Any week where I get an opportunity to address Jay Mariotti is a good week. I don’t like Mariotti’s work. I think he is almost always the last one to the party when it comes to opinions. His articles are generally the equivalent of bashing George W. Bush. Not wile he was in office, mind you, but today. On top of that, Mariotti writes from the very tippy top of the mountain of morally correct certainty. He is decisive in his condemnation. That could be a good thing, if he didn’t drone on for thousands of words hammering home the same punchline again and again in the same story.
Today I was reading his story entitled “Selig Must Investigate “Quittsburgh” Mess.” First things first, Jay. If the term “Quittsburgh” is going to appear in your story as a punchline, then you shouldn’t use it in the title of your story.
I digress. The story is one that I easily agree with. Jay Mariotti’s problem isn’t that I don’t agree with him on occasion. It is usually the conclusions or recommended action that makes me angry. Today, that isn’t even the case though. Mariotti wants the Pittsburgh Pirates investigated by the league because apparently they refuse to compete. The Pirates now have Neal Huntington from the Indians organization running the show. And that is where Jay Mariotti found himself in my sights.
The general manager of this fiasco is Neal Huntington, who was hired late in the 2007 season from the Cleveland organization — which, by the way, has traded away back-to-back reigning Cy Young Award winners in successive summers (Cliff Leeand C.C. Sabathia) and is the American League’s version of Quittsburgh.
Whoa whoa whoa. Cleveland is now the American League version of “Quittsburgh?” I am about as angry and upset about the Cleveland Indians as anyone. I am frustrated by the owner. I am frustrated (right now) with general manager Mark Shapiro. I am livid that Eric Wedge is still guiding this sinking ship. I am very very upset at the situation that we find ourselves in here in Cleveland right now.
Even with all that said, the Indians were on the brink of the World Series in 2007. I am not angry because the Indians will never compete for a championship in Cleveland ever again like they seemingly are in Pittsburgh. Remember they have 17 losing seasons in a row. I am angry that this latest attempt failed so miserably. I am angry that I am going to have to wait until 2012 at the least before the Indians have a chance at competing for a run into the playoffs. And yes, even though it feels right now as if the Indians didn’t get enough for who they traded, I still know that the Tribe should have a chance at being competitive in 2012.
That is a far cry from making Cleveland anything like “Quittsburgh,” Jay.
The bottom line is this. The Indians are still attempting to win. They went out this off-season and signed a closer. They took a flyer on Carl Pavano. They hoped Jake Westbrook could come back. It may have been half-hearted, but we know they at least attempted to extend Cliff Lee before he made it known that he would look at free agency. Even if some fans think the Indians pulled the plug on this attempt too soon, it was a legit attempt that had the Indians with a payroll in the middle of the pack in baseball. It didn’t work and today we find ourselves miserable as we wait until 2012 at the earliest, but “Quittsburgh” we are not.
Even when Jay Mariotti is right like he is about Pittsburgh, he makes a stupid statement that makes him wrong.
