Only a matter of time I suppose.

So Dan Uggla is upset that he is not doing well at the plate. I think most people would agree that it is only human nature for a person who is not succeeding in a particular endeavor to be upset by their performance.. After all, no one sets out to fail.

Rob Dibble has a different view.

In noticing Uggla's level of upset, he proceeds to go on a long winded diatribe about how Dan Uggla could not play on his team because of his poor attitude. He goes on to say, that the reason this team (by which I guess he meant this specific core of guys) has never won a championship, is because of this so-called "attitude problem."

The rant got so out of control that even Bob Carpenter had to step in and note that the Marlins have a very good, young team. Dibble's Reply? Something to the effect of, 'I don't care, they haven't won championships'.

And now the crazy is just dripping from the broadcast booth.

First of all, if you define success only by who wins a championship, then 99% of teams fail every single year. So that's just plain stupid. The facts (something Rob seems very uncomfortable with) are the 87 win season last year was the most this team has won since the championship team of 97. And, in fact, the second most wins obtained in a single season in franchise history. Add to this that the starting rotation last season was comprised of guys whose average age was 24, and I think I'm more inclined to agree with Bob's sentiment that this is a young team in development, rather than a bunch of punk hotheads with ego problems. Even if they were, we have seen no evidence that this is to their detriment. This year they have replaced Sean West with Nate Robertson in the rotation. Robertson is 33, the average age goes up slightly... doesn’t dismiss the point (thank god).

Why do I tell you all this? Well quite simply, I wish to make it perfectly clear that the suggestion that this group of ball players are not improving ( for any reason)  is ridiculous. And, in fact, you can make an argument showing that this is demonstrably false.  The argument that they cannot succeed because they have an ‘attitude problem’ is, likewise, baseless and unfounded.

I've noticed the only two times I've written passionately about anything on here, it was to oppose Rob Dibble. The reason for this is that I am offended that this man has a job in baseball. His lack of knowledge offends me. His unwillingness to do any research offends me. His willingness to make sweeping generalizations offends me. Now, there are lots of announcers guilty of the same thing (Michael Kay is pretty stupid, for example). The reason why Dibble gets to me so much is that he insists on making it personal. He insists on personally attacking players, putting down teams (this isn't the first time he's knocked a whole roster, though probably the most he's had to say while doing so) Worse than that, he is constantly trying to pretend that if they ( the nats) would only show more confidence' they would do better. Well, if you can call that a baseball strategy, go ahead. I call it a cop out in lieu of any real advice... and I want him to stop saying it like it’s the grand solution no one else has considered yet.

Now, like any and all of my fanposts I tried to temper this with a bit of humor and eloquence... so that this isn’t just ranting nonsense... its ranting nonsense that you enjoy reading. I can only hope that I have succeeded.

Oh, and FRD.