Saturday, February 26, 2005
Greg Rajan excerpts Tracey Egeland in the Monitor today:
[Gatto] blames the newspaper guy for printing it? He's obviously thinking it. I'm just dumbfounded that a guy we know from back home has the nerve to put that in the paper and blame the messenger. Don't shoot the messenger. It came out of his mouth... Why is he taking jabs at me and my team? If I ever talk to him again, that's fine. If I don't, that's fine, too. At one point I thought he was a friend, but I don't anymore.
And the Oscar goes to.... Seriously, that's some grade A motivational melodrama. Of course the logical response would be that Egeland ought to worry more about his own team's shortcomings, not the fact that people point them out. And that the Bats did take the four points in question prior to tonight.
Thing is, everybody thinks that kind of thing about a cellar-dweller. It's the coach's job to get those thoughts out of the players' heads. To remind them, spoilers spoil. To remind them that, as bad as Rio is, their roster's not chopped liver. To remind them that they still have to go and play the game. To tell them, don't look ahead to Amarillo, or think about the coming road trip, or the fact that first place was within reach. And I'll bet Greg Gatto did all that. But how could it sink in if the feeling in the room was really, "woo-hoo, five of our last 14 are with the Killer Bees!"
Meanwhile, if the Bucks can beat the Rayz tonight, it starts to look a lot like their division. And if they also win in Corpus March 11, I expect Terry Ruskowski to then tell Rajan, It's nice to play Austin twice in five days.
[Gatto] blames the newspaper guy for printing it? He's obviously thinking it. I'm just dumbfounded that a guy we know from back home has the nerve to put that in the paper and blame the messenger. Don't shoot the messenger. It came out of his mouth... Why is he taking jabs at me and my team? If I ever talk to him again, that's fine. If I don't, that's fine, too. At one point I thought he was a friend, but I don't anymore.
And the Oscar goes to.... Seriously, that's some grade A motivational melodrama. Of course the logical response would be that Egeland ought to worry more about his own team's shortcomings, not the fact that people point them out. And that the Bats did take the four points in question prior to tonight.
Thing is, everybody thinks that kind of thing about a cellar-dweller. It's the coach's job to get those thoughts out of the players' heads. To remind them, spoilers spoil. To remind them that, as bad as Rio is, their roster's not chopped liver. To remind them that they still have to go and play the game. To tell them, don't look ahead to Amarillo, or think about the coming road trip, or the fact that first place was within reach. And I'll bet Greg Gatto did all that. But how could it sink in if the feeling in the room was really, "woo-hoo, five of our last 14 are with the Killer Bees!"
Meanwhile, if the Bucks can beat the Rayz tonight, it starts to look a lot like their division. And if they also win in Corpus March 11, I expect Terry Ruskowski to then tell Rajan, It's nice to play Austin twice in five days.
# posted by JC @ 1:51 AM 
