Why doesn't HE coach?

[PhantomPain]

Re: Why doesn't HE coach?

I gotta defend the man a little bit.

I wouldn't consider his stint in baseball a failure. Anybody that expected he'd be ARod was dreaming. Considering his age, time away from the game and prep time, the fact that he hit above .200 is amazing. He took it seriously and had a pretty decent progression. This is still PROFESSIONAL baseball we're talking about, even if it wasn't the majors.

He gets a lot of crap for his moves in management (I think that's what you meant, since he hasn't been an owner long enough to say he's a success or failure), and rightfully so. But we also knew his heart was never in Washington. When he wasn't playing (clearly not ready to transition properly to the job) he was in Chicago 90% of the time. There really shouldn't have been any expectation that he'd end up looking good coming out of that. He took it as a joke, which is unfortunate. But it doesn't necessarily project to how he'll handle his role going forward. There isn't much good to suggest he'll be better, but he did higher a basketball man to play GM in Charlotte. I'm willing to see how he does his job now.

I get what you are saying about his baseball stint, but I disagree. Most every professional sports player takes it seriously and tries with all their might. Just because Jordan did too doesn't give him a pass. If he wasn't Michael Jordan he would have never been above Class A ball. If that was what he was aspiring, then he would have been a success. But he wasn't trying to play Class A ball. He was trying to be a MLB player and at that he failed. You take his stats and remove his name and ask 1000 people if the player was a success or failure and you would get 1000 failures. I will give him props for attempting it, but he was a light year or two from succeeding at it.

You are right about the other comment, I meant management.

EDIT: I was only poking fun to begin with. I loved Jordan as as basketball player.

[wwharton]

Re: Why doesn't HE coach?

I get what you are saying about his baseball stint, but I disagree. Most every professional sports player takes it seriously and tries with all their might. Just because Jordan did too doesn't give him a pass. If he wasn't Michael Jordan he would have never been above Class A ball. If that was what he was aspiring, then he would have been a success. But he wasn't trying to play Class A ball. He was trying to be a MLB player and at that he failed. You take his stats and remove his name and ask 1000 people if the player was a success or failure and you would get 1000 failures. I will give him props for attempting it, but he was a light year or two from succeeding at it.

You are right about the other comment, I meant management.

EDIT: I was only poking fun to begin with. I loved Jordan as as basketball player.

First, in response to your edit... I didn't take your comment too seriously, but just wanted to defend him a bit bc that's been a running joke around here.

He played baseball to honor his father who wanted him to be a baseball player. Of course Jordan thinks he can be the best in the world at everything he does, but he didn't have any other dreams of being a major leaguer. He was 31 years old picking up a bat for the first time since high school. I think your expectations may have been too high... especially for the short amount of time he played.

[nc0ffey]

Because he wanted an assistant college coach to to it.

Question answered, lockitup!

[PhantomPain]

Re: Why doesn't HE coach?

First, in response to your edit... I didn't take your comment too seriously, but just wanted to defend him a bit bc that's been a running joke around here.

He played baseball to honor his father who wanted him to be a baseball player. Of course Jordan thinks he can be the best in the world at everything he does, but he didn't have any other dreams of being a major leaguer. He was 31 years old picking up a bat for the first time since high school. I think your expectations may have been too high... especially for the short amount of time he played.

I didn't have any expectations other than him not having much of a chance to succeed. I played baseball for 20 years and understand how crazy hard it is to play at a high caliber. I am still amazed by Josh Hamilton being out of the game for 3 or 4 years and then immediately have major success at the MLB level. But again with Jordan, if you take his name out of the equation he never reaches that level. In fact, I was wrong about what I said earlier. He wouldn't even be given the chance to play Class A at 31 years old and not playing for 13 years. His intentions were good and the fact he had a few hits was a testament to how hard he worked at trying to succeed, but he was used by the White Sox (as much as he used them) and only happened as a publicity act. The White Sox, intelligently, utilized Jordan's name to boost ticket sales and get people talking about the White Sox when nobody cared about them. Jordan utilized their willingness to do that so he could have a chance to live out a dream. Nothing wrong with that. But I still think it was a failure if you hold the sport in the same regard as you would any other major league baseball player not named Michael Jordan.

[wwharton]

Re: Why doesn't HE coach?

I didn't have any expectations other than him not having much of a chance to succeed. I played baseball for 20 years and understand how crazy hard it is to play at a high caliber. I am still amazed by Josh Hamilton being out of the game for 3 or 4 years and then immediately have major success at the MLB level. But again with Jordan, if you take his name out of the equation he never reaches that level. In fact, I was wrong about what I said earlier. He wouldn't even be given the chance to play Class A at 31 years old and not playing for 13 years. His intentions were good and the fact he had a few hits was a testament to how hard he worked at trying to succeed, but he was used by the White Sox (as much as he used them) and only happened as a publicity act. The White Sox, intelligently, utilized Jordan's name to boost ticket sales and get people talking about the White Sox when nobody cared about them. Jordan utilized their willingness to do that so he could have a chance to live out a dream. Nothing wrong with that. But I still think it was a failure if you hold the sport in the same regard as you would any other major league baseball player not named Michael Jordan.

All of that's true... but I still disagree with the last sentence. I don't think anyone expected it to be any more than it was. I give him props for taking it seriously bc, considering it was no secret how he got the opportunity and that he'd help the team as more of a mascot than hitter, I don't think anyone considered it a mockery of the sport. I wouldn't call it a success, but I wouldn't call it a failure either.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: Why doesn't HE coach?

I didn't have any expectations other than him not having much of a chance to succeed. I played baseball for 20 years and understand how crazy hard it is to play at a high caliber. I am still amazed by Josh Hamilton being out of the game for 3 or 4 years and then immediately have major success at the MLB level. But again with Jordan, if you take his name out of the equation he never reaches that level. In fact, I was wrong about what I said earlier. He wouldn't even be given the chance to play Class A at 31 years old and not playing for 13 years. His intentions were good and the fact he had a few hits was a testament to how hard he worked at trying to succeed, but he was used by the White Sox (as much as he used them) and only happened as a publicity act. The White Sox, intelligently, utilized Jordan's name to boost ticket sales and get people talking about the White Sox when nobody cared about them. Jordan utilized their willingness to do that so he could have a chance to live out a dream. Nothing wrong with that. But I still think it was a failure if you hold the sport in the same regard as you would any other major league baseball player not named Michael Jordan.

Just on the bold, it's worth pointing out that he was a minor league baseball player, and seeing as how there are thousands of guys who never get higher than Single or Double A in their lifetimes, he was basically just average.