Speedo Tracksuit Discovers Los Mets

[batmagadanleadoff]

I tend to agree with you for the most part. I didn't see what was so offensive about Martino's piece, either. I thought that Prince made a good point earlier on about how Martino could have done some more interviewing to flesh out some ideas. But other than that, I didn't find the article off-base or incendiary.

[Frayed Knot]

The problem with comments about race usually isn't the comment itself but the over-reactions to the comment. So when Martino says race may have played a role many fans read it as being told that any anti-Luis sentiment can only be the result of racism and that they're incapable of making a baseball thought outside of that prism.

First WFAN Castillo-related call I heard the other day was from a guy who said that because these Latin ballplayers come from nothing they tend to get lazy as soon as they get a big contract.
I'm sure he doesn't think his comments had anything to do with race.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Good post, Vincent Van Go.

The reaction to Tracky that carried the day basically was "how DARE he?" Almost nobody wanted to confront what went into their unsullied opinions.

I'd also suggest that a good bit of this hatred of Castillo (and to a lesser extent, Ollie) was fanned by Tracky's compatriots in the media who turned the entirety of Spring Training coverage into a countdown to their respective release dates and made an issue of non-issues such as attendance at military hospitals. Also, ironically, how Jerry managed these two last year: I think Perez should have been in the rotation while on the roster, rather than in the doghouse, and something would have had to give. And we've been over Castillo's curious benching.

[Edgy MD]

I agree with Coleman broadly and celebrate his courage, but I thought Martino fumbled the ball badly there, wondering out loud but not working hard enough to come up with any meat, talking to nobody but Castillo (who tried not to take the bait) and a nameless buddy.

The end result was that the next day, Castillo --- already under siege --- ends up looking like the racial whiner, when he wasn't.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: The problem with comments about race usually isn't the comment itself but the over-reactions to the comment. So when Martino says race may have played a role many fans read it as being told that any anti-Luis sentiment can only be the result of racism and that they're incapable of making a baseball thought outside of that prism. First WFAN Castillo-related call I heard the other day was from a guy who said that because these Latin ballplayers come from nothing they tend to get lazy as soon as they get a big contract. I'm sure he doesn't think his comments had anything to do with race.

Guy behind me at the Friday game was spouting off about Omar's latin agenda and all that, and make some crack about Jose. So yeah, there is racism involved and in probably just about everything in the world. But he should look around that press box a little because plenty of the guys in there clamor for David Eckstein and Jeff Francoeur.

[Edgy MD]

Ceetar wrote: But he should look around that press box a little because plenty of the guys in there clamor for David Eckstein and Jeff Francoeur.

Whoah, you went there.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Ceetar wrote: But he should look around that press box a little because plenty of the guys in there clamor for David Eckstein and Jeff Francoeur. Whoah, you went there.

I should've gone up to the press box on Saturday and said it to his face, but I'm rather non-confrontational. Only people I talked to were two bloggers.

I'm just in a foul mood, cause yesterday I was in Florida watching baseball and today i'm at work. I actually think too much is made of race in general, on both ends. Guys like Orlando Hudson and Jermaine Dye claiming it's why they didn't get signed, and the fans who think the people that love Francoeur but hate Beltran are racist and not just lazy writers that like a good quote.

[Edgy MD]

But there's a certain degree of a race issue in there, isn't there? If you have a job to do, and a story to get, that should mean going into more challenging situations, talking to guys who you are less comfortable with, who are less comfortable with English, who perhaps trust you less, workng hard to suss out the nuance in their meaning when they perhaps can only express themselves broadly in English, and presenting the work they do in an equal (if more elusive) light.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: But there's a certain degree of a race issue in there, isn't there? If you have a job to do, and a story to get, that should mean going into more challenging situations, talking to guys who you are less comfortable with, who are less comfortable with English, who perhaps trust you less, workng hard to suss out the nuance in their meaning when they perhaps can only express themselves broadly in English, and presenting the work they do in an equal (if more elusive) light.

That goes into all sorts of subtle things like unintentional racism and gets all gray area like. But yeah, I imagine there's some measure of these guys taking the easy way out and trying to fill stories and quotes from guys they're more comfortable with. I'm not trying to be accusatory here (certainly not, as i'm mono-lingual myself) but how many of these beat writers have even a rudimentary understanding of spanish? Rubin? Lennon? Martino? anyone? You watch some of the low-A guys working out on the back fields, and it's _all_ spanish.

[Edgy MD]

My Spanish is pretty bad. I work with a group that is probably 55% black, 40% Latino, and 5% white. I find myself working most intimately with those I'm most familiar with and comfortable with and that's frequently going to be the guys I'm most like.

But to do a good job, I have to catch myself and push myself beyond my comfort zone. To fail in this regard isn't pariticuarly racist. To not care to succeed, though, is. The truth is that I probably get accused of racial/ethnic discrimination every week. It gets my cackles up but I've got to absorb it and deal with it, and be honest that it's not always completely invalid.

It's important to distinguish beween racist acts, which happen a billion times a day in often small and subtle ways, and racists, folks that openly, aggressively, and shamelessly delight in practing them. Discussing how we and those around us engage in the former, is not to state that we're all among the latter.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: ... I thought that Prince made a good point earlier on about how Martino could have done some more interviewing to flesh out some ideas. ...

Edgy DC wrote: ... but I thought Martino fumbled the ball badly there, wondering out loud but not working hard enough to come up with any meat, talking to nobody but Castillo (who tried not to take the bait) and a nameless buddy. ...

Well, yeah, I'm not gonna say Martino's methodology is sound, nor is his piece anywhere near a complete idea; but in his defense, he is writing for a tabloid sports section and not, say, The Journal of Black Studies or something. But, I suppose there are ways he could expand this idea into a larger article for the same paper and maybe try to answer some questions rather than just asking them. And if he doesn't want to do the heavy lifting himself, there's no shortage of academic work being written about the relationships between race, sports media and fandom that he could reference.

My problem is that I don't think he can be fairly considered very far off-base, but most of the reactions to his article are of the what JCL called the "how DARE he" variety. And because saying anything about race has become such a taboo, the conversation that should follow this seed of an idea will never happen in the mainstream. And that's troubling.

[Edgy MD]

Sure. But that's also why he has to be responsible and dilligent.

It's completely lousy but completely predictiable that Castillo caught the blowback there.

[Edgy MD]

We almost missed yesterday's anniversary of Castillo's release and Tracksuit's article.