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Originally Posted by nychief
no, it is a big deal, but whitlock is the king of hyperbole. You'd thing they just barred Mumia from the press corp.
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Tom Keegan, Lawrence Journal-World columnist (6/12)
Keegan: Royals have lousy credentials
Monday, June 12, 2006
Holy cow, it’s a darn good thing I just read what I typed in time to erase it or I might have lost my credential to Kansas City Royals games. I was going to write that the Royals are dead-last in the American League in runs, home runs, total bases and slugging percentage, but given the pathetic bully tactics employed by the Royals in regards to the media these days, I had better not write that. Good thing I caught myself.
Instead of looking at it that way, let’s just point out that the Royals have incredibly bad luck at the plate. They surely lead the world in at-’em balls. Everything they hit goes right at a fielder. They just can’t seem to follow Wee Willie Keeler’s time-honored advice and hit them where they ain’t. What an unlucky bunch.
I value that credential so much that I’m also going to refrain from pointing out that the Royals have a historically bad pitching staff with a 6.21 staff earned-run average, despite playing in a pitcher-friendly park, compared to where the Baltimore Orioles’, whose 5.40 ERA is second-worst in the AL, play. All it means is the Royals’ pitching staff is due. A hot streak is right around the corner. Make sure to get out to the ballpark, you know the one that will be renovated mostly at the expense of taxpayers. Oops, I meant to say to the great benefit of taxpayers.
I must choose my words carefully for fear I might lose that credential. Bob Fescoe and Rhonda Moss, a pair of Kansas City radio reporters, lost their press passes for doing their jobs thoroughly and well during the news conference held to introduce new Royals general manager Dayton Moore.
If not for fear of losing my credential, I would write that if the absurd credential removal isn’t enough to make Moore already regret the worst decision of his life, then you have to wonder about Moore’s decision-making ability.
Again.
I would, if not protective of my credential, write that Moore accepting the job in the first place put his judgment in question. Here he was, by all accounts, a rising star in the potential GM ranks, the logical choice to replace John Schuerholz when the most respected GM in the game decides to retire. And he comes to the Royals, the laughingstock organization of professional sports? But I won’t write that and won’t call it a bizarre career-suicide. No way would I take that chance, given that the Royals effectively have squelched free speech, as much a staple of American society as a free economic market that has allowed David Glass, owner of the Royals, to do so well by his family with his hugely successful box-store business.
Enough on a bush-league franchise, let’s move up the baseball ladder, all the way up to Triple A, all the way to the Web site of the Toledo Mudhens. If you would like to see former Lawrence High and Detroit Tigers baseball player Kevin Hooper play in the Triple A All-Star Game, you can help to make it happen. Visit mudhens.com and follow directions on how to vote. The fan vote counts 33 percent toward selection for the game, which will be played 30 days from today in Toledo. At last check, Hooper was running second in the voting at second base. A strong online voter turnout from his hometown fans, who can vote up to 25 times from each e-mail address, could swing the election in Hooper’s favor.
From Los Angeles Times interview with David Glass (6/12):
"A lot of this stuff," David Glass said, "is just the media twisting facts to make a point. Or just telling a lie about something. It's really disappointing. Kansas City deserves better than what they're getting in some of the media."
En route to what appears to be his third 100-loss season in four years, Glass declined to separate the twisted facts from the lies, but a day later had his media relations director separate two particularly aggressive radio reporters from their credentials.
Entire story:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseba...rts-majorbaseb