How Not To Take Responsibility
One of the lessons I had to learn for myself in life was about personal responsibility. It wasn't an easy lesson. While I was basically an honest person when I was younger, if I found myself in a tough spot through my own fault, all too often I found myself looking for any kind of loophole to escape personal responsibility on my part. It didn't matter if it involved lying my way out, I was quick to abandon my personal principles if it got me out of something that I didn't want to deal with.
What I learned the hard way over time was that the cost of evading responsibility in this manner was often higher than the cost of just admitting that something was my fault and dealing with the consequences. Plus, I could look myself in the mirror afterwards without cringing. It's never any fun to take personal blame, and it's not something I look forward to, but in the long run I think it matters. For one thing, you can't fix a mistake that you're not willing to admit to.
I had to chuckle when I read this article on ESPN. In an interview with the AP, Rob Manfred acknowledged how much the protracted, pointless negotiations angered fans, and offered up the following quote:
This might seem like nit-picking, but I think it's important. As Commissioner, Rob Manfred was in charge of MLB's side of the negotiations. While it's understood that he answers to all of the owners, the buck still stops with him. He received a lot of criticism as things fell apart, and he deserved it. Sure, the others he named share some blame, but Rob Manfred can't control what they do, only what he does. It would have meant something if he just said, "I need to do better next time." It would have showed that he was serious about changing things. Instead, his words reminded me of the way I used to rationalize things to myself. Manfred sounds more like a trained lawyer than a real leader. It sounded good, but what he said was essentially nothing.
There have been plenty of missteps to go around these past few weeks, but the path that MLB chose to follow was incredibly unproductive. Baseball is crying out for a leader right now to bridge all of the deep divides in the sport, and Manfred can't even do honest self-criticism without referring to himself in the third person and pointing fingers at others. The guy just isn't a leader, and he has more than proven himself to be the wrong man for a very difficult job.
We need to get back on the field, and we need to in a less-charged environment start to have conversations about how we -- and the we in that sentence is the commissioner's office, my staff, the clubs and the MLBPA and the players -- can be better going forward. We owe it to our fans to be better than we've been last three months.At first glance it looks like Manfred was taking some personal responsibility for the way things had gone these last few weeks, but that "we" got awfully big, didn't it? I'm not questioning the fact that the different entities that Manfred mentioned - his staff, the clubs, MLBPA and the players - all had a hand in how badly things went down, but personal responsibility is really nothing if it's not, well, personal. Manfred didn't even point a finger directly at himself, but rather at "the commissioner's office." I guess that's him, but it's certainly an indirect way of taking some blame, and then he made sure we knew about everyone else who needed to do better.
This might seem like nit-picking, but I think it's important. As Commissioner, Rob Manfred was in charge of MLB's side of the negotiations. While it's understood that he answers to all of the owners, the buck still stops with him. He received a lot of criticism as things fell apart, and he deserved it. Sure, the others he named share some blame, but Rob Manfred can't control what they do, only what he does. It would have meant something if he just said, "I need to do better next time." It would have showed that he was serious about changing things. Instead, his words reminded me of the way I used to rationalize things to myself. Manfred sounds more like a trained lawyer than a real leader. It sounded good, but what he said was essentially nothing.
There have been plenty of missteps to go around these past few weeks, but the path that MLB chose to follow was incredibly unproductive. Baseball is crying out for a leader right now to bridge all of the deep divides in the sport, and Manfred can't even do honest self-criticism without referring to himself in the third person and pointing fingers at others. The guy just isn't a leader, and he has more than proven himself to be the wrong man for a very difficult job.
8 comments:
What do you want him to say? If he takes the blame what does that do other than to undermine himself in the next negotiation? Secondly, if there was ever a guy that had less real power than him let me know. This guy answers to 30 people who hes just covering for. I get it dont take the job if you cant handle it, but in this situation that's the job description, cover for the guys actually making the decision.
I know we disagree on this but for me the players were the more disappointing side. I'm sorry, whatever the numbers are the owners are taking the whole hit on something that's an Act of God and with no fans and a great chance the season won't even be finished due to the virus the players wouldn't give back a dime. Trust me, we are getting what we are getting at the owners risk, if it had been for the players we wouldn't have a season.
The difference to me is that the players have a contract to be paid a set amount of salary for the games played. They have done nothing wrong.
The owners have agreed to collect the revenue from ticket sales, refreshments, parking, souvenirs and broadcast rights (as well as the banner advertising and naming fees paid to plaster stadiums like a Nascar jersey). They make huge amounts regardless of how the clubs perform (which is why you often see little work done to win pennants and instead more done to maximize profits). So something happened to interfere with that river of revenue? Boo hoo hoo...that's the cost of doing business. You don't try to cheat players out of the money you contractually agreed to pay.
While Manfred's quote is a good one, I'm sure it went through multiple proofreads and testing groups before being used. The weak one here is not Manfred, but Tony Clark and the players.
Players are already becoming infected with COVID-19 and you feel the owners are taking all of the risk? That's quite an extraordinary take. I really have nothing to say to that.
As far as I know, no ballplayer has been infected at a major league facility. Don't be surprised that players are getting infected while in the general population.
For young people like players, Infected and seriously ill or two entirely different things in almost all cases.More to worry about for the umpires the managers and coaches owho are older, and Who you were more to worry about in terms of getting seriously ill, or worse.
Reese,
Thats why I mentioned Act of God. I think under these circumstances, especially when you have a anti-trust exemption and both sides are paid by spectators who have a special interest, share-holders if you will, you have a different responsibility than a coal miner or factory worker.
Im not on the owners side, Im not on anyone's side because they are not on our side. But as a fan I am worried about the long term implications to my team, and its logo. Forbes is estimating the Mets losses at $200 million and they say all these teams are looking at years to recover. Id put a Benji in the cup to see the Wilpons begging in the street as long as it doesn't mean my team gets sold to bottom feeders like the Devils owners who could actually make it worse than the Wilpons.
The players couldnt find 5% to offer in good faith? Show me something. You know, these days you are on one side or the other and no matter what BS your side spews, the sheep follow. There are no good guys yet WE still pay them all. Personally, I would like 70 or 80 or 100 games, which we could have had the players just given an inch.
Mike,
The players take a greater risk of dying while driving to the park than from the virus. I read this week, I think it was a British newspaper, that the risk of people under 40 dying from Covid-19 is less than driving 17 miles in the US. You dont have to believe that number so lets say its 200 miles. Im 55, Id take my chances for the MLB average salary.
Or you dont have to play at all.
It's an unfortunate situation for both owners & players
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