I’ve been watching the New York Jets drama with interest for a few weeks now. Maybe I, like everyone else, just likes a trainwreck. It’s a mess. The team is a gigantic failure and hasn’t made the playoffs in fourteen years. It’s actually thirteen but I’m going out on a limb and saying the current 3-8 team ain’t gonna get it done this season.
In the midst of watching the Jets drama I came across a comment that really struck me. A fellow mentioned it was nice to have the stability of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization under the guidance of the Rooney family.
It took me a day or so to realize why I was so struck by the comment but now I shall explain.
I’m a St. Louis Cardinals Fan
Born and bred right here in St. Louis and still living here. Yes, embarrassing but I don’t mind. I love my town and I love my team. The Cardinals have long been associated with stability, much like the Steelers. Our ownership went from August Busch to Bill Dewitt but both men clearly love the team and they love stability.
In 1980 the team hired Whitey Herzog to be the manager and we’ve largely kept managers for lengthy periods since then. Eleven years for Herzog, six years for Joe Torre, a single season for Mike Jorgensen, sixteen years for Tony LaRussa, seven years for Mike Matheny. Then we hired Mike Schildt and he lasted only four years.
Now there is intense pressure to fire Oliver Marmol. We are drifting away from the Steelers model and toward the Jets drama.
Stability is a Good Thing
To paraphrase the famous military quote. Stability has a quality all its own. If the players coming up in an organization know from day one the organizational goals, it helps them maximize their potential as players.
While the Cardinals certainly didn’t win the World Series every year, they did make it to the playoffs more often than not, and generally were an above average team. They gave an effort that fans were glad to see and filled the stadium year after year to do so. A bad season here or there didn’t change the organization philosophy.
The Cardinal Way
The organizational philosophy can be summed up with the annoying The Cardinals Way phrase. Annoying because it worked and other teams and fans hated us for consistent winning. Mike Schildt was a big believer in the Cardinal Way and it is largely what got him fired. Upper management wanted analytics-based teams and that is not the Cardinal Way.
The Cardinal Way is based on pitching to contact with a strong defensive team in the field and manufacturing runs with walks, base hits, and minimizing strikeouts. Modern analytics want strike outs and home runs. We got a team of fence swingers and fireballers. We started losing and now Marmol is in danger of being fired.
Jets Drama or Steelers Stability?
Sure, the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a Super Bowl since 2008. That being said they make the playoffs far more often than they don’t. They put out a competitive team for the fans to watch week after week. They don’t stink and they don’t have a lot of drama.
The Jets? Well, the less said the better. They are terrible and, to my way of thinking, that has a lot to do with instability. An instability inspired by their owner, Woody Johnson, that trickles down to all aspects of the team.
Which do we want? I suspect I’ve made my preference clear.
Tom Liberman