Say it's so...some blame goes to Joe
Mike Lupica's Shooting From the Lip: "The Yankees have underachieved so far. Sometimes managers of underachieving teams get fired, even if they are legendary managers like Joe Torre. That is the conversation of the last few days."
Yes indeed, what would a Sunday be without airing Lil Mikey's weekly meander of all things lefty disguised as "Sports". Several months back, Mikey boldy stated that if George Steinbrenner didn't fire someone, why, he wasn't serious about fixing the ailing Yanks. No one really took the bait, for this is the same Lil Mikey who would be the first to jump at the evil BOSS for jumping the gun. Mikey, you see, will try and manufacture news when none exists and now he's fostering the yawning old saw that the "conversation" from the worldwide sports scribes has been all about giving clueless Joe the axe.
It's August. The Yankees are still wallowing. Other than in these pages, has there been ONE in-depth analysis as to why? Nope. Can't very well criticize a team you have to cover on a daily basis, so it's rumor, innuendo and the occasional puffball thrown at Joe Torre by such bad writers as Mikey. Yes, the team isn't a team at all but a group of individuals showing up for their paycheck. Yes, the field boss isn't anything remotely resembling a baseball boss as much as a human resource manager in training. BUT...the question left unanswered by all save Messenger has always boiled down to WHO.
Who do you replace Torre with?You don't replace him with anyone, at least not at first. You summon Bobby Valentine from Japan and give him the position of bench coach with the understanding that when Joe retires, the job goes to Bobby. More than bench coach really, but as a sort of unofficial assistant-manager. Joe handles the easily bruised psyche's of these misfits, Bobby keeps track of baseball. Joe knows his "feelings", Bobby knows how a player REALLY performs in a given situation and wouldn't use bad data, such as Joe does, to punctuate his decisions.
Bobby gets to know the team, the organization, and slips in without much ado. Joe gets to mumble all he wants from his slouch on the bench and gets to retire gracefully.
Lil Mikey and such other clueless wonders? This hurts them at first because nobody listened to their advice and Joe isn't standing on an unemployment line. Then...THEN they realize what fun it will be covering Valentine and once they realize all the words they can put in his mouth...all is well.
Highlights? You say you want Highlights from Lil Mikey's Liberal Lip-Fest?
"Tiger Woods has more pure talent than any golfer any of us will likely ever see.
Unless, of course, it turns out that Michelle Wie has more."
Way ta go, Mikey, a black man and a woman all in the same thought. Would your dictionary contain the word, "pandering" by any chance? As golfers become more athletic, we WILL see players of Woods' caliber, but they won't be little girls who cannot drive the ball as the big fella's do.
And, as the Fwench say, the piece de resistance'er
"The President probably hasn't walked out to talk to Cindy Sheehan because he has that endless supply of brush to clear."
And there IS joy in Loony-Liberal-Ville, for Mighty Mikey has pandered, bashed the President, AND mentioned Cindy Sheehan. In a sports story. Really.
If you've the stomach for it: New York Daily News - Sports - Mike Lupica's Shooting From the Lip: Say it's so...some blame goes to Joe
PS To The Lil Fella' From Lisa: If George were REALLY clearing away all of the ugly and useless detritus from the ranch, then Cindy and The Syncophants would have been the first trash into the mulcher.
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