04/19/24
July 10, 2003
So long, Carl. Local alt-weekly columnist bids farewell to Carl Everett (scroll down). John Gonzalez has had a fun and entertaining year with Everett, the pinnacle of which has to be one of the most bizarre interviews I've ever read.
posted by Ufez Jones to baseball at 10:17 AM - 8 comments
Achtung! You're right vito, here's the (not as funny) farewell (um, again, scroll down). Sloppy. Gonzalez was definitely baiting Everett, but it was so damned funny and I can't think of a player that deserved it as much as Carl that I didn't care. Gonzalez also once described Everett as part of an "Axis of Evil" that included Chan-Ho Park and John Rocker.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:13 AM on July 10, 2003
Why would Chan-Ho Park be part of the axis of evil? I must have been living under a rock during that time.
posted by jasonspaceman at 11:32 AM on July 10, 2003
When I worked at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Kenny Rogers blew a gasket and bull-rushed one of the paper's beat writers, shoving him across the room. I don't think this confrontation is particularly unusual -- combine an obnoxious player with a non-beat writer who doesn't have to kiss ass and you get fireworks. A former sports journo who covered the Rangers years ago had some interesting things to say about this confrontation -- especially the part about how that locker room has always been hostile.
posted by rcade at 12:09 PM on July 10, 2003
jasonspaceman: You can check it in context here, a piece comparing Rangers GM John Hart to Saddam Hussein. I think Park was included due to the fact that a) he's Korean and b) he's been an incredible waste of money (something that seems to plague Dallas Sports Teams like a genital rash).
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:20 PM on July 10, 2003
Oh, and I just noticed that it was a different writer, not Gonzalez, that did the "axis of evil" piece. Maybe the Observer's just got it out for the Rangers. Good for them.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:23 PM on July 10, 2003
My first reaction was that I wished more interviews were that fun to read. Beats the heck the out of the same ol' stuff we're normally given, in a way. My second reaction was that while Everett certainly seems like a dickhead, the interviewer sure asked some worthless questions. I don't blame Everett for taking the boxing question in the direction he did. (If the reporter had any real backbone, though, he would have asked whether Everett can really box, or would he embarrass himself with the same pansy-fight stylings of all the other ballplayers.)
posted by jason streed at 01:32 PM on July 10, 2003
Agreed. In Boston, we were always waiting for Everett to explode. And a lot of the time, the writers even seemed to bait him into it so they could roll out a quick column. There's no denying this guy has issues (& talent), but I don't think I could even sit in the cramped confines of Fenway's excuse of a pro locker room and see Dan Shaughnessy's face everyday. That would even put me over the edge. A perfect example of the media's (and the fan bases' mindset) is all the "breaking the curse" writings after the Sox handily beat the Yanks in games 1 & 2 last week. What happened? They lost games 3 & 4 for a series split, no change in the standings, and in debilitating fashion. Just let them play the games.
posted by usfbull at 10:49 AM on July 11, 2003
Ufez - I think both links are the same. Ahh Carl Everett. What are you gonna do? I think the reporter was definitely baiting him though, and seems to acknowledge as much. Why did he do that? I guess it's like going to the zoo and poking the animals with a stick. Carl Everett is a walking, talking train wreck.