DO YOU MIND IF I GO AND WORK FOR THE COMPETITION?
Suppose you were the head of sales for Coca Cola, based in Atlanta, and you got an offer to take the same position at Pepsi, which is located in suburban New York City. You tell your boss you've always dreamed of going to New York, and would Coke allow you to talk to them? "No" says the boss. "You're honouring your contract and putting all your efforts into selling more Coke". I doubt it. The guy at Coke would immediately say, "Good Luck" and show you the door. No way does he let you stay at Coke when he KNOWS you're pining for Pepsi. You don't want to be there, and they need to find your replacement pretty soon, so "adios".
So why would Bluejays GM Alex Anthopoulos, knowing that John Farrell desperately coveted the Red Sox job a year ago, allow him to run his team in 2012? Why didn't he install a "no compete" clause in Farrell's deal? That way, if Farrell really wanted to go to Boston, he'd have to pay the Jays to let him out of his deal OR stay away from the game for one full year. The Jays could've hired a new manager going forward for 2012, and Farrell would have to sit on the sidelines for the whole year instead of managing against the Jays.. We found out today at the Farrell press conference, that AA and Jays president Paul Beeston "knew where my heart was" (Boston) a long time ago, yet inexplicably allowed him to manage the Jays this year. If his heart wasn't in it, why didn't the Jays change course and find a manager whose heart WAS in it?
As angry as I am with Farrell, I am more displeased with the Jays front office. They totally blew it with regards to Farrell. They should've said "Look, if you want to go to Boston, we won't stop you, but you've got to buy out your own contract and let us find the right guy for the job". Instead, they allowed Farrell to manage a team he didn't like, didn't care about and didn't want to be a part of in the future. What more do you need? They should've cut him loose a long time ago. Instead, they're going to spend the next few months figuring out who should get the job. Do us a favour Jays. Make sure you get the RIGHT guy this time.
I hate pre-season exhibition games. No matter what the sport. You may recall back in the spring when the Bluejays went 24-7, and everybody was talking about how great Eric Thames and Travis Snider and Ricky Romero and Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus were playing. Optimism was sky high. The end result after 162 games was, to say the least, disappointing. Now, fast forward to the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers. More talent than any team in the NBA, save for Miami. Kobe, Superman, Nash, Gasol, World Peace. And that's just the starting five. But they're 0-6 in the preseason and folks are worried. Why? Because even though it's preseason, it's a game. Fans pay good money to watch. The media casts a critical eye. The preseason is a harbinger for many. Not me. I understand that the coaching staff needs to see different players in certain situations. Guys who are hurt play limited minutes in exhibition games. Nobody gives 100% (unless he's in danger of getting cut), and most importantly, there is absolutely NO incentive to win a preseason game. So stop worrying about it. When the regular season begins, and it will ON TIME this year for the NBA, then you can start worrying. But I doubt the Lakers will start out 0-6. If they do, you've got a heckuva story.
"The Giants win the pennant". Last night, the San Francisco Giants, whose manager Bruce Bochy was skewered by your humble reporter in a column last week, beat St. Louis in game 7 to advance to the World Series. The Giants were down 3-1 in the series, and looked dead. But the beauty of the post season is that the home team in baseball gets the first two and the last two games of the series at home. And the Giants took advantage of the crowd and the right arm of Matt Cain (who tossed a perfect game earlier this year) to defeat the Redbirds. Now it's the Giants and Tigers in the World Series. Good pitching beats good hitting. I'll take the Tigers in 7 games.
Oh yeah, no hockey in sight and a lot of players have nothing to do but work on their golf games. My spies tell me that a few of the New York Rangers were up at Devil's Pulpit the other day, golfing in October for the first time.....ever. Oh well, at least it's good for the hand-eye coordination.
No comments:
Post a Comment