was watching Game 1 of the NBA Finals, so there was no music. However, here are two videos for some edutainment on blacks in baseball. Enjoy and Buck O’Neil should have been in the Hall of Fame years ago. That is all.

This will be THE SUMMER of Marcel!

What’s going on people?

Today was an unusual day because it was the first day since mid-February that I didn’t do anything with the Belmont baseball team. It was weird having a day off from them.

Actually, I woke up at around 8 a.m. this morning and was bored out of my mind. So, I headed over to the office and actually some of the baseball players turning in their equipment. I then went to the office and uploaded some information on my computer. Then I realized something.

I’ve become addicted to my work.

Here I was on Memorial Day, a national holiday, coming into the office to do work when my graduate assistantship officially ended when the baseball season ended. I’m not supposed to come back to work until August and yet I was sitting in that office about to do some work.

I couldn’t take a day off and not think about my job.

The cliché thing would be for me to say that I have extreme dedication to my job and that I live my life for my work and these would be good things. But that’s not a good thing.

I do need to find a job for the next few months to offset some expenses until I return to work on August. However, I’m tempted to just do nothing and relax for a bit. I need to get back to working out several days a week, improve my diet, and take care of my physical health. I need to meditate more and read some more, improve my mental state.

Most importantly, I need to take this time to truly find out what I want in my life professionally. I think that this past year has helped me learn more about myself personally but I still have some answers to answer professionally.

When I graduate from school next spring, do I want to stay in media relations? Do I want to stay in college athletics or do I want to transition to professional sports? Do I want to stay in Nashville? I need to answer these questions now because the last thing that I want to have happen is for me to be sitting here typing to you now without a job. I would be truly pissed if that happened.

So, this summer, I’ll just reflect, hang out, write some more posts, finally start playing my bass guitar again, catch up on my daytime television (General Hospital, I’m looking right at ya!) work out some more, make lists and continue to develop my friendship with Joan.

BTW, I had a text conversation with Joan today after the NCAA baseball tournament announcements, our teams got screwed by either not getting into the tournament, hello Belmont and College of Charleston, or getting a bad seed like our Commodores. I mean, Tempe to face Arizona State, really. Well, it was a good season for our Dores.

Anyway, it’s still odd having a friendship with a girl like Joan, who I’m definitely interested in dating but valuing the friendship more. Plus, she has the boyfriend and I’m respecting that. She has to know that I’m interested in her, because I’m not super smooth and she reads this blog, so she knows what’s up. The funny thing is I wrote about her a few posts ago, the one with the coffee picture, so I won’t go into more details about it. She needs to stop coming up in my posts, but it is what it is. The point is that Joan is new territory for me.

This summer will also allow me to see my family in Atlanta, hopefully spend time with Lisa and just enjoy life in general, because in August, I’ll be back to the crazy schedule and loving every minute of it. But I have to love my alone time before I can enjoy my busy time.

So the Bruins are done, so sad

So, the Belmont baseball team fell today to Gardner-Webb and its season is over.

I feel bad for the players and coaches and the support staff that puts a lot of effort towards making the team a success. It’s been fun traveling with them and having the chance to interact with them. I’m not happy or sad that the guys lost the game. I’m not disappointed in them and proud of them more than anything.

The thing about it is that if they lost two straight games here at the Tournament or won the entire thing, I would have had the same emotions I have now.

The main reason for this is that I had no control over what happens. My biggest and I mean biggest pet peeve is when fans or people who work for a team use “we.” When someone asks me a question about the Belmont baseball team, it’s always “they.” Do I throw any pitches? No. Do I hit any balls? Absolutely not.

I hate when people say that we need to win some games when you’re sitting in the stands. You’re not a part of the team. That goes for everyone. Unless you’re a coach of the team or actually playing on the team, don’t use “we.”

This also ties into the times that people come to me and say who my favorite player is on Belmont? The answer, everyone. Who do I want to pitch in a tough situation? Anyone.

Do I have a favorite player? Of course I do. Do I think that some pitchers are better than others? Definitely. You can’t watch a team for an entire season and not develop opinions. However, trying to get that out of me isn’t happening.

I do love each guy on the team, but as a knowledgeable sports fan, I know who’s good and isn’t.

Some may think that I’m cold with my emotions when it comes to the teams that I cover. Some think that I don’t care whether they win or lose. In some ways that’s true, because I’m the same after a win or a loss.

My job entails as an SID that I practice neutrality even though I work for an athletic department. I must be a statistician for the games and show no favoritism to anybody. I must operate press boxes and press rows where cheering isn’t allowed because we have to be respectful of representatives from the visiting school at the games.

The funny thing is that I’ve always been this way, even as a kid. I always had my favorite teams like the NY Giants, Knicks, NY Rangers, the Mets and I still care for those teams. However, the one type of fan I hated was the ignorant fans. I hated those people who would only follow the local teams and know nothing about the rest of the league. Yeah, I love the Giants, but what about the Broncos or the Rams. The Knicks are cool, but I want to learn more about the Nuggets or Clippers.

That’s why I hate watching ESPN and all they talk about are the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets for baseball. I like the Mets, but tell me more about the Orioles, Rays, Pirates and Rockies, seriously.

So as a kid, with the advice of my mother, I made sure that I knew everything about every sport. Hockey game, I’m watching. Tennis match, I’m looking. Soccer, I’m all over it. That’s the way that I operated and became a fan of the game just as much as the teams.

Long story short, I learned to detach myself from being an ignorant and narrow-minded fan of my teams and became a studier of the sport. That’s why I could and still can tell you just as much about the Tigers just as much as a Met, or break down the Giants just as well as the Dolphins. That’s how I roll and challenge anybody to take me on.

How does this relate to being an SID? In my current position, I will always cheer for Belmont teams to win because I like the coaches, the players and honestly, it’s easier to write a story about a win than a loss. However, the tasks and responsibilities of my job force me to be neutral, an arbiter if you will, for the operation of my events. I think growing up following sports like I did made me prepared for this job.

I think that’s why I do my job well.

However, I sometimes miss being a fan of a team and living and dying with every one of the games they play. The Mets are losing a lot of games now and my reaction is whatever. The Giants won the Super Bowl and I smiled for a little bit and went to bed and went to work the next day like nothing happened.

I have to stay detached from Belmont sports and even my favorite teams for that matter because they will lose and I have to be a professional. I have to be a professional and do my job just as well if Belmont loses a game in the last minute or if they win the national title. That’s what a good SID does.

So, when Belmont lost to Gardner-Webb today, I wrote my story, posted the stats and moved about my day as if they won a chance to play in the College World Series. It’s just the way that I’m trained.

I will miss traveling with the guys though, but life is full of disappointment and random happy moments that you have to embrace. Working with the baseball team was one of those happy moments.

NBA and general sports musings

Some quick thoughts on the Conference Finals of the NBA and other sports musings on a Saturday afternoon:

Lakers/Spurs: This series has gone how I thought it would. The Spurs are finally starting to look old and a team is taking advantage of it. New Orleans had a chance to do it, but they weren’t ready. The Lakers have a good mix of veterans and a young bench that is ready to step up.

I’m not going to say that this series is going to be a sweep; I have too much respect for the Spurs. However, as Barkley said last night, Horry and Finley are done and that’s going to be the downfall of the team. Duncan and Parker are going to give you a good effort and Ginobili is a talented player, but it’s over for them being a championship caliber team. They just can’t score.

Celtics/Pistons: Now Boston, you are in a world of crap. I picked Detroit in this series before it even started and I’m even more confident in my pick now. The Pistons are just too grimey, too grumpy and too smart to get intimidated on the road. If Boston thought that they could just keep winning all of their home games that was foolish.

Now the series goes to Detroit, which will be problems for the Celtics. The only way that Boston has a chance is if the Pistons do their usual cruising and lose focus for game 3. This can happen. However, I actually think the Pistons realize that they are close to finally returning to the Finals.

On to other sports:

-The Mets are going through a rough stretch right now, losing a lot of games and people want Randolph or Minaya to get fired. I think it’s too early to push the panic button and fire the manager or GM. Who are you going to replace those guys with? Also, I think the problems are more with the players then the front office. Is it Willie’s fault that the pitching has been sub par or that the guys aren’t hustling and making routine plays?

I’m not saying that Willie is completely innocent. I disliked how at the end of last season when the Mets were losing their lead in the standings Randolph has a lax attitude about it and acted like nothing was wrong with losing games. That may work in the Joe Torre, Yankees school of thought, where Willie was a coach for a long time, but the Yanks had a veteran crew that knew to stay focused and take care of business. Unfortunately, the Mets don’t have those types of guys.

Also, it’s May. Do I really care about May MLB baseball? Not really. If the Mets are still playing like this in July, then changes need to be made.

-I love college baseball conference tournament season. I’ve been following the SEC Tournament for Vandy, the ACC Tournament for Georgia Tech, the SoCon Tournament for College of Charleston and of course the A-Sun Tournament, because its my job and I’m here with Belmont. It’s just good seeing all of these games taking place at the same time.

Most Beautiful and Happy Campus I've Been To (Besides UCLA and Swarthmore)

We just finished playing Florida Gulf Coast here in muggy Ft. Myers Fla. and I have a few thoughts from the games this weekend.

1) Second most beautiful campus I've been to besides Swarthmore in Pennsylvania. All of the buildings are new because the school is literally only 10 years old and everything is new. Athletically, the baseball and softball fields are first class, the tennis facility looks amazing and they even have pools on campus. I wouldn't have gotten any work done if I went to school there. It would've been party time for me. I would have worked hard enough to get the degree, but I would have just hung out in the sun the rest of the time and not gone to class. It was cold at times at Vanderbilt so I would go to class to just kill time.

2) Second most happy campus I've been to. That honor goes to UCLA when I visited when I was looking at law and business schools a few years ago. I got free airline tickets to anywhere in the US and decided to hit LA. It was around February, the weather was in the mid-80's and I saw every ethnicity there smiling and enjoying life. Everyone was in shorts and happy to be there. Also, the best "talent" I've ever seen on a campus if you know what I mean. FGCU was such a warm and happy place, emphasis on the warm. I'm in the hotel room now and still feel like sweating.

3) Good job by our guys to get the final win in the series. Everyone needed that win and hopefully it can lead to something better.

Later