2010-05-31

Player Hater's Ball - April & May Edition(s)

Picture courtesy of King Jordan (sorta)

If you noticed, and judging by the daily hits on sitemeter you have not, we missed last month's edition of hate.  Fittingly, we saved up and decided to unload an extra helping on Mike Wilner.  Anybody that has called in to Jays Talk has more than likely been trashed by this "expert".  Friend of the site, Mr. Ike Stake, called in after a game early last year and asked simply if Travis Snider was going to get some at bats against left handed pitching.  It was the first question of the night and dickhead Wilner made sure to set the tone for the show by stating: First of all it's Snider, not Snider.  He then went on to rant about how Snider couldn't hit lefties and should be happy with a platoon role to start his career.  He then cut Ike off without giving him an opportunity to respond.  Typical Wilner.

In all fairness, most of the calls he receives are from idiots.  And I guess if I was in his chair, I would get a little tired of it to.  But Mike, we don't call you for a fucking English lesson and quite frankly you are not schooled in either the language, sports broadcasting of even journalism for that matter.  You have a degree in psychology remember?

Here is a quote from Mike:

"I played youth softball growing up, and played league baseball for six or seven years at Bond Park and Sentinel. I caught a no-hitter once, and once threw out five guys on the bases in a League Championship game -- those were the highlights."

Good for you sir.  You played softball and league (not rep) baseball growing up.  Guess that qualifies as baseball experience.  I once played tee ball and have a degree in underwater bingo, can I get on the radio please?

So just how did Wilner get on the radio anyways?

It all started back in 1988 while he was still at the U of T learning to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior.  He got a gig at CIUT, a campus and community radio station found @ 89.5 on the FM dial.  Within a year, he was anointed the title of sports director.  He also worked for Toronto’s Cable 10, where he hosted a show "Let's Talk Sports" from 1989 to 1995.  He then took a job in 1995 with 680 NEWS covering sports for them.  In 2001 he jumped over to the Fan 590 to cover baseball for them.  Mix in a little minor league play by play for the Welland Pirates, Watertown Indians and Hardware City Rock Cats and what do you have?  Experience.....I guess.

That's what is says on paper.  What it doesn't say is how he got the job.  I'll bet his friend Keith Law had something to do with it.  Let's look at the facts:
  • Wilner started as the third man in the booth in 2002.
  • J.P. got the job as GM of the Blue Jays after the 2001 season ended.
  • KLaw was on J.P.'s original staff.
You get what I'm laying down?

Wilner says: "I just got lucky, and worked from there."  Sure you did Mike.  Your friend got you the job, that's not luck.  The least you can do is admit it.

Wilner is quick to point out that he does not actually work for the Jays.  His paycheck comes from the Fan 590, which is part of the Rogers Media umbrella.  Rogers Media is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications.

Question: Who owns the Blue Jays, the SkyDome, Sportsnet and the Fan 590?
Answer: Wilner is full of shit. 

We here at 1BlueJaysWay always take our heckling to the next level.  Always.  So here is a bit of personal info on Wilner.  I must say, he is a very private man but that just makes the search more challenging.....and we like that!

His full name is Michael Samuel Wilner.
He is born in 1970 not 1969 as it is reported.
He is a Pisces.  Which is a fish.  Some of the bad traits of that sign are as follows.  Tell me if any of these sound familiar:
  • Escapist and idealistic
  • Secretive and vague
  • Weak-willed and easily led
He grew up in the Bathurst and Steeles area.
He is a Jew.  He said it, I'm just relaying the message.
He resides in Mississauga.
He has a mail order bride from Argentina.
He has two daughters.
He enjoys dice based fantasy baseball games, specifically Dynasty League Baseball.
He has a face for radio.
He has a weakness for the brilliant and cheesy music of the 1980s
He really hates it when you call him the voice of the Blue Jays or when you pronounce a players name wrong.  So you know what to do next time you get through now.....

Samuel Wilner, as he will now be known in these parts, will be on hand June 17th in St. Marys @ 7pm to play in a "celebrity" slopitch game.  I guarantee this chump has zero game.  So much so, that I will call on my childhood friend to take some pictures of his performance and demand that they are exclusive to us here at 1BlueJaysWay.  Stay tuned.

If you want a chance to spike him breaking up the double play or perhaps go elbows up, you can buy some tickets for a draw to play in the game.  I think it would be a fucking awesome idea to pool some money together and buy out the rest of the tickets.  Then we find the biggest ex football player / juice monkey in southern Ontario, jack him up with some Red Bulls and teach him how to "play the right way".  Just a thought.  Who is with me?  


In closing, I will send it over to Silky Johnson for a few words.  Go ahead Silk.
 
 



"We are the Time-Haters. We've traveled back in time... to call ya a cracker."







Update:

Looks as though Samuel has done it again!  In advance of the biggest series of the year to date, he has been given "the weekend off".  Say what you will about the optics of said decision and how it equates to censorship.  But knowing how Wilner conducts himself and his business, I am pretty sure he deserved whatever he got.  And personally, I think it looks good on him.....   

How does it feel to be on the other end of the phone Samuel?

Now, moving forward, he really has but two options:

1) He tones it down and tries to play nice with the other children.
2) He comes back even more insufferable than before.

Is there really any doubt which way he goes on this one?

9 comments:

  1. I stopped listening to Jays Talk years ago because I couldn't take Wliner's arrogance. I wonder if his psychology education helps him understand that arrogance is an attempt to cover up insecurity...

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  2. Mattt,
    We were beginning to wonder about you my friend.
    Shoot me an e-mail, I may have something you would be interested in: 1bluejaysway@gmail.com

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  3. I'm still reading, just time dictates whether I'm commenting. I'll get a mail to you shortly...

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  4. Can I just say that although I have NO IDEA who this guy is, you are a hilarious writer? Really. F'ing. Funny.

    I think you need to do stand-up, kiddo. Really.

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  5. Wow, that's a whole lotta nothing you made out there. Crucifying a guy because he knew someone in the biz is luck - and hard work. Networking is a key skill in business, and in part, life as well.

    Belittling someone's knowledge on a sport that he didn't play "competitively" - would it help your opinion if he did in fact play rep ball? This guy has likely seen more ML baseball than any of us - including the 1 BJWay team. Weak.

    Sometimes Wilner gets on my nerves, and I don't always agree with him. But can you fault the guy for educating an ignorant (and I do mean that in the literal sense) population on a game they seem so passionate about that they would call in to a post game show to rant and complain. Wilner pushes his audience to base their arguments on facts. Issue?

    Degree in Psych: yeah, I guess the 21 years of experience pales in comparison to a diploma earned from Ryerson by a 19-year old kid.

    I get that the whole Pisces thing/mail order bride/ugly man is satire which purpose is to add colour and humour to the blog....if it was actually funny in any way other than a 3rd grade classroom kind of way. Would you like Wilner more if he was more attractive? Actually, don't answer that one.

    Have fun in St. Mary's with all that you will accomplish there.

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  6. Heyo!
    Two completely different points of view.....I love it.
    On the one hand, you have my sister. She is completely bias in my favour, lives in Europe and knows absolutely nothing about baseball. I'll bet she learned to loath it considering I stole my father away from her about three times a week growing up, just so I could play! And yes, I played rep.
    On the other, we have a comment about how narrow minded my thinking is. Tell you what Tool, your are somewhat correct. This is an attempt at humour. And I agree, as I mentioned in the post, that most of the "population" as you call it, knows very little about the great game of baseball. But listening to Samuel regurgitate the same bullshit all day is a waste of our time. He was a J.P apologist and refuses to acknowledge the fact that money ball baseball is a not the way to go. He hitched his wagon to stats, naively thinking that things like leadership in the clubhouse and playing as a team do not influence the performance on the field. Makes sense, considering he never played and you can't equate those things in statistics.
    We here at 1bluejaysway do not pretend to be experts. We are not. We all have jobs in other fields, except Jesse and Jay. We are fans just like you. Our opinions are based on the limited amount of games we get the chance to watch and we are at the mercy of the camera angles. But I respectfully submit that if given the forum that Samuel was GIVEN, not earned, then you bet your fucking ass we could do a better job.

    Many thanks for the comments. We appreciate them whether or not they trash the shit out of us.

    Oh and Tool, one more thing: It's St. Marys not St. Mary's.

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  7. Lol, got me on the spelling.....wow, that IS annoying. I respect your opinions, and whether I agree with them or not is somewhat irrelevant; after all, these are what lead us to fervently discuss and debate the most beautiful thing of all, the game of baseball.

    I still think taking 15 years to work your way up the ladder is earning and not charity; I will agree to disagree if you do.

    I didn't see Wilner as an apologist so much as a rationalist to all the knee-jerk opinions of JP. And as much as I moaned in agony at some of JP's decisions, to only focus on where he went wrong is not fair to judge someone's competency. Lind, Hill, Snider, Litch, Marcum, Zep, Cecil, Roenicke, Bautista, Scutaro, Zaun, Downs, and the lot....a lotta good in there.

    I suppose it does me no good that I majored in Mathematics, but I also feel that there is a "human" side that is intangible yet vital nonetheless. But you really can't say the sky is green when we have concrete evidence that says otherwise. It's not Wilner's fault that the masses generally have no concept of statistical analysis.

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  8. Tool,
    I for one love the fact that we disagree. My view is not always correct and I value others opinions, especially those who feel strongly enough to take the time out of their day and comment. That makes me happy no matter if it's good or bad, long or short.

    This is a forum for fans. WE like to think of ourselves as knowing more than average Joe but less than those who are paid to voice their views. Everyone has a background in something and since yours is mathematics I can fully see why you and Wilner agree on stuff. And you know what, you both are right more than you are wrong. That is why we use stats. They are black or white and allow for an informed, educated decision to be made. But there is so much more to this game. And to discount or minimize the importance of subtle things like the personalities of 25 men who spend over half the year together, well we think that's just silly.
    Thanks again for ripping me a new asshole.

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