Houston Astros have fired manager Cecil Cooper. I think he was a marginal manager. I didn't like it when he was named manager, and I'm glad he's being let go. Why? Because I don't think he was an improvement over the last guy. He was just like the last guy.
Call me race baiting if you want, but I'm pretty sure that we'll soon hear some people start saying he was canned because of his race. Cecil Cooper is black. He was the first black manager for the Astros. There was some celebration of that fact when he was named. I suppose it was another ceiling busted for minorities, though there were other minority managers already out there. Baseball moved past racism a long time ago, in my opinion, which is why I felt touting Cooper's race actually cheapened his achievement. He got there through effort, not because he is black.
When the Astors lost the 2005 World Series, some local African American groups alleged they lost , in part, because the Astros were a racist team, as there were only a few African Americans, and minorities in general, on the roster and God was judging them. This is, of course, ridiculous. Baseball is about winning, not race, and they lost because the bottom literally fell out of the pitching that got us there in the first place, not due to the fact that Willy Taveras was lonely.
Thereafter, Phil Garner was let go at the end of the 2007 season, and Cecil Cooper was named the new manager. I don't think Cooper was named because he was black or in reaction to local pressure; I think he was named because he's just like Phil Garner and will do what he's told by upper management, and because somebody had to be fired after the 2007 season.
I felt a bit guilty, I have to admit, that this thought process was the first thing I thought of when I heard the news, but I'm not surprised. Obama was supposed to be the post-racial president. But as we have seen, he, people around him, and other political leaders didn't change at all, but seemed to have turned it up instead. And, of course, racist idiots have expectantly crawled out of the wood works to much of the logical right's chagrin.
I hope Coop gets an assistant managers job soon, because I don't think he should be manager, and that the Astros find a good replacement, whether he's white, black, asian, mexican, etc... in the off season. Because watching a loosing team is no fun.
Call me race baiting if you want, but I'm pretty sure that we'll soon hear some people start saying he was canned because of his race. Cecil Cooper is black. He was the first black manager for the Astros. There was some celebration of that fact when he was named. I suppose it was another ceiling busted for minorities, though there were other minority managers already out there. Baseball moved past racism a long time ago, in my opinion, which is why I felt touting Cooper's race actually cheapened his achievement. He got there through effort, not because he is black.
When the Astors lost the 2005 World Series, some local African American groups alleged they lost , in part, because the Astros were a racist team, as there were only a few African Americans, and minorities in general, on the roster and God was judging them. This is, of course, ridiculous. Baseball is about winning, not race, and they lost because the bottom literally fell out of the pitching that got us there in the first place, not due to the fact that Willy Taveras was lonely.
Thereafter, Phil Garner was let go at the end of the 2007 season, and Cecil Cooper was named the new manager. I don't think Cooper was named because he was black or in reaction to local pressure; I think he was named because he's just like Phil Garner and will do what he's told by upper management, and because somebody had to be fired after the 2007 season.
I felt a bit guilty, I have to admit, that this thought process was the first thing I thought of when I heard the news, but I'm not surprised. Obama was supposed to be the post-racial president. But as we have seen, he, people around him, and other political leaders didn't change at all, but seemed to have turned it up instead. And, of course, racist idiots have expectantly crawled out of the wood works to much of the logical right's chagrin.
I hope Coop gets an assistant managers job soon, because I don't think he should be manager, and that the Astros find a good replacement, whether he's white, black, asian, mexican, etc... in the off season. Because watching a loosing team is no fun.
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