Maybe it’s the initials.
Seriously: Tom Coughlin was fired more times and in more ways and on more platforms than just about anyone who ever wore a whistle around his neck, certainly more than anyone who ever coached a team to two championships. In newspapers, on the radio, on the internet, Coughlin was probably fired 8 billion times during his 12 seasons coaching the Giants, give or take a spare million.
It only seems like Twitter was invented specifically to give people another outlet to fire Coughlin, partly because Coughlin’s tenure with the Giants started 18 months before Twitter did. And I am pretty sure there are plenty of folks (I’m raising my hand here, you bet) who feel a little silly about the times they handed old TC his walking papers in 140 characters.
Of course, that’s still going on, even as TC the First has settled into his cozy new digs at NFL headquarters. Because – and this is an unofficial tally, sort of – Terry Collins – that’s TC the Second – is on pace to surpass Coughlin’s record sometime in the next three months.
Or, depending on how the next few games go, by Thursday.
Coughlin, of course, periodically threw netting over the wolves baying for his scalp by winning Super Bowls, which is a pretty smart idea when you think about it. Collins tried to follow the formula last October, fell three games short. And, of course, whatever credit score he’d built up during their epic run to the NL pennant was instantly compromised by the last decision he made, letting Matt Harvey talk him out of pulling him from Game 5.
Such has been the soundtrack to Collins’ tenure here, almost from Day 1. And here’s the thing: The manager rarely disappoints. He does quirky things every day. He makes odd choices every day. His lineups daily cause social media meltdowns. Every. Day. His in-game strategies … well, put it this way:
Here’s a text exchange I had with someone watching Monday’s Mets-Yankees game. This guy is decidedly NOT a Collins fan. Me? Look, I fired Collins two years ago, I was pretty vocal in my belief the Mets should’ve gone hard after Joe Maddon two years ago, I wound up writing a few mea culpas last October (that bookended nicely the ones I proffered about Coughlin back in the day). But for the most part I think Collins does an adequate job when you look at the big picture.
[So it is the eighth inning Monday. The Mets are nursing a two-run lead. The bullpen door opens. I’ll call my friend Cleon Kranepool.]
CLEON: Um … is [Addison] Reed hurt? WT[H]? Blevins?!?
ME: Lefty-lefty-switch-lefty-lefty to start the inning.
CLEON: I get that, but Reed has been, you know, sort of perfect as the set-up guy this season. And Blevins always seems like he’s about to lose the plate [typed 17 seconds before Blevins lost the plate, walked the lead-off hitter].
ME: Besides, if you don’t use Blevins here, why even have him on the team? Clearly he’s getting the whole inning.
[Blevins walks Brett Gardner, strikes out Jacoby Ellsbury, and doesn’t get the whole inning. In comes Reed.]
ME (flummoxed): Now THIS I don’t understand …
CLEON: This scares me …
[Reed fans Mark Teixeira. He surrenders a sharp single to (lefty) Brian McCann. He issues a wild pitch. And after making (lefty) Didi Gregorius look alternately hopeless and helpless with eight sliders, he feeds him a fastball. Tie game.]
ME: And there you go.
CLEON: #@#$%$#$&$#@##$$$$##$!!!!!!
OK. Now this is one game, one inning, one situation, one conversation. But it is not isolated. Collins was never a popular manager among many Mets fans, and even if they had little choice but to admit he pressed every correct button last August and September, even if he undressed Maddon in the NLCS … well, GAME FIVE! …
But the Mets have him signed through next year. The front office likes him. There are no compelling candidates to replace him (sorry, Wally acolytes). There will have to be some profound missteps between here and October for TC the Second to follow TC the First to an office job.
Still … this IS a pennant race. And Collins does tend to make texters type more furiously when the games matter more. You do that often enough, you can start making the cellphones who actually make decisions nervous, too. And when THEY start typing “#@#$%$#$&$#@##$$$$##$!!!!!!” …