Morning Brew: MLB could hire female GM

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By Max Rothman

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Female GM to be?

Baseball is inching toward its most significant breakthrough since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Kim Ng, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, interviewed with San Diego Padres CEO and vice chairman Jeff Moorad Saturday for a chance to be the first female general manager in major league history.

Ng’s started out as a premiere adviser to New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. In 2005, she became the first woman to interview for a general manager position when vying for the spot with the Dodgers. She also interviewed for the general manager vacancy with the Seattle Mariners last fall. She didn’t get either job. But with a struggling San Diego team in need of a fresh start, several inside sources say that Ng has a fair shot this time around.

If Ng can somehow capture this historic opportunity and turn an appalling Padres team around, women worldwide will take a major step in not just the sports sphere, but in the entire business world. Stay posted on this one.

College football polls overrated

There’s been controversy for years over college football’s poll system. Teams like Boise State and TCU have been victimized by strength of schedule (or lack thereof) and must wallow behind one-loss powerhouses like USC or Miami. When Alabama leaped ahead of Florida Sunday for the AP poll’s No. 1, Tebow enthusiasts far and wide went into a frenzy. Kansas suffered a nail-biting loss to Colorado but still managed to grip the AP’s No. 24. That’s a lot of numbers and they make little sense it.

College football fans must not abide by these polls as if they are the bible. They are just numbers based on opinions of informed yet varying writers. If Florida is so upset about Alabama stealing its throne, the Gators should simply win out as expected and demolish the Crimson Tide in the SEC title game to prove their worth. Easier said than done, but the spell of the polls can be broken with old fashioned W’s. Now let’s stop that weeping, Gainesville.

The fight in the shadows

It was a game that was masked by Kansas City’s first victory in the Todd Haley era, Matt Cassel’s improved rapport with Dwayne Bowe and Washington coach Jim Zorn’s unspoken proclamation as the worst skipper in the league. Details aside, one cannot help but look at the bigger issue in this matchup. It’s the Chiefs vs. the Redskins. Not quite the Sacajaweas vs. the Pocahontases, but is it really that different?

Native American mascots represent many major American sports teams. Baseball has the Indians and the Braves. Football has the Chiefs and the Redskins. Hockey has the Chicago Blackhawks. Several schools across the country, such as the Florida State Seminoles and the Illinois Fighting Illini, also follow the trend.

But is this widespread practice an ode to history or just an offensive gesture toward a race that was robbed of its land?

It’s time that these teams make a bold change. We like to think that our nation is far removed from racism and prejudice, yet these mascots are still displayed before our eyes through several media outlets.

Allow mascots to serve their true purpose — means of motivation and positive representation. The road to equality desperately needs a clean slate on the mascot front.

UConn tragedy

A single stab to the abdomen and he was gone.

Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard was 20 years old and a key starter for the Huskies team. Then Sunday, he and Brian Parker, a 19-year-old academically ineligible receiver, were stabbed outside the UConn student union. Parker survived but Howard didn’t. The attacker has yet to be found.

The death of the beloved Howard brings back frightening memories of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007. A college campus promises safety and comfort to its students. But it’s still part of the real world and we can never forget that. This is not an order to watch your back, just a wake up call to the overly complacent.

— Edited by Sara Kelly

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