The NY Mets Need a Blog
As a New York resident, the news that Willie Randolph was axed as the manger of the Mets, created a media firestorm. In fact, the move has landed the baseball club on the front and back page of every New York daily.
Despite employed PR experts, media mavens and so-called ‘baseball minds,’ the team managed to botch the firing so bad, that they turned Public Enemy No. 1 into a sympathetic figure.
First, they allowed Randolph to make the trip to the West coast. Then, they allowed him to finish a game (which the team won). The ax fell at around 3:12am ET. Lame.
Yesterday, at a team press conference, General Manager Omar Minaya, who claims the decision was his and his alone, tried to confidently work his way out of this mess.
He failed. In fact, his verbal communication skills were quite weak, bordering on offensive. Apparently Minaya has attended the school of ‘repeat it and they will believe it.’
So what’s missing for the equation?
A BLOG.
I could be simply missing it, but I was unable to dig up a team blog. One that could address Randolph’s dismissal and the thinking behind it. One that could have addressed the news in the middle of the night. This is , after all, the Internet Age – and we have a 24/7 news cycle that can’t be ignored. You can’t run and hide from it. Not even at 3am on another coast.
Major League Baseball does allow team’s fans set up personal blogs thanks to MLBlog. But in cases like this, I am looking for a blog that comes from the top down, offering the type of transparency that makes criminals shutter.
Forget the new stadium. Forget the new manager. The New York Mets need a blog. It certainly couldn’t make them look any worse and it’ll cost a whole lot less.
What do you think?