Saturday, August 16, 2008

SPORTS: Despicable Be Thy Name

JP Ricciardi, praised in the post below, is a lousy GM. He's a lying SOB and his work visa for Canada is a complete and utter mistake. If he's still the GM on opening day 2009 for the Toronto Blue Jays, I will not watch a single game again until he's no longer employed and has been deported back to the cesspool he came from.

Are we clear where we stand on this idiot?

The focus of my venom is sitting at home today, happily beaming about his part in increasing the American chances at a gold medal in baseball at the Beijing Olympics. His callous call-up of a Canadian Olympic team pitcher, one of the better ones, was purely to provide a very, very, very slight improvement in the American chances. Afterall, what were the chances the Yanks would need help in finishing ahead of Canada?

About the same chance that Scott Richmond would have been a better choice to throw into a game Canada led 4-2 against the USA, instead of the trio of washed-up or never-were pitchers Canadian manager Terry Puhl had on his beck and call. Richmond, a decent AAA pitcher and maybe a borderline big league bullpen member, might have been able to stave off the American offence. But he was sitting cooling his heels in Toronto, bound the next day for Syracuse, when Puhl and Canada needed him most.

The smug SOB in the Toronto GM chair COULD have let Richmond play for Canada. He could have even played the good guy role in announcing that upon Richmond's return from Beijing, he would be a September call-up. Afterall, it wasn't like anybody, beyond the peabrains employed to believe so, actually thought Toronto was still in a playoff race. No, Ricciardi, who DID play a part in picking the USA team, had one more patriotic duty. He had to stab his 'adopted' country through the heart for no better reason than that he could. I hope he chokes on his own hubris.

Poor Richmond has played the good soldier. He maintained he was thrilled to make his big league debut (now, rather than later). And there were no guarantees that he'd do well in China. He appreciated a chance to make the Big Show at the advanced age of 28. He wished his 'former' teammates well. He must have been sick to his stomach watching the Canada-USA game, while packing to return to the minor leagues. His two-week call-up might very well be his lasting memory of the spotlight. Three so-so starts to balance against the chance of a lifetime.

There will be no baseball in the 2012 Olympics. He'll never get a chance again to tug on a Canadian Olympic jersey. That's what his 'GM' cost him.

Ricciardi has to go. End of post.

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