Monday, April 17, 2017

Does a major league manager need to be able to speak English? ESPN doesn't think so.

Yadier Molina was shown in an interview during yesterday's Sunday night game between the Yankees and Cardinals.

What was that nonsense showing the Molina interview at length taking up half the screen with the game in progress and, most absurdly, asking him about becoming a manager? The guy didn't speak English. He spoke Spanish. He had subtitles. What planet is ESPN on? I watched the rest of the game with the sound off.

Is this some form of open mindedness?


I've thought for some time that it might make sense to consider a person's ability to speak Spanish as an attribute when considering that person for the job of field manager. But that was Spanish in addition to English, not in place of English.


Hideki Matsui played for the Yankees for seven seasons. He seemed like a good guy but never spoke more than a few words in English and used an interpreter. Would anyone in his/her right mind think that the Yankees should consider Matsui as a candidate to replace field manager Joe Girardi?


espndeportes.espn.com


That's the Spanish language website for ESPN. ESPN also broadcasts games on a separate channel with announcers speaking Spanish. Would it make sense for ESPN to have announcers speaking English on those broadcasts?

So what sense did last night's interview make, except to provide some silly attempt for some silly ESPN employee to be silly?

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