Willie Randolph Vs. SNY
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
There's a battle going on in New York and Willie Randolph and various SNY personalities are in the middle of it. The whole thing began when Randolph decided to respond to criticism by hinting that announcers on SNY were racist because of their treatment of black coaches in New York. SNY's personalities shot back today, and here's a collection of quotes during the war of words....
"I don't know how to put my finger on it," Randolph told the Record's Ian O'Connor. "But I think there's something there. Herman Edwards did pretty well here and he won a couple of playoff [games], and they were pretty hard on Herm. Isiah [Thomas] didn't do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good. ... I don't know if people are used to a certain figurehead. There's something weird about it. They're the artists, I'm the canvas."- Willie RandolphPeople involved in Sports are so sensitive aren't they? The crazy thing about this whole mess is that SNY is the Mets own channel, so the organization can't be happy with anyone involved it this right now. Expect this to be swept under the rug shortly, but if the Mets fall in the standings (seriously...they're 1.5 games out of first) look for it to resurface.
"Why is Willie wasting any time watching us, for one, and two, I just think it's wrong. I think his comments are wrong. I think some of the best things we do are watching not only Willie, but also his staff, go about their business educating these young men on how to play the game."- Ron Darling
"In my 17 years of major league baseball and 10-plus years of being up here in the booth, I've just never heard of a manager make those kinds of comments before, and I'm really quite surprised that Willie made those comments."- Keith Hernandez
"It's stopping you from doing what you're supposed to be doing: getting ready for the game. Part of the problem we have now is that the manager has chosen to make comments about things that you would think that for him should be water under the bridge. Who cares what anyone says? You care about wins."- Ron Darling
Mets' Randolph in hot water over latest comments (Newsday)
SNY announcers react to Willie's comments (Newsday)
7 Comments:
Hey Willie, shut up.
Yeah only black coaches get heat in NY. Rich Kotite, Pete Carroll (before becoming head coach at USC), Art Howe, Dallas Green, Don Nelson, Jim Fassel. Any of these names (and there's plenty more where these came from) ring a bell?
Does he really think he and his sleepwalking team are immune from criticism for some reason?
Randolph is a New Yorker, he knows the deal. It's really sad to see him sinking to this level.
In the defense of white journalists, Herm Edwards is the worst coach in all of football, Zeke is the biggest idiot in sports history, and Willie Randolph has, for the second year in a row, led a probable 95 win team to barely .500.
It doesn't matter what color you are if you're incompetent.
He's blaming Bill Webb aka The Genius behind all of those FOX baseball games.
Well in Chicago, we have two minority coaches, Ozzie Guillen, who won in 2005 and Lovie Smith, who took the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2006. Yet if they stumble, they get heat, though the Sanctimonious types like Mari-Fraudy, Morrissey, etc. try to cover Smith's backside more than Guillen, because Guillen can "offend" people.
Let's see the Mets roll off 12 of 14 and put this to bed.
As a New York sports fan, I know that all of the above comments are (of course) absolutely true. But I am also troubled by the all-to-common approach taken here by Darling.
While as a Yankee fan (wait till they're out of last place to flame me?) I have no idea if Randolph's complaints have any merit, or if Darling has said anything to cause his feelings. But it is cowardice for a media member to say something provocative, then hide behind the "why are you listening to me?" mentality.
You don't work in a vacuum. If you have an opinion, you most likely want to be heard. This is similar to when Jon Stewart falls back on "I'm just a comedian" schtick, acting surprised when people take his political jokes seriously. Once you say something provocative, own it.
Yes, Randolph is primarily focused on winning games, but he is still a human with real emotions which can get in the way of being media-savvy 24/7.
Its always easy to name white coaches and executives because there are so many of them. There arent that many blacks so blacks will always feel more scrutinized. And to some degree they should. Black people will always feel like they have to be a lot better than whites to be accepted. That is true. If your white and dont get that you are stupid. At the same time Willie is lost on this. He just needs to win.
Its amazing someone from Brownsville is this sensitive. I wonder if anyone on here has ever been to Brownsville. If you have you would be surprised at his sensitivity because thats not the environment out there.
Herm may be the worst coach in football but he has more playoffs wins than this Mangenius clown.
First of all, Keith "Barefoot and Pregnant" Hernandez is offended by those comments? Hypocrisy, thy mustache is bushy.
Also, New York media is critical of anyone with a clipboard. Tom Coughlin (white, except for that Green Bay game when he turned red) was lambasted up to the final play of the Super Bowl, and Joe Torre (white and from New York AND a proven winner) caught hell from everyone when his pitchers sucked and the bats fell asleep the last few years.
If you are a coach of any New York-based sports team, be prepared to catch hell. I'm sure the Red Bulls New York coach is on the hot seat too, if the Daily News even covers soccer.