Jeff Kent Doesn't Like Anybody, Including Dodgers' Legendary Announcer Vin Scully
Monday, August 18, 2008
I don't know how you could hate someone who gave us one of the most memorable calls in Baseball history, but apparently Jeff Kent's ire knows no bounds. In an interview with LA Times' TJ Simers, Kent decided to rail on Vin Scully and the rest of Sports Media. Via SbB....
"Vin Scully talks too much," Kent said.I'd have to guess here, but egging on Jeff Kent like that must be fun, but it also has to be pretty dangerous. The guy probably has a gun rack in the back of that truck of his and he has been known to fly of the handle at times. But seriously, calling Vin Scully is sacrilege, especially doing so while you're playing in LA.
Now that's funny, the guy who normally doesn't say much, this time saying way too much.
"You can't say that," I told Kent, and he said he had just spoken to 200 women (at a Dodgers function) "and I told them the same thing, and they laughed.
"We all love you, Vin," Kent added with a mischievous grin, "but you still talk too much."
Ran that by Scully. He had nothing to say. NEXT WEEK, I presume, Kent will go after the Pope. Now how would Kent know what Scully is saying? If he's playing second base, the consummate pro that he is, why is he listening to the TV or radio? How do we know he doesn't have Scully and Charley Steiner mixed up?
Then who has the problem?
"Scully is making the same point everyone else is making," I said. "He says the stats indicate you are having success hitting behind Ramirez -- tell me that isn't the case."
"See my answer to the first question," said Kent, and sometimes you wonder if he sleeps with his bed against a wall forcing him to always wake up on the wrong side. "Listen, I'm so tired of talking about this stuff. It diminishes my whole career and all the hard work. I take it as an insult. I'm 40. You don't get better when you are 40."
Kent's batting average has increased by more than 20 points in the past 10 days since hitting third. Manny being Manny has rejuvenated Kent. It's so much fun telling him that.
"It's so pathetic," he said. "You guys write about things happening in a week's time. That's why we don't like you. Baseball is a six-month game. What did I hit last year? Without Manny? How do you explain that? What's my career average? What will I be hitting at the end of this season? Everyone says I'm hitting now because some guy says so on TV?" he says, and first time someone has ever called Scully "some guy."
Oh well, time to push all his buttons, Kent ranked No. 47 on the all-time RBI list only because they walked Barry Bonds ahead of him so often.
"You write too much," cracked Kent, who can be both funny and deadly serious in the same sentence.
This is one fight Jeff Kent isn't going to win (LA Times)
Jeff Kent Would Like Vin Scully To Shut His Mouth (Sports by Brooks)
18 Comments:
To say that Jeff Kent is an asshole is an insult to assholes.
Does Kent have ANY friends in the business anymore? He burns bridges everyday.
Jeff Kent thinks Stevie Wonder sings a little too much...and what's with the sunglasses and the head-weaving?
Hey Jeff – if you're still at the top of your game when you're 80 years old, then you can criticize. Otherwise, do your job while you still have one.
Isn't Kent telling Scully to stop talking like Scully telling Kent to stop playing?
Jeff Kent better hope he is not the lone inductee in his HOF class since I do not think anybody in San Francisco, Houston, or LA would want to make the long trip to just see him .
Jeff Kent better hope he is not the lone inductee in his HOF class since I do not think anybody in his own family would want to make the long trip to just see him .
/fixed
Paul Molitor, Dara Torres and Satchel Paige disagree that you don't get better when you're 40
Vin Scully should've received a lifetime ban after his blatant, unprofessional cheerleading for the Mets during his broadcast of the 1986 World Series.
Vin Scully is a fantastic announcer and by all acounts a classy guy, and Kent is a jerk.
Now, I didn't hear Vin's comments, but Kent's right that you shouldn't make an absolute judgment on his play based on 2 weeks of games (hitting behind Manny). Baseball is all about cumulative stats over the course of several months. I'm sure that Manny's presence DOES help and will continue to help Kent's numbers, but two weeks is too small a sample size to PROVE that statistically.
Jeff Kent is a good ballplayer, but he needs to realize his ability was not great. No way has he been able to put up these numbers over the years without having a little protection from better hitters. In S.F it was Bonds, in Houston it were the Killer B's, and now it's Manny. The guy is delusional if he thinks he is the guy that can carry a team single handedly.
In the sports business...or any business...you don't get to do anything for 800 years unless you're REALLY good at it. He is unquestionably the best anncouncer in baseball.
I thought his job is to talk. How boring would it be to hear just the play by play. People do not realize Vin is a Baseball Treasure. With all he has seen, experienced through out the years, it would be a shame for him no to share. I guess Chick Hearnes, Harry Carey, Bob Costas, all talk too much too!
This may be the first time in history that someone has said this BUT .. damn, I wish Bonds would have kicked his arse!
"In the sports business...or any business...you don't get to do anything for 800 years unless you're REALLY good at it."
There are exceptions to every rule.
/Chris Berman
//I mean, Jesus
As a sports television camera operator, I can tell you that I will never have an ounce of respect for Jeff Kent, unless he offers a personal apology. While I was working a Reds vs Astros game next to the Houston dugout; Jeff Kent, in a crucial situation in the game, hit in to a double play. On his way back to the dugout, as I am being told by my director to shoot Kent in his dejected moment, he walks directly at me and swings his bat at the rail in front of me, shattering the bat and sending the barrel whizzing past my head, hitting the wall behind me. I admit, it is possible that it might not been an act directed toward me, but from the way he was glaring at me as he was walking toward me, I believe it was.
I have had the opportunity to point my camera at many people during times I'm sure they wish they weren't on camera, and pissed off a few of those; but none has lost my respect the way Jeff Kent has. He might make more money than me, but he has no right to endanger my well-being as I am only doing my job.
How can Jeff Kent be such a pig headed ass?
It is so obviously apparent that Ramirez has helped enhance the whole line up! I think Juan Pierre would be batting .400 in front of Ramirez.
For Kent to take offense to what Scully said is proof that everything we have heard about Kent being an egotistical A-hole is true.
My vote is to get rid of the bum!
He's right. Just because the guy has done what he does for 800 years doesn't mean he's good at it. His voice is annoying and it's the only one you "get" to listen to for 3 hours. I can't stand to hear a game called by VS.