On a summer day in 2003, I learned something about Twins third baseman Cory Koskie. It happened during pre-game batting practice as the Twins starters were rotating in and out of the cage, getting their hacks in before facing their rivals from Chicago. A television photographer approached Koskie and walked along with him, sticking the camera about a foot from Koskie’s face. When Koskie turned around, the photographer followed. Finally, Koskie waved a hand at the guy and said, “Sorry, don’t do that. I don’t like it.”
My first impression as I witnessed this was to think something along the lines of, “That photographer wasn’t doing anything wrong. Sure he was in a little tight, but that was pretty rude of Koskie to make him stop.” A minute later, Koskie changed my mind.
After finishing his rounds of batting practice, Koskie grabbed his glove and was heading out to third base to take some fungos when he stopped, backtracked to behind the batting cage and found the photographer who had tried to shoot footage of him moments earlier.
“Sorry,” Koskie said again. “I know you’re just trying to do your job. I just don’t like it when the camera’s so close.”
Immediately, I felt ashamed for judging Koskie because he wouldn’t let the photographer get close. I understood how annoying it must be to have someone in your face every day, trying to get as close as he can, invading your personal space, making you feel uncomfortable. Koskie is a shy person and I’m sure that kind of experience effects him more than it would most others. After witnessing his apology—which included an expression of genuine empathy—I made up my mind about Cory Koskie. The guy is a class act.
Now the former hockey goalie and Canada native is heading back to his homeland to play with the Toronto Blue Jays. There’s no doubt he’ll be missed by the Twins faithful. But Koskie wanted to let Twins fans know that the feeling is mutual.
The soft-spoken tender of the hot corner spent more than $4,000 on advertisements in Twin Cities newspapers to thank the Twins fans, management, coaching staff, even the Metrodome employees, for all they had done to help him get to where he is now.
Koskie didn’t have to do that and in typical form he downplayed it when asked about it. He could have left here and no one would have booed him when he came back as a Blue Jay. This isn’t Chuck Knoblauch we’re talking about. Koskie probably would have received a modest ovation anyway. He didn't take out the ads in an attempt to get a standing ovation—although that will most likely happen. He did it because he’s a genuine guy. And I like to think part of what he was saying was, “I’m not leaving because I don’t like Minnesota. I hope you can show me some empathy. After all, I’m just trying to do my job.”
On Wednesday evening Dan Barreiro, a radio host at KFAN, found himself in an unexpected situation. After a full season of refusing the media at every turn, superstar wide receiver Randy Moss finally agreed to do an interview. If Moss had any delusions of smoothing the waters with the local media, he was in for a rude awakening.
The interview came about while head coach Mike Tice was visiting with Barreiro during their weekly scheduled interview. When the majority of the questions revolved around Moss' decision to walk off the field with two seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the two invited Randy to call in and answer the questions for himself. Evidently Tice hasn't been around long enough to realize that this is about as smart as inviting Jessica Simpson to sing for herself.
Moss did call the show and a thirteen-minute interview followed. During the interview, the tone evolved from tense to insulting and ended with a lot more questions asked than answered. Tice wanted to talk football and Barreiro wanted to talk about the end of the Washington game. But Randy wanted to talk about the local media. And if there's one thing we've learned during Moss' eight years in Minnesota, it's that what Randy wants, Randy gets.
Moss takes issue with the local media because he says they bash him every chance they get. They focus on the negative, fail to report the positive and spin his quotes to fit what they want him to say. At least, that's Moss' perspective. Barreiro says the media is more "real" than Moss will ever be since they aren't cheerleaders or apologists for the Vikings poor play. As usual, the truth falls somewhere in the middle.
On one hand, Moss has a point. The media sells newspapers and boosts their ratings through controversy. People claim to hate when all the news is negative. They threaten boycotts and plead with reporters to cover positive stories, saying everyone will read, watch or listen more if the media will just quit with the negativity. But that isn't the truth.
What actually happens is that people get the news from the medium of their choice, then complain about how negative it is and how they wish it could be more positive. But when the time comes to get the news from whatever method they choose, they go straight for the controversial section first. As much as people hate to admit it, controversy sells. They just can't help themselves.
The result of this from Randy Moss' point of view is that media outlets such as KFAN radio focus on his controversial words and actions, of which there is no short supply. Randy construes it as attacking and unfairly biased, and his argument does have some merit. But there are always two sides to every story.
The vast majority of professional athletes follow the rules set by the team as well as those set by local law enforcement. Moss has disregarded both. It isn't an everyday occurrence, as the media sometimes suggest. Most of the time, Moss also follows the rules and behaves like a civilized professional. But when he screws up, he really screws up.
Who else could run over a traffic cop, get caught with marijuana, say he plays when he wants to play and leave his team during a game and have no real ramifications? Moss is alone in how he disregards the rules as well as his ability to escape the situation unscathed. Listening to his interview, it became obvious that Moss is bitter, disillusioned and most of all ridiculously stupid.
He can't put a complete thought together without contradicting himself several times over. He thinks the media is supposed to be there as a support system for the team rather than an objective reporter of the news. He has no grasp of how average people live or the significance of his words and actions. Quite simply, his is immature. Fortunately for him, he can catch the football.
Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire has watched his team lose 209 times. And that's just since he took over as manager of the club in 2002. The Oklahoma native has been on the Twins staff since their last World Series title. What makes someone who has lost more than 200 games a hot commodity? Winning 276.
In his three years since taking over for Tom Kelly, Gardy has led the Twins to three straight American League division titles. He was named A.L. co-manager of the year this fall and now, it's the icing on the cake. The Twins extended Gardenhire's contract for two seasons, reserving the big chair on the bench for him through the 2007 season.
By posting a 92-70 record last year, Gardy showed his managerial prowess. He dealt with a relatively miniscule payroll of $55 million. Several All-Star caliber players like Eddie Guardado, A.J. Pierzinsky, LaTroy Hawkins and Doug Mientkiewicz all left the team and injuries to Joe Mauer, Cory Koskie and several others only allowed Gardenhire to use his opening day line-up twice all season (Mark Sheldon, MLB.com). Of course, Twins fans didn't notice since we couldn't see the games on TV until a month into the season. And God knows no one is going to go into that giant marshmallow on a sunny spring day to watch a baseball game. But even when we weren't able to see our beloved club, Gardenhire was plugging away, making his team into another winner.
Winning is a plus and necessary for a big league manager to keep his spot in the dugout. But that's not what makes most Minnesotans happy about seeing Gardenhire's contract extension. It's more about who he is. And Gardy's a good guy.
I remember listening to a talk show on AM radio when Tom Kelly was still managing the Twins. I cringed every time a caller would ask a question because I knew T.K. would tear that person's head off. Although he could manage with the best of them, Kelly had no people skills, took all criticism personally and wasn't afraid to let you know if you pissed him off.
Gardenhire is the complete opposite. He's accommodating, polite and has a good-old-boy side to him that must be from his Oklahoma upbringing. It's a simplicity and perspective that came out perfectly when asked about his new contract extension. I can see Gardy's smile as he said, "That's pretty cool." (See poll below)
While watching college football's national championship game with friends last night, the inevitable debate over the BCS system began. I was surprised to hear that all of us were in agreement on the topic. And the more people I talk to about it, the more obvious college football's mistake becomes.
On January 4th, the USC Trojans demolished Oklahoma. The top two teams in the nation duked it out and by the end of the first half there was no question who the best team was. But there's still a problem. Two other Division 1A schools finished the year undefeated. Say what you want about USC's dominance over their entire season, they shouldn't win a national championship until they have a chance to play every other undefeated team.
Auburn did nothing wrong this season. Every time they took the football field, they left victorious. Still, they weren't even given the chance to win a national title. There is nothing they could have done, short of running up the score, to help themselves. Winning is no longer enough, and the ability to run up the score is a poor criteria to use.
Even the 12-0 Utah squad deserves a chance. In denying the Utes the right to prove their worth, college football joins the ranks of figure skating and gymnastics in the category of sports that are decided not by points, but by the opinion of someone who never sets foot on the playing surface.
When debates on this topic are sparked, there seems to be a lot of confusion. There are several things to consider. All the bowl games these days generate a lot of revenue, football teams can't physically play more than once a week and how many teams would get in anyway?
There are simple answers to each of these questions.
Take the top eight teams in the final AP poll. I know there will be controversy over who gets the 8th spot, but at least the controversy will be over number eight instead of number one. If there are ever nine undefeated teams at the end of the regular season, deal with it then. These top eight teams are given seedings and play a three week tournament. The winner is your national champion. Keep all the other bowls. Cut the five week layoff that many teams have before a bowl game to more like a week or two and start the tournament two weeks before the new year. Then just have New Year's Day for the real National Championship.
Talk about polar opposites. Randy Moss and Matt Birk couldn't be more different. Moss is a self-centered superstar who spends so much time in the spotlight his ego has grown as big as Daunte Culpepper's statistics. And who can blame him? He plays when he wants to play, runs over traffic cops and treats people like dirt without facing any sort of ramifications.
Matt Birk on the other hand is a well-educated lineman who doesn't get time in the spotlight but still earns the respect of his teammates as well as players from around the league. He works hard for his money and is a great role model for kids of all ages.
When these two characters meet head-on, as they did after the Vikings latest loss, there can be only one outcome: Birk will walk away frustrated, angry and feeling helpless.
Just like millions of viewers, Birk saw Randy Moss walk off the football field with 2 seconds to go in the game against the Washington Redskins. Just like most of those viewers, Birk was outraged and confused. After the game, he confronted Moss. The incident escalated until the two were yelling at each other. So what happens? Birk leaves flustered because Moss doesn't care what anyone else thinks. And worst of all, he can get away with it. Even fellow wide receiver Marcus Robinson said, "He can pretty much do whatever he wants." Don't worry Marcus, he will.
Meanwhile, Birk realizes there is nothing he can do about the situation. He has no authority over Moss, nor does anyone else in the organization. All anyone can do is sit back, watch and hope Randy doesn't decide he wants to do anything that will embarrass the franchise. Because even if he does, no one can do anything about it.
The big question is, why? The answer is simple. Money and power. The money part involves the millions of dollars that Moss makes. If the Vikings decide they have had enough, they lose a large chunk of change from Moss' signing bonus. In today's NFL atmosphere, Minnesota no longer has the option of trading him for several superstars like back in the Herschel Walker days, because they just couldn't get very much for him. Blockbuster trades like that are a thing of the past in football. So financially, it just makes sense to keep him.
As for power, Moss holds the cards there too. Mark Rosen said it best on KFAN radio when he suggested that some of the fans who are irate over Moss walking off the field early will change their tune if Moss leads the Vikings to a playoff win over Green Bay. The point is that the sports culture has warped from something that people watched for entertainment to something that people live and die over. They no longer care what their heroes do outside the lines as long as they perform when they are inside them. The result is that guys like Randy Moss can literally do whatever the want. On the rare occasion someone like Matt Birk tries to stand up for what's right and call him out on it, the backlash will go against Birk, not Moss.
(See Poll Below)
