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XX Sports Radio: Chris Young Interview (MP3)

...if the media has negative expectations or negative ideas of what our club is, we can't change that, except through our play.  I wrote my senior thesis at Princeton about this, the impact the media has on people's lives...

Ugh. First of all it's bad enough when the media won't shut up about your degree from Princeton, but when you start plugging your thesis like your some sort of media expert, I just can't take it. 

You talk about how you have no control over the media and then you drop in "...except through our play" as an after thought.  That's all you should be worried about.  Look at the first two weeks of the season.  It would be impossible for fans and media to have lower expectations coming into this season but the team plays well and you become media darlings and fan favorites. 

You can also control the media by actually being nice to them and treating them with respect, instead of talking down to them.

When I take the mound out there, I am fully prepared and ready to perform my job.  When reporters come to me and  ask questions I expect the same preparation and thought in their questions that I put into pitching.  It's my profession and I and I'm going to take pride in it. When a reporter doesn't do that, when a reporter comes and asks a stupid question or something that I feel like they've put no time or effort to really research or they are uninformed, when they come and ask the question, I have no problem telling them that I expect better questions and for them to do their job in a better way.

Here's an example of a stupid, uninformed question that caused Young to belittle a reporter.  A reporter noticed that Chris Young switched to a new glove that had light colored leather in the pocket.  The reporter asked if that was a conscious decision he made in order to hide the ball during his delivery.  Is that a bad question?  Bad enough to warrant his response?

Another time we heard that he gave a reporter two minutes for a interview.  In mid interview, Young looked at his watch and walked away leaving the reporter stranded.

Get over yourself CY, interacting with the media and fans is part of your job.