In response to Hal McCoy’s Wednesday post on Reds baseball, some sharp reaction from area fans who claim that mediocre Reds baseball is better…than no Reds baseball at all.
Within an hour of posting Hal McCoy’s Wednesday post on the Reds...https://pressprosmagazine.com/2024/07/10/mccoy-is-that-baseball-the-reds-are-playing/…the texts and emails began to show up.
From Miami County: “Tell Hal to remember the good old days, and how good he had it with the [Big] Red Machine.”
From Springfield: “Bad Reds baseball is better than no Reds baseball. We’re thankful to have the Reds.”
And from Lima: “Bitter, Hal? Seems they [the Reds] treated you pretty well.”
People are nuts. Absolutely nuts. And to make sure of it I went back and read his post – every word of it – which climaxed with the Casey Stengel quote about the pitiful 1962 New York Mets. “Can’t anyone here play this game?”
To heart-broken in Lima, you can add me to the list of those disillusioned by the Reds if you want. It’s been 34 years since they won the World Series in 1990, and the great tanking that came right after that, with more general managers than a Wal-Mart that loses money.
There was a string of bad drafts, and a farm system that boasted first-round draft picks like Chad Motolla, Pat Watkins, C.J. Nitkowski, John Oliver, Matt McClendon, and Brandon Larson – back to back to back to back to back to back! Nitkowski eventually made six starts for the Reds, had a record of 1-3, and was quickly euthanized into the baseball carousel of other teams who still believed he could pitch. Somehow he lasted 10 years. And somehow he compiled a career record of 18 wins, 32 losses.
My point? Somehow over the years the Reds fell prey to the dreaded belief that small market teams have to poor-mouth, even when they were owned by billionaires – Carl Lindner, and at the present, Bob Castellini. It was Castellini who famously boasted when he bought the team: “We’re not going to lose anymore.”
No, no, Bob. You’re not going to win anymore!
But this is not about the Reds. It’s about a culture that settles for mediocrity – delighted with it – because it means no one has to lose. We don’t want anyone to lose, anymore. “Here’s a beautiful trophy. Thanks for doing the best you can.”
We’d rather see a good handshake line after the game!
Every year, we read handfuls of emails and hear it face-to-face, about how there’s too much emphasis on winning, including overtones from the OHSAA. For years they’ve run public service announcements at the state tournament extolling sportsmanship, by saying, “It’s not about winning, but how you play the game.”
And to the person who wrote that bad Reds baseball is better than no Reds baseball at all? Not when it costs a month’s mortgage to take a family of five to the game!
We’re trying as hard as we can to de-emphasize winning in sports, to the point of ignoring the importance of winning in life. And a lot of us are going to raise kids that suffer the consequences.
Some call it ‘progressive’, that it’s more important that we all look the same, achieve the same, and no one gets their feelings hurt. I repeat…people have lost their minds.
Quoting a recent writer to the site from northeast Ohio: “If the OHSAA can divide up Division I so the smaller schools don’t have to play Lakewood St. Ed, why can’t they do something so the other Division VII schools don’t have to play Marion Local?” You must be very proud.
Editor and publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA sports and Buckeyes baseball for Press Pros Magazine.
But we’ve lost in life the very thing that makes life mean the most. We all get better through competition.
We all get better when we get knocked down and choose between getting back up…or kicked while we’re down.
And no competition means there are no leaders. And after thirty years of that kind of cultural progression, can’t you now see its effect all across the country? And will you not wish for something better come November 5th?
“Can’t anyone here play this game?”
And speaking of having it good in the past, I never wrote for a major league baseball team for 50 years, but I have my own 50 years of baseball experience.
And it’s better – a lot better – when you win!
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