Monday, October 05, 2009
ONE LAST THING TO SAY.
I thought I was done, and was moving towards arguing over AL Central loyalties and thinking about recapping the year in baseball, when I read on Twitter that Jeff Wilpon was going to be on WFAN at 5pm. I can’t stream at work (I don’t like hogging bandwidth) but I can listen on my iPhone. I thought I would casually listen while wrapping up my day. Maybe Jeff would take the high road. Maybe they would have something good to tell us.
Instead, what I heard was 60 minutes of the most condescending, ill-prepared, arrogant, ill-informed, unprepared, unprofessional blather I have heard in my life.
My greatest fear this season was that when it finally came to an end, we would be no better off than we were in the middle of it because the organization is incapable of real change. The radio interlude on Monday afternoon confirmed my worst fear:
The Mets do not know what they are doing. Period.
Let’s just start with the unmitigated idiocy. Comparing Daniel Murphy to Kevin Youkilis? Comparing Oliver Perez to Justin Verlander? Saying things like “The criticism was unfair, but we’re going to address the problem” when discussing the lack of Mets content in the ballpark? Hey Jeff - EITHER THE CRITICISM WAS UNFAIR, OR THERE WAS A PROBLEM. YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.
Dave Howard should not ever, ever, speak in public. When he speaks, he is dismissive, he is curt, he is rude. He does not like fans. He does not like dealing with fans. He considers fans a nuisance. He wants corporations to buy up the whole ballpark in full seasons so he never ever has to do a promotion or deal with a fan complaint. I don’t know if my statements about what he likes and dislikes are true or not, but he certainly projects that when he speaks. Every time he opens his mouth he makes Mets fans feel terrible. He is uncouth. He is uninformed. He should not be allowed to address the media when it comes to fans.
Omar and Jeff were a comedy of errors. I don’t know if you heard it and I can’t advise you to look on WFAN to see if it was archived because it will make you put your fist through a wall. They have confidence in Jerry. He had a bad year, it is unfair to judge him because the year was bad. Jerry doesn’t think they need to change anything about the dimensions of Citi Field and Jerry thinks it suits the team so they are not changing it. There is nothing wrong with our Minor League system, we have talent there. I mean, I could go on but I hope those paraphrases of statements give you the general idea that this was the Three Stooges on the radio.
To make things worse, the trio became audibly irritated at the fact that Francesa wanted to actually ask them hard questions. I’m not quite sure why they thought this was going to be a free informercial for an hour, but the irritation when Francesa tried to ask them the questions that everyone has asked all year was even more disrespectful. Why did you bother to come? Who was supervising this visit? What did you think it would gain you? If you thought it was going to get you good will or assuage the fans, it did not. In fact, it made things a million times worse. They didn’t provide any answers, they weren’t genuinely contrite, their pseudo-apologies felt insincere and forced.
And before you try to tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about, in this case I do. I got my start in business working in the music industry. I watched masters handle situations for people like Axl Rose and Madonna. I understand spin. I understand dealing with the media. And even if I didn’t, even an uneducated dweeb could parse today’s radio outing and understand that it was an unqualified disaster. And even if I didn’t, plenty of people who know more about this than me and are way smarter than me had the same reactions in real time.
It is looking like we will be able to make alternate arrangements for our 2010 Mets tickets and we will therefore be able to cancel both of our ticket plans. I will very much enjoy the day I can call the ticket office and tell them why. However, at this point I am not sure I want to make a significant investment in 2010 (above what we made in 2009), because I do not believe this organization has enough intelligence to fix the problems at hand. (Please notice how I said FIX THE PROBLEMS and not DESTROY THE TEAM AND START OVER. Thank you.)
More than anything, I am sad.
Finally, and this is unprofessional of me: Dave Howard, you can go to hell for your imperious, snooty lecture on how we should continue to wear our Mets caps “with pride”. You are out of touch. You are rude. You are in the wrong line of work. In the real world you wouldn’t have a job for long with the attitude you take towards your actual customers.
I feel better now.
Posted by Caryn at 08:52 PM
I agree Caryn. Since you will take the high road, I’m going to take the low road and make myself feel better. Fuck Dave Howard, fuck Fred & Jeff Wilpon, fuck Omar Minaya, and fuck Jerry Manuel.
In short, until they get people in here who can, and WILL, fix this mess, FUCK THE NEW YORK METS. I feel terrible that I have to say that, but at this point, I have no intention of continuing to accept a franchise that CLEARLY has absolutely no clue how to run themselves.
I won’t hate you if you censor or delete this post, but I feel my frustration has reached a peak and I don’t really want to start a blog for just one post. :(
no reason to delete or censor. i tend to only do that when someone starts being a blowhard or wants to tell me how to be a real baseball fan.
Thank you! I listened to some of this garbage on my drive home from work. When Omar compared Ollie to Verlander I almost drove off the road!
What amazes me about these clowns is that it seems they did not prepare at all for the interview. Isn’t that Public Relations 101? Did they think Francessa was just going to let them speak for an hour without asking the “hard” questions that are on Mets fans’ minds? And yet, their answers were a mix of clueless, condescending, and completely uninformed.
Gee Jeff, I’ve never owned a sports team, but if I did, I’m pretty sure it would occur to me to incorporate memorabilia and images of that team in its own stadium. Yes Omar, Daniel Murphy is the second coming of Kevin Youklis, because there are no other first basemen in the entire world Murphy could have been compared to.
Sadly, I’ve pretty much given up on the Mets. I’m not renewing my Sunday plan (the one that made me take 5 weekday games I couldn’t go to). I doubt I will even attend any games next year. Here’s a question I’d like Mets ownership to answer: Why should I give any more of my money to an organization that has such blatant disregard for its fans?
I’m in agreement with a lot you say but I sort of understand their annoyance with Mike. Asking that stupid question about Minaya favoring Latin players to me would have been enough for them to walk out. Sure the fans are saying it. but it doesn’t mean it needs to be addressed. Fans say stupid things all the time and it doesn’t warrant giving them credence by a having a professional ask it. There’s been no evidence whatsoever that he favors them and fans that say that are really ignorant’
Fransesca was such an amateur today. Also, playing that sound byte over and over about Wilpon saying Jerry and Mara had to step up. I mean really? He acted like Geraldo.
So their annoyance I totally understand.
Dave, I don’t disagree. I hate Francesa, I never listen to him.
But this was supposed to be a PR appearance and it’s not like they don’t know what he’s like or that no one could have guessed what he was going to ask. Take an intern, ask them to listen to WFAN for a couple of hours and write it down (if they didn’t know already).
In the PR business there’s the concept of what’s called “the Rude Q&A”. Basically before every interview or appearance someone puts together a list of every horrible question that could potentially be asked, and crafts a reasonable response to it. That way no one is ever caught off guard and can’t react emotionally. Clearly that wasn’t done here.
I missed it yesterday, so I’m listening to the archived stream now. I’m a masochist, I know. Man, I’m desperately looking for something to be positive about for 2010, but right now I don’t have much faith in the leadership.
I totally disagree with this. I thought Jeff did a great job taking responsibility for what happened. And can people stop saying he compared Ollie to Verlander.. he didn’t. he said Verlander had a horrible year last year, and was able to comeback from it. and he hopes Ollie can do the same thing. he is not giving up on the kid. He is not going to say on air that he made a mistake signing him. Mets don’t often do this. I think they did a good job coming out and saying what they said. yes, omar was bumbling, but Jeff and David were very candid
No one’s arguing that his statement about Verlander was untrue. But it was stupid to use him as a comparison for Oliver because he is not a pitcher of Verlander’s caliber. If he had made a more valid comparison no one would have jumped all over it.
In your opinion they were candid. In my opinion it was poor spin control and more of the same bs they have fed us all year.
I love what Money Girl had to say above. I didn’t hear the interview (just followed the live updates on Metsblog, but it pissed me off too) - but I’m sure if I was driving, I’d have driven straight off the road too! I mean Oh Pea is no Justin Verlander - I wish, although my crush on Oh Pea has subsided since say oh 2007. But the common theme here is the blatant disregard the organization has for its own fan base. This is something I’ve been saying all along and does anyone ever listen to the Coop? Nooooooo. Of course, I’ll be back next year, saying thank you sirs, may I have another?
Amen, homegirl. TGIFS (thank g-d it’s football season)
I recently moved to the Midwest and might switch allegiances to the Cubs or less likely the Tigers (I’m closer to Detroit but hate the DH). I grew up in New York and have followed the Mets (diehard) since 1984, but this year has seriously turned me off. I never would have imagined saying this a year ago…
While I think Francessa can be an arrogent tool sometimes…I think he tried to represent the WFAN “station callers” issues with all three of them. In regard to that he was pretty spot on. As far as Caryn really hating Howard’s attitude…he is not going to give you much with his boss sitting next to him…thats not his fault. I (as always) ...thought Omar sounded confused and really out of touch with with the current state of this team and its questionable attitude about winning effort. Most Met fans are done with this era..and want to move on to a new G.M. Sorry Omar ...Mr.Wilpon said it best..the effort just was not good enough…injuries or not. WE DESERVE BETTER !!!
Hi Brian, I see your point, except that when Dave Howard was on with Francesa earlier in the year - sans Jeffy - he was even more dismissive towards the fans. That was the infamous “we’ll get to it” statement - I think Francesa even brought that up yesterday.
Caryn,
Great post. I have to admit, listening to it (live) on the way home yesterday made me “wonder a bit about what 2010 might be like” and also “maybe I’ve been too harsh” in my opinion about the team.
Which I think was their objective. Spin.
And then it dawned on me. Didn’t we hear something like this the day after the 2007 season ended?
And didn’t we hear something like this the day after Randolph was fired?
I want one thing from the Mets organization (and I will never get it):
The Truth.
Too bad. They just cannot be honest with themselves or their fans. I wrote about it on my blog <a href= “http://www.metsondeck.com/the-ny-mets-at-the-fork-in-the-road/130”> Mets At the Fork in the Road</a>.
Again, bravo, good post.
Tom from Mets on Deck
This is why I dumped the Mets for the Yakees!
Rick, you are a douchebag bandwagoner frontrunner. Not an actual baseball fan. Please, get lost.
Great post, but the day I need ownership telling me how to root for the Mets is the day I am no longer a fan. We make our own traditions, our own characters (sign man, cowbell man). These are the things I cling to as a mets fan. Ignore what ownership does it will only bring you down.
Hey Rick,First of all It’s the Yankees not the Yakees.Second of all I agree with Caryn,GET LOST!
I agree Caryn. Since you will take the high road, I’m going to take the low road and make myself feel better. Fuck Dave Howard, fuck Fred & Jeff Wilpon, fuck Omar Minaya, and fuck Jerry Manuel.
In short, until they get people in here who can, and WILL, fix this mess, FUCK THE NEW YORK METS. I feel terrible that I have to say that, but at this point, I have no intention of continuing to accept a franchise that CLEARLY has absolutely no clue how to run themselves.
I won’t hate you if you censor or delete this post, but I feel my frustration has reached a peak and I don’t really want to start a blog for just one post. :(