The hiring of Bobby Valentine to the position of Manager of the Boston Red Sox has generated a firestorm of press coverage in the New England area. Pete Abraham, Tim Kurkjian, Buster Olney, Peter Gammons and Tony Massarotti have all weighed in on Terry Francona’s replacement. Its been a whirlwind only comparative to the recent media blitz over Popeye’s chicken being served in the BoSox clubhouse.
The bottom line is that with everybody else weighing in, I think its time I got off the bench and said something myself. I haven’t written for the sports jury since early July, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want a voice in all of the white noise that’s happening around me – especially when that noise is about my team.
Bobby Valentine is a good hire for the Red Sox. He is Mr. Right, not just Mr. Right Now contrary to reports of a “bridge year” for Sox management. 15 Major League Seasons and a street named after Bobby V in Japan attest to this.
The man can change things in a defunct organization. His early years in Texas are statistically rockier than his later years in New York, so I can easily overlook them to the circumstance of being young. He was certainly not green around the ears when he went into the Subway Series at the helm of the Mets and winning a Japanese championship while governing a team that was a perennial cellar dweller before he got there is no joke.
I like the hire for those reasons, but I like the hire mainly because of the media storm I described at the head of this article. Bobby V is a media darling. Whether its claiming he invented the sandwich wrap or being ejected from a game only to return incognito, Bobby V turns heads. He will be a welcome distraction from a Red Sox clubhouse that has been nothing short of a terrible blend of talent and uncaring.
Further than that, Valentine has a shape up or ship out attitude. He will kick the chicken out of Beckett’s hands.
As for weed and limo’s…ask the Mets, I’m not sure.
Bobby V will be nothing if not entertaining. Hell, he woke me up from my sports journalism hiatus, and he hasn’t even managed a game yet.
Whats Your Verdict?