Bisciotti and Angelos: A double standard
January 2, 2008
First things first. Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti seems to be a great guy. He even returned my phone calls when I covered the sports-business beat at The Sun.
Bisciotti seemed genuinely torn up about firing Coach Brian Billick. But here’s a question: Why haven’t Baltimore’s sports columnists and sports talk show hosts beaten up Bisciotti for “meddling” in the Ravens’ football affairs with the same vengeance that they routinely beat up Peter Angelos with for “meddling” in the Orioles’ baseball affairs?
Is there one iota of difference?
To be clear, I think both Bisciotti and Angelos have every right to “meddle.” They own the teams. You can’t meddle in something that’s your’s.
The reason Bisciotti’s gotten a free pass is that the sports writers also think he’s a great guy. Angelos — well, not so much. (And to be fair, Angelos also always returned my phone calls. We even shared a cab once from Major League Baseball’s New York headquarters to Penn Station.)
But if they think it’s wrong for Angelos to have his hand in baseball decisions, it’s hard for me to imagine why they wouldn’t think it’s wrong for Bisciotti to have his hand in football decisions.
Am I crazy?
ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor/Business
Photo courtesy of scout.com.
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There is a double-standard, the difference is that Baltimore loves the Ravens because they are a winning organization. We are willing to give Bisciotti the benefit of the doubt. History has proven in the case of the Orioles that Angelos’ meddling results in failure after failure after losing season after losing season. It’s unfortunate but Baltimore fans really only like a winner.
I think the issues are different. Bisciotti waited until after the season to make a decision on one of the top positions in his organization.
He didn’t step into the mess in the middle of the season. He didn’t tell Ozzie how to draft. He hasn’t hired his children just so that the employees know that they are being watched.
Simply making a decision isn’t meddling. Making it difficult for people to do their jobs without wondering how you will react to every small move, that’s meddling. And that’s not what Steve did.
Yes, there is a double standard, but it’s because the Ravens have earned it.
This isn’t a double standard because Biscotti isn’t making a football decision. He’s making a personnel decision, which is what the owner is supposed to do. Unlike Angelos, he has not put his two cents in on who the Ravens should draft or sign. Ozzie is the GM and is fully in charge. Angelos’s problem is that he tries to make baseball decisions, and in doing so 1) makes bad decisions, 2) continues to insist on making baseball decisions, and 3) has undermined all his GMs in the process.
This is not to say that Biscotti will not meddle like Angelos, or that he doesn’t have the “right.” He just has not yet. And if he does, I have the “right,” just like I do with the Orioles to stop buying tickets.