October 21st, 2006 → 10:46 am @ Seth Mnookin // No Comments
Tonight is Game 1 of the World Series. The Tigers, several years removed from one of the most futile campaigns in the history of baseball, are the prohibitive favorites. Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa is trying to prove he doesn’t always get swept in October. Jim Leyland, LaRussa’s chain-smoking former protege, is the toast of the sports world.
You’d think it’d be tough to find a way to twist this story so that it focuses on taking random potshots at the Sox. But then you’d be underestimating Dan Shaughnessy. Take a moment and savor these paragraph’s from his column this morning, titled “Smoke and Fire: Leyland has lit up Tigers by taking team back to the top.”
“There’s no computer on his desk. Jim Leyland doesn’t spend a lot of time looking at spreadsheets and percentages. He is not a numbers cruncher and he probably wouldn’t last long in a room with Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein. He’d be gone even quicker if they were gathered in a non-smoking room. Leyland’s got to have his Marlboros. …
“There’s nothing political about Leyland. He wasn’t afraid to stand up to Barry Bonds when he managed the Pirates and he’s not worried about hurting players’ feelings when he makes decisions with the 2006 Tigers. He doesn’t have a Francona bone in his body. He’s a manager, not a baby sitter. If Manny Ramírez quit on him, he’d call him out. Or he’d quit himself.”
Ahh, yes. See? There’s no reason to wait until spring training for your daily dose of crystalized negativity.
Post Categories: 2006 Playoffs & Dan Shaughnessy
Trouthead
18 years ago
Shaughnessy doing his usual writing to stir up trouble and try to sell papers. I’m sure Terry is pleased.
yerfatma
18 years ago
No, no, I saw the headline on the Globe sports page this morning and skipped the link entirely. There was a 10% chance the whole article was a dig at Dan Duquette & statboy, but 90% chance of anti-Theo showers.
Nordberg
18 years ago
Sadly, the column also is typical Shaughnessy.
If offers no insight and shares information we already know.
lonborgski
18 years ago
Shagnasty makes my blood boil. He seems to pretend he’s neanderthal man and proud of it. He rips Manny. He ripped Pedro. No Red Sox player, employee or owner ever seems to be good enough for him.
Seth, help me out–
Why does the Globe keep him?
Do columnists have tenure?
Does he sell papers?
Isn’t the Globe about having the best sports section in the country; does he help or hurt on that front?
What is his audience?
What do people at Newsweek or the Times think of him?
Does he ever get studied in journalism school?
Why is Jim Rome giving him a national audience?
HFXBOB
18 years ago
Someday Shaughnessy is going to find himself the unwilling subject of a psychological study. The man is a puzzle. In my opinion he is a gifted writer and when he shelves the vitriol (rarely, I know) he can be an enjoyable read. You could understand the bitterness before the Sox won it all. But still it goes on. Why? If you look at the reviews of his ‘Reversing the Curse’ book on Amazon you get a good taste of the kind of backlash he has come to generate-there are some really low opinions of him out there. Some people think he actually hates the Sox and never wanted them to win in 2004. I’m not convinced of that. One of the Amazon reviewers described him as someone who loves to be hated. That, as weird as it seems, seems like it might be closer to the truth. Maybe he does get off on how much he can irritate people. Any psychologists out there?
Ogie Oglethorpe
18 years ago
It is a simple case of Supply and Demand. Unfortunately a lot of people in New England are negative and need something to complain about and the Sox have given them plenty over the years. CHB recognizes this and does his best to keep the masses happy or should I say unhappy. Makes me wonder if some of these people are fans of the Sox or even Baseball at all or they are just there for the moaning/bitching/complaining/finger pointing. Sort of like how a big portion of English Football Hooligans aren’t even there for the football, just the fights.
mikeb
18 years ago
He certainly doesn’t love to be hated. Otherwise, he wouldn’t track down letter writers and call them up to argue with them.