Avoid Chat Rooms With St Louis Cardinals GM John Mozeliak
January 22, 2009 by Mike
From St Louis Post-Dispatch:
Wednesday, the Cardinals GM hosted an online chat at STLtoday.com. He does this several times a year, and I admire that. You don’t see many GMs in the four major sports leagues step up to give fans unrestricted access on the Internet, where the questions come from anonymous individuals. It’s easy to take free shots at the GM of the Cardinals when you’re hiding behind the cover of anonymity.
Mozeliak doesn’t shield himself; he insists that tough questions be included. If they’re asked in a reasonably civil way, he’ll answer in the same manner. But from where I sit, if someone is determined to be rude to Mozeliak just for the sake of being boorish, then Mozeliak has no obligation to accept that.
When this happened Wednesday, Mozeliak went with the old-fashioned knockdown pitch.
A questioner — the intelligently named I Hate Bill DeWitt!! — crowded Mozeliak’s plate with this one:
“Please describe what it’s like living in your little land of make believe where you honestly believe that Cardinal fans should be excited about this team. If you wouldn’t mind, go into details, about how in Mo’s world people are celebrating three horrible new lefty relievers, and the signing of our awesome new .213 hitting shortstop.”
OK, so if you’re Mozeliak, how do you handle this?
He could have been a phony, giving a saccharine answer straight from Eddie Haskell on the old “Leave It to Beaver” TV show.
Instead, Mozeliak reacted by throwing one high and tight.
Using some acceptable chat room shorthand, he wrote:
“First, I rather live in my world then yours … it is sunny out today? No you’re right, it is 30 something degrees, my girl friend dumped me, and my car won’t start. First, it is not (that) we stink (unless you ask yourself these questions in the mirror). We make decisions based on scouts, stats, and other information. If we thought (shortstop Khalil) Greene was going to hit .213 we would not, I repeat, not make the deal. Go back to your world, and I hope by midsummer you’re ready to come out for air.”
I know some of you will disapprove of Mozeliak’s tone.
The GM of the Cardinals should be a gentleman at all times, right?
Heck, no. I thought his response was hilarious and appropriate. It showed me that he was a human being and not some politically correct automaton. Besides, why should Mozeliak take gratuitous shots from someone hiding behind a fake Internet name?
As custom, Mozeliak tries to answer to anyone who is hacked off at ownership’s policies on payroll and trades. You may not like the way Mozeliak does his job, and you may not approve of his answers, but he does not hide. He answers reporters’ calls, he does these chats, he’s frequently on radio or TV. He puts up with a lot. It’s his job.
That said, we must ask: When Mozeliak makes himself available, what are the boundaries? It’s easy to express dissent and ask challenging questions without being rude. But the Internet — because it ensures that protection of anonymity — emboldens the occasional bonehead to try to embarrass the GM instead of asking a pointed, straight-up question.
This time, when a pretend tough guy got in Mozeliak’s face, the GM rightfully observed the laws of the Internet jungle: He put the chump in his place
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