Royals revoke credentials - UPDATED AGAIN

Re: Royals revoke credentials

BBWAA members can't be kicked out short of setting the field on fire. It's probably not fair, but absolutely required for the beat guys and columnists. I wish the association was a bit more broadminded and included other media, but they don't.

 

Re: Royals revoke credentials

Kevin Keitzman is a moron -- he may be worse than ol' Don Fortune. The guy constantly shills for K-State and loves to hear the sound of his own voice. And yes, I believe Whitlock did work at that station in the late 1990s.

Very good column

 

Re: Royals revoke credentials

Nice jobs bubs,...

 

Re: Royals revoke credentials

This is worse than a crime. It's a mistake.
(I don't remember who said that, but somebody famous did.)
Do the Royals think they can WIN in this fight? What do they gain?
MLB should choke off the revenue-sharing tap until we get a better explanation than we've gotten and, "They made management uncomfortable" is not it.

 

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That WAS a damn good column.

 

Re: Royals revoke credentials

Whitlock worked for both radio stations mentioned but he had the falling out with station he ripped.

 

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MLB has no control over this?
Spineless pricks.

 

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Teams are generally fairly gutless about this.

I had an issue with being harassed by a radio wannabe (one of those guys who buys his own air time to call himself a "radio reporter" - he was in fact an air-conditioning repairmen), and even the MLB security guy got involved. Guy threatened me physically.
He also harassed just about everyone in the organization, phoning their cells at all hours. And almost got into a physical altercation - with cameras rolling - with the manager. He hit players and coaches up for comp tickets, so he could resell them to help pay his radio bill. On and on and on.

They suspended him four days for the incident with me, witnessed by about a dozen people. The next year, they gave him full credentials again, despite the fact that his "show" wasn't even on the air for failure to pay his bill. I had to get the cops involved, and ended up having to go to court with the guy (took nearly two years out of my life), and have a bodyguard.

It was only when the cops came to talk to him that they finally revoked his pass - with five home games left in the season.

Still to this day can't believe it. They don't even need a reason to pull his pass, and his behaviour with the people actually in the organization would have been reason enough. Plus the fact that he had no real legitimate reason to be there, other than scarf the free hot dogs and Cokes in the press box.

 

Re: Royals revoke credentials

The entire franchise today is a disgrace to the memory of Ewing Kauffman. Suddenly, contraction doesn't seem to be such a bad idea.

 

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Kansas City would be a much less attractive city without the Royals. (Same goes if the Chiefs left town.) It's a great place to visit and live. The problem here is Frick and Frack leading the franchise.

If they're serious about it in the next labor agreement, language will be included to make sure ALL revenue-sharing money is spent on players, even if it means MLB has to be physically present with each player signing. That is my biggest pet peeve with revenue sharing in its current state; owners can simply take the money, hide it someplace and say baseball needs a new economic system.

 

Re: Royals revoke credentials


My blood pressure has gone up 5-fold reading this.

Up to this point, this would not have happened with the NFL.  In his own way, Tags had journalists' backs, and we should all be sorry to see him go.  Remember when the Jags tried to close preseason practice?  Remember when Sam Wyche tried to bar women from his locker room?  

"It's up to the individual teams."  That's bullshit.

Letting an owner become commissioner has created a wall of crap around us far higher than anybody realizes.  And we in the media just let it happen without a whimper.  When baseball neglected to get itself a true commissioner, its anti-trust exemption should have been yanked.  Pressure should have been applied to Congress.  The public should have been made aware of what a big freaking deal this was.  Now the sport is paying the price with the Steroid Era, among other things.

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I don't just admire Whitlock for writing the column, I admire his tack.

Painting the owners as bumbling buffoons might not get the radio people their credentials back, but it does get revenge.

In the sports world, once people are cast as buffoons, the "bandwagon effect" takes hold.  The public sees every move the owners make as buffoonery, and this will be a memorable example.  The chorus has begun.  It's almost impossible to recover from.

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This is a tough one for a few of you, I'm sure.  You hate broadcasters, and yet you hate the thought of this.  To those who are "glad" the Royals did this, you better watch what you write, because you're next.  You might not get your credentials yanked due to the power of the BBWAA (Broadcasting has no equivalent, for two reasons:  1.  We're lazy, and 2.  Because of the HOF connection), but a ballclub has many other ways of making your life suck.

And remember, if you don't see anything wrong with this, there's always one group ahead of you on the food-chain, BBWAA be damned--  the almighty television rightsholder.  And one day, the television rightsholder will have that interview you didn't-- because you didn't have access-- and you will get burned, and then you will realize it's better to be on the side of access for all.

 

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Come on, you know better than that. Selig is a catspaw and stooge for the owners, particularly the "small-market" owners (being one himself, of course).

Everybody has this grand misconception that the commissioner is an independent, impartial authority working for the overall good of the game.

Bullcrap. The commissioner is an employee of the owners. Everything he does is for the benefit of the owners. Everybody else -- players, umpires, media, fans -- can go piss off.


Nothing will happen.