The Price Is Wrong. So %@#*!& Wrong

 “I've been accused of vulgarity. I say that's bullshit.”

― Mel Brooks

 “Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly.”
― Spencer W. Kimball

Let's dispense with the irrelevant about Cincinnati manager Bryan Price's juvenile rant earlier this week: he cursed a lot. A lot, a lot. Seventy-seven times in five minutes, which is about as often as a lot of intelligent people use the word "like."

The first curse alerted his listeners that he was peeved. The second indicated he was annoyed. The third, irritated. The tenth, that he had lost control. And the thirtieth was incontrovertible proof that he was acting like a jerk. And he still had 44 to really drive home the point. He might say that he fucking drove it home.

Swear words are just words, symbols designed to communicate, as noted in this brilliant March 2014 essay by a sagacious and boyishly handsome philosopher. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about cursing, in and of itself. Employing the same adjective or adverb 77 times in 300 seconds on the other hand is not profane so much as it's inarticulate. It reduces the value of the rant's content.

Fortunately for Bryan Price, that's not possible. Because what's really objectionable about the tirade was its utter stupidity. Here is the crux of it in one sentence:

"Your job is not to sniff out every fucking thing about the Reds and fucking put it out there for every other fucking guy to hear. It’s not your job."

The problem with this statement is that it was made to a Cincinnati Reds beat reporter, whose job is to sniff out everything about the Reds and put it out there for every other guy to hear. That's his job.

Bryan Price was upset because a reporter had reported that Devin Mesoroco wasn't on a team flight due to injury and would not be available for the next game. The reporter was doing his job. Price may be confusing that reporter with the team's first base coach, or PR guy or assistant trainer. 

What makes this so perplexing is that Price is no MLB novice. A pitching coach with a long record of success across three organizations, Price is known around the league as articulate and thoughtful. He should have a firm grasp of the relationship between the Reds' manager and the Reds' beat reporters. He should have accepted it and learned how to make it work. That's part of the job of manager.

I hope this is merely a blip on the radar screen, indicative of a bad day and nothing more. Price's subsequent non-apology does not augur well, but perhaps he wrote that while still stewing in the moment, even hours later.