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Last night on MetsBlog, I relayed the following quote from Jerry Manuel about Jose Reyes, made jokingly to reporters prior to last night’s game:
“I told him the next time he does that, I’m going to get my blade out and cut him, right on the field. Hey, I’m a gangsta now. You go gangsta on me, I’m gonna have to get you now.”
This morning, the Drudge Report, which gets roughly 20 million hits every day, used the following one sentence headline on it’s blog today, with no additional explanation, linking to a report in the Daily News:
“New NYMets manager threatens to stab a star player.”
…threaten…puh-lease…it was a joke, and as you can see in the following video, courtesy of SNY, every one in the room knew it was a joke as well:
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Anything to get hits. What a moron.
Ditto.
Ahh you gotta love the media…
He seems to want to cut Jose Reyes. He wants him to bleed out on the field. There is some truth to every joke.
The right wing slime machine can be so adorable sometimes.
fair and balanced
Fairly Unbalanced. Drudge is a fool.
Lord knows Matt Drudge would never sensationalize *anything*….
Yeah, we know it’s a joke, Mets fans know, and anybody with any intelligence knows, but it’s too tempting to use the quote as an out-of-context headline, which unfortunately points even more to what out-of-area folks like to call “typical New York mentality,” or something like that.
I just question the wisdom of saying this type of stuff. When you know it can so easily be twisted and misconstrued and you spend the next couple of days explaining it. Keep it in the clubhouse, Jerry ; stop trying to be so hip and cool and, well, “gangsta.”
Again, I have to wonder why it’s so important in New York to be cool, or street, or hip, or urban chic, or “gangsta,” and less important to be thoughtful, contemplative, dependable, reliable, and well spoken.
overreacting, much?
No, but others are, and that’s part of the problem. You’d think that after everything that just happened, and the media storm that ensued, the debaucle of the Mets’ botching of the firing of Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya’s rather stupid and poorly spoken comments, that Manuel would use better judgment.
This is just plain dumb. Funny, in a sort of New York way, but just dumb.
it was a joke. that’s the problem with political correctness. everything is a land mine leaving people afraid to say everything for fear of stern rebuke. what jerry manuel said was a joke. what he said has no relation whatsoever to the goings-on og the day before.
he was trying to be funny and engaging which was a main complaint about willie. just goes to show desperate matt drudge is for news because this is right up his alley.
F#$% the media and anyone else who disses the orange and blue. We’re ganstas now. Let’s show it on the field
Drudge definitely rides the ladies bus
I think what he said is definitely better than Willie’s old “Well I think what we discussed should stay in the clubhouse between us”….Jerry sidestepped the question without saying anything stupid or embarrassing his player. And he provided a good headline, so the media guys were satisfied. Whoever the moron is who took it seriously can go jump off a bridge. This was a “good job” for Manuel in my book. You can see how much looser the guys are, Reyes finally looked like he was having fun for the first time in a year…
YES JERRY WAS FUNNY AND HE HANDLED THE WHOLE SITUATION WITH REYES VERY WELL AND JUDGING FROM LAST NIGHTS PERFORMANCE, HE SEEMS TO KNOW HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF HIM. I FEEL REAL GOOD ABOUT THIS GUY.
Jesus Christ, do you have to scream in my ear? I’m right here…
shouldn’t you be on the bus?
: )
maybe jerry can go gangsta on drudge
Now there’s a thought. But frankly, the idea of Jerry Manuel “going gangsta” is just, well, unbelievable and rather silly.
I don’t know, he’s definitely got some psychotic potential. All smiley and cool, then flying into rages behind closed doors (if you believe what you hear).
Matt Drudge is still around? Unless it’s 2002 again, I don’t see why anyone would care what his little website says.
BULLETIN! METSBLOG DISSES MATT DRUDGE!! MUST CREDIT DRUDGE REPORT!!
Matt Drudge is like the Kato Kaelin of the internet, coasting forever for being at the wrong place at the right time.
F the Media. I like it. I think he adds some humor to the clubhouse that may have been lacking with Willie. I feel like the players may relate to Jerry better than Willie, and im hoping he can develop good relationships with the younger players.
I hope all outlets keep bashing the Mets, bc i’m hoping they use it as motivation, just as the Patriots did all season long.
I totally agree.
An “us against the world” mentality is arguably the best motivation any professional sports team can have.
I’m all for humor, I think it’s sorely needed, especially around the Mets. Heaven knows they do enough dumb things on a daily basis to provide plenty of fodder for the daily humor machine. But maybe in this case it would have been a little better if Manuel had kept it in the clubhouse and let the press and everyone get to know him a little bit more before making these types of remarks. It just struck me as very odd that he would do this in the midst of the mediastorm and negative publicity already surrounding the Mets. It’s as if he has no sensitivity to it all, and of course, in New York, that could be deadly. Or, very funny. OR, make him look like an idiot. OR, make him look cool. OR, blow up in his face.
And so it goes…
Nah, he took the tension out of the room. I thought it was a great spot for him to be humorous. good for him.
Yeah Deb. Sorry, but I think you’re alone on this one. I think we all agree it was “gangsta” for him to do that. Here we go with NY fans. A few days ago people were complaining with the hiring of Manuel. “He is a Willie clone. He is too reserved and calm like Willie was. We need someone with fire who will loosen the guys up and motivate them to enjoy the game and play hard.” Now, Manuel is showing that side, and you are saying, “He should be stoic and straight-faced and make comments like these behind closed-doors.” Sounds kind of like Willie doesn’t it? You can just never win. I think 99% of readers have no problems with Jerry’s comments. You’re on your own.
Hey, I got no problem being on my own, lol. I stand by my remarks, and I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the whole “gangsta” thing goes down.
If we’re gonna have another manager who’s afraid to be conversational and instead is PC about everything he says, we’re gonna have another couple of years of boredom out of this team. I’m glad that there’s finally some human effect coming out of that dugout and locker room. Make jokes, as stupid as they may seem, and speak your mind. Good for Jerry, good for the Mets. He’ll keep everyone loose and relaxed…
Drudge is absurd, but that’s what he does.
More important is the article he links to:
Manuel spent his second afternoon as interim manager working David Wright to near-exhaustion. Roughly 4-1/2 hours before Wednesday night’s first pitch, Manuel rapidly fired balls to the plate during a session that lasted three times longer than a typical early workout by Wright’s estimate.
[...]
The extra tutoring session’s theme: becoming more selective at the plate.
After beginning the session by having Wright swing at every pitch regardless of location, Manuel had Wright identify the part of the plate where he preferred to hit a pitch. Manuel placed a ball on the plate at that location, then had Wright identify the height of the pitch he preferred. Manuel then returned to behind a protective pitcher’s screen and forced Wright to increase his selectivity by having him swing at pitches only in the zone he identified.
I thought I heard that the real reason that Milledge was traded because the Mets front office asked him to stop making his “gangsta CDs”.
Milledge refused, and, as a result, out the door he went.
Now, Benedict Manuel is calling is player’s “Gangstas”. I cant believe the Mets front office likes this.
Milledge was traded bc the organization didnt feel he was ready to produce at this level and the team wants to win now. Also, because Omar rightly so, knew we needed a catcher and a major league ready RF. and rightly so.
Benedict Manuel? Did Jerry fire Willie, or angle for his job? Is he supposed to not take a managerial job if it’s offered to him? Do you think Willie Randolph would actually want him to turn it down? I have a feeling Willie isn’t so petty.
looks like someone else drank the kool-aid.
Milledge was taking about “hoes and clothes”.. Manuel’s definition of “gangsta” is “Taking care of business…” and bascially “F being politically correct” as in toning down antics to appease other teams as we saw in Sept. ‘07..
how do i get a press pass? this guy is amazing
hey at least the media took a break from wearing somber attire and weeping over willie
I think they should rally around this gangstas gimmick. The Wilpons will hate it but I think the team and the fans can have some fun with it. I see gangstas tee shirts in the future and songs loke “Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta”, “Gangstas Paradise”, and “What up Gangsta” being played at Shea.
That would be hilarious…
I can definitely see Shea doing a “gaaaaaaangstaaaaaa” chant lol
milledge was traded b/c he has a bad attitude and he wasnt playing good enough to say well he just being Milledge.
would anyone be suprised if Milledge was like one of those NFL players and got arrested for getting into a fight at a strip club.
Come on we got ourselves a very good defensive catcher and Ryan Church who has been much better than Milledge anyway.
The comment was unacceptable. I don’t care if he was joking. I’m not African-American, but I can imagine that with all the killings going on…”Gangsta” style, that those kind of comments are tolerable. With all the crap that has gone on in the past few days, this is not what the Wilpon’s need.
Grow up dude.
Wow. What a clever, thought out response Andy
Wow, just because you like to practice your own freedom of speech doesn’t mean other people have to conform to practice your freedom of speech.
Are you sure your name isn’t Slappy McDoubletalk? Because I have no idea what you’re talking about. Well at least it sounds alot better than Andy’s response.
Welcome to MetsBlog, Phil Mushnick.
lol
is this the same idiot that kept posting the same thing about Willie needing a vote of confidence.
I got a message for you
you can’t win in sports with a glorified all-star team. You need a balance of youth, experience, talent and desire to put the team ahead of self. You want some examples look at the Yankees since Arod came to the team, the pre-lockout NY Rangers.
You can’t honestly say that some players like Delgado, Beltran and Castillo for example come to the park wanting to win the same way Reyes, Wright and Wagner do.
Until those guys are off this team, the mets are going nowhere regardless of how they do the rest of the way.
What bothers me to no end is how this team is only 2 players away from being a world series caliber team.
All they need is a hardnosed 2nd baseman like a dustin pedroia or mark derosa and a power hitting 1B like Texeira to drive in runs b/c beltran is useless as a cleanup hitter
i hate people who would “imagine” that people would be offended. Are you offended? was anybody offended? yes? no?
When are they going to have “Jerry Manuel Glasses” night at Shea?
I want the glasses and the Gangstas on the Field T-Shirt
omg that headline made me laugh so hard, I did a spite take
This is why I like this guy. He knows it could easily be taken out of context or be blown out of proportion, but he doesn’t care. He’s going to handle the media a lot better than Randolph, I think.
Mets are the Best. Jerry’s the Best. The Media is the worst. Who cares what everyone thinks about our Mets, lets just go out play and have fun. It is so crazy to me how people get so worked up, give it a break. Let’s play ball and have fun with our gangsta selves.
There is nothing innapropriate about his comments.
Great job over at rotoworld.com:
“Manuel has been on the job for less than a week, but that has to be the leader in the clubhouse for managerial Quote of the Year. He was known as a relatively laid back manager while with the White Sox, but has apparently been sharpening his blades and taking gangster lessons since then. Reyes returned to the lineup Wednesday and went 3-for-5 with a steal, three runs and zero incidents of going gangster.”
Hilarious. I love Jerry’s quotes.
Even more hilarious that some people are outraged by it or can’t seem to understand it was a joke.
Dude, we all understand it was a joke. It was an AWFUL joke though and it wasn’t funny at all, and it was a terrible subject to joke about.
really why is it a terrible subject to a joke about. please explain who is offended by those comments??
The PC Police were offended.
I am not just talking about this site. I saw comments on other sites with people not understanding that it was just a light-hearted comment.
it was great and it was funny. you lack a sense of humor it doesn’t mean the joke wasn’t funny.
I thought it was great to hear him joke it up with the media on his 2nd day on the job with some edgy words. I’ll take this gangsta any day of the week over Willie.
For what it’s worth, the Sludge Report has added the word “joke” to their headline.
Though they have every right yo voice there opinion I knew people would find this issue offenseive.. These individuals need to lighten up and have a sense of humor.. This is a game first remember that..The best teams in history are the ones that play relaxed.. Though well too early to distingush Jerry from Willie, I do see from his demenor and his interviews from reporters that he is the tight that will definately lighten up a dim situation, which is the only way to come out a winner..
Whoa I see I mispelled all over the place.. Excuse my gramatical errors…
Wow, I think the Mets have made a mess of their business operations, but even my dog knew the I am going to cut him line was a joke. Drudge, good grief.
the comment was a joke, and may have been in a little poor taste, but i am willing to forgive Jerry for getting swept up.
drudge is a moron.
yea it’s a joke, but one in extremely poor taste.
if you can’t take steroids because of the effect that has on kids, then you can’t talk about knifing someone up either, even if it is a joke.
Agreed. I thought it was funny but it did make me stop and wonder a) no matter the context, it’s a very strange thing to answer a pretty straight forward question by saying you’ll have to get your blade out and shank someone right there on the baseball field. Definately done in poor taste. b) Is this team really gonna be this ghetto? Will snoop dog be the new first base coach? Will David Wright die his pockets red and wear them inside out? I mean, there are still some white fans of the New York Mets left. I am not racist, I made the trip from PA to Florida just to see Venezuela vs. Dominican in the WBC-Jose Reyes is my favorite player and I wear my venezuela national team hat just as often as my Met gear these days, but I also don’t like having hip hop culture crammed down my throat all the time in a venue that really shouldn’t support it. I stopped following the NBA a long time ago for this reason and I’ll stop following baseball too the Mets are gonna start acting like honorary members of the wu-tang clan. No place for this nonsense in baseball, and especially from the new skipper.
I liked jerry’s quote he shows that this game is not that serious and people should have fun with it. i think that was the problem with willie…he took this game to serious. i know it is a business and you want to win but i think people play better when they are having fun.
Wow Matt, that’s totally messed up. We should rick-roll his butt somehow! Why dont we get like a five thousand of us to post a comment on his site at a certain time and show him that he shouldn’t mess with our Mets like that??
I know I’m in the minority here, but I think the prevailing media view of Omar “botching” the Willie firing are a bit over-exaggerated…
I think Omar needed to come to this decision on his own terms. If you want to criticize him for sticking with Willie too long and not coming to terms sooner, then that’s a fair assessment. But ironically, I feel it was Omar’s loyalty to Willie that ultimately made it look as if this was a “insensitive” firing.
Perhaps I’m naive, but I believe Omar had a hard time “pulling the trigger” on this move because he believes in Willie. He didn’t want to fire Willie. Pure and Simple. Even despite the pressure from Bernazard, the Wilpons I think Omar in his heart felt Willie could turn it around.
Then this past weekend came and intimate discussions regarding the replacement of Willie and his team leaked. It was this that forced Omar’s hand. Everything soon took on a new level of priority and Omar had to deal with things in a
He let Willie on the plane because at that exact moment in time he wasnt ready to have the discussion with him. You cant fault ANY boss for that. Omar had the discussion with Willie when HE was ready. When HE knew what he wanted to say. Whether that’s in NY or California I don’t think in Omar’s mind it mattered much. Willie is a well-paid professional manager. This whole idea of “you flew him out to California to fire him” just doesn’t seem to be that big a deal to me.
You want to say Omar and his team already knew that Willie’s fate was sealed and it was wrong to let him on the plane, then again I don’t see this as a huge deal. Omar most likely still felt everything wasnt in place the way he wanted to pull the trigger. Again, that makes perfect sense to me. Omar isnt on Willie’s or the fans or the media’s timetable nor should he be. He went directly to Willie when he made up his mind and decided on what and how he wanted to say to Willie.
Omar has certainly made a few bad moves and has assembled a bunch of over-the-hill past all stars who are expected to produce a significant portion of the Met’s offense. That’s a fair point.
Omar should have fired Willie earlier (around the time when Willie was shooting his mouth off to the Bergen Record). That’s a fair point.
But I don’t feel the Met’s or Omar handled Willie’s firing in some overly insensitive way. I think Willie has thin skin and his comments about “being surprised” don’t surprise me at all. Willie likes to play the martyr, and that’s part of the problem with him as Manager and with this team in general. There is no heart, no fight and no grit.
No one in their right mind who openly criticized their boss (in the way Willie did to the Bergen Record) should be surprised if their bosses where looking for active ways to fire them. Willie can say “it came too soon” or whatever he wants, but his lack of judgment in saying the things he did in that interview show a lack of leadership and proved to be yet another distraction for a club that already has it’s fair share of “whiny primma donnas”.
Omar and the Met’s are being mad out to be classless, but the fact is had they fired them weeks ago this wouldn’t even be an issue. By actually sticking by Willie (even despite a 4 game loss to the Padres) they made themselves out to look bad. But the realty is they gave Willie probably more chances then he rightfully deserved. And by doing that, they now appear weak, insensitive, out of touch, etc.
I, for one, am not one of those people that feel this firing was so poorly mis-managed. If you paid me Willie’s salary and paid for my flight home then flying me to wherever to fire me wouldnt bother me. Willie isnt a plumber or a sanitation worker. He’s a high-priced manager playing in the biggest market in America. He’s paid well and will continue to be paid well for the rest of this year and next. To waste a few hours flying him to California and then back to NY (with the money he’s making) shouldn’t be viewed as outrageous or insensitive. The problem is that Willie is such a baby that when you get him on camera he looks like a little boy who’s feelings are hurt. And most people see that and relate it to their own lives and think “oh, that’s so horrible how they treated him… I hope my boss doesn’t do that to me.” The fact is if I (or you) get fired tomorrow we dont get paid out millions. Willie will get millions. So to act like this is some insensitive, horrible thing is just silly. Sorry to make you waste a flight to the west coast Willie. Now here’s a few million to go home with and sit in front of the television… Where’s the grave injustice there?
The “real” story here is;
1.) The Met’s dragged their feet on a decision that should have been made sooner and by waiting they allowed the situation to “fester” and grow bigger then it needed to be.
2.) The Met’s have a real leak in their front office that forced Omar’s hand and made him handle things a little differently or on a timetable that he didn’t want (but ultimately had to come to terms with)
3.) Willie is a thin skinned baby who doesnt act like he came from Brooklyn but rather takes me as an overly sensitive guy from the suburbs, rather then a “gritty” city boy that he might have some believe. He’s a reflection of his team and became an ineffectual leader because he just couldnt get them to rebound from the collapse of ‘07.
Is it just me or does it seem like Jerry is asking himself “What would Willie do?” for every question thrown at him and then does the exact opposite?
More like Jerry asks himself what 2pac or michael Vick would do and does the exact same thing. Maybe we can get Foxy Brown to start singing the national anthem and have brass knuckle day at shea sometime soon. If jerry wants to talk like a thug maybe he should be flipping crack on a corner in Harlem instead of leading a MLB team
typical media. deliberately or unwittingly take something out of context and sensationalize it just to get attention. another “journalist” who thinks the whole world revolves around him…
Jerry Manuel made an Ian Bladergroen reference? I’m impressed. Oh he didn’t? Nevermind.
the gangsta line was simply a calculated response to people saying that jerry is as laid back as willie. he’s trying to show he has more of a hard edge…. painting an image like a politician.
as far as not being a good quote for kids… most kids probably didn’t hear it anyway b/c their busy shooting or blowing people up on xbox. we live in a world where there is a line between fiction and reality… and jerry (with a smile) was clearly living in fantasy land.
Yeah Matt, I totally agree. Drudge’s comment is a disgrace to journalistic integrity.
I much prefer the intellect revealed in the stellar headlines we get here at MetsBlog. Like “Jose Reyes is 25 Years Old”, “John Maine is John Maine”, “Mr. Met is Manhandled”, “Ryan Church is Good”, or my recent favorite “I feel Dirty”.
Yeah Matt, I totally agree. Drudge’s comment is a disgrace to journalistic integrity.
I prefer the intellect revealed in the stellar headlines we get here at MetsBlog. Like “Jose Reyes is 25 Years Old”, “Mr. Met is Manhandled”, “Ryan Church is Good”, or my recent favorite “I feel Dirty”.
it’s obvious that it’s a joke, but it’s still weird. why would anyone say something like that?