Saturday, May 25, 2013
SI: Alex Sanabia : I didn’t know spitter was against rules
(sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
We have an early leader for “least plausible excuse of 2013.”
Miami Marlins pitcher Alex Sanabia says he didn’t know it was illegal to spit on the ball, the way he did Monday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
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1. Tripon posted on January 28, 2013 at 05:02 PM # hit 0 | hit 0The [expletive] that I would think of in both of those cases would require "a" rather than "an". I can't think of an [expletive] that fits either spot that "an" would work with.
And yeah, Jeffrey Loria is an [expletive].
I think I may have to go with Loria on this one. And I'm surprised to find myself reaching that conclusion.
And they both won World Series.
Schott was cheap, but never to the degree that Loria is. There were never any firesales like Miami's had.
Like Hitler, at least she loved dogs.
The full version of a-hole fits, especially if the player is prone to colorful profanity, like some people I know who say "what the sh*t."
Jeff Loria was in an a-hole mood and gave an a-hole speech.
Yeah, that fits.
Its also possible that the style guide proscribes "an [explitive] mood", rather than "a [explitive] mood", as if one is reading the word "explitive" as part of the sentence.
That is, if they had chosen other forms of sanitizing, it might read "a ****** mood"
Because Schott wasn't good at the beginning.
Marge was a lot of things, but her Payroll+ was much higher than Loria's.
They had winning records the first 4 years she owned the team, finishing 2nd in the division each year, and 1st or 2nd 8 of the first 11 seasons. They also won the series in year 6.
I was implying that by not being good in the beginning that Marge Schott was worse than Hitler.
No. That should read "Like Pilate..."
The book "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov and the song "Pilate" by Pearl Jam have established Pilate as the quintessential ####### with an affection for dogs.
BTW no one was complaining over Loria's meddling when he brought in Pudge and McKeon. No one was warning him he was overzealous by taking $30mm+ losses, net of revenue sharing if you believe forbes estimates, to compete in 2003-2005. That's his personality. Sometimes you bet right, sometimes not. But the man's passion and willingness to take temporary losses (temporary as he later took in $30mm profits, net of rs by forbes) to win is due some respect. Among Miami and generally low revenue clubs that is unique.
Schott was entitled to be as cheap as she wanted, at least she was spending her own money.
I'm sure they have a point with some of it, but a lot of this is just Bad Employee 101. If you walk around on eggshells whenever the boss is watching and you fear that their might be repercussions for your latest #### up, you probably are not getting the job done.
Cash losses? Don't believe that for a second.
Accounting losses (depreciation, etc.) that he could happily use to offset tax liability on really cash income elsewhere? Sure.
I'm sure they have a point with some of it, but a lot of this is just Bad Employee 101. If you walk around on eggshells whenever the boss is watching and you fear that their might be repercussions for your latest #### up, you probably are not getting the job done.
I think if the boss randomly demotes people (drastically reducing their salary) for minor mistakes, employees are going to act strangely. Imagine that your boss could demote you to the mail room and $9/hr on a whim, and had done it to three of your co-workers, you wouldn't live in fear? That's on the boss, not the employee.
When you play like Brett Hayes or Chris Volstad you should feel like you are one step from the mail room. If you have a healthy slash line or K-rate, you're fine. Bottomline, marginal employees greatest fear is accountability. Good employees want more accountability.
No one wants accountability based on isolated incidents and knee-jerk reactions. Even the best employees make mistakes.
If your players believe this:
you're failing as a boss.
To surround yourself with good employees.
Volstad is a garbage pitcher who shouldn't be starting games for you at the major league level. Employees don't like it when their fellow employees get fired especially when they themselves are marginal as well.
Disagree entirely. Well, no - I agree she's a racist and anti-semitic. But she's no Loria.
I've read about Schott and the main conclusion I've come to is that it's amazing someone like her could come to own a team when she did. In many ways, she was a fundemantally decent person. She loved animals, loved kids - and not just those in her immediate vicinity. She was very active in charity with it. She was active in the community - trying to do far for more it than later Reds owners were, though those owners were far less embarrassing.
But she was racist - and fairly open about it. She'd tell reporters that Hitler was OK in the beginning. She was anti-semitic. She publicly stated that only "fruits" wore ear rings. It's like she was some creature from the Lockhorns comic strips - but living in the late 1980s / early 1990s in a highly public role. Not only did she feel these things, but she seemed shocked - genuinely shocked that her views were controversial. Her environment was apparently people who were decent folk in their own way, trying to help their neighbor out - but fundamentally racist et al. I don't doubt many other owners have had similarly unenlightened attitudes, but she was so brazen about it at such a late date, and so unaware how out of step she was.
Furthermore, she was so weird on money. She apparently owned some car dealerships and was known for walking around, and turning off computers at any/all unoccupied desks. That's her power bill going up with those unattended computers don't you know. Seriously? Talk about penny-wise, pound-foolish. There's virtually no savings in the grand scheme of things and you're hurting customer service and employee morale. Again, how come someone like this own a team in big-money days of baseball. It fits w/ her treatment of Eric Davis.
Jeff Loria has massive warts obviously, but they are very different warts than Schott. Loria is just scum. Schott? Well, let me put it to you this way - ever seen The Great Santini? There's a scene where the son is talking to his black friend about his dogs that'll attack white people. "Mean dogs, huh? "Nope, the dogs ain't mean - just racist!" In many ways, Schott was a nice person - if you can get past the whole racist thing.
Loria? The biggest scumbag in MLB, just plain and simple.
The thing is, though, that putting your employees on a razor's edge only really makes sense as a tool for motivation - and by most accounts, marginal major-league players have motivation up the wazoo, regardless of whether or not their owner is scrutinizing their every move. What is this permanent threat of demotion supposed to achieve? To magically improve his velocity? To turn 110% effort into 120%? I just don't see how it could possibly do anything other than make the guy a nervous wreck who has a heightened fear of failure and would shy away from all but the safest plays.
The Manic Midget is not their bss, he is the owner, and doesn't have a shred of self control or baseball sense. A good owner hires a good GM and says out of the way until its time to fire the GM.
If the Midget was upset that Volstead sucked that's on Beinfest. Berating players isn't motivational, their entire job performance is public record witnessed by tens of thousands in a field where the difference between a high level of performance and just average is immense levels of weakth. Putting more pressure on them is usually asinine, my guess is most players need to relax more to perform better. But even if some players need their ass kicked, where are the manager and GM?
The Midgets antics couldn't motivate anyone, having him decide which players are sent down to the minors is hilarious This idiot fell into a massive pile of talent accumulated during John Henry's tenure that enabled him to win two World Series while barely spending a dime. That gold mine is now empty and the Manic Midges next decade is going to be awesome to watch.
Bet Pujols isn't regretting his decision much.
People were disgusted with Loria when he cooked the attendence record on the last day of 2002 so the Marlins would have a higher attendence than the Expos he screwed.
You failed to mention the disgusting treatment he gave to the remaining fans in Montreal. He refused to put the games on the radio and Dave Van Horne had to endure the indignity of broadcasting over the internet for a season. Once he realized he couldn't get government money for a stadium he wasn't interested in Montreal anymore.
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