EriKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK Has Left the Building

[Barnaby Graves]

If you're relying on Woody whats-his-name or Tony Kornheiser for your knowledge about any aspect of baseball you're going to be disappointed. Or you have exceptionally low standards. But on some level baseball is entertainment, it relies on public interest to generate revenues, and the media provides free publicity. Bedard, while I thought he was pretty funny, was relying on most everyone else being nice to cultivate that fanbase and interest and revenues that generated his substantial salary.

That's a well thought-out response, and I can appreciate it has some value to some people, but I've never cared that much about sports media myself and find it really, really lacking. I feel like sports media is really melodramatic and self-important (and self-righteous too) and this guy who throws a ball for a living it expected to spend a not-unsubstantial amount of his time repeating cliches. Sure, I wish he was as eloquent and smart as Palmer, but most of us aren't, and some are really awkward or just weird, but instead of pointing the camera at someone who would gladly take it (Jones, or his Seattle equivalent), the media chooses to navel gaze and pout about being benignly mocked by just some quiet Canadian guy who comes from a long line of elevator repairmen. The whole thing is really funny. Oh no, he gave us four questions, we'll only be able to ask "how did you feel today" and three other things.

Most sports interviews are really boring except for the ones where the athletes are screwing around. Both teams played hard my man, both teams played hard.

[eb45]

Bedard is my favorite Oriole ever, if you couldn't guess by my username. That curveball he threw when he was at his best was absolutely magical. He was instantly my favorite once I found out he was Canadian (we have to stick together), and then a few years later he started making hitters look silly. That 15K game against Texas, which came right after his unforgivable all-star snub, remains the best-pitched game I've ever seen by an Oriole.

I also have no patience for the reporters who were so deeply offended when he decided to be curt. You write about baseball for a living. So the guy's not spouting cliches. Find a way to have fun with it. Baseball is supposed to be fun. Like Barnaby said, sports interviews are boring unless the interviewee is trying to mess with the interviewer. As a journalist, I wish more people would actually try and have fun in interviews. It's not supposed to be incredibly serious, you guys.

[Moose Milligan]

Like I have said before, I would rather the pitcher tell the manager he is gassed then go out there tired and cough up runs.

I agree with CoC here. I think it was pretty unfair to criticize a guy who threw a good chunk of innings already (as Frobby pointed out) for being honest and letting a manager know he was gassed. I think fans romanticize the guy who can grind out another batter or two with his arm hanging off. Getting by on grit and determination! He can't throw a complete game! He's soft!

That's a well thought-out response, and I can appreciate it has some value to some people, but I've never cared that much about sports media myself and find it really, really lacking. I feel like sports media is really melodramatic and self-important (and self-righteous too) and this guy who throws a ball for a living it expected to spend a not-unsubstantial amount of his time repeating cliches. Sure, I wish he was as eloquent and smart as Palmer, but most of us aren't, and some are really awkward or just weird, but instead of pointing the camera at someone who would gladly take it (Jones, or his Seattle equivalent), the media chooses to navel gaze and pout about being benignly mocked by just some quiet Canadian guy who comes from a long line of elevator repairmen. The whole thing is really funny. Oh no, he gave us four questions, we'll only be able to ask "how did you feel today" and three other things.

Most sports interviews are really boring except for the ones where the athletes are screwing around. Both teams played hard my man, both teams played hard.

Exactly. They'll also get to ask "What happened out there when..." "What'd you think when..."

I agree with your take on sportswriters today. The whole thing with Marshawn Lynch at the Superbowl this year was so overblown....he doesn't want to talk to the media, fine. The amount of outrage feigned by sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the country was just asinine. They're not owed anything and act like everyone should want to talk to them. For what? In hopes that some athlete will say something controversial and put their foot in their mouth? If I'm an athlete, I'm probably doing my best to stay away from them and spitting out the same BS cliches to keep myself safe when I do have to talk to them. In a day and age where everyone feels entitled to get access to famous people and athletes, it's got to be a pretty overwhelming feeling and I can't blame anyone who wants to protect themselves from prying eyes and preying members of the media. Did Marshawn get into trouble for anything he said? Nope. Smart man. What was left? Butthurt sportswriters who think they're the second coming of Ring Lardner or Grantland Rice and deserve to have some access to a guy who wants to be left alone.

Why try to squeeze blood out of a rock by trying to talk to a guy like Bedard? Any reporter going over to his locker shouldn't be shocked that they were going to get a short, curt answer. Yeah, sports reporters have a job to do but that doesn't mean someone wants to answer the same questions every day. I get they've got to do their due diligence and stick the little recorder in their face to get something to write, but why expect anything more than you know what you're going to get?

[Tony-OH]

Bedard was a great Oriole for a couple of years, but I wasn't amused by his antics with the media. I was taught to treat others as you would like them to treat you - Bedard had some beef with the media and instead of ever being the "bigger man," he became a bigger jerk than any of our sportswriters.

His career here ended perfectly, though, as the Birds pulled off their best Sell High trade ever, IMO.

I honestly don't think the media ever wrote anything bad about him before he acted that way. Just for some reason after he got to the big leagues, he decided that it was funny to be disrespectful to people trying to do their job. The guy was just a jerk. Good pitcher in his prime, but a world class jerk.

[weams]

I honestly don't think the media ever wrote anything bad about him before he acted that way. Just for some reason after he got to the big leagues, he decided that it was funny to be disrespectful to people trying to do their job. The guy was just a jerk. Good pitcher in his prime, but a world class jerk.

He certainly did not care for Baltimore.

[Tony-OH]

That's a well thought-out response, and I can appreciate it has some value to some people, but I've never cared that much about sports media myself and find it really, really lacking. I feel like sports media is really melodramatic and self-important (and self-righteous too) and this guy who throws a ball for a living it expected to spend a not-unsubstantial amount of his time repeating cliches. Sure, I wish he was as eloquent and smart as Palmer, but most of us aren't, and some are really awkward or just weird, but instead of pointing the camera at someone who would gladly take it (Jones, or his Seattle equivalent), the media chooses to navel gaze and pout about being benignly mocked by just some quiet Canadian guy who comes from a long line of elevator repairmen. The whole thing is really funny. Oh no, he gave us four questions, we'll only be able to ask "how did you feel today" and three other things.

Most sports interviews are really boring except for the ones where the athletes are screwing around. Both teams played hard my man, both teams played hard.

So, you think it's funny that people who's job it is to get quotes from players and manager are treated with such disdain and disrespect? I agree that the majority of the quotes received are worthless and the most managers and players speak in cliches and don't really tell you how they feel, but at the end of the day, there is no reason to treat other people with a lack of respect for doing their jobs.

In fact, I find the fact that you think it was funny to be hypocritical. Would you find it funny if you were waiting a table and someone decided that they would mock you for working at Applebees? Would you find it funny if you were checking out someone at the store and the customer was mocking the person for being a cashier? why then do you find it funny that some a-hole decided to be disrespectful to the media?

I don't read many quotes and and I don't watch many post game interviews because they rarely tell me anything, but that does not give a guy carte blanche to just treat the reporters like dirt. Thankfully, Buck Showalter understands this and expects his coaches and players to show respect to all in the clubhouse, even when some of the questions are nonsense, and trust me, I've heard some ridiculous questions that have been asked.

For me, I treat the elevator guy and press box attendants the same as I would an Orioles executive. It's called mutual respect, and I don't it funny in the least bit when someone can't extend that courtesy because they feel they are someone how better than the other person.

[El Gordo]

Rochs act has gotten old quick too. Atleast at one time, Erik was one of the very best at his craft. Even if it was short lived. Break a story for a change, then you can be taken seriously.

Well said. Erik may have been one of the worst interviews but Roch is one of the worst interviewers. The B'more press in general is pretty lame.

[oh-wee-ohs]

Never watched any pressers back then. I keep hearing about legendary bedard interviews. Can someone favor me and link me a couple good ones? I have really poor Google mojo.

[BMann]

So, you think it's funny that people who's job it is to get quotes from players and manager are treated with such disdain and disrespect? I agree that the majority of the quotes received are worthless and the most managers and players speak in cliches and don't really tell you how they feel, but at the end of the day, there is no reason to treat other people with a lack of respect for doing their jobs.

In fact, I find the fact that you think it was funny to be hypocritical. Would you find it funny if you were waiting a table and someone decided that they would mock you for working at Applebees? Would you find it funny if you were checking out someone at the store and the customer was mocking the person for being a cashier? why then do you find it funny that some a-hole decided to be disrespectful to the media?

I don't read many quotes and and I don't watch many post game interviews because they rarely tell me anything, but that does not give a guy carte blanche to just treat the reporters like dirt. Thankfully, Buck Showalter understands this and expects his coaches and players to show respect to all in the clubhouse, even when some of the questions are nonsense, and trust me, I've heard some ridiculous questions that have been asked.

For me, I treat the elevator guy and press box attendants the same as I would an Orioles executive. It's called mutual respect, and I don't it funny in the least bit when someone can't extend that courtesy because they feel they are someone how better than the other person.

Well put. I couldn't see who asked it last night, but at Ubaldo's locker, someone asked "How happy were you when the offense piled on all those runs after you left the game?" Instead of rolling his eyes at the complete nonsensical nature of the question, Jiminez just chuckled and gave the usual "Really happy! Always glad to see runs on the board...etc..." response. I can only imagine what Bedard's answer might've been. Did the questioner deserve to be chewed out for such a dumb question? Maybe. But, hey, they have to ask questions after 162 games, so maybe the interviewer was a little off his game last night. It's not like Bedard pitched great every time he took the mound, either.

[Barnaby Graves]

So, you think it's funny that people who's job it is to get quotes from players and manager are treated with such disdain and disrespect? I agree that the majority of the quotes received are worthless and the most managers and players speak in cliches and don't really tell you how they feel, but at the end of the day, there is no reason to treat other people with a lack of respect for doing their jobs.

In fact, I find the fact that you think it was funny to be hypocritical. Would you find it funny if you were waiting a table and someone decided that they would mock you for working at Applebees? Would you find it funny if you were checking out someone at the store and the customer was mocking the person for being a cashier? why then do you find it funny that some a-hole decided to be disrespectful to the media?

Because it's so melodramatic. The media is about pagentry and provocation and anything a player says can and will be used against him in a court of public opinion. You're blaming Bedard for not wanting to be part of a system that doesn't really have much value and he sees as a waste of time, at best.

Maybe the media should thank Erik Bedard. The irony of his childishness is it fed their narcissism, because instead of just ignoring someone who didn't want to be there, it allowed them to complain and write far more about the guy than would've been written if he wasn't weird. Bedard did things his way with great success for the time he was here. He's more interesting to me as a good weirdo than a cardboard cutout. How about asking yourself what the point of all of these silly questions is, or writing ones that might pique his interest, or just finding someone better to talk to?

Why would anyone mock a waiter or cashier providing a valued service? Is the media as powerless as those people are? You guys have given yourselves the right to complain about anyone who doesn't want to be interrogated with questions that may be silly at best and maybe malicious and intended to provoke. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig, plenty of sportswriters should thank Bedard for providing them a muse for page hits for articles complaining about him.

I don't read many quotes and and I don't watch many post game interviews because they rarely tell me anything, but that does not give a guy carte blanche to just treat the reporters like dirt. Thankfully, Buck Showalter understands this and expects his coaches and players to show respect to all in the clubhouse, even when some of the questions are nonsense, and trust me, I've heard some ridiculous questions that have been asked.

For me, I treat the elevator guy and press box attendants the same as I would an Orioles executive. It's called mutual respect, and I don't it funny in the least bit when someone can't extend that courtesy because they feel they are someone how better than the other person.

You're right, he should've handled himself better. But I still think the media got more out of him for being who he was than if he was someone tactful. Either way, the same amount of interesting baseball-related content would've been generated for media coverage.

[TonySoprano]

I honestly don't think the media ever wrote anything bad about him before he acted that way. Just for some reason after he got to the big leagues, he decided that it was funny to be disrespectful to people trying to do their job. The guy was just a jerk. Good pitcher in his prime, but a world class jerk.

You're handing out the "World Class Jerk" award and your finalists are Erik Bedard and Mike Mussina (as an Oriole, before he left for NY) which one gets the ignominious award?

[Rustbelt]

Erik Bedard retires. It seems hard to remember but he really had two great seasons for the Orioles. His trade brought Adam Jones and Chris Tillman to the Orioles.

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/erik-bedards-retirement-one-more-reminder-of-awful-mariners-trade/

[Winning_Season]

Erik Bedard: Arguably just as responsible for the O's turnaround as anyone except Buck thanks to the goldmine we got trading for him.