I have a theory that if you need someone like Ryan Howard or Chase Utley to say something insightful to make or break your story, you are, indeed, a [bleepy] writer.
It's not a well-thought out theory or one that I've ever really tested in a controlled environment. Truth be told and based on my observations from going into the Phillies clubhouse and hanging around the team for the better part of the last nine seasons, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are the least interesting ballplayers I have ever seen address a group of people about their profession.
The right side of the Phillies' offense has nothing to say to the press about baseball.
Nada.
Nothing.
Zilch.
Ryan Howard and Chase Utley probably will go down as the most prolific hitters in Philadelphia baseball history, and are clearly two of the most exciting players in the game right now. But, you know, just don't ask them about it.
When told that the President of the United States of America said that Utley would be the first player he would select if he were putting together a baseball team, Utley said: "That's a nice compliment to have. It's kind of cool."
Gee... OK.
From Jerry Crasnick in the latest edition of ESPN the Magazine in a story on how Utley has established himself as a bona fide hitting threat at the plate:
The one skill Utley has yet to master is self-promotion. He relies on monotonal cliché-speak when reporters approach for insights into his game. His approach brings to mind the Zen of Greg Maddux, who goes out of his way to be dull to avoid providing glimpses into his baseball soul. In Utley's world, success is almost solely a reflection of hard work. That's his story, and he's sticking to it. "The more you practice, the better," he says. "The more at-bats you have and pitches you see, and the more ground balls you take and game situations you're in, the more comfortable you get."
OK. But, there are a few problems in that short paragraph. Sure, Utley may (indirectly) invoke the "Zen of Maddux," but the stories of Greg Maddux's wacky personality are legion and probably not for re-telling where innocent ears (and eyes) lurk.
What's more, Utley's quote about the more one practices equates to the amount of success one has is, frankly, condescending. For starters, Utley is ignoring the importance of talent all while suggesting that players who haven't had the same success as him yet have been identified with better "tools" only need to work harder. Of course he cites the traditional notion of hard work because Utley has been identified as a "baseball rat," "dirtball," and "hard worker." The truth is that I know for a fact that Jimmy Rollins is a hard worker and a student of the game. Why isn't he ever described that way?
Better yet, there isn't a single player in the Major Leagues who simply gets by on talent.
Everybody works hard just like everyone has talent. To that regard, there has to be something more to players like Utley and Howard and they just aren't too keen on allowing anyone to see it.
As Bobby Brown once astutely pointed out, that's their prerogative.
To be fair, public speaking is not for everyone. Frankly, it can be unnerving at times. The truth is that the few times in which I have actually appeared on television I was slightly nervous until I told myself that if they are putting me on TV the producers probably are not expecting a ratings bonanza. From that point on it was if I was simply speaking to another inanimate object, only this one beamed my head out to a regional cable TV audience... or whatever there was of one.
However, when it comes to being a professional athlete these days, self-analysis and deconstruction is part of the job. No, we're not asking for a stand-up routine or even something so insightful that we have to ponder it on the long drive home - after all, it's just baseball and sports. How complicated can it be?
This criticism isn't just for Utley and Howard, but also folks like Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb and perhaps 50 percent of the athletes making money in Philadelphia. The main criticism isn't what they say, but how they say it. Hey, no one is expecting Utley or Howard to be insightful, just engaged in the process.
Again, I'm not saying Howard and Utley aren't interesting people. I'm just saying that I don't know if they are. Perhaps that's because when it comes to talking about baseball they offer no insight, no nuance and no depth. If given the choice between talking to the press about baseball and having a nail driven into their head, Howard, Utley (and many others on the team) would take the nail.
I just don't get that. How can that make sense? If I were a baseball player and were as passionate about the game as nearly every baseball player says they are, you would not be able to shut me up. I'd put a lectern in front of my locker and give sermons from up high. I'd drive everyone crazy talking about baseball, my workouts, the other players, the shape of the ball, the grain of the wood on the bats, the hue of the ivy growing on the batter's eye in center field, the fit of the uniforms, the clubhouse spread, the water pressure in the shower, the temperature of the whirlpool last Tuesday in the visitors' clubhouse in Nationals Park... I'd talk about everything.
Go ahead and ask me an innocuous question about running and marathoning... and then be prepared to sit quietly for at least 30 minutes while I wax on and ramble off into one tangent or another.
So that's what I don't get - how can a baseball player not want to talk about baseball?
Actually, the better question is why does anyone care? Are insights from professional athletes so vital to the national discourse? I certainly hope not. But in the proliferation of the celebrity culture, athletes need not apply. In 2008 there is no difference between Chase Utley and Ryan Howard than there is between George Clooney and Denzel Washington. And, in an odd bit of irony, athletes are being chided for not speaking out on issues as well as for their general verbosity, while movie stars are ripped for speaking out too much.
As if such a thing was possible.
Nevertheless, the real reason for the long-winded essay and knee-jerk observations is because of the latest from former Sports Illustrated writer Pat Jordan, who detailed the good old days of sports writing in a piece for Slate Magazine. Even with the proliferation of all media fans and writers have even less depth and nuance from the athletes. At least that's what Jordan has observed in his 40 years in the business.
Read the story from Jordan. It's good.
From my end, I can only relate writing about mainstream professional athletes in comparison to writing about politicians and business leaders from a decade ago. Back then the subjects of my stories wanted to be partners in what I wrote. Not only did they want a say in what information I used and how I used it, but also they wanted full control of the message. They parsed everything and nit-picked everything including something as trite as the use of a comma or semi-colon in the copy.
To say most folks were engaged in the process didn't cover it. They wanted minutes on the process. They wanted sample paragraphs and to be alerted when the story went to press.
Conversely, athletes don't care about any of it. Strangely, I think most professional baseball players believe that the guy holding the camera to the guy with the microphone to the guy with a pen and a pad all work for the same TV station. They simply don't care enough to differentiate between writers, let alone the scribes and TV reporters.
As I once explained to someone working in a small-town newspaper about the differences between covering the news in a place like Lancaster and covering the Philadelphia Phillies: "The guy you write about in Lancaster might cut out the story and hang it on his wall or put it in a scrapbook. It's meaningful to him.
"But Travis Lee doesn't give a [bleep]."
For that matter, neither do most ballplayers...
Or fans.
More: "Josh Beckett Won't Return My Phone Calls" by Pat Jordan (Slate)