How fun should professional sports be?
Not for the fan, but for the player. Kind of fun? Really fun? Not fun?
It’s a question that has been cropping up around the Cardinals generally for a while but more pointedly since Joe Maddon got hired in Chicago to manage the Cubs.
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This past weekend Colby Rasmus gave an interview to the USA Today that (still) managed to be all about the Cardinals. Some choice quotes:
“If you watch the Cardinals back then, we were like robots, very quiet. I was always waiting on somebody to make fun of my clothes or whatever I was doing,” Rasmus told USA TODAY Sports. “I developed some bad tendencies, and a defense mechanism in my own mind. And I feel that’s not necessary.”
“Some may say I’m being soft, or whatever, but I don’t really care. I’ve been through both sides. I feel that this is fun, and it’s enjoyable. These boys are going to look back on their time and enjoy being in the big leagues, not like, ‘Oh, man, every day was miserable. I’m good enough to be here, but it was terrible, I hated it.”
“You don’t have to act like a 50-year-old man, all grumpy and mean all the time,” he says. “To me, that’s pointless and not fun. To let these boys just be themselves and have fun is great, a good environment to be in.”
Tony LaRussa retired from the Cardinals at the end of the 2011 season. Five years on and the culture of the team (as perceived by Rasmus) was so bad he still is having trouble shaking it.
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On Sunday, the Post-Dispatch published a feature by Derrick Goold on new starting pitcher Mike Leake. Some choice quotes:
During a wide-ranging interview conducted in the team’s clubhouse, the Cardinals’ $80 million man says that the fun he seeks should be at his fingertips. But he added, first, he’s surveying the team for how he fits, a round peg into a square club.
“I think I can help them. I think they can help me,” Leake said. “I mean, you’re not always going to have a grind time. And there are times I need a kick in the butt here and there to be more serious. Finding a mesh is ideal. We can have a fun atmosphere and still come in here and want to kick the other team’s (rump).”
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The Cardinals are many things as an organization, but fun isn’t generally one of the descriptors that come to mind. As a fan watching – well, that’s a totally different story. They’re on an unprecedented run of success for the franchise – nearly 20 years of either qualifying for the postseason or just missing out.
That’s fun.
The team itself, though, takes that success seriously. And they approach baseball as a business more than a sport. Sure, they have some fun from time to time – just like me and you will have cake in the breakroom on Sally or Chip’s birthday – but there aren’t as many Snaps from the clubhouse as the Cubs or Astros or Rays have.
Candidly, I don’t know if Rasmus has a point or not.
In St. Louis how many $507,500/yr jobs are there? Because that’s the minimum amount of money that 25 men will get for 6+ months of work. And if we had 500K+ jobs and 5 whole months to do with what we please, then I think we’d all be fine with having less fun at work.
On the other hand, these guys play freakin’ baseball for a living. If you’re reading this site right now, you’d LOVE to be a baseball player. Doesn’t fun beget fun? If they’re living the dream shouldn’t they LIVE THE DREAM? When we have fun at our jobs, doesn’t the work become easier?
There’s a case to be made for both sides. Either way can be successful.
But this is one area of the game where the fans have pretty much no impact on what happens. We root for the Cardinals. And the Cardinals happen to be a more serious team.
As long as they keep winning, the fans will have fun. I just hope that the culture they’ve created is the right one to attract and keep talent moving forward.
As long as they win, fun will always be a talking point, but not the main event. It’s always… ahem… fun, though, to discuss.
Sort of.
Photo: Wikia
Postscript:
1) Yes, I know to be a MLB player you need to be training all year round and you don’t actually get ‘5 months to do with what you please’. At the same time, you can A) have 100% control over your schedule B) get paid to do something that is going to reap positive benefits the rest of your life and C) if you really wanted to just say F-it and go to Bermuda for a week, you could.
2) It’s also (mildly) interesting that the most iconic YouTube video centered around the Cardinals is soundtracked by a band named ‘FUN’.
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