When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

02.14.2008
Manufacture Your Swagger

Bonds328Quick question: what’s the over/under on how many days it takes a Giant player or other employee to come right out and say, “I am soooo glad Barry Bonds isn’t here”?

Matt Morris nearly said something similar — “I wish Barry Bonds wasn’t here” — but that was last year in the midst of the team’s ultimate Barry hagiography, and Morris was sent packing soon thereafter.

Now it’s 2008, and the team wants us to know a warrior spirit pervades the clubhouse air.

Sniff sniff. Can you smell it? It smells like….the lack of a guy sitting in a big recliner who doesn’t stretch when everyone else stretches. What? No, we’re not talking about anyone in particular. Here: talk to Aaron Rowand! Gritty! Runs through walls! Plays hurt unlike some other people!

As players trickle into camp, it’ll be harder to spin the marketing message in just the right way. Oh, the Giants are trying, as with the camo T-shirt (Camo? Fuckin-A, bro!) the players are wearing that reads “Warrior Spirit / Find the Swagger.”

But each day someone gets closer and closer to — oops — letting slip the fact that last year really really sucked because of a certain someone who’s no longer around. (Pedro Feliz: Clubhouse Cancer? Mmmm, nope.) It’s almost as if there was an orchestrated, top-down campaign to build up the 2008 team by slagging on… nah. Couldn’t be. Right, Brian?

"We all know that in a lot of ways, Barry was bigger than life, on the field and in the clubhouse," Sabean said. "He's a very dominant personality. At least from the players I talked to, they're interested in making a statement."

A statement like, “Sayonara, asshole”? Your words, not mine, pal. OK, but the funny thing is, the players are also stopping just short of filling in the blanks.

Noah?

"It's going to be a different feel in here," left-hander Noah Lowry said. "We have some guys with some fire, some energy and some charisma. Not to say that we didn't have that before; we did. But every year somebody brings something different."

What about you, Barry (the other Barry)?

"People will be allowed to be who they want to be, not who they think they have to be," Zito said. "Whenever there's one of the greatest players of all time on the team, players aren't going to be totally comfortable in their own skin, because a lot of them are kind of in awe."

And these are all quotes from the Giants own Web site, so there’s at least tacit approval. I don’t know if the players have been told it’s OK to make subtly disguised criticisms of Bonds’s attitude for the sake of underlining this new “warrior spirit,” but no one in the marketing department seems to mind.

(P.S. If anyone needs MS Paint work, I charge very reasonable rates.)



Also on the Network:



[February 14, 2008 5:13 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Roger said

"Find the swagger"? Barry was the one who had all of it; I assume it went wherever he did. And I may be totally off-base here, but it seems to me that scaring the piss out of every pitcher and manager in the majors might have some tinge of warriorlishishness about it.

[February 14, 2008 8:14 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Lars said

Yeah, I wonder if the players are more relieved that the press surrounding Barry is gone rather than Barry himself. Of course, you won't read about that possibility in any column.

Over/under on articles about the Giants this season that DO NOT mention Barry?

[February 14, 2008 10:46 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to Lars

Wahtever the media reports doesn't change the fact that the Giants very deliberately are selling this season as a "fresh start," a "new attitude," nudge nudge wink wink. They're all but saying "Thank God he's gone!"

[February 14, 2008 10:47 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to ELM

Oops, I meant to add to that: And I don't think you can chalk it up to media bias or the media pestering the players into saying things they didn't mean to say.

[February 15, 2008 8:58 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Lars replied to ELM

Suffice it to say that I disagree. I think a great deal of what goes into news articles (not just sports) gets filtered through a reporter's preconception.

I believe that all of the quotes you are reading are the result of questions like "Is the team atmosphere different now that Barry is gone?", What is is like now that Barry is gone?", etc. After getting asked the same question asked 50 different ways, players will eventually give them what they want. Players are not spontaneously responding to questions like "How do you feel going into this season?" with answers like "Whew! I am glad that a-hole Bonds is gone".

[February 15, 2008 9:03 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Lars replied to Lars

One more thing...

I know Barry is not a nice guy. I am not trying to sell him as a victim here. I am merely pointing out that a lot of what we read is a result of Barry telling these people to get bent on several occasions.

History gets written by the victors. Barry is gone; they are all still here.

[February 15, 2008 4:36 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

Lefty, what are your hourly rates for MS Paint work? Your style is impeccable, like a young Picasso.

[February 15, 2008 4:52 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Johnny Disaster said

It may not be so much that they're glad he's gone in the front office (especially since they got rid of him pre-indictment) - they had no problem counting all the dollars that rolled in because of the BB Circus. The players are probably a different story.
I think the Giants marketers feel they have no choice - they have built the entire marketing apparatus around Barry for so long... even to the detriment of the on-field performance. What are they gonna say "Yes we will suck, and it's our own fault, but it's necessary for the rebuilding, so buy some season tix!"?

[February 15, 2008 5:56 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

What else are they going to say anyway? I think it's completely appropriate to say "new attitude, fresh start." If Bonds was here they'ed be saying something else. My point is that it's par for the course and completely in line with the situation. Hell they may really be glad that Feliz is gone too but hey it's still a "fresh start" eh?