Comments on: The league needs to address Terry Collins’ comments

By: protius

protius — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:05:21 +0000

And someone is a schemkel if they think zigging and zagging is a straightforward answer to anything. Oui vey is mere.

By: rcali

rcali — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:07:34 +0000

Last place.

By: patg1041

patg1041 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:20:19 +0000

And how good could he have been had he taken practice seriously? Not to mention his complete lack of respect for his teammates. They’re out busting their asses at practice and he literally treats it like a joke. If nothing else, he was getting millions of dollars to play a game. I really don’t think it’s asking too much to show up for a couple hours of basketball practice and at least give passable effort.

By: PolkaPatrol

PolkaPatrol — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:55:46 +0000

The problem is not that Collins expressed his opinion, the problem is that Collins is a representative for an organization that has an agreement with a labor union – and part of that agreement is when you show up for work.

Is it wrong or outlandish for Collins, or any boss, to wish his employees would show up early? Of course not. But it does start to tread on shaky ground if Collins is criticizing negotiated rules with the MLBPA, as Matthew points out.

And as other comments have pointed out, Collins is pretty nutty. Fining him now *might* be the best way to curb something really ugly later.

By: conjecture101

conjecture101 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:19:21 +0000

Nobody else who watched basketball thought that. A 6’0 guard who averaged over 30 ppg and carried his team to the finals with one of the worst supporting casts in professinal sports history.

By: belichickrulz

belichickrulz — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:44:03 +0000

Isn’t Tom Coughlin celebrated for “Coughlin Time” (players are punished for not showing up 15 minutes early to team meetings)? Why should Collins bring the same passion to the Mets, especially considering how dreadful they’ve been in recent years? Hopefully Bobby Valentine will bring a little of this to the overpaid slackers on the Red Sox.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:23:09 +0000

In the words of the immortal Don Corleone:

“It’s business. Just business.”

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:19:36 +0000

And someone is being a schmuck about a straightforward answer to a simple question again.

By: The Baseball Idiot

The Baseball Idiot — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:25:29 +0000

Exactly. Last I heard, everyone still had a right to their opinion. Doesn’t mean their opinion is necessarily the best one, but they have a right to make one.

Why not complain that your choice for Best Picture doesn’t win the Academy Award, because it has about the same relevance.

What Collins is talking about, albeit in an indirect manner, is commitment to a job that Tejeda is getting paid a lot of money for. The players don’t have to work off-season jobs anymore, and should be training year round.

The reporting date goes back in history as a cut-off time to start fining players who weren’t in camp because they were holding out. Mostly because they didn’t like the salary they were offered. Very few of them have that excuse now. It is a drop-dead date, not the beginning.

It is more common today for players to show up early than exactly on the reporting date, because they are dedicated to their job.

Reporting date = be here by then
Not = this is the last possible day you should arrive.

Lazy is as lazy does. I’ll bet you find that the guys who wait til the last day just because they want to are the same games that skip practice and dog it through out the year.

The players are being paid millions per year to play the game. Expecting them to show up before the deadline is not unreasonable.

Expecting everyone else to live their life according to your code of ethics is.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:30:47 +0000

$1,500 in meal money? Wow. In the last CBA it was $85. I haven’t seen all of the new CBA. You must either have great sources or you’re an imbecile.

You are also suggesting that the should Mets play Ronnie Cedeno at SS, so I think you just answered my question.

By: protius

protius — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:14:09 +0000

“I got my BA and one of my MAs at Fordham.” Uh oh, someone is bloviating again.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:54:13 +0000

Heh heh, no, but I got my BA and one of my MAs at Fordham, so I’ve got Jesuit academic training to look back on. I studied Jesuit drinking, too, but from a safe distance; some of those crows would have gone up in a pillar of fire if they’d lit a cigarette and exhaled on the match at the same time.

By: drubeatz

drubeatz — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:46:35 +0000

I’m glad Collins is bringing discipline to this team. He needs to smack Pelfrey around, that guy is soft. Don’t expect much from this group Mets fans. By June, the season will be over and we’ll be reading about what the GMen are doing in the offseason. Maybe next year for the not so amazins.

By: aceshigh11

aceshigh11 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:35:43 +0000

LOL, you sound just like my Dad.

By: stex52

stex52 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:10:24 +0000

You weren’t ever a Jesuit, were you?

By: nygf

nygf — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:35:54 +0000

Thank goodness the Giants won the Super Bowl. That will make the 110 losses I’m about to witness slightly more tolerable. Will be watching football highlights in July to forget the baseball games.

By: humanexcrement

humanexcrement — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:33:18 +0000

What? This is a controversy? Seriously? I expected to find something that might have genuinely offended someone, like a passing reference to nationality, race, religion or linguistic group. even that often times gets overblown and causes a big stink over basically nothing, but this? This gets the all time gold metal for bullshit controversy, and that’s saying a lot.

By: billb09

billb09 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:32:39 +0000

Collins is right the man and Tejada is a 21 year old player, he will be playing a marquee position, in New York, replacing a fan favorite, and down the block from a future HOF player Derek Jeter. One bad stretch and he may be back at second base or maybe Buffalo. A players union for a group of spoiled athletes. These guys get $1500.00 a day in food money during the season. So you can’t get to camp to play baseball a little early……..c’mon

By: adenzeno

adenzeno — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:13:30 +0000

And now he is broke…

By: adenzeno

adenzeno — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:12:12 +0000

of us…damn no typing skills…

By: adenzeno

adenzeno — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:11:28 +0000

There are 3 of dammit!! And I WAS surprised last year that he did not self destruct…

By: gnyj85

gnyj85 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:10:17 +0000

Tejada is looking to make a splash this year, taking over for a great player in Jose Reyes. Get your ass to camp. If he starts sucking, his ass is getting booed.

By: patg1041

patg1041 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:05:43 +0000

Not to get completely off topic, but when Iverson said that, did anyone else think “oh, so thats why you haven’t won anything”? That’s a total loser mentality. He made some comment about giving his all during games, but it’s easy to give effort during the games. Champions give championship effort in preparation for the games. That attitude is the difference between Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice and someone like Iverson.

By: hep3

hep3 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:09:50 +0000

In the words of the immortal Allen Iverson:

“It’s just practice, man, practice.”

By: 4d3fect

4d3fect — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:06:14 +0000

Yep, this is just the opening salvo in a long batshit-crazy war that is TC. Hope you enjoyed his five minutes of sanity, Mets fans–both of you.

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:02:20 +0000

Didn’t the Angels sign a petition that resulted in Collins being fired mid-season?

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:55:10 +0000

To say that he’s being punished when he’s an intrinsic element of that by which he would ostensibly be punished is tautological.

By: frankvzappa

frankvzappa — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:47:51 +0000

Is that you Florio? Taking over the HBT blog by subterfuge in order to pressure the relevant league into doing as you wish? Sneaky…

By: megary

megary — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:46:27 +0000

Matthew are you seriously suggesting Collins should be fined for this quote that you highlighted? Call him wrong (and I’m not saying he his because we don’t know the prior conversations between Collins and Tejada…maybe it was understood that Tejada would show up early?) but to suggest a fine for what are mild comments at best is WAY overboard.

By: SmackSaw

SmackSaw — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:44:22 +0000

As an Angels fan, I’m gonna say it. Terry Collins is batshit crazy. He’s already begun to self destruct. Terry Collins does not manage, he demands. If the team is talented, yet underachieves, he’s a good fit for a couple o’ years. But, if the team lacks talent, he attempts to ‘discipline’ them into shape. He creates adversity. That approach works for the USMC, which Sandy Alderson was a part of. It ain’t gonna work for the Mets.