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Manuel vs. The Fourth Estate

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 30 2008 05:54 AM

Ridonkulous interpretations of Manuel's remarks to Willie's Buddies in the Old Media continue this morning as the Snooze makes an unnecessary front-pager of Manuel's assessment of popular sentiment in the city. This after the Post last week front-paged a story suggesting Manuel had enough guile to call the fans shit in code. The writer, Bart Hubbach, reacted to criticism by calling bloggers names and Adam Rubin -- who's been one of the few Old Media reps supportive of the Willie overthrow -- a "sycophant." Was this discussed last week? This is all stupidly interesting, and reminds me very much of the stories that ran in Valentine's first months on the job. That he "backstabbed" his way up, overthrew the McIlvaine regime, lied and cheated, etc etc I truly think this is "revenge" on the Mets for whacking a figure popular with a certain faction of the Old Media Establishment, and an attempt to whip up populist frenzy. The crazy thing is, there isn't a single person in the city who wished to see Willie fail. It's just that he did.

AG/DC Jun 30 2008 06:54 AM

I heard that Manuel said that New Yorkers look like they've lost some weight. What the Hell did he mean by that!?

Benjamin Grimm Jun 30 2008 07:07 AM

It really seems counter-productive, in a way, for the media to be behaving like this. They now have a Mets manager who speaks candidly and is colorful. Don't reporters love to get good quotes? But by jumping on and distorting every word he says, they run the risk of making him as bland with his quotes as Willie was. If I was Jerry Manuel, I'd be tempted to stop saying anything other than platitudes like, "We battled" and "We have to play one game at a time" and stuff like that. Sheesh!

MFS62 Jun 30 2008 07:13 AM

Benjamin Grimm wrote: If I was Jerry Manuel, I'd be tempted to stop saying anything other than platitudes like, "We battled" .... I just had an Art Howe flashback. Then I threw up in my mouth. Later

AG/DC Jun 30 2008 07:21 AM

The funny thing is that Manuel is either the first or the second interim manager the Mets ever had that took over a team still in contention. (You can debate Roy McMillan.) All their other inteim appointments have been with teams too late in the season or (in Frank Howard's case) too deep in the hole to make an immediate difference. The job description for the other guys was to fill out the lineup card and, if they can, try and clear a smooth path for the younger players. None of them have ever had the mantle of an interim's lack of job security getting the scrutiny of leader in a high-stakes position. Even guys taking over in mid-season who were permanent appointments --- Wes Westrum and Joe Torre --- had the honeymoon of the doomed. H'es sort of on the tee for them to take a whack at. If Manuel weathers this shit and gets his team a few games on top over the summer, I hope he gets rewarded with a contract going into the stretch run.

G-Fafif Jun 30 2008 11:15 AM

="AG/DC"]The funny thing is that Manuel is either the first or the second interim manager the Mets ever had that took over a team still in contention. (You can debate Roy McMillan.) Are we counting Buddy Harrelson as interim? I vaguely recall he was given a fairly permanent key to the managerial washroom in 1990 but he was a midseason replacement and it was still plenty early to realistically contend. Nothing wrong with Jerry and his pronouncements. The media has gotten a lot dumber, a lot more willfully dumb, since the days of Professor McMillan. ]I heard that Manuel said that New Yorkers look like they've lost some weight. What the Hell did he mean by that!? THINLY VEILED INSULT Manuel 'lost weight' crack a heavy blow to Mets fans

AG/DC Jun 30 2008 11:22 AM

Buddy definitely was an oversight as far my broader over-drawn point, but he still stands in contrast in that he wasn't an interim. He got the job outright.

AG/DC Jun 30 2008 04:51 PM

I know it's a losing point to make, but why bother with the 'news' in the News. When we studied journalistic writing in high school, we used to have an assignment where we put X pieces of editorializing in each of our articles and our classmates had to find. Obviously, being teenagers, most of our would-be-subtle indiscretions were egregious, but few of articles were as excrement-filled as this lead story I got from the News when I went to find the offending Manuel quote. See if you can spot each piece of editorializing: Groped girl's mother sorry for beatdown by Serb brute BY RICH SCHAPIRO in Kula, Serbia, MATTHEW LYSIAK in Binghamton, N.Y., and JESS WISLOSKI and TINA MOORE in New York DAILY NEWS WRITERS Monday, June 30th 2008, 12:02 AM Melissa Cartagena, mom of woman allegedly groped by Bryan Steinhauer, shows picture of her family at her home in Binghamton. Cartagena regrets the beating that put Bryan Steinhauer in a coma - and brought great pain to another mom, Marilyn Steinhauer (above). The mother of a sexy coed at the center of a violent bar brawl said her daughter was "violated" by the bespectacled honors student but insisted he never should have been beaten for the offense. "My baby didn't deserve what she got," Melissa Cartagena, 40, said Sunday. "No one has a right to grope my daughter." Bryan Steinhauer, 22, is still in a semicoma eight weeks after the stomping that cracked his skull. And suspect Miladin Kovacevic remained on the lam in his Serbian homeland - thanks to the embassy official who bailed him out of jail and helped him flee the country. Cartagena, whose daughter's name is also Melissa, said the fellow Binghamton University student was "devastated." "She has worked hard to build up her reputation," Cartagena said. "She's an honor student with a steady job." The mom said Steinhauer "was really drunk," but said he should never have been pummeled. "My prayers are with him," she said. "I hope he makes it out of the coma." Her daughter released a statement in which she said Steinhauer groped her and head-butted her boyfriend, Senal Softic, 21, when they clashed at an offcampus bar May 4. "This big guy [Kovacevic] saw what happened and just began punching him over and over," she wrote in the statement. "It all happened so quick." Binghamton Police Capt. Alex Minor said Kovacevic may have been using steroids. "He's huge," Minor said. "It wouldn't surprise me if this was a case of 'roid rage." He said Kovacevic was not facing drug charges. Steinhauer's former roommate, Andrew O'Reilly, 22, said the brainiac, who was an elegant and persuasive speaker, did not drink alcohol or fight. Meanwhile, the victim's father, Richard Steinhauer, said he wanted Kovacevic to face "American justice." "We are devastated at the brutality and savagery of the beating," he said during a news conference with Sen. Chuck Schumer yesterday. Standing in front of the family brownstone in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, Schumer called Steinhauer an "exemplary young man." Schumer said the Serbian foreign minister and the head of parliament "pledged to do everything they can to bring Mr. Kovacevic here so he can face justice." Kovacevic was arrested the next day. Softic and Edin Dzubur, 24, were also charged, cops said. Reached yesterday for the first time, Dzubur declined to comment. Officials in Serbia said Kovacevic's mother conspired with a now-suspended Serbian diplomat to sneak Kovacevic out of the U.S. His passport was taken away when he was set free on $100,000 bail from Broome County jail on June 6, but he got a second "emergency passport." Vice Counsel Igor Milosevic was suspended for helping him. Kovacevic's mother, Branka, told a Daily News reporter at her sprawling home in Kula to leave the family alone. "Get out of here," she said. "We're going to call the police." tmoore@nydailynews.com Ignore the tabloids and they'll go away.