With motivation like that, who needs jackasses?

I have stuff & stories about yesterday but those are being temporarily preempted so I can address what I am dubbing the Manchester Hullabaloo.

The Manchester Hullabaloo involves some phenomenal jackassery from the coach of the Manchester Freedom, who this morning made several negative and insulting posts on Facebook about the Boston Militia’s game last night and their advancement to the champ-pimp’n-ship. I’d repost them here, but in true jackass style, the posts (plus subsequent comments) were deleted shortly after people started responding to them.

The gist of one was that the San Diego Surge would be the Militia’s undoing, etc. etc. The other, which I responded to and therefore remember better, went a little somethin’ like this:

You have to wonder how much a championship is worth when one team can coast through a game and still destroy the other team. The Militia won last night…but DID YOU?

Oh, man, where to begin? First, this might become my new BUT DO THEY DARE KICK OFF TO TARA STEPHENSON? Donaldson on the carry, and she moves the ball forward enough for another Militia first down! BUT DID SHE?? I’m going to hit the snack bar to get some water before the halftime rush. BUT ARE YOU?? Try it! It’s fun! (BUT IS IT??)

Second: gimme a friggin’ break. Was it the absolute best performance the Militia’s ever given? Nah. Does anyone give 100% of their A-game 100% of the time? No, they really don’t. It’s clear to me from talking to some of the players last night & reading their posts about the game that they are well aware that they weren’t in finest form. It’s now up to them to figure out what to do with that, since – regardless of the “quality” of their performance – they have in fact earned the right to advance in the playoffs.

Third: here’s where it gets interesting. The Manchester coach who made the posts then told at least two people that they were really meant to have a positive effect on the Militia – to “fire them up” so they would step up their game and play better in the championship.

I’m not sure I believe that, but here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter. Either way, the guy’s a jackass. If he really DID mean for those comments to be some sort of reverse psychology motivation, that’s insulting not just to the players but to the Militia coaching staff as well. Don’t presume to coach other people’s teams, you jackass. It’s stupid, disrespectful and tacky.

And if he just made up that explanation once he saw that a) people were going to respond and b) they were going to respond with poise and class instead of returning insults, he’s a lying jackass.

But I think what bothers me the most is that he posted these things on the official page of the Manchester Freedom team. When you post on something like that, you are speaking for your team. You’re representing the coaching staff, the owner and the players. That’s not the time to talk shit about anyone, regardless of your motivations for doing so. Backseat Coach has posting privileges on the Militia Twitter account because he tweets out lots of the games we attend; when he has opinionated commentary, he posts from his own Twitter account, not the Militia’s. (Well, mostly.)

So you know what, Mr. Manchester Hullabaloo guy? What you posted was wrong. Your reasons for posting it were wrong. Copping out by deleting your posts was wrong. You’re just wrong, eight ways to Sunday, and both the team you coach and the team I support deserve better.