We’re going to try and pick up our National League poems next week. Hey speaking of next week, did I mention that on Tuesday The Soul of Baseball paperback goes on sale? If not, I apologize for the oversight. The Soul of Baseball hardcover is still for sale, of course, and it is indeed superior in that:
A. It costs about five bucks more.
B. The cover is, um, harder.
Anyway, in the meantime, here are few more pointless words about a variety of meaningless things.
So, I cannot believe that we as a family didn’t get into this Netflix thing earlier. Margo and I always talking about how we never see any movies. At some point, this crossed over into an ultra-annoying, middle-aged habit where about once a year over dinner we try to figure out the last non-kids movie we went to see in the theater (“Was it Ben Hur? No, wait, I believe it was the original War of the Worlds”).
The worst part of our movie drought is we have access to COUNTLESS movies that we haven’t seen. We probably own thirty DVDs that we’ve never seen — this is because every so often I go to the video store, and I buy like nine used DVDs for, what, 73 cents? Seriously, it’s getting to the point now where you should pull up to a video store, pop open your trunk, and have two video store employees come out and dump all their surplus copies of “Superman Begins” and “The Santa Clause 3.”
You: “But I already have four copies of ”The Notebook.“
Video kid: ”Shut up. You’ll take what we give you. Don’t you know video stores are DYING?“
The problem for us is that there’s really no motivation to watch the movies we already own. We can watch our 12 penny copy of ”Hotel Rwanda“ tonight, or we can watch it tomorrow night, or we can watch it next week. We just figure that we’ll watch it when the ”Hotel Rwanda“ mood hits. Of course, though we both love Don Cheadle, and we both know intuitively that “Hotel Rwanda” is a very good movie, the “Hotel Rwanda” mood never really hits. Conversations always go like:
Me: You want to watch Hotel Rwanda?
Margo: I don’t know if I can handle that tonight.
Me: Me either.
Margo: How about In America?
Me: I don’t know. An Jim Sheridan Irish epic? Whew, I’m pretty tired.
Margo: Me too.
Me: I think I’m going to write some poetry blog post.
Margo: Whatever.
This is the great thing about Netflix. It solves the problem. You get a movie in the mail and you want to watch it THAT VERY MINUTE. Because then you get to send it back and get ANOTHER movie. Then ANOTHER. This is exactly what we need — motivation. Yesterday, we got our first Netflix movie, which happened to be ”Lucky You,“ and we watched it last night. It was awful. But I’m just proud of us. We already have that clunker in the mail, and our next crappy movie is on its way. It like a new life for us.
Lucky You, in case you are wondering, is a movie about poker featuring music by Springsteen and Dylan, which is why it appealed to me. It’s also a movie starring Eric Bana, which is why it appealed to Margo. Unfortunately for both of us, the movie also had Drew Barrymore, who has stepped to the front of the line of ”Actor or Actress most likely to screw up a movie.“ In this case, it would be entirely unfair to blame Barrymore for Lucky You because the movie sucked, the dialogue sucked and the editing sucked, assuming there was editing. The movie lasts 2 hours and 4 minutes, but because of the pacing I must admit that it doesn’t feel any longer than, say, the Korean War.*
*Or at least no longer than the M*A*S*H version of the Korean War.
But as bad as those movie elements were, as difficult as it was to buy Eric Bana as a poker genius*, as bad as I felt for the great Robert Duvall** having to utter some of those absurd lines as the aging poker champion father, the starring disaster in this movie was unquestionably Barrymore. And watching her play that same character made me do some very depressing calculations. I hardly see any movies and yet, for reasons that I cannot even begin to explain, most movies I DO see seem to have Drew Barrymore in them. I got ”Fever Pitch“ sent to me as a DVD before it came out on screen, I saw 50 First Dates on a plane, I saw Music and Lyrics because Margo loves Hugh Grant, I saw Confessions of a Dangerous Mind because of my own personal obsession with The Gong Show***, I saw Ever After because I have two daughters who will look at the back cereal boxes for two hours if Cinderella is somehow involved, and I saw Never Been Kissed for reasons that I could not possibly begin to explain. I’ve never put this list together before, even in my mind, but now I have to tell you that I’m now so depressed I may not leave the house for weeks. Basically, I don’t see movies, but for some reasons the movies I see have Drew Barrymore in them.
*Bana was more believable as the Mossad agent who led the team to kill Black September terrorists in ”Munich“ than as a poker champion, if that tells you anything. I guess Bana — and I didn’t know any of this until just now — was a big comedian in Australia who made his name doing impressions. I just wish, really wish, that in the middle of Munich he had turned to the camera and done his Tom Cruise.
**Have you noticed that Robert Duvall now cannot get rid of his Southern accent? The guy was born in California, he moved around a lot when he was young, he studied in New York, and now no matter what role he plays he cannot help but sound like Robert E. Lee meets Foghorn Leghorn. It’s like he’s reliving ”Days of Thunder“ again and again. I don’t get it. Why does this happen to great actors? Al Pacino used to have a fairly normal voice until he was in ”Dick Tracy,“ followed by that ”Oh we’ve screwed you too many times already“ Oscar he got for ”Scent of a Woman,“ — now he always sounds like he just swallowed a cactus and you keep waiting for him to break out a “HOO-HA!” right in the middle of a sentence.
***OK, so, I was discussing this with a friend last night. American Idol is basically just a modern version of Star Search, right? I mean, they’re essentially the same show. Only difference is that Star Search was like a syndicated show you would see on Sunday afternoons after football season was over, while American Idol is the single biggest thing in America today. What happened? My friend was saying, “Well, a lot of the success is built around those judges like Simon ripping the contestants after the done.” Which made me think, “OK, it’s not like Star Search. It’s like the Gong Show.”
A little more on Barrymore: There was a time — the exact time would be 11:38 p.m. on November 13, 1998 — when I liked Drew Barrymore well enough. That was after I saw Wedding Singer, which I thought was funny enough for the 1980s references, and I thought she was appropriately cute for the role. I mean she was no Ione Skye* — what HAPPENED to her anyway? — but she seemed likable and cute enough for that sorts of roles, sort of a Meg Ryan lite (not that you could get a lot liter than Meg Ryan).
And she went along like that for a while, playing the same character with the same affectations over and over again, which is certainly no crime, Harrison Ford made one heck of a career of it. But more and more, at least for me, she started to stand out for being unbearingly annoying. Then, her acting, or whatever you call it, started going South. I think it was Fever Pitch that made me realize this — man did I despise that movie (in large part because Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch is the best book I’ve ever read about being a fan). Lyrics and Music isn’t exactly Citizen Kane to begin with, but her performance in there ranks with Sophia Coppola in the never-made Godfather III. Her character is so obnoxious, so lacking in charm, you wonder what in the hell Barrymore did to those writers.
And then, Lucky You, she’s so bad that for most of the movie you look at Eric Bana — a degenerate gambler and thief with temper issues, self-destruction issues and a terrifying relationship with his father — and every moment of the movie you think HE’S TOO GOOD FOR HER. That’s bad news. I’m ready for the next Netflix movie.
*I love Ione Skye — really the only even tolerable part of “Fever Pitch” for me was when Barrymore was with her friends, and you realize that one of them is Ione Skye, and it’s like seeing an old friend. One thing I did not know until going on her Wikipedia page is that she married one of the Beastie Boys, dated the front man from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and is now engaged to Ben Lee. I’m not one to question anyone’s personal life — and I like Ben Lee — but, really, is it especially wise to search for lifelong happiness along the music trail?
* * *
So we’ve been discussing a move made the other day by Royals manager Trey Hillman. You may have heard about this — probably not unless you live in Kansas City. Hillman was annoyed, apparently, by a lack of effort of his players on the bases during a spring training game. So, when the game was over, he gathered all the players on the field, in full public view, and lectured them for 15 minutes. It was quite a scene, apparently. And then he talked for 10 more minutes with veteran Mark Grudzielanek, and you can probably guess what that was about. And then he refused to talk about it with the media, saying “If I’d wanted you to know (what it was about) I’d have invited you guys over there.” This is, of course, ridiculous because by doing it in full public view he very much WAS inviting the media over there. Still …
Here’s why it’s interesting to me: I think fans are of two minds on stunts like this. On the one hand, I think most fans really like the idea of a manager or coach getting in players’ faces when they are not giving the full effort or when they are acting like prima donnas or whatever. I think we like it because they are stand-ins for our frustration as fans. There’s a player I’ve watched from afar — I’m not going to mention his name or sport for various reasons — who has a tremendous amount of talent but absolutely is the single worst team player I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t seem to care, he acts like jerk, he doesn’t seem to listen, he mopes, he lashes out, he’s capable of singlehandedly bringing down an entire team. I would love, as a fan, to sit him down for 30 minutes in front of a huge crowd and just scream at him. I would like to do that for his own good.
But that leads to the second part of the equation: I don’t think screaming at him in front of a crowd would help at all. In fact, it would almost certainly have the opposite effect. And that’s the part that fans also intuitively seem to understand — yes, it’s satisfying to watch a coach take out the players when they’re not working hard. But will that make them play better? It seems unlikely.
In the case of Trey Hillman, did he win the players over to his way of thinking by that public display or did he erode a little bit of the respect that they have for him? Maybe neither one. I don’t want to overplay the event — it was just scene in an early March spring training game and, certainly, soon to be forgotten — but Hillman has not yet managed his first game in the big leagues. Could this become a semi-regular event? And if so: How would that play?
I’ve thought of two recent examples of coaches/managers who would, on occasion, publicly embarrass their players in order to get across a point.
1. Herb Brooks when he was coaching the Miracle on Ice team.
2. Tom Kelly as manager of the Twins.
There are many other examples, of course, but I think of those two because they were both successful. Brooks, of course, famously had his players skate suicides or whatever after they did not show up for a game. And Kelly would, every so often, get so mad at the lack of effort he would have his players take extra infield after a game or make a guy stay after to practice getting bunts down.
There are differences though. Brooks was only trying to get his team ready for one two week event. There weren’t 162 games to be played every year. And here’s something pretty amazing: The players as a whole never really did like him, not even many, many years later. Many of them still don’t think his sports monstrosity* was at all necessary. I remember talking to Brooks before the team lit the torch at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City and asking him why he wasn’t going to be there with them, and he basically said something like, “they don’t want me there.” I felt a little bit sad for him, but then again, he didn’t make me skate suicides until I threw up every other day.
*How about that Samantha Power, some foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama, having to resign after calling Hillary Clinton a “monster?” That quote has to be one of the funniest and saddest quotes in the history of gotcha journalism. She was actually quoted saying, “She’s a monster too — that’s off the record — she is stooping to anything.” I mean the “That’s off the record” thing is part of the quote.
I have to say, I feel a tiny bit sorry for her. She was obviously getting carried away ripping Clinton, it’s pretty emotional out there, and she said the “monster” thing, and she knew .0003 seconds after she said it that it was a mistake, that’s why she threw the “that’s off the record” thing out there right away. Now, technically speaking, you can’t call something off the record AFTER you say it, anymore than you can take back the “oh man, I shouldn’t have said that” words when you’re having an argument with your spouse. And hey, when you’re talking to the media in times like these, you better choose your words carefully. Still an obscure Obama aid can’t take back a poorly chosen word when she instantly realizes it was wrong? You’re not catching any breaks from us media folks these days, buster.
As far as Tom Kelly goes, I think when you win a World Series your first full year as a coach, and your second four years later, that’s sort of a “I can be a jerk whenever I want” card. Bill Parcells can play that card too. But it’s worth noting that after the 1992 season, Kelly’s teams had losing records for EIGHT STRAIGHT SEASONS. This wasn’t Kelly’s fault, but I’m not sure you can use him as an example that his brand of managing works in the big leagues.
I guess what I’m saying is that I like Trey Hillman; I like that he’s driven by fundamentals and that he will demand that his players play hard. I think he has a good chance of making the Royals ABOUT something. I’m just not sure about stunts like this. Maybe they will work. Probably not.
Loading ...
39 Comments, Comment or Ping
Justyo
Good Morning Joaldo!
Somehow Ms. Barrymore has become a big joke in our family. Every time we see her on the screen we quickly change the channel and begin this weird lilting lisping manner of speaking for the next twenty minutes. (But I must say she is a wonderful person and throws a mean party)
As far as Hillman goes I agree with you. I hope it was a one time show from an eager guy but it doesn’t bode well I think.
Oh and on Samantha Power - far from obscure she’s a Pulitzer Prize winning author and Harvard Professor who’s been close to Barack for some time. From a lot of sources I’ve seen it seems her comments on the Iraq war (i.e. withdrawal dates) that she made later on in the same day were the source of her “retirement” and not the “Monster” quip.
Can I just add - Have we gotten this hyper senstitive “PC” that a “monster” quip is enough to get Chris Matthews drooling for 48 hours?
Bring on Opening Day!!
One more comment - and apologies if this is blasphemous to purists of any sort. MLB The Show ‘08 is AWESOME.
Mar 8th, 2008
Paul White
Joe, Trey Hillman was recently quoted in your newspaper saying this:
“I’ve spoken to all of them about eliminating batting average and going to OBP. Because OBP really is the statistic that tells you what your chances are of scoring runs.”
If that’s his philosophy, I don’t care what methods he uses to get the players to start practicing it. He can make them run nude laps around the warning track before and after each game if it will get them to start working counts, building up opposing starters’ pitch counts and drawing walks.
Mar 8th, 2008
haelig
I can SO relate to you and your wife’s pre-Netflix dilemma: I’ll go to Wal-Mart or Target, and buy DVDs of pretty good movies on sale for $5-7. But months later, I still haven’t watched them because I’ve never been in a “Million-Dollar Baby” mood. . . .
Also, I just want say that I really enjoy reading your blog and it’s kind of a link to home: I grew up in the Kansas City area with an ‘85 World Series pennant on my bedroom wall and while I’ve decamped for other points abroad in the last few years, I always look forward to your latest columns and blog posts on the local sports scene.
Mar 8th, 2008
Chris
Maybe you should develop a Sabremetrics for actors and actresses. You can adjust for genre like stadiums, (She does well in the thin air of romantic-comedy, but struggled once she moved to psycho-drama with it’s deep alleys.) or even position (Paul Giamatti always projected as a decent catcher/best-friend type, but has shown a surprising ability to carry a movie as a slugger once he moved to 1b/leading man. )
There is, by the way, a British version of Fever Pitch with Colin Firth and Ruth Gemmel that sticks much more closely to the Hornsby book and is much much better. (It even provided my wife with a better understanding of the appeal of sports, which I didn’t think anything could do.)
It’s available on Netflix:
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Fever_Pitch/60003176?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=1328762675_1_0
Mar 8th, 2008
Mike S
I can think of one public humiliation that did some good — when Bobby Cox yanked Andruw Jones off the field in the middle of an inning for lolly-gagging after a flyball.
Mar 8th, 2008
Mike S
PS - British version of Fever Pitch — with Colin Firth — is available from Netflix and much better than American version (although book is still better. Obviously).
Mar 8th, 2008
ajnrules
Regarding Trey Hillman’s public diatribe, could it be related to the Japanese yakyuu culture that he had managed in for the past couple of years? I would guess something that is so unacceptable in the US may be just fine in Japan, but I haven’t had that much contact with baseball in Japan.
And I probably should have gotten the hardcover copy of The Soul of Baseball. My paperback cover is just about all bent up.
Mar 8th, 2008
Jeff P.
netflix - I had it for three years but recently switched to blockbuster because you can return the dvd to a store and get another one.
Hillman - His little lecture occurred right after a walk off home run. So he really must have been disgusted, better he do it in ST because I don’t think it’ll play to well during the rgular season.
Barrymore - Wedding singer was ok, Firestarter was mildly entertaining but other than those two she really hasn’t set the cinema world on fire (see what I did there?).
Mar 8th, 2008
Chet P.
“There’s a player I’ve watched from afar — I’m not going to mention his name or sport for various reasons — who has a tremendous amount of talent but absolutely is the single worst team player I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t seem to care, he acts like jerk, he doesn’t seem to listen, he mopes, he lashes out, he’s capable of singlehandedly bringing down an entire team. ”
Any guesses on who Joe is talking about here?
Mar 8th, 2008
laurie
The real beauty of Netflix? I am currently watching the 1975 World Series on dvd. I was too young to appreciate it back then, but I’m loving it now.
Mar 8th, 2008
Walter
You haven’t realized the beauty of Netflix just yet. Give it a month, then you’ll have been through 5 crappy movies. This is where it gets good, you start getting TV shows.
Now, you can catch up on all of the shows everyone is talking about and see what all the fuss is about. AND, if it’s a sitcom- it only takes 25 minutes to watch an episode and 45 minutes for an hour long show.
Mar 8th, 2008
Byron
Joe, I am going to guess that you’re not a fan of the Beastie Boys. When Ione Sky was dating Ad Rock, he was inspired enough to write perhaps one of the greatest hip-hop lines ever:
Ad Rock down with the Ione
She’s like the cheese
And I’m the macaroni
If that doesn’t say true love, I don’t know what does.
And Drew Barrymore flat out sucks, as does Jimmy Fallon. As much as I loved the 2004 post season, seeing Barrymore and Fallon jump around on the Busch Stadium grass almost made me puke.
Of course, I didn’t see that in real time, I was too busy celebrating, but the fact that these two no talent ass clowns had anything to do with the single best sporting moment of my life was nauseating.
Mar 8th, 2008
Tom
Hey Joe,
You mentioned Eric Bana’s comedic ability, and it reminded me of an early Bana film called Chopper. It’s certainly not a comedy, but there are parts where Bana is absolutely hysterical. He’s virtually unrecognizable in the part of a lifelong Australian criminal, and while the movie is pretty juiced up with language, violence and some sex, it’s awfully entertaining, in that strange/bent sort of entertaining that only Aussie films can provide. Not sure if this is gonna be one for you and Margo to enjoy together while snuggling on the sofa, but I recommend it nonetheless.
Mar 8th, 2008
B. S. Blues
The player Joe is talking about that he has watched from afar… Every fan has one of these; maybe his is the same as mine — Vince Carter.
Mar 8th, 2008
Mikey
Chet P. -
Sounds a lot like Terrell Owens.
Although the “doesn’t see to care part” wouldn’t be quite right. He is a competitor.
Mar 8th, 2008
Devin McCullen
OK, Joe, I’m telling you. If you’re home, stop messing around. Watch “In America” tonight. It’s a great movie, you’ll love it. It’s not some heavy dramatic piece - there is drama in it, but there’s also a lot of joy. The kids are wonderful. Watch it! Tonight!
And why should you listen to me? Because I’m buying the book, right now, in hardcover - not waiting half a week for the paperback. OK? Happy now?
(Sorry if I came off like a lunatic there. )
Mar 8th, 2008
Tim
Did you notice that Lucky You was directed by Curtis Hanson? Same guy that directed L.A. Confidential and Wonder Boys. How do you direct movies that good, and then settle for garbage like this? And this was his follow up to the awful In Her Shoes. That kind of drop off in quality reminds me of Francis Ford Coppola after Apocalypse Now. At least he can blame the jungle.
Mar 8th, 2008
Kyle Davidson
Chet P -
Sounds like Larry Johnson to me.
Mar 8th, 2008
DB Cooper
There’s NEVER a time when you’ll feel like watching Hotel Rwanda. It sat there in its Netflix envelope, taunting me, for months until we finally broke down and watched it. Great movie, Cheadle’s awesome, etc. And I wanted to kill myself after, and never want to see that DVD again.
In America feels like it’s going to be the same way, but it actually turns out to be the complete opposite. Quite enjoyable.
Mar 8th, 2008
MonkeyHawk
See, I could never understand buying DVDs. With Netflix (and just like a junkie, I went from one disc at a time to three at a time, just to get more! more! more!), I can get any movie in a day. I can count on, well, six fingers how many films I’ve ever ABSOULUTELY have to watch “right now.”
(One of ‘em is “Happy Accidents,” a sci-fi-rom-com I think you and Margot will both enjoy, Joe. But I digress…)
I used to have a freelance gig writing trailers for DVDs. (Yeah, someone actually writes those things.) They sent me a disc, I’d select certain scenes, write some copy, e-mail it in, somebody in a suit would rewrite the whole thing, and they’d send me money.
I decided I would not write any trailer that began with, “In a world where….”
There was one exception. When I was assigned to write the trailers for the 20th Anniversary Edition of “E.T.,” one of my scripts began, “In a world where…Drew Barrymore has no breasts…”
Didn’t make the cut.
Mar 8th, 2008
Michael
Joe, I don’t think you can blame Tom Kelly for those 8 losing season in Minnesota. Obviously, the ownership there is known for being stingy and not paying for players, and had one of the lowest payrolls until the last 5 years or so. However, he helped build up a young core of talent that, in Ron Gardenhire’s first year in 2002, won 94 games and a playoff series. I don’t think he always gets credit for that.
Mar 8th, 2008
MonkeyHawk
Oh, and on the Trey Hillman home plate team meeting –
When I heard about it I thought it sounded very Japanese. Or, perhaps, too little league.
These are PROFESSIONAL baseball players, after all. Did he have to be so in-your-face?!
Except, this is currently one of the least-successful major league teams on the planet. Where do these “professionals” get off assuming they’re too good for anything?
I’m hopeful about the 2008 Roylz; optimistic, even. Hillman’s success in Japan, building an anemic offense into a winning team. I suspect Kansas City will lose a lot of 10-1 games, but win more 3-2 games because of Hillman’s approach to baseball. I love 3-2 games.
Perhaps that post-game on-field team meeting was a declaration of a new sheriff in town. If another one happens in August in Yankee Stadium or somewhere, it’ll be a sign that the Roylz are in the hunt.
If another one never happens, I’ll bet it’s because the first one worked.
Mar 8th, 2008
Geoff
Another weird fact about Ione Skye: Her father is drug aficionado and Mod musician Donovan Leitch
Mar 8th, 2008
Snowman
When I think of managers publicly embarrassing players, I think of Bobby “I’m the smartest guy in the game, and I’m going to reinvent it daily, if I can ever get over this whole paralysis by analysis thing” Valentine.
I forget exactly when it was, but it was when Hundley was really, really, really good (quite possibly the year after he broke the catcher’s HR record, actually), and was about the most popular guy in that Mets’ clubhouse to boot. They still had an outside shot at the wild card, his shoulder was shredded and needed surgery, and he vowed to keep playing until they were mathematically eliminated. Not surprisingly, he started struggling.
Bobby V’s solution? He lied to the press. Told them that the reason for Hundley’s slump was caused by his staying out drinking and whoring all night, very night. His thinking was that perhaps reading that in the paper would make Hundley so mad he’d bust out of it. Turn green and start knocking balls to the moon or something like that, I guess.
Mar 8th, 2008
Minda
@Laurie (comment 10)
Watching the ‘75 WS on DVD, eh? That is the best idea I have heard all week about anything.
Mar 9th, 2008
Steve
You hinted at my problem with Netflix: they sucker you into watching really bad movies. Really. Bad. And it’s just coming off your credit card monthly, so you’re thinking that it’s not a big deal, or that you need to watch MORE bad movies. They suckered me into that scam for 2001 and 2002. Then I got wise and cut the service.
I think the movie that drove me to it was the Tao of Steve. I put it on my queue* just because it had my name in it. Afterwards, I was so ashamed that I canceled the service. Never did see the Tao of Me. So when you get to that point, rent it and let me know how [bad] it is.
*(**)The queue is another scam! It symbolizes false hope and the American obsession with waiting in line. I don’t want to wait in line. I want what I want now.
**That was my first Pozterisk.
Mar 9th, 2008
JRM
Chet,
Milton Bradley comes to mind.
Mar 9th, 2008
Andy
My favorite example of a manager showing up a player involved the 1969 Mets when Gil Hodges removed my favorite Met, Cleon Jones, for not hustling after a fly ball. Hodges actually walked from the dugout all the way to left field and “escorted” Jones off the field. I’m not saying there was a correlation, but the team went 45-19 after that game.
Mar 9th, 2008
Kevin
The Trey Hillman thing has predictably gotten all the mob of bitter, middle aged white men in KC all fired up. Publically embarrassing major league baseball players is one of the worst ideas i have ever heard of, yet everyone screams and yells and says “that’s exactly what i’d do!” because all they can relate to was a high school coach who lectured them. (and i would suggest Gil Hodges has slightly more credability to do this than Trey Hillman)
Mar 9th, 2008
Joe K.
I’m gonna go ahead and take a guess on worst team player: Delmon Young?
Mar 9th, 2008
Shawn
Having played and coached college sports, I think the “in public” thing is very over-hyped and mostly beside the point. When you humiliate a single player in public - regardless of level - you run the real risk of forever alienating that player. When you address an entire team, especially after a win, you immediately reinforce the principles you are trying to imbue.
This idea of the players being “professionals” is something of a red herring. “Professional” from a behavioral standpoint is determined by your approach, not your age or the amount of money you’re making. The very fact that yelling, screaming, and gesticulating on a regular basis rarely works over the long term is also unrelated to age and “professionalism”. There is no imaginary cutoff between being a high school player, college player, and professional player where screaming and humiliating people stops working and treating them as people worthy of respect starts working because it is a completely false structure to begin with. Everyone knows high quality, mature high schoolers who deserve to be treated with respect and respond well to respectful coaching. Similarly, the ease with which posters can speculate as to a near infinite number of hopelessly immature “professionals” suggests that treating a low quality person with respect will not bring a high level of effort and focus from that person simply because they have graduated to the pros.
Successful coaches understand their sport, have an attention to detail, and have the ability to day-in, day-out create a winning environment. The theatrics are beside the point. Watching college basketball is often disgusting. The gyrations of the coaches on the sidelines are ridiculous. You think Roy Williams needs to look like he’s on the verge of having a fit to get his point across? You think with the caliber of teams he’s recruited that he’d have won only 1 national title if he had a sideline demeanor that was even mildly appropriate? (And that’s an example of a coach who is definitely a good guy; there are a lot of similar examples of coaches who act absurdly and are definitely not good guys.) Sadly, these models of immaturity are what players are socialized into expecting, and they often need some combination of theatrics and “professionalism” from their professional coaches in order to fully understand the intensity level expected.
If anything, the childish T-shirts and the fact that the players have to “earn” the childish T-shirts is a bigger concern about Hillman’s approach than addressing his players after a game. My experience is that slogans tend to trivialize or infantilize the need for hard work, not reinforce it. And from a coaching standpoint, you need to carry yourself in such a fashion that it is implicitly expected that everyone will conduct themselves in such a fashion as to meet the standards of your organization, not that some will “earn” their way in and some won’t.
All that said, after the torture of watching a Buddy Bell managed team, I agree 100% with the poster who suggested that if Hillman is going to emphasize OBP (and by extension other strategies that actually increase your chance to win as opposed to dramatically decrease it), I’ll be able to write off an awful lot of peripheral nonsense.
Mar 9th, 2008
jackie ballgame
Let’s keep in mind how bad a team the royals have been, not to mention hillman’s resume in Japan. I mean, true, he’s a rookie in MLB but so was Ichiro. True, it must feel like being in little league, as grudzielanek said, but this a collection of mostly young guys and they need to understand what it takes to win in the big leagues. Most good teachers will do this once to get the point across, and won’t have to do it again. Its all part of drawing the line, now the players know what they can’t get away with. No big deal. Play ball.
Mar 9th, 2008
hilarie
I had never pinpointed *motivation* as the critical factor in our failure to watch DVDs, but you are obviously right about that. Sadly, we tried Netflix and just kept the discs forever too, finally returning them unwatched in a sort of slow, cyclical dance that included no movie viewing. I must say, we can accomplish the same level of movie lassitude with discs rented on the way home from work. Thank goodness for whatever movie is on TV whenever we happen to have decided to watch TV.
On Powers, I think Glenn Greenwald best explains what the incident reveals about US media, albeit with some well-earned frustrated outrage peeking through, which is sure to distract the nabobs from substance in order to preach about tone. But any “tone” that savages Tucker Carlson can’t be bad. Anyway, I don’t know how to put a link in a post here but the “leave a comment” box has a field for Website so I put it there. Maybe it will show up. I don’t know.
Mar 9th, 2008
hilarie
Yep, you can click my name on the prior post and get the Greenwald Tucker punch.
Mar 9th, 2008
Snowman
I’m an avid Netflix guy,* and with the rare exception haven’t really had this bad movie problem.**
Then again, I’ve never added a movie to my queue just because it had my name on it.
I really had no choice but to go this route. My hearing finally reached a point where I just couldn’t make out enough of what was being said in a theatre to enjoy the film, and I haven’t yet found a theatre with closed captioning.
Perhaps that’s the difference… I’m watching all the movies I’d like to have seen in theatres but didn’t, plus some very old ones I enjoyed many years ago and want to see again.*** There’s never been a Larry the Cable Guy, Sean William Scott, or Dane Cook movie on my queue.
*Four-at-a-time plan, usually watch about five a week.
**Shoot ‘Em Up being the latest exception. I came into this with very low expectations from seeing the trailer, but still…. Clive Owen and personal favourite Paul Giamatti? How bad can it be, right? The POS made those Charles Bronson Death Wish sequels look like The Godfather, folks. It was a movie so bad that it offends you by virtue of its own existence, just by the fact that valuable movie-making resources were wasted on its creation. Paul, Clive… what the hell were you guys thinking?
***Rosi’s Le Mani sulla citta is the next of the latter.
Mar 9th, 2008
David
I think Shawn in comment 31 is right on. Also, it isn’t clear to me that the whole team was embarrassed publicly. We all realize players get drilled on fundamentals and are often forced to repeat drills in spring training. This article in the LA Times talks about the “fire” that Larry Bowa brings as he instructs his charges http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/la-sp-plaschke7mar07,1,7494444.column?track=rss . He certainly is trying to teach, but is also being critical. Hillman didn’t call anybody out by name and didn’t make a further issue out of it in the press. Please explain to me why any of these players should be embarrassed? There was a team discussion about an aspect of the sport. Would people feel better if it were done in the locker room? Really, is it that big a deal?
I think this whole showing up or embarrassing athletes is generally a silly topic.(Although walking out to left field to remove Cleon Jones certainly qualifies.) Hillman is teaching and reinforcing what he expects as a new leader in an organization. This seems to me like a good management practice be it baseball or any other business.
As for which athlete Joe was referring to, I have to guess that it is a Kansas City player because Joe is much more likely to have a deeper insight into those he covers daily. Larry Johnson does seem like a good guess, particularly when juxtaposed against one of his favorites, Priest Holmes.
Mar 9th, 2008
Greg
When “Lucky You” was described in the blog post, I couldn’t help wondering why it sounded so familiar…then I realized.
I was riding on the bus from NYC to Providence for Thanksgiving and that movie was playing. I must have forgotten my headphones or been too committed to listening to music, because I spent the entire time trying to see if I could surmise the plot of the movie without sound. It turned out to be surprisingly easy- I think I was pretty close to what you described.
Just your typical mailed-in romantic comedy trying to cash in on the male audience by using subject matter that guys are currently drawn to (Texas Hold’em). Basically, the same thing they did with Fever Pitch…I watched that movie while I was really sick one weekend because I was too lazy to find the remote or get up and change the channel. Needless to say I didn’t feel any better afterwards
Mar 10th, 2008
Perry
Very late to the party here, but just another vote for the Brit version of Fever Pitch, with Colin Firth. If you liked the book, I’m confident you’ll like the film. I even bought it, and have watched it 2-3 times. Of course, I’m an Arsenal fan, so I like it just for the footage of that May ‘89 Liverpool game! But it works as a straight romantic comedy too.
Mar 10th, 2008
Greg P
I am late to the party also, but we recently discovered Red Box at all our local grocers. They have 100 or so movies in the big Red Box and they are $1 a night and you can return them to any other Red Box. For $1 a night, it’s an incredible deal. We just watched “The Simpson’s Movie” and “The Game Plan” for $2 for five of us! It’s genius, I tell you!
Mar 10th, 2008
Reply to “A Poetry Break”