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If you consider yourself a Nationals devotee -- or even if you just find constant amusement in the walking joke that the team has become -- this column by Mike Wise in today's Post is a must-read: in it, Wise makes the case that former manager Frank Robinson got an incredibly raw deal when he was forced out at the end of the 2006 season.
There's some fantastic stuff in Wise's story, centering around Robinson, who was apparently eager to lead the team for years to come -- and management, led by former General Manager Jim Bowden and team President Stan Kasten who, according to Robinson, strung him along for months:
Kasten eventually came to Robinson's office, he said, and was surprised to hear Robinson say he wanted to manage for three more years."Oh, wow," Robinson said Kasten told him, relating the conversation.
"What's wrong?"
"That's a little surprising."
[...]
"But [Kasten] said, 'No matter what happens here, you'll always have a job here because you're a good baseball man and we'd like to have you in this organization and take advantage of your skills, ability and knowledge.' "
One should keep in mind that this was a manager who, while at the helm, led two fairly talent-strapped Nationals teams to 81-81 and 71-91 records in 2005 and 2006, respectively; records that look amazingly good when viewed in the light of this year's campaign, where the Nats currently have fewer wins than Albert Pujols has home runs.
Of course, the Nationals dispute Robinson's version of events which led to him being relieved of his duties as manager. But Wise is dead on in his conclusion about they way that he was treated. Regardless of the specifics, it seems borderline disgraceful for a baseball legend -- who was the first black manager in major league history -- to be cut off from a franchise which he had done his best with. The worst of it? The Nationals have never even had an official day honoring Robinson.
Robinson, who, according to the column, still watches the Nats and has "[n]o hard feelings," sounds like he could still be doing good things for this team -- a team whose own color man recently said he believes that the team is mailing it in.
But sadly, though, it looks like Frank Robinson will suffer through the remainder of the season, just like the rest of us.
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What is this? The all sports blog?
Enough!
Sports and GUNS, get it right! Although Martin has the day off, so no guns today. He's on safari for pandas.
I stand corrected, thanks DPR.
if you don't like it, go out and make some news so there's something to write about, eh?
Fair enough. Stay tuned.
I don't think there is too much sports coverage here. I think there is WAY WAY too much Capitals coverage, like typically there are 14 off-season Caps posts for all over sports posts combined. Sometimes we seem to get two Caps posts a day... in August.
I've been pleasantly surprised that it seems in the past week or two someone at DCist has discovered that there is a baseball team in D.C. Same goes for Football and Basketball in losing seasons. Only covering sports when those teams are doing well is weak and lacks character. I can understand coverage thinning when nobody is too excited about a season, but coverage dropping of the face of the earth is pretty hard to justify.
Hear hear!
DCist should cover the kayaking, rock climbing, running, triathalons (etc) in the area, which are much better than the mega-dollar corporate sports we offer, all of which are represented by teams which pretty much suck, cost too much to enjoy, and relegate one to spectating. (yawn)
Not a bad idea. There is a lot of rugby in this area (at least a dozen men's and women's teams inside the Beltway plus a gaggle of college sides) with many players in the area competing for spots on top national teams. The Sports Bog claimed it was going to be covering rugby, but with almost two years between posts there's obviously room for some DCist coverage of the sport.
"Relegate one to spectating?" Maybe that's all that some of us actually want to do. I for one enjoy sitting on my ass, drinking beer and watching baseball, even if the team sucks. Most "corporate sports" cost nothing to enjoy as long as you have access to a TV, which is what makes them so accessible and appealing (how many city-dwellers are going to pay to travel out to God-knows-where to watch a kayak race?).
Also, as much as I admire the participants' athleticism, I only have so much tolerance for sports where the only goal is to get to a finish line faster than everyone else. I'd be down for some rugby though.