Let the Kids Speak Cliches or Speak Their Minds?

[Elster88]

Two schools of thought here. Both make sense to me.

1) A young player should speak his mind. Say what comes from the heart, and don't worry about being politically correct. Leads to interesting interviews and lets the reader learn more about him, but at the same time a kid may say something dumb in the heat of an emotional moment and may offend people.

2) A player should go with the cliches until he learns how to give a good interview. The good part is that a kid learns his place and doesn't say anything dumb until he has more experience and seasoning in the bigs. The only bad part I see is that there is nothing good to read for a while. (and the media doesn't get to write easy articles).

I was in Camp 1, as seen in other threads, but after reading both I realize there isn't much downside to Camp 2, except that I'd have to read about more interesting players than the "boring, cliche-spouting rookie".

Of course it's not as black and white as that, but that's a good start on the subject.

[Elster88]

Milledge is a good example of a practical application of this question, and Yancy mentioned David Cone, circa 1988.

[Elster88]

Coney was just on M&MD last week and this topic came up. He said it taught him a valuable lesson that nothing is really off the record.

[MFS62]

David Wright has cliche-speak down to a science.

"You have learned well, young Skywalker".

Later

[metirish]

How lame is it that I find it refreshing that Milledge didn't give the cliched answers?, I think we all realize that for his own good he'd be better served talking like David Wright(example) and saying all the right things.

Jose Guillen is a good example of a player that really says what is on his mind.

[Guest Hillbilly]

What did Lastings say that was 'bad'?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Can anybody with keys to the Wayback Machine dig up that 1988 David Cone column? I'd be interested in reading it again with 18 years of hindsight.

I don't buy his, "don't assume anything's off the record" excuse, by the way. The column had his name on it. He should have insisted that he have the right to review the column before publication. His name, his responsibility.

[metirish]

Nothing bad, it just wasn't cliched BS.

[Guest Hillbilly]

metirish wrote: Nothing bad, it just wasn't cliched BS.

Thanks, so what cliched respones would have been 'better'?
In other words, what would have you (those that say he needs to keep his mouth close or use cliches) liked him to say?

[Elster88]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I don't buy his, "don't assume anything's off the record" excuse, by the way. The column had his name on it. He should have insisted that he have the right to review the column before publication. His name, his responsibility.

I'm paraphrasing that a little bit by the way. I think the bottom line of what he said on M&MD was that he didn't think it would get into the paper. I can't remember exactly.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't think political correctness is the issue.

[Elster88]

What words would work better for you?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Perhaps "on message."

[metirish]

] Thanks, so what cliched respones would have been 'better'? In other words, what would have you (those that say he needs to keep his mouth close or use cliches) liked him to say?

I have no problem with him saying what he feels, I was trying to answer the question posed by Elster.

[stevejrogers]

Hillbilly wrote: ="metirish"]Nothing bad, it just wasn't cliched BS. Thanks, so what cliched respones would have been 'better'? In other words, what would have you (those that say he needs to keep his mouth close or use cliches) liked him to say?

Pretty much intimated that the Dodgers didn't have much of a major league squad. There really is no cliched BS to get around it as history has judged that Dodger team as one of the weakest to ever compete in postseason play, let alone win the World Series.

Put it this way, they made the 99-00 Mets look like the 1986 Mets!

Probably the only the Cone should have said was the canned "Well they are still a major league division winning ball club, they have great grinders like Gibson and Sciocisa and Hershiser had a hell of a year"

[Guest Hillbilly]

I know. Some folks just seem to be going out of their way to demonstrate that his a bad dude. I don't get it.

[Elster88]

NOTE: I'm not saying Milledge said anything bad. I spun this question from the Lastings Milledge thread where a couple of posters said something along the lines of that they'd rather Lastings learn some cliches and just shut up when asked if he would rather stay in the bigs.

I'm paraphrasing there obviously.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I don't think he's a bad dude. I do, however, think that he could use a little more seasoning before being in the majors for good.

[TransMonk]

I guess I just don't care what is on Milledge's mind.

He is 21 years old, he has 3 weeks of MLB experience, his stats have been decent but not awesome...his opinion on whether not he should remain on the ML roster doesn't matter. There are people who have years of ML experience who come together and make these decisions as a group based on what's in the best interest of the team and the player.

[Guest Hillbilly]

All true, but he was asked about it by a reporter and basically said I don’t want to go down, I’ll sit if I have to, and if you give me a chance, I’ll tear it up.

Lastings will never come across like David Wright. They are different players with different upbringings. I don’t think LM has a lot to learn at AAA at this point, and it’s just a matter of a spot opening up for him and he’ll be up to stay. Hopefully he’ll back up his youthful confidence with his performance on the field.

[TransMonk]

Hillbilly wrote: All true, but he was asked about it by a reporter and basically said I don’t want to go down, I’ll sit if I have to, and if you give me a chance, I’ll tear it up. Lastings will never come across like David Wright. They are different players with different upbringings. I don’t think LM has a lot to learn at AAA at this point, and it’s just a matter of a spot opening up for him and he’ll be up to stay. Hopefully he’ll back up his youthful confidence with his performance on the field.

I can live with that...and I don't really want to beat up on LM.

In the end, I don't think he'll learn any more at AAA either, but IMO it would be better for him to play everyday than sit on the bench at any level. And hey, if he goes on a tear and is helping the team, I would love for him to be in NY.

[Zvon]

One thing Ive noticed about Milledge is that he kinda does both. He'll balance things out by saying a cliche thing and then adding what he really thinks, or vica versa.

I like that a kid his age has the presence of mind to know what he should say, and say it, then also try to get it in there what he wants to say.
His own little P.R. work.
With one sentence he sounds cocky and bush, then in another sentence he sounds humble and respectful.
(lemme pre-apoligize for using the words cocky and bush in that sentence^ )

It reflects his own personality and self-confidence.
And I like that.

I just hope he can walk that walk.

[Guest silverdsl]

I don't know what comments Milledge said, but in general I would mostly rather the players speak their minds. I would like to know what a player genuinely thinks, rather than what they think the fans, media, their team, PR person, etc... want them to say or want to hear. However, that doesn't mean that I think a player should feel free to rip teammates, other teams, MLB, etc... I think they need to have some common sense about being respectful of others and how to get one's point across without offending anyone. Though David Cone goofed up early on, I think he eventually became quite masterful in the way he handled speaking his mind to the media and elsewhere.

[metirish]

I don't want to start a new theard as I think this fits here just fine...Ozzie Guillen really needs to shut his mouth, it's all fine that he's a great quote and speaks his mind but he has gone overboard with his "fag" remark about Chicago sports columnist Jay Mariotti.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5718414

[Elster88]

Guillen can't handle Chicago.

Is Mariotti one of the morons that I saw one of the three times I watched Around the Horn?

[metirish]

Yeah he's on that show all the time and he's a bollox, but Guillen is making news for all the wrong reasons.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Here's the other end of the spectrum


I love Mr. Wright, but I'll admit that this is banal. OTOH, there's something to be said for having a player put together a kid-friendly column like that.

[Elster88]

It might just be my adoration for the guy, but I had thought that most of his TV interviews were a little more than the average cliche-filled norm. I'll have to keep a less-biased eye on the next one.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I think the thing is that, for better or worse, Mr. Wright believes the cliches. He's living it, so it doesn't sound phony.

[Elster88]

More defense for Wright or any baseball player really:

Often times the questions are so stupid that there really is no deep, insightful answer possible.

After the homestand, I heard a snippet of Wright on the radio, responding to the question, How do you feel about going 3-4 after such a hot stretch on the road and what went wrong?

Paraphrasing his response: Sometimes you're going to have stretches like that. Of course we wish we did better, you always want to win more than you lose. We're happy we went out on a high note by winning the last game of the series. We're going to try and build on that tomorrow and go from there.

Every line in there is a cliche, but every line is true.

When some moron reporter asks, "Why did you go 3-4" what is the guy supposed to answer? "Uh, we didn't hit as well and we didn't pitch as well. You're not going to win 6 of 7 every time out. Dumbass."