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This is getting buried on the Milledge thread, granted its more piling on and probably should be in the AP Sportswriter thread, but its just funny considering how predictable Mushnick is these days. Hell I even called this last night in the Grismley thread!
You knew THIS article was coming from the New York Post's Phil Mushnick
]June 9, 2006 -- VETERAN rocker Dave Mason sings it best: "Seems the simple things are the hardest to explain."
Willie Randolph, Sunday, scolded 21-year-old Met rookie Lastings Milledge for getting too close and too personal with fans while returning to the outfield after hitting a dramatic homer.
Over the next 48 hours, Randolph was hammered by both national and local sports talk show hosts - as well as their guests and callers - as a fuddy duddy, a buzz-killer and an overly officious authority figure who should simply, "leave the kid alone."
From Mike Francesa and Chris Russo on WFAN, to Keith Olbermann, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic on ESPN radio, Randolph was portrayed as a fellow who, in this case, seems eager to senselessly destroy youthful enthusiasm, not to mention free and fun expression.
Tuesday, on Golic and Greenberg's "Mike & Mike" national TV/radio simulcast, Randolph was even nominated for the dreaded, "Just Shut Up" award.
But if we're now safe from swinging legs attached to jerking knees, allow us, albeit perhaps too late, to try to instill some common, op-ed sense into this issue:
Isn't it reasonable and logical to presume that Willie Randolph knows Lastings Milledge a lot<$> better than the rest of us?
Never thought of that, did we?
Randolph has not only managed Milledge in spring training, he's privy to organizational scouting reports, phone calls and meetings that just may have concluded that if Milledge is to succeed in the majors his immediate boss must lean on him, early and often, demanding that he comport himself in a manner that will, in the long run, be best for both the Mets and Milledge.
It's not, after all, a secret that Milledge arrived at Shea as a kid who seems to demand extra attention, more than a little of it negative.
One more time: Do any of those who this week went after Randolph for his handling of Milledge know Milledge better than Randolph?
Of course not.
OK, then, as they sometimes say on the radio, just shut up.
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