04/17/24
April 12, 2007
I think the Mariners are actually headed back in the right direction. I'm not predicting a 116-win season or anything, but regardless of whether Ichiro "step's up" as a leader, I think the team will be much better this season. (On a side note, I'm getting a little burnt out of articles such as this one where the author addresses the athlete. That's one of the main reasons I don't like listening to Rome - he always addresses athletes as if they had nothing better to do than to listen to him, and as if everything would be right in the world if they just followed his advice.)
posted by chamo at 09:49 AM on April 12, 2007
I don't like Rome ever since the Chris Everett interview but I still think it's just a little too early to rip on Ichiro but he's got an opinion that needs to be heard choke choke
posted by luther70 at 11:22 AM on April 12, 2007
Come on Caple, give Ichiro a break.....If you think so little of him why don't you put on the cheats and play centerfield yourself, or like most of the sports writers of today you most likely can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Some players can't or won't step up to the plate at the time the team needs them. For whatever reason it should be respected. Maybe he feels that unlike his World Team he doesn't have the complete respect of his Seattle teammates. All your sports writers like to do is take pot shots at anyone and everyone. This idea of Ichiro stepping up sounds very familiar to one Boston sportswriter that was always on Ted Williams. You are too young to remember either Ted Williams or the writer, but he left Williams off the MVP ballot the year he hit .406 and the Yankee Clipper won the award for hitting 56 straight. The writer, whose name I don't remember, paid for it later after Ted hit his last homer in his last at bat in the Majors and turned after touching homeplate and gave him a gesture with his middlefinger pointing up to the pressbox. Fitting then and maybe fitting now......
posted by ucla512 at 11:42 AM on April 12, 2007
Caple should direct his fire towards the ownership. He himself states that Ichiro is pulling his weight with the bat "It's great that you've hit .300 each season, with at least 200 hits. But as you've noticed in recent years, that is no longer enough." Surround Ichiro with some additional reliable bats and see how quickly talks of leadership fade into the background.
posted by gradys_kitchen at 12:40 PM on April 12, 2007
Ichiro called out by Caple for being great but not great enough? Talk about just looking for something to write about. Besides, Ichiro makes baseball Super-Fun Happy Time!
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:54 PM on April 12, 2007
I didn't know Ichiro absolutely had to be the team's "leader." He gets on base, steals bases, and is a great outfielder, but that's not enough apparently. Give me a break. I think the Mariners do have a fairly decent offensive team, but they need to put the players around Ichiro who will drive him in, and not expect he's going to turn into a power-hitter, too.
posted by dyams at 01:06 PM on April 12, 2007
Really Caple, do you think Suzuki is dogging it? Sure, he's deliberately trying to have a very ordinary year, just so he can have a chance to be worth a few million bucks less when free agency rolls around. Get a clue, will you, pal? ucla512, the writer feuding with Ted Williams was, I think, Cliff Keane. I don't recall reading that he had left Williams off an MVP ballot, but then my memory is faulty, and I don't have the time to research right now. I am sure that Williams did not "flip a bird" at the press box after his last home run. The video is shown occasionally, and there is nothing in Curt Gowdy's call or on the video to indicate any gesture. He did that in a game several years before he retired. Again, I don't recall the exact circumstances.
posted by Howard_T at 02:31 PM on April 12, 2007
I don't even think Grover is the real problem in Seattle. Bavasi has flat thumbs from sitting on them all the time, and I'm not certain anyone from the Nintendo ownership has seen a game in Seattle in person. OK, maybe I made that last part up, but I'll bet practically nobody in Seattle would recognize the owner if they bumped into him (them) on the street. Kinda obvious that Ichiro isn't the problem.
posted by THX-1138 at 03:08 PM on April 12, 2007
howard t, trust me I was sitting in the stands with my father and he did give Keane that gesture. He walked across homeplate tipped his hat to the fans and then turned towards the sportswriters box and to quote you "flipped him the bird". Years later, when he took over the Washington Senators, I asked him at a Angel game as he was standing on the dugout steps if he remindered doing that. He just smiled and winked at me. i just asked my brother and he said as he entered the dugout was when he looked up and gestured something to that writer. '
posted by ucla512 at 03:23 PM on April 12, 2007
The problem with todays' sportswriters is that they only want to write something that impresses the readers. I haven't seen a writer lately that is anything special except TJ Simmers who may write something you don't like but is fair and does ask the questions that most of the other writers haven't got the guts to ask. Keane was a moron and took a lot of crap for not putting him on the MVP ballot. Hell, if he had had a vote for the Hall of Fame he most likely wouldn't have voted for him either.
posted by ucla512 at 03:30 PM on April 12, 2007
I haven't seen a writer lately that is anything special except TJ Simmers who may write something you don't like but is fair and does ask the questions that most of the other writers haven't got the guts to ask. Do you mean T.J. Simers? The writer of this piece of petulant crap?
posted by grum@work at 04:21 PM on April 12, 2007
ucla, you must be as old as I am to remember Cliff Keane. You may be right about the "bird", but I know you are absolutely right about Keane being a moron. Actually, to paraphrase an expression I have heard, calling Cliff Keane a moron is an insult to morons everywhere. What really gets me about sportswriters, talking-head broadcasters, and even those who report "serious" news is how when one of them makes an absolute idiot of him or herself, and is taken to task for it, all of the others rally around him or her. It is usually "journalistic freedom" or the "public's right to know". To me it is that most of them are trying to boost ratings or circulation through sensationalism. They seem to have the attitude that their subjects are some sort of unfeeling robot who is fair game for the most vicious and unfounded criticism.
posted by Howard_T at 04:52 PM on April 12, 2007
Guys like Ichiro, who play literally flawless outfield, hit a constant .300 and add luster to a money green-tinted game screw things up for the Chris Duncans of the world...the ones who field wall caroms better than grounders or line drives. Leave, Ichiro, while there's still time... Jesus!
posted by wolfdad at 08:11 PM on April 12, 2007
Ichiro leads by example. He doesn't have the kind of personality to be the fire and brimstone, holler at your boys kind of leader. Some of the evidence of this is the oft-repeated rumor in Seattle that he speaks pretty decent English but always uses his interpreter. It allows him to keep a distance from all those around him. The guy who's gonna end up leading this team is Ichiro's countryman, Kenji Johjima.
posted by vito90 at 11:17 AM on April 13, 2007
Sorry Howard T, Didn't mean to insult you... Yeah, you are completely right about all the "journalistic freedom-public's right to know" crap.... Ratings mean money and the bottom line is now money... There is a old saying "people who can do people who can't write" to something of that effect it still fits..Ichiro leads by example, as does a lot of other players, but the writers want to sell papers to pay there salary whether the story is true or not or even worth while. Ratings,circulation, sensationalism, press, coverage and absolute stupidity of the sports writers of todays' game is what is causing all the bad journalism. But it cost to much for the players to go after these individuals in court so they just let it go and move on.
posted by ucla512 at 01:03 PM on April 17, 2007
Go after them in court? What are you talking about? Some sportswriter writes a column saying he doesn't think you're being a leader, and you want to sue him? Yeah, that's gonna fix things.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 03:26 PM on April 17, 2007
ucla, no insult perceived, nor any offense taken. I've had a really bad feeling for the basic dishonesty of the press/media for many years, ever since a good friend lost his job because of shoddy reporting and research by a reporter for a local newspaper. He had no legal recourse because of the libel laws here in the US. He might have had a case in the UK, but not here. He couldn't even sue his company for reinstatement because the story caused him to lose a security clearance. He changed careers and eventually landed on his feet, but it cost him a lot of anguish and loss of self esteem. It is indeed all about the money for those who like to root about in the slime. Their attitude seems to be one of not caring what they destroy, as long as circulation and ratings go up.
posted by Howard_T at 08:33 AM on April 18, 2007
I'm sure if Ichiro tries harder, he can overcome the incompetence of Bavasi and Hargrove and make the Mariners winners!