I've been saddened to hear a lot of folks suggesting recently that Willie Randolph is getting a raw deal from the fans and media because he's black. When Willie himself said it in an interview Monday, I was shocked:
I hadn't been ready to see Willie get fired yet, but now I am. If you don't understand how New York fans and media behave, you don't belong here no matter what color you are. The bottom line is if your team isn't winning, the manager takes a lot of flack, and if you have a talented team that isn't winning, the manager takes even more flack. Mets fans are especially merciless against their own, more so than Yankees fans. Bobby Valentine was one of the the best managers in the team's history, yet we turned on him as soon as things even hinted at going south. Nevermind how we treated stinkers like Art Howe and Dallas Green."Is it racial?" Randolph asked in the column, written by The Record's Ian O'Connor. "Huh? It smells a little bit."
"I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I think there's something there," Randolph said in the column. He cited the example of former New York Jets coach Herman Edwards as a coach who was initially successful, but did not last long when the Jets started losing. He also noted the treatment of former New York Knicks coach and GM Isiah Thomas, saying "Isiah didn't do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good. ... There's something weird about it."
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