(EXPLETIVE DELETED) Let Them Eat Cake

I loathe Dusty Baker’s managing style. I loathe his unwillingness to accept criticism. I loathe his attitude about OBP and “walks clogging bases.” I loathe his wristbands. Overall, however, he seems like a nice enough guy who is just really, really bad at managing a baseball team. The majority of the old-school media doesn't really see it that way, of course.

The column today by Melissa Isaacson is one of many puff pieces about Baker that the media likes to trot out during a season (by the way, if Baker’s team finishes anywhere near .500, be ready for the avalanche of “screw those stat-head geeks! Dusty Baker wins!” columns). Its annoying, filled with whining from Baker and Chris Speier, and generally the kind of drivel that most columnists pull out on days when both the home teams have off days. No harm, no foul.

However, the shot that Paul Sullivan takes at Chris Speier in response to Speier’s unnecessary whining is ridiculous.


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He writes:

Chris Speier's contention in today's Tribune story on Dusty Baker that the Chicago media was responsible for Baker's downfall is ludicrous. The Cubs had the worst record in the National League in 2006, and Baker was the manager. By and large, the media was fair to Baker, as it was to Speier following his arrest for riding his motorcycle while intoxicated in '06.

Read: “The all-powerful media cannot be criticized. If you dare criticize us, we will take cheap shots at your personal mistakes and generally make you appear to be everything short of a pedophile.” Jeesh Paul, you’d think the holier-than-thou attitude might want to take a back seat for awhile, especially considering the Trib’s stock price is roughly at the level of pets.com right about now. He goes on to state:

The Pirates owners spent $250,000 last off-season to install windows on the press box at PNC Park. It was the only press box in the majors without windows, as the previous owners decided it was OK to build a new ballpark and have the reporters rained on during games while writing their game stories.

I’m guessing that the 95% of Cubs fans who would do your job for free might not be as whiny when it comes to minor things like getting a little wet when you’re writing about Major League Baseball for a living.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the influence of print media is dying a not-so-slow death, and readers don’t exactly swarm to articles that emphasize the power of the big, bad media or complain about the jobs the beat writers have to do. There’s a reason why guys like Bill Simmons are (or at least used to be) popular...their appeal to the average fan. The minute you not only emphasize, but complain about the tenets of your job as conduit between fans and athletes, you cease to become that conduit and become an obstacle to the fan’s experience. And then people stop reading you and move on to idiots who write about eating sandwiches in the bathroom at Wrigley and girls who refuse to wear underpants. Wait…check that. Keep alienating the fans. Keep complaining about the minor inconveniences you have while doing every fan’s dream job. We could use the hits.