September 15, 2004
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
By Jerry Modene
Just a quick response to the reader who suggests that ESPN and the other mainstream media will "respect" the Cardinals if we win it all.
That response can be boiled down to four words: Don't Count on It. But since I never could limit myself to just four words, let me elaborate.
I'm old enough to remember 1982 - the Braves were in their first season as "America's Team" (actually, TBS had been billing them as such ever since the superstation started in 1977, but they weren't any good until
1982) and the mainstream media followed the Braves all season.
When the Cards upset them (in 3 straight) in the NLCS, the mainstream media was strangely silent - how could these powerful Braves and their MVP, Dale Murphy, be shut down so completely?
And as the World Series started, very few people gave the Cards any chance against "Harvey's Wallbangers" - especially after Milwaukee won Game One, 10-0.
But the Cards went on to win that World Series - the media gave a few props to Willie McGee and Darrell Porter - and then that was it. Very little was said about the Cards that winter; most of what was said dealt
more with Whitey Herzog than with the team.
If you've ever read Ozzie Smith's autobiography (the one that came out in 1988, IIRC), he complains throughout about the lack of respect the Cards of the 1980's received; in fact, he went so far as to suggest that
the respect that the Cards *did* get (the superlatives that would come out about the Cards' incredible speed) was racist in nature - he was clearly referring to the old "black people can run" stereotype. I don't know that Ozzie was right in suggesting that the Cards didn't get more respect because they were "too black" for the mainstream media (he's always been a bit thin-skinned, as the unfortunate events of 1996 and his attitude since displayed for everyone), but it's clear that the lack of respect *was* there, and that was pervasive enough to soak through the
layers down to the players.
When the Cardinals win the World Series this year (I almost typed the word "if" - shame on me!), we'll get a few props here and there, and then people will start talking about the Marlins or the Cubs or the A's or some team out there with "all that good young pitching", and we'll probably be listed among the fluke champions of baseball history, right up there with the 1982 Cardinals.
Which, I guess, means we're gonna have to go out there and win it all again *next* year, too.
