You Cannot Handle Pressure

George Vecsey, in the course of writing up the Rays’ victory over Boston for the New York Times, gratuitously swipes at the blogosphere:

Both teams had talked with zest about the seventh game they were facing. Fans and bloggers and other outsiders who have no access to the mind-set of a professional athlete do not know how fully a young lifetime of pressure prepares athletes for the big game. Athletes tend to welcome the challenge.

Do I really need to spend time in the clubhouse or the locker room to know that? I wouldn’t deny that my lack of sports-reporting experience makes my understanding of the pressures on professional athletes rather abstract. But how much depth do I really require on that subject to understand and appreciate the postseason?

Meanwhile, check out Evan Longoria’s pre-Game 7 crypto-swagger:

Late Saturday night, Longoria was asked if he remembered the hero in any Game 7 he had ever watched. He replied, “Joe Carter” — a reference to Carter’s three-run homer, with Toronto trailing, to end the 1993 World Series.

“That was Game 6,” a few reporters told Longoria, a nice guy who can deal with normal human interplay in front of his locker.

“Whatever,” Longoria said, earning himself a laugh.

Is it really so important that Longoria misremembered which game Carter homered in? The larger point, which Vescey doesn’t explain, was probably that Longoria was referring to the last time that the 2008 NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies were in the World Series. That’s a swaggerish move! If only I understood the pressures he’s under.