“You can’t fool the fans. They’re pretty smart. You don’t have to necessarily win right now but if they see light at the end of the tunnel, if they see you’re being consistent in what you’re doing, they’re going to back you up unless you betray them.” Those are the words of three-time World Series winner and former GM Pat Gillick spoken to Ken Fidlin of the Toronto Sun.
Gillick is one of the most respected executives of all-time in the game of baseball and his success can only be dreamed by many present-day executives and young guys working their way up and trying to prove themselves. As Alex Anthopolous told Fidlin, “…getting 45 minutes with Pat Gillick was worth way more than getting to see a kid for the draft.”
Gillick certainly shows a ton of respect for the fans and their intelligence when it comes to following their favourite teams and their rivals around the game. If Gillick is respected by so many of his peers and he can show more than an ounce of respect towards the fans, how come so many executives in all types of sports fail at this seemingly easy task? Why is it that executives feel like they can swerve the fans into believing in something that’s nothing but fool’s gold?
We see it in sports all the time. The Blue Jays were guilty of trying to fool their fans into thinking they had a playoff contender for years. It’s only now under the leadership of Anthopolous that the charade has finally been put to rest and the future has become the light at the end of the tunnel. Funny how an executive is honest with himself and others and the fans show some respect for that.
If there’s one thing that I can’t stand with professional sports, it’s the egotistical strut that some sports people walk around with and the audacity and ease at which these same people discard the opinions of the fans because “they don’t know what they’re talking about”. You would never hear or read about an executive saying those exact words, but it’s impressive to me how many times they can come up with a politically-correct way of saying exactly that to the same people that help keep the franchise propped up with their hard-earned money and support.
Being able to host a sports show on a daily basis, I’ve learned exactly how knowledgeable a fan base can truly be. They know exactly what’s happening on the field of play and they know exactly what’s even happening outside the field of play also. We may not necessarily agree on certain points on a daily basis, but I come with well-researched points and a lot of times, the caller/e-mailer will also show off well-researched points to prove the other side.
I guess my whole point in all of this is that too often, the fans get dumped on because they’re the easy target. They don’t really have a voice like a media member does or an executive does with a microphone underneath his mouth or even a player that has daily chats with the media. Because of that lack of voice, they don’t have a chance to defend themselves as intelligent people. I will never ever take the fans for granted, but it’s a shame that a lot of people in the sports world do. The only saving grace is that the ones that do often are the ones that aren’t very successful.