Quote:
Originally Posted by alnorth
I disagree with the most fundamental assumption that you are making here: that they are poor young lost kids who need some sort of fatherly guidance and motivation to perform.
They are F'ing grown-ass men. They aren't 12 years old. This also isn't football where screaming and knocking helmets together may fire you up to more effort, baseball is a "cool" sport, in that being too "fired up" can actually be counter-productive and cause you to fail.
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This isn't black-and-white. Maturity doesn't work in binary; incremental improvements are a part of life, and these guys have a tremendous weight on their shoulders. A 12-year old would buckle under that pressure, and MOST 20-somethings would, too. Major leaguers NEED guidance and reassurance, and I'm not talking about mollycoddling. They need to have a figure there that is the calming presence who can also put a fire under their ass (in private) when necessary. I know that sounds "hand-wavy", but it's true.