The Green Phone was created so the fans could voice their
opinions. Give us a call and let us know what’s on your mind.
The Green Phone was created so the fans could voice their opinions. Give us a call and let us know what’s on your mind.
CALLER 1: I just want to say congratulations to the Gilroy all-stars, no matter how far they got. A great job by all the players and hats off to Dennis Castro and his coaches. This exposure plus the recent Garlic Festival has really put Gilroy on the map. Also, even if you don’t have a child involved in local sports, go out and watch a couple of games of basketball, baseball, soccer, etc. The level of play here is fantastic. It has to be the garlic. Thanks for listening.
GREEN PHONE: I think you’re on to something, Caller 1. Maybe the city could persuade Nike to do a Jordan-esque, “It’s gotta be the garlic,” ad campaign. Yes, the city of Gilroy has had quite a summer and sixth-best in the world in Little League softball is one heck of a way to wind the hot months up. You’re right, there are some great local youth sports being played on the fields and hardwoods of the Garlic City day in and day out. Professional sports are great, but right now, the Gilroy softball team is a lot more exciting to watch than the Giants. Here’s to supporting the home teams and congratulations to the all-star softball team. They’ve done a lot for Gilroy civic pride.
CALLER 2: Who says Krueger made a mistake? He just stated the obvious facts. As a former ballplayer and being of Spaniard and Portuguese descent, I would have no offense to Krueger’s statement because I have no problem with the truth. Felipe Alou needs to get over himself. Krueger’s firing was the decision of the Giants, Alou and (Giants general manager) Sabean. Tony Salvadore should have stood behind his commentator along with Bob Agnew and Tony Klein. After all, Agnew made KNBR sports talk what it is today. If Alou were any kind of a person or man, he wouldn’t have continued to pour fuel on the fire and allowed the situation to mushroom, and would have quietly and graciously accepted Krueger’s apology, even though it wasn’t necessary. If KNBR management had any common sense, they would admit they acted in haste to pacify Alou and bring back all three men. Now (recently released pitcher Kirk) Rueter, who should be in the starting rotation, is gone because of a lack of offense from the other eight guys “swinging at slop nightly.”
GREEN PHONE: Caller 2, Green Phone agrees that KNBR and the Giants blew it in their handling of the Krueger situation. Certainly Agnew and Klein should not have been fired for making fun, via sound effects, of Alou’s comparison of Krueger to Satan. Nor should Alou get a free pass for making such ridiculous statements. However, we disagree with you that Krueger’s apology was unnecessary, or that Alou’s complaints about Krueger’s comment about “brain-dead Caribbeans who swing at slop nightly” were entirely baseless.
We think it matters that Alou came up in baseball at a time when he and other minority players were regularly taunted and threatened by racists at the ballpark and outside of it. Racial bigotry, or even the semblance of racial bigotry, is going to be a pretty sensitive issue for Alou, because he lived through the real thing for so many years.
What’s more, we don’t agree that Krueger “just stated the obvious facts.” Just who are these slop-swinging Caribbeans who are destroying the Giants’ offense? The Giants have the fewest strikeouts in the National League. Pedro Feliz is really the only Giants hitter who might be called “a Caribbean who swings at slop nightly.”
The real fact, in our opinion, is that the Giants’ offense stinks because Barry Bonds has been out all year. Sabean blew it by not signing Vladimir Guerrero in 2004 – incidentally, Vlad is the prototype of a Caribbean who swings at slop nightly … and tears the cover off it.
