Motivation with magic, cockatoo
Joe Maddon is setting an awfully high bar for himself.
The Tampa Bay Rays manager has gone to a rash of out-of-the-ordinary motivational tactics with the intention of keeping his team loose during the season’s early stages.
In a span of four days, he brought a disc jockey into the team’s clubhouse, then he brought in a magician before Monday night’s game.
On Tuesday, it was a live cockatoo.
Photos of the stunts were posted on the Rays’ Twitter page, as was a lineup card for Tuesday night’s game with the New York Yankees that was selected by guests at a Tampa Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Monday’s photo was of the magician doing tricks at card table in the clubhouse with Rays players watching nearby and snapping pictures.
Before Tuesday’s game with the Yankees, Maddon did his pregame media session with Mindy, a 22-year-old cockatoo on his shoulder.
He told reporters he has something planned for today’s pregame festivities but wouldn’t divulge how he plans to do himself one better.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported on Twitter that Maddon said today’s entertainment is “another member of the animal kingdom.”
When Maddon was asked if he could do anything more to surprise his players, he said, “Yeah, but I’m not going to mention it.”Rogers’ rowdies
The Toronto Blue Jays put together a roster that was supposed to contend for an American League East title, adding stars such as Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey.
It hasn’t worked out quite so well so far, and fans at the Rogers Centre have noticed.
Heading into Tuesday night’s games, the Blue Jays were 8-12, the third-worst record in the American League and in last place in the East.
Gregg Zaun, a former Blue Jays catcher and former analyst, told the Toronto Star that Toronto fans are starting to earn a reputation as some of the worst in baseball.
“It’s very, very prevalent at the Rogers Centre, especially in the later innings when the Jays are losing, that people lose their minds,” Zaun told the newspaper.
“They’re getting drunker and drunker and drunker, and it’s because fans are getting younger and younger.”
There are more of them, too.
Last year the Blue Jays were eighth in the American League in attendance with an average of 25,922 per game. This year they are sixth with an average of 32,505 through 13 games.
The Star reported that fansare reported to have tossed beer, peanuts and paper airplanes onto the field.
“They are getting drunker and drunker with more bravado each year,” Zaun said. “Unbelievable.”False alarm?
For a few minutes Tuesday, D.J.
Fluker could have been lauded for his honesty, or slammed for getting his former school in hot water with the NCAA.
A message posted on Fluker’s Twitter profile indicated that the lineman, expected to be a high selection in this weekend’s NFL Draft, was admitting to taking money while playing for the Crimson Tide.
“Yea I took $ n college so wat. I did wat i had to do,” he wrote.
Fluker’s agent, Deryk Gilmore, tweeted not long after that it wasn’t Fluker who sent the tweet.
“To all followers of @ DjFluker76 his account has been hacked,” Gilmore wrote.
Gilmore later told the Birmingham News that he knows who the alleged hacker is.
“This is totally fiction,” he said, “but I’m waiting to get some proof.”
Too bad. It would have been a lot more fun if Fluker had been telling truthful.
Quote of the day “I think people are
starting to recognize that
Arkansas softball is on the rise.” Arkansas Coach Mike Larabee
Sports, Pages 18 on 04/24/2013