Re: Give ML a break!

[Kim Malo <kmalo19@idt.net>]

At 09:23 AM 3/24/98 -0500, RSMALL@clarku.edu wrote:
<snip my diatribe against ML>
>BTW isn't this the stuff Dee Brown complained about when he asked to be 
>traded?  Wasn't he ripped into the ground for it?  Where are the Dee Brown 
>defenders?  At least Dee Brown was willing to be pissed off about the bullshit 
>that was going on.

However, Dee already had a well established reputation as an underachieving
whiner, who always found something other than himself to blame when things
went wrong -undercutting his credibility in speaking out. I'm not going to
defend him, because I remember quote after quote from him then on how 'they'
had to ne more consistant or 'they' made this mistake, never 'we' or 'I'.
And publicly asking to be traded is not what a captain is supposed to do to
show leadership, nor is it likely to endear you in the city you're trying to
get away from. So sure, give him full credit for recognizing the situation
for what it was, rather than just being happy to play for such a nice guy
coach after being screamed at by Ford. But I'm not going to go overboard
praising him for how he dealt with the situation. You can't tell me Fox and
Wesley didn't see just as clearly what was what, but they just did what they
could to make things better (running private practices, including themselves
in the blame, etc) rather than making a bad situation worse. Dee showed a
lot more class this year, while he was here and when he left, than he did at
any point back then.  

-Kim
Kim Malo
kmalo19@idt.net