Found this via Universal Hub. UH in turn links to a disgruntled blogger who is, er, disappointed with the piece.
Choice tidbits from the column:
I have come to get Terry's take on all things everything because, to be honest, no longer can I get enough. I want to hear Terry on Mitt Romney's presidential ambitions. I want to hear Terry on how to fix the Big Dig leaks. I want to hear Terry on the space shuttle.
Completely agreed so far.
If he has an obvious fault as a manager, it's a virtue as a human being: He is fiercely loyal, occasionally declining to pinch hit for an inexperienced batter or calling on a struggling reliever one too many times or keeping the slumping second baseman on the field after he should be riding the pine.
''I try so hard to look at every number, every way we can get an advantage," he says. He pauses here in that way he does and adds: ''I'll never forget we have 25 people out there, and you're constantly managing people. You are dealing with people's confidence."
Again, no problems there.
Responses from this Johnny character:
What is going on here? Do Dan Shaughnessy or Bob Ryan take breaks to write about eminent domain, gang violence, terrorism or gay marriage on the sports page?
OK, touche. Brian McGrory isn't a sportswriter, and Johnny's got a point. The piece is fluff. Totally fluff. Peanut butter and fluff.
Shockingly, McGrory plants his lips squarely on Tito's ass cheeks.
Fair enough, Johnny, but he had to shove me out of the way to do it, I guess.
Why do I feel so often in the minority, though, in defending our own players / manager?
I love Terry Francona. I understand completely where McGrory is coming from. He just seems like such a solidly good person, someone, as McGrory puts it, "the type of guy you don't just want on your team, but in your city, for a long time to come."
This is the icing, however, on the main cake: The man won us a World Series.
Johnny refers scornfully to this as McGrory "measur(ing) Tito for a statue downtown."
Your point...?
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