Hello, friends and fellow Cub fans, I have not posted in a while but decided I must make time to share my thoughts on this issue with the world.  We will see if the world cares or merely ignores my thoughts in the Internet sea of white noise, but I hope a few people at least care to read this post.

My topic: the media treatment of Milton Bradley, and how unprofessional most of the so-called "journalists" have been in covering this matter.  In particular, this will focus on the blog post by Steve Rosenbloom, found here:

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/rosenblog/2009/04/i-thought-this-milton-bradley-experience-was-going-to-be-different.html

Milton Bradley has been bad, injured and cranky, so of course he’s blaming the media for the way he’s being covered.

Yo, Milton, how do we Febreze bad and injured? Should we write that you’re Albert Pujols, except with a .043 average?

Milton Bradley has 24 AB on the season. Twenty-four. While obviously Mr. Rosenbloom has little to no concept of mathematics, the fact that he neglects to mention how few ABs the ".043 average" comes from tells me right off the bat that Rosenbloom is likely to present a massively skewed piece.  He does not disappoint.  His agenda is evident, and while this should not be particularly surprising given the sad state of sports journalism in mainstream media, I find it distasteful enough that I felt compelled to answer in the timeless style of Fire Joe Morgan.  I miss those guys, even if the repitition was beginning to get tiresome.  Bad, irresponsible journalism is tiresome.  I will shed no tears on the inevitable day the Trib and Sun-Times are forced to fire some of the hack columnists which make up most of their rags.  

It didn’t take long with this guy, did it?

Bradley came with a resume that showed he has trouble working and playing well with others. When he’s healthy enough to play and work, that is.

 

Pure propaganda.  Irresponsible, just like much of what we see spewed throughout our papers and other media outlets.  What do you consider playing well with others, Steve?  Bradley actually has a good reputation, if you ask former teammates and managers.  The only ax MB truly has to grind is with people like you.  Unfortunately, players and managers rarely discuss their peers in the media, so this is seldom mentioned.  Certainly seldom heard over the usual tripe about Milton's problems, which I admit certainly are existant, but would go barely noticed if it were not for the work of our beloved media.  Actually, work is too strong a word for what you do.  Gastrointestinal explosions are more coherent than your opinions, and certainly more grounded in reality.  So if by "others" you mean "the media", then you have a point.  Last I heard, the big checks are for winning games and making fans happy, not for spouting meaningless cliches in postgame interviews so you can discuss them in your next column. 

OK, so let’s see if I have this right: isn’t healthy, got booed, wouldn’t talk -- and it’s someone else’s fault.

The only thing different is he’s compounding the agony by not hitting. See, he also came in with a baseball card that said he could fall off a gurney and still get on base. But now he can’t even do that, and worse, he’s reading from the good book of I-confess-he-did-it.

 

What are you even talking about?  Whose fault is it?  You make allusions to statements which do not exist.   You read between the lines to extract whatever you can from Milton's comments.  There is a word which captures this quite well: Lying.

You are lying, taking the words spoken into your microphones and distorting them into whatever you damn well please.  Why?  I have no clue.  It's juvenile and pathetic and manipulative, all for some perverse pleasure derived from attacking an athlete in print.  The same print which you control.  Since you are making baseless explanations of Milton's behavior however you need to write a column, I feel justified in making one of my own about you, Steve.  Your work reminds me of several famous authors who also were well-known for their work in media: Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, and Kim Jong-Il.  When you are the only game in town (since newspapers tend not to engage in columnist-battles, this is true even with three papers: Bruce Miles is far too professional to publicly trash you, and he is basically the only legitimate sportswriter in town. The others generally spit the same gossip and commentary suitable for "fans" drunk in the bleachers yelling at opposing players they can barely name) 

The Cubs believe their employees have a responsibility to deal with the media, so whatever Bradley thinks and whomever he wants to blame for his miserable first impression, he found media sanctuary by talking to Cubs.com.Yeah, and what's your problem with this? 

Hell, Carrie Muskat is even better than you.  Which says something.   

First, the Cubs don’t like that strategy, especially not for $30 million. Second, the manager is the one dropping you in the lineup at whatever point you become healthy enough to actually be in the lineup. And third, it’s your responsibility to stay healthy, it’s your responsibility to hit, it’s your responsibility to run hard.

Goodness, pal, it could not be simpler: Perform, and everyone will love you; fail, and it’ll be on you no matter who you try to blame.

Really, the Cubs don't like that strategy?  What quotation would lead you to believe this?  I must have missed it, or more likely, it simply does not exist outside your imaginary world of sportswriting fame and glamour. 

Yes, the manager is dropping Bradley in the lineup.  This is the same manager who batted Reed Johnson cleanup against RHP Monday.  While you know far too little to report anything on baseball strategy outside of the usual outdated and proven false cliches, we know better: Lou makes terrible strategic decisions routinely, and his opinion on valid strategy is worthless.  He has the uniform and experience, which is really all that he has backing up some of these decisions.  Neil Cotts as a LOOGY.  Reed cleanup vs. RHP.  Lee 3rd and cold as ice while Hoff plays the occasional game butchering RF?  Gathright pretty much ever.  All brutal, all routine with Lou (although he is sadly par for the course as far as MLB managers go)   

I do agree with your third point above, which is about the only sentence in the whole article with which I can agree.  Milton, it is your job to stay healthy and play hard, although I would be fine seeing you jog out some ground balls if you think that helps you stay healthy.  You know yourself better than we, Mr. Bradley.  We know little, due to the media BS which stands between you and us fans.  Perhaps someday we can get you a BCB interview (which if such an interview were feasible, I would love to conduct and would do pretty much anything necessary to make a reality), and then you can tell your tale freely and without threat of Rosenbloom or another hack tearing your direct quotations to shreads of their intended and stated meanings. 

And as for Steve: the season is young, your job is safe (for now), and Bradley has yet to have the ABs necessary to raise his average.  Better celebrate with another column of hateful drivel while you still can.  Go Cubs, beat the Dbacks tonight!

Canseco's Roid Party

April 28, 2009