Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:29 pm
Posts: 38699
pizza_Place: Lou Malnatis
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Senor columnist  Even if they win, it won't be the same. It won't be what it could've been, not now that the White Sox have chosen to insult their fans by rushing to hire Tony La Russa as their manager.
This is the worst of all possible fits, as all of the positive energy generated by one of the most expressive and outwardly joyful teams in sports will now be suppressed by a dour and backward baseball grump who hasn't done the job in a decade.
Not this team, not now. Not him.
It's a franchise that has leaned into its players' outspokenness and proud multiculturalism, going so far as to adopt the marketing slogan "Change the Game" that embraces and celebrates their identity. Yet in La Russa, the White Sox are getting a man deeply critical of such things in a way that suggests he shouldn't even have a role in the game at all, let alone here. He's a Glenn Beck supporter and a vocal critic of peaceful protest by professional athletes.
"There are ways to express your belief in some of the issues that face Blacks around this country without disrespecting the country you live in," La Russa told the Dan Le Batard show in 2016. "I absolutely would not allow it."
He called Colin Kaepernick an insincere self-promoter, refusing to legitimize the real reasons behind the protest and willfully misunderstanding the point.
In February 2020 -- Black History Month -- he appeared on In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
"There's a different way to protest it," La Russa said. "When you kneel, you disrespect the flag, the country and the anthem. It's the wrong way to protest."
So sayeth Tony Ditka, who feels it's his place to tell people of color what behavior is correct and what isn't.
On July 24 at Guaranteed Rate Field, White Sox stars Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Jose Abreu and Lucas Giolito were among those taking a knee in protest of police violence against people of color, and their new leader finds that entirely unacceptable.
La Russa paid lukewarm lip-service to these issues when asked Thursday, claiming that that his views have changed enough to allow for protests only if there is also further action taken. On-field celebration also can be acceptable if he judges it sufficiently "sincere." It's all still up to the privileged old white male to be the gatekeeper of what's allowed, instead of accepting his players as equal human beings and citizens.
La Russa also rattled off a list of Black people he managed in an attempt to prove, "I don't have a racist bone in my body."
"I can name you at least, with the White Sox, whether it was Chet Lemon, Junior Moore or Harold Baines, you go to the A's, with Dave Stewart, Rickey Henderson, Dave Parker. You go to St. Louis with Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, Reggie Sanders, I mean, I'll take my chances if you talk to any of those people."
That's the pathetic "I have some Black friends" defense, and it elicited a cringe.
This whole thing does.
It was all so promising when general manager Rick Hahn told us after firing manager Rick Renteria on Oct. 12 that he was looking for an end to the White Sox's habit of always looking inward instead of outward, preparing to embrace the freshness of new and different ideas that would befit a dynamic, young team.
"This is an opportunity for us as an organization," Hahn said. "We've obviously been somewhat insular in terms of our managerial hirings over the last several years. This is an opportunity for us to speak to individuals with other organizations that have had success and learn from them and get their sort of outsider objective perspective on our organization."
A grim-looking Hahn tried to walk that back after the White Sox made the ultimately insular hire so chairman Jerry Reinsdorf could right some ancient wrong, without even interviewing A.J. Hinch. Hahn claimed this became a consensus after the surprise of La Russa's interest, but nobody who's paying attention believed him.
Hahn now has to work with a manager who may hold more organizational sway than he does, with his five painstaking years of rebuilding with savvy trades, productive development, well-timed free-agent signings and carefully negotiated team-friendly contracts amid an atmosphere of youthful energy culminating in this.
It may still work well enough, of course, in a sport in which managers aren't necessarily a limiting factor.
But it hurts that it just won't be as enjoyable, now. Rooting for La Russa is a chore, before we even get into trusting what's still left of his tactical or strategic skill.
The White Sox were so close to breaking through as a buoyant example of player-first sensibility and openness to all the newest and freshest ideas.
The hiring of Tony La Russa, alas, has changed the game.
_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee
It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.
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