I was very surprised and, frankly, disappointed to hear of Coach Steve Laidlaw’s dismissal as Oxford High School’s boys head basketball coach. I’ve covered many sports events as a journalist and have dealt with countless coaches. Some have been friendly, others extremely rude*.
Of all those coaches, one of the most professional so far has been Coach Laidlaw. In the five or so times I worked with him to write articles on boys basketball games, he was unfailingly polite and classy. Yes, he could be very honest when he felt the team played poorly, but he did so in a very controlled way that suggested they’d be working hard in practice to remedy those flaws. He was always willing to talk no matter how tough the loss.
Why exactly was Laidlaw terminated? Could it be as simple as getting on the bad side of someone in Oxford Schools? hierarchy? I wonder. I get this strange feeling Oxford officials a year or two down the road will look back and ask, ‘What on earth were we thinking?!?
* I actually had one coach several years ago tell me, ‘I only talk to the newspapers when we win.? Sure enough, in the next game when his team won, he was a chatterbox…
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…It was a very slow news day on April 2. A certain nearby newspaper’s lead story featured a huge headline reporting filmmaker Michael Moore’s e-mail remarks about how ‘stunning? President Barack Obama’s decision was to ask GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign. Moore, in the article, also talks about the hard times GM workers have gone through.
Meanwhile, I’m left to wonder: who in the wide, wide world of sports cares what Moore thinks? Besides, why is a newspaper down here so enamored in the armchair observations of a ‘documentary? maker who grew up in Genesee County but now lives near Traverse City?
The article, of course, referred to Moore as a ‘Flint native.? (Moore actually was born in Flint but grew up in Davison). I used to work in Davison, and folks there were very adamant that Davison is not Flint. One co-worker, who knew Moore in high school, had almost nothing positive to say about him. Neither did a Lapeer resident who used to teach in Davison and once had Moore as a student.
I once asked a GM employee (one of those blue-collar workers, rather than the upper-management suits you might be imagining) their thoughts on the Roger and Me director. Their response? Negative and unprintable.
One of the most delicious ironies in life is how much some out-of-state liberals adore Moore while many Michiganders I’ve spoken to–some of which have even met or know him–absolutely loathe him…
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…Speaking of GM, if indeed the company declares bankruptcy, my sympathy will be solely for the workers who have families to take care of and pensions to stress over. It’s very difficult to shed tears for a company that, at the management level, has continually made decisions foolish beyond explanation. Talk to anyone who’s worked for GM (or for any Big Three employee) and you’ll see what I mean. Ask them what’s wrong with their company, and you’ll probably be told, ‘Sit down and grab a cup of coffee. We’re going to be here for a while.?
I’ll never forget that one brilliant letter written to a Detroit newspaper a few years ago regarding the Ford family’s decision to keep the hapless and now-fired Matt Millen on as team president: ‘Ford seems intent to run the Lions they way they run their automobile company.?…