Another Chi. sportswriter doesn't get it

[beck72]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg09.html

 

In Greg Couch's column, he writes about how the sox should be more motivated by history to win and not by settling personal scores. This is not this team's or any team's duty to excorcise the past failings of 88 years. This is a group of 25 players who have a duty to each other to win baseball games. When people [this writer or other fans] ask these 25 guys to go beyond winning the game, and try righting wrongs of the past that they had no part of, it's ridiculous

 

The most telling part is near the end, where Couch writes of a sox player "in a very creepy rant", talking about him and showing clips of his past writings on the sox to people in the clubhouse. [That Couch was probably feeling "salty" as hell, and wanted to curl up in the fetal position at that moment contributed to this article] This isn't a distraction to what the sox are trying to do. It's a big part of what motivates these sox players.

 

The sox roster is made up of guys with "chips on their shoulders" due to a variety of reasons. Mostly because they have experienced failure, and others have raised question marks about their ability throughout their baseball careers. That is an integral part of this teams makeup

 

I don't know who the sox player was that started the "creepy rant". Yet he's within his rights to do so. When local writers and media do the Sox bashing from afar, [like when Levine callled the sox subs "scrubs"], the sox players have now earned the right to tell these bandwagon media types to f*** off. These media types are strangers who've avoided the clubhouse all yr long and now when the sox are winning want to get a quote or two. That their words should come back and bite them in the ass is justice

 

Now if the players continue "ranting", then its a different story. My take is they'll likely focus on playing the game now that they vented. And continue working together and play their asses off to get 8 more wins for themselves. That 8 more wins would be nice for the city, the fans, old Aunt marta, whoever, would be icing on the cake

[YASNY]

The Sox should use whatever motivation works for them. f*** what any writer thinks about.

 

To quote Bill Murray in "Meatballs" .... It just doesn't matter.

[DBAHO]

And Kotex Boy gets another little jab in at JR and the Cell;

 

For much too long, owner Jerry Reinsdorf has failed to win in our very large market by spending substantially less than the Yankees and Red Sox while trying to lure fans to a park that remains cold and charmless compared to Fenway Park and the Stadium.

[beck72]

The Sox should use whatever motivation works for them.  f*** what any writer thinks about.

 

To quote Bill Murray in "Meatballs" .... It just doesn't matter.

I agree. I just think the sox player earned the right [a one time right--keeping on this kind of rant day after day would be obsessive and could take away from the job at hand] to tell couch to piss off

[beck72]

And Kotex Boy gets another little jab in at JR and the Cell;

I guess jay doesn't realize Fenway will be damn cold and very empty [and probably yankee stadium] while the Cell will be filled and rocking next week

 

The sox win and everything sorts itself.

[The Critic]

I love how when someone calls these retards out on their past bashings, it's considered a "creepy rant", but someone like Baby Jay's obvious obsession/agenda with bashing the Sox is considered "journalism".

Convenient double-standard, boys. Don't write something if you're going to regret having it shoved back at you.

Edited October 9, 2005 by The Critic

[YASNY]

I love how when someone calls these retards out on their past bashings, it's considered a "creepy rant", but someone like Baby Jay's obvious obsession/agenda with bashing the Sox is considered "journalism".

Convenient double-standard, boys. Don't write something if you're going to regret having it shoved back at you.

 

[BlackBetsy]

For much too long, owner Jerry Reinsdorf has failed to win in our very large market by spending substantially less than the Yankees and Red Sox while trying to lure fans to a park that remains cold and charmless compared to Fenway Park and the Stadium.

 

I doubt Mariotti has ever been to Yankee Stadium, which is a complete dump. Its only charm for Yankee fans is the 26 world championships the Yankees have won. Without that, it's just another cramped, old, steep-upper deck ballpark that ranks lower in my mind than any I've ever been too.

[Kyyle23]

Wow, I know exactly what Couch is talking about. Bruce Levine was talking about this just the other day. Levine said he was talking to Aaron Rowand when Couch came over to him and started asking him some questions, when Rowand turned on him and said basically "I have been reading your articles all year ripping on us, and I want you to know that we dont appreciate it. Throughout the whole year, you didnt need us, you didnt need our quotes, and now you do?"

 

Levine said that Couch sat there and took it, and that Rowand went on for about 15 minutes. This was on Thursday morning, Carmen and Silvy were talking about Mariotti and asking about his Thursday column in which he mentioned "amateur media critics in the locker room", and this is what he was talking about. It was really funny, Levine hates Couch, so he was like "I cant believe he ran and tattled to Mariotti. Why doesnt Couch try and write his own columns?"

 

Mariotti this morning is inferring that the Sox need to play the Yankees because if they do, that means they will be playing a very tired out team, its the winning script as he puts it.

Edited October 9, 2005 by kyyle23

[nitetrain8601]

Haha, good s***. Whatever works for the team is fine by me.

[beck72]

Wow, I know exactly what Couch is talking about.  Bruce Levine was talking about this just the other day. Levine said he was talking to Aaron Rowand when Couch came over to him and started asking him some questions, when Rowand turned on him and said basically "I have been reading your articles all year ripping on us, and I want you to know that we dont appreciate it. Throughout the whole year, you didnt need us, you didnt need our quotes, and now you do?"

 

Levine said that Couch sat there and took it, and that Rowand went on for about 15 minutes. This was on Thursday morning, Carmen and Silvy were talking about Mariotti and asking about his Thursday column in which he mentioned "amateur media critics in the locker room", and this is what he was talking about.  It was really funny, Levine hates Couch, so he was like "I cant believe he ran and tattled to Mariotti.  Why doesnt Couch try and write his own columns?"

 

 

[chitownsportsfan]

Hey guys, for real sports writing, that doesn't have an agenda other than tearing down everything that is holy, go to

 

http://www.deadspin.com

 

Especially check out the "hometown sports writer" section in which they barbeque Jay Mariotti for being a huge penis.

 

Most sports writers are hacks that couldn't cut it in other "Englishy" fields such as creative writing, non-sports journalism, etc. At least thats my thoughts.

[Linnwood]

Wow, I know exactly what Couch is talking about.  Bruce Levine was talking about this just the other day. Levine said he was talking to Aaron Rowand when Couch came over to him and started asking him some questions, when Rowand turned on him and said basically "I have been reading your articles all year ripping on us, and I want you to know that we dont appreciate it. Throughout the whole year, you didnt need us, you didnt need our quotes, and now you do?"

 

Levine said that Couch sat there and took it, and that Rowand went on for about 15 minutes.

 

 

Go Rowand!

Edited October 10, 2005 by Linnwood

[SoxFan1]

Some people just amaze me. There is nothing the Sox can do to stop the negativity about them in the media. If we win the World Series, Mariotti will call it a fluke and predict a 30 win 2006 season and ESPN will say that the margin of vicotry was far too small, etc etc. Kiss my ass...the Sox f***ing PWN!

[G&T]

Couch makes it out to be a stalker situation in his column, but Rowand doesn't come off to me as a freak like that and the Carmen and Sily story seems like the truth.

Personally I don't care what motivates them. If any of us were to go and play for some team that wasn't the White Sox we wouldn't care much about the past players for them, but more about the legacy we could make. I understand where Couch is coming from, but in the free agency era, I really don't think players have the time to really care about one organization like that.

[kevin57]

Rowand was definitely the one who gave a "creepy rant." What the hell is a "creepy rant"?

[Kyyle23]

Rowand was definitely the one who gave a "creepy rant."  What the hell is a "creepy rant"?

 

Creepy rant = Rowand telling Couch to STFU.

[TLAK]

Ozzie is rubbing off on everybody. Don't take s*** from nobody!

[southsider2k5]

I love how when someone calls these retards out on their past bashings, it's considered a "creepy rant", but someone like Baby Jay's obvious obsession/agenda with bashing the Sox is considered "journalism".

Convenient double-standard, boys. Don't write something if you're going to regret having it shoved back at you.

 

Excellent observation. These guys love to have the spotlight pointed at other people, and make their livings by watching how people preform under pressure, but when anykind of pressure is applied to them, they fold like an illegal alien maid.

[southsider2k5]

Also a good reply in Scott Reiforts blog

 

A Rant

 

So ignore this if you really don't care how the sausage is made.  I chose not to write about it when it happened because I don't necessarily think the public cares.  However, columnists at the Sun-Times twice have chosen to mention it, so I think the other side deserves to be heard (even if only on this insignificant, amateurish blog).

 

On Thursday in Boston, Aaron Rowand was approached at his locker after our workout by Greg Couch, a columnist/reporter for the Sun-Times.  Greg inquired if he could ask the center fielder for a few comments.

 

According to Aaron, he never really had the chance this year to speak with Greg one-on-one (it was always in a group setting), so he took this opportunity to express his season-long displeasure with several of Greg's columns, including one from April 17 headlined, "Don't Buy What Sox are Selling."  Several other media reps in the clubhouse confirmed the content of the exchange, many with smiles on their faces.

 

Aaron's soliloquy to Couch ended with ... "I'll talk to every single media person in Chicago, but I won't ever talk to you."  Of course, anyone who knows Aaron knows he indeed will speak to just about any media person or fan.  It takes a lot to get under his skin.  He is a kid at heart.  And he cares.

 

And Greg seems to say today in print that Aaron's being focused on this is "petty" and "small-minded."  In my opinion, players have every right to speak to a media person who they think has treated them unfairly or written something that is inaccurate.  And the media person has every right to believe what they want and to continue to stand by their opinion.  In the end, both may agree to disagree, but both should benefit from having the conversation.  I don't think it is "petty" or "small-minded" at all.  It is interesting and amusing that the harshest writers often seem to have the thinnest skin.

 

Players tend to have the most respect for writers who, if they have written something critical of the team, manager or player, have the guts to show up in the clubhouse the next day and show their face.  Often, nothing will ever be said between the two, but the fact that a reporter showed up counts for a great deal in the clubhouse culture.

 

Everyone also should know that the writers don't write the headlines, but headlines are, in theory, suppose to give a sense of what the story is about.  Headlines above other columns by Greg this summer include:

 

"Sox Unwilling to Accept that they might need help" (8/29)

 

"Lead Sinking ... Time for Choke Thinking" (8/24)

 

"As skid grows, eruption can't be far off" (8/21)

 

"Sox OK, but slip is showing" (8/18)

 

"Sox Could Use Burnett or Vizquel/In Theory, small ball works, but Ozzie's Men Aren't Executing" (7/24)

 

"Sox Always Find a Way to Shoot themselves in foot" (6/19)

 

"I love Buehrle, Garcia, rest of starters -- and Twins" (5/1)

 

"Don't Buy What Sox are Selling" (4/17)

 

Now, I find it interesting that after Jay Mariotti first referred to the conversation in his Friday column, Couch waited two more days to tack it onto his Sunday article (you may not have bothered to read his entire piece.  It was at the very end).

 

I don't want to get into a he said/she said over the Aaron/Greg conversation, but Greg today wrote that Aaron's reaction to his columns was "creepy" and "very sad."  Now, I must assume that Greg doesn't think it is creepy or very sad to actually read all of his columns or even save them, so he must be referring to Aaron's using the printed word as motivation to prove someone wrong.  Seems to me, this has been happening in sports and life for a very long time and will continue to happen well into the future.

 

"This is a little strange, but very sad," Couch writes.  "And it's also entirely unfair to White Sox fans."

 

I don't see the connection to Sox fans that Greg does, but maybe he feels better wrapping himself in the cloak of defending the fan (something another at his paper often claims to do).  Personally, I think our fans do a very good job of defending themselves, thank you very much. 

 

Columns like Couch's April piece have been on our bulletin board all year long, along with those by other doubters.  If this type of motivation helps us win games, great.  Maybe the team will vote to give Couch a postseason share.

 

Either way, after talking to Greg, Aaron said to me, "I feel great!  I've been wanting to say that to him all year!"

 

And then he went 2-for-4 as we won the Division Series.

[Kyyle23]

Aaron Rowand f***ing rules. Scott Reifort f***ing rules for letting the average person know what actually took place. Couch can stick it where the sun dont shine.

 

Its funny how Mariotti always has so much insight on what is going on, but we all know that he wouldnt dare stick his lipstick and rouge painted face in the clubhouse, because he would get something like this, but probably worse.

[bmags]

Hey guys, for real sports writing, that doesn't have an agenda other than tearing down everything that is holy, go to

 

http://www.deadspin.com

 

Especially check out the "hometown sports writer" section in which they barbeque Jay Mariotti for being a huge penis.

 

Most sports writers are hacks that couldn't cut it in other "Englishy" fields such as creative writing, non-sports journalism, etc.  At least thats my thoughts.

 

i'm a journalism major, not sports...but in all honesty the voice is not that different.

[Kyyle23]

That deadspin link got me to some hilarious photos of various boston and white sox players partying the night away with various young females.

[mr_genius]

Greg Couch is even worse than Moronatti IMO

 

The only creepy thing in that locker room was Couch's hair. I saw that guy on tv and me and my girlfriend laughed at him and his horrific appearance for a good 15 minutes.

[MinnySoxFan]

On Around the Horn Mariotti actually just did something that was really funny.

 

During their opening 10 seconds a piece they get they cut to Mariotti and he's just sitting there, looking around nervously and says, "these White Sox fans...they're out to get me."

 

That's hilarious.

 

Another funny thing is that Woody just called the Yankees "the little team that could."