This is completely old news, but one of my friends recently told me they didn't know what I was talking about when I wrote, "Bowden compared the players union to al Qaeda and was fired."
I'll let Keith Olbermann tell it. Back in the old days when Olbermann was still mostly a sports guy, he practiced waving his bludgeon on Bowden, who seems to have been the inaugural "Worst Person in the World."
This little episode of course did cost Bowden his job in Cincinnati (although you have to figure based on the Reds' record that he was on the hot seat anyway). Was this in itself enough to disqualify him from ever being hired as a GM again?
No, but this isn't an isolated incident. It's just the most famous example of Bowden's PR blunders, which have hurt his teams over the years by souring the public and making other GMs less inclined to work with him.
Or, in the words of the brilliant Sorpanos character Hesh Rabkin, "between brain and mouth, there is no interlocutor."
Saturday, June 21, 2008
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15 comments:
Hmmm, didn't know this part of the story.
Glad I could help bring you up to speed.
BTW--I think it's hilarious that you are trimming your blogging ways because of a newborn. I, on the other hand, never posted a comment on a blog ever until my parental leave back in February. If not for my now-7-month-old, there would be no blog at all!
wow, what the hell. I knew Bowden had a tendency to talk before he thinks, but damn.
There's an argument for contraception if I ever heard one!
I guess I should have noted that if there's one team that shouldn't hire a guy with a record of 9/11 insensitivity, it's a DC team (or a NY team).
Yeah, use a major blowhard scumbag like Olbermann to advance your case that someone else is a scumbag. That'll work.
Oh please. So Jim Bowden once built a metaphor around 9/11, a human tragedy. Admittedly, not in the best of taste. But have none of you ever referred to someone as "going postal"? Ever said that a real blowout game was a holocaust? Did you laugh at the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld? (Hell, I bet Keith Olbermann has probably eaten at the real Soup Nazi restaurant and kicks himself wishing he was the one who came up with the idea for that episode.) These things are all of a piece with what Bowden did. If this is the best you can do in making the case that he should be fired, you might as well give up now.
When someone is the face of your franchise you would hope they think before they speak.
@anon--Indeed. One would think that would be a MINIMUM expectation.
I'd even like him to think before he calls up Tyler Clippard twice in 10 days.
@jimbo--Why don't you tell us what you REALLY think of Olbermann. My mom always said, if you aren't making some enemies, you probably aren't saying anything interesting. He and I have that in common I guess!
@Ray--I think I'm pretty clear in the blog post that this incident in and of itself isn't a reason to fire Bowden as GM of the Nationals. It was the last straw that cost him his job in Cincy, but only after putting a crappy team on the field for a decade-plus. I refer you to the "basic case" feature on the blog for the most important reasons he needs to go.
To both of you--thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to tell your friends about us!
Oh please. Do you not realize that MLB and the Lerners/Kasten, respectively, knew all about Bowden's prior record before they hired him and later renewed his contract? It's not like he lied on his resume like that Notre Dame coach. His record was known before he was hired, so obviously it didn't bother them. They hired him anyway. They're not going to turn around now and fire him because of things he did before he was the Nationals' GM. If this is the best you can do in making the case that he should be fired, you might as well give up now.
@Ray--Oh please, you want us to think you hate this site, but you totally have it bookmarked. If you think you're going to convince me that you don't have this page bookmarked, you might was well give up now.
I don't have this site bookmarked. I don't have Nationals Journal bookmarked. I don't have Nats320 bookmarked. I don't have any sites bookmarked, because I don't use bookmarks.
So keep to your word. Give up now.
And I don't hate your site. I don't hate you. I just think you're making a lousy argument, and I can't resist pointing that out.
But I am glad you've quit clogging Nationals Journal with your lousy, repetitive argument.
@Ray--Thanks for visiting. See you again soon!
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