If you're not talking about March Madness, there's apparently not much to talk about in the world of sports. That's the message the New York Post is sending with their attempt to gin up a controversy about David Wright staying in Wednesday night's loss to Venezuela after he fouled a pitch off his toe. Wright said he thought it was broken until X-rays proved otherwise.
Bart Hubbuch of the Post spoke with Mets manager Jerry Manuel on Thursday, and reports that the manager was second-guessing his player's decision to keep playing.
"He probably shouldn't have played if he felt he had a broken toe, no question about that," Manuel said.
The article featuring this mildness was headlined "Manuel Miffed At Wright." Well, of course he shouldn't have played on a broken toe. Absent of context, Wright's decision seems selfish and stupid, rather than the team-first move that it really was.
The Post stops there, but thanks to reporters from Newsday and the Daily News we learn that a follow-up question asked about the lack of a bench for Team USA. Manuel indicated he didn't know that the team was out of reserves and said it was "interesting."
Bemused, perhaps, but miffed? Doesn't seem like it, not that that's stopped ESPN.com from jumping on the story as well. The horrors of not owning TV rights to the NCAA Tournament! The crazy thing is that they attribute the Newsday article while ignoring the part that has Manuel's answer making sense.
Wright doesn't strike you as the type of player who is going to put his team at a disadvantage if he feels he can get through nine innings. Manuel wouldn't want a player like that, anyway, so if he is miffed at anyone, it would seem to be whoever at the American team decided to forego bench players for Wednesday night's game.
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That's a fair concern, though, which is much less interesting than making it sound like there's a problem between manager and player.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
