Enough Already

The only good thing about the Tigers sweeping the ALCS from the A's is that we get a reprieve from the endless accolades Jim Leyland has been receiving from the Fox commentators, and everyone else for that matter. You only had to watch a game for an inning or two to get a look at Leyland in the Detroit dugout and get a solid dose of how great a manager he is. The commentators have painted a picture of confidence, swagger and a winning attitude wafting off of Leyland. Unfortunately, the only thing wafting off of Leyland when he was in the rockies' dugout was cigarette smoke. Leyland may very well be a very good manager, but a great manager does not quit on his team, as Leyland did in 1999 with the rockies. A manager would not tolerate that from one of his players, so how can a great manager do that very same thing himself? Now, we get a second dose of Leyland and his winning ways, this time from a local source, making it even worse. "Leyland" and "winning" were rarely mentioned in the same sentence during the 1999 season. Leyland is quoted as saying "When I've had good players, I've done pretty well. And when I haven't had good players, I haven't been worth a (darn)." If that isn't an indictment on the 1999 rockies, then I don't know what is. Now, I'm not saying that the rockies were a championship caliber team, but the rockies did have talent and should have finished better than last place in the division. The best collection of talent in the world isn't going to win with a coach/manager that's disinterested. Going into the 1999 season, the rockies made few personnel changes other than the manager, believing that a top-notch manager could make the difference. Unfortunately, the rockies did not get that in Leyland and it cost the GM Bob Gebhard his job. Needless to say, I'll be routing for either the Mets or Cardinals in the World Series.

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Until next time, go rockies!