Bobby Valentine looks on Wednesday morning during his Sports Academy’s Summer Camp. (Advocate photo/Kathleen O’Rourke)
After six days in which he first seemed headed to become the Florida Marlins’ new manager, before the club announced last night that interim manager Edwin Rodriguez would finish out the season, Bobby Valentine addressed the situation publicly for the first time this morning when I caught up with him at his Sports Academy’s Summer Camp at Mead Park in New Canaan.
“It turned into quite an event. It started out with a phone call from a guy I’ve known a long time who needed some help, and I was interested in helping,” said Valentine, referring to Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. “Then the process got very interesting and I wish them the best.”
Valentine seemed comfortable with how events played out.
“I’m the one with the great job,” Valentine said. “I have as good a job as anyone in America. An owner reached out to me. I was interested in helping, but going in at midseason is the least enviable situation.”
Valentine had much more to say. I’ll have a complete story in tomorrow’s Advocate.
Bobby Valentine confirmed on Tuesday night that he is no longer a candidate for the vacant Florida Marlins’ managing position.
Asked about a report that the Marlins had informed interim manager Edwin Rodriguez that he would be maintained through the remainder of this season, Valentine, reached at ESPN’s studios, where he is an analyst, said, “That’s right. I just talked to them. I wish them the best and hope everything works out perfectly.
Valentine declined further comment.
Thus ended a roller-coaster ride between the Stamford native and the Marlins that started last Wednesday, when Florida fired its manager, Fredi Gonzalez, and Valentine emerged as the leading candidate for the opening.
Valentine was supposed to fly to Florida to interview for the job on Friday, but postponed a scheduled trip. He told The Advocate at the time, “The process is going to take longer than expected, and I expect that the first interview will take place over the phone.”
Earlier that day, Valentine denied reports by several news organizations that he had reached a tentative four-year deal to take over the Marlins.
Valentine denied reports on Sunday that he was no longer a candidate for the job, both to The Advocate and later on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.
Brianna Brown recently completed a storied scholastic career at King, with 2,203 points, joining Trinity Catholic’s Amanda Pape and Da’Shena Stevens as the only other females in Stamford basketball history to top the 2,000 mark.
This past season, Brown averaged 22.7 points, 13.1 rebounds and 4.2 steals a game. She was named to the All-New England Preparatory School Athletic Council team for the fourth straight year. She also became the first King player to win the coveted Allyson Rioux award, given to Stamford’s most outstanding female athlete.
On Tuesday, Brown will leave to spend the summer at St. John’s, which she will be attending on a basketball scholarship and joining Stevens as a teammate.
Brown is our first BlueStreak-Overtime Profile of the Week. Below is a video I shot with her today, followed by a question-and-answer session in which we get to learn more about her likes, dislikes — and a very peculiar habit.
Overtime: What are you proudest of from your high school career?
Brown: I’m proud of my academic part. My GPA I ended up with a 3.5, so I’m really, really proud of that. And basketball too.
Overtime: What was the best part of playing at King?
Brown: Being there with my friends and my sister, and us playing together and going out and winning. Us just being together.
Overtime: You played on the King varsity as an 8th-grader. What was the hardest part about that, playing with and against girls who were seniors?
Brown: It was hard, but it wasn’t. I didn’t know any better so I was kind of oblivious to everything. So I kind of just played to play.
Overtime: What sport are you not good at that you wish you were better at?
Brown: I wish I was good at soccer. I’m so bad with my feet. I could never be good at soccer.
Overtime: You had a great volleyball career at King and were recruited in the sport. How close did you come to playing volleyball in college?
Brown: I knew I was going to play basketball because basketball is my first love, but I did put volleyball into consideration.
Overtime: What’s your favorite thing to do when you are not playing basketball?
Brown: Going on my computer and drawing. I am constantly on my computer. And Facebook. Facebook is the thing for me.
Overtime: You like to draw?
Brown: I’m going to be a graphic design major in college. I like to draw portraits and illustrations. My best medium is pastels. That’s what I really enjoy when basketball makes me mad.
Overtime: What’s your favorite food?
Brown: Everything. I eat everything. I’ll try squid once, I’ll try anything once. If I don’t like it I’ll toss it to the side.
Overtime: If you try everything what do you hate most?
Brown: I don’t like celery. Celery is nasty. It’s just dry and it just doesn’t taste good.
Overtime: What do you listen to most on your iPod?
Brown: I listen to a lot of R&B, like Boyz II Men, and I listen to rock. I don’t really like rap. People are like, wow, you don’t like rap, but I really don’t like rap that much. I’m R&B, rock, pop.
Overtime: What’s your favorite team?
Brown: Any team that Dwayne Wade is on, that’s my favorite team. I LOVE Dwayne Wade. I love him.
Overtime: Tell me something about you that’s important that nobody else knows.
Brown: Well, if I tell you than everyone will know it. OK, after games I like to smell my feet (laughs).
Overtime: You like to smell your feet?
Brown: Yeah. After a game I’ll put my feet up to my nose and smell it for some reason (laughs).
Overtime: What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?
Brown: Hopefully I’ll be doing something to help out others because I like helping out other people. I like seeing people happy. And I want to go work at ESPN and do all the graphics and animations and that kind of thing.
Overtime: What scares you most about college?
Brown: Myself. That’s what scares me most. I know that I can do anything but it is myself that can keep me down. So I am scared of myself.
Last week’s vote for the BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Spring Players of the Year (won by Greenwich’s Ryan Carr and Westhill’s Jen Joseph) marks the end of our weekly and seasonal awards until the fall.
I am happy to say BlueStreak has agreed to continue to sponsor the award.
Based on the feedback we have received from coaches, athletic directors, athletes and readers, the program has been a rousing success. I came up with this idea in December to try and offer another forum to recognize the accomplishments of high school student-athletes, and I think we have been successful. A special thanks to Matt Cole and all the good people at BlueStreak for their continued support.
We are still looking for ways to fine-tune and grow the award. Some people think the weekly prize, like the seasonal, should be decided by vote. Others think we should pick the seasonal as well as the weekly winners.
For the most part, while not 100 percent perfect, we think we have come up with the best process possible. We would welcome your suggestions, either in comments here or by emailing us at fciacaward@me.com.
Matt and I have discussed some new ideas that we may enact in the fall.
But one thing we both agreed on is, even though the high school season is over, we would like to continue to recognize athletes during the summer months.
Thus, this week we will be introducing the BlueStreak-Overtime Profile of the Week. To put it simply, we are going to choose from the number of talented high school and college athletes who train at BlueStreak and humanize them for you, with interviews in a question and answer format, as well with accompanying interviews. You will find out not only about what athletes do on the field, but what they like to do off of it.
We hope it will prove to be a fun feature during the next two months.
So be on the lookout for the first profile this week.
In a weekend full of refutations, Bobby Valentine today denied the latest report, by SI.com, Sports Illustrated’s website, that he was no longer in the running for the Florida Marlins’ vacant manager’s position.
Reached early Sunday evening while he was in makeup before appearing on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, where he is an analyst, Valentine said, “That’s news to me.”
Valentine refused to comment further.
Asked about his situation later on the show, Valentine maintained the position he has held all weekend.
“I’m in the process last I heard, and I think we’re right in the middle of the process,” Valentine said.
Calling the job “a terrific situation,” when asked the odds he would be the Marlins’ manager by the end of the season, Valentine said, “I can’t even mention that chance, that percentage.”
Valentine on Friday postponed a scheduled trip to interview with Marlins management. He told The Advocate, “The process is going to take longer than expected, and I expect that the first interview will take place over the phone.”
Earlier Friday, Valentine denied reports by several news organizations that he had reached a tentative four-year deal to take over the Marlins.
On Sunday morning, Valentine participated in the bicycle portion for a team in the KIC It Triathlon in downtown Stamford. On Saturday afternoon, Valentine was at an outing with one of his charities, the Mickey Lione Jr. Fund.
The Marlins fired Fredi Gonzalez on Wednesday, and Valentine immediately emerged as a leading candidate, withdrawing his name from consideration for the vacant position with the Orioles.
Valentine has a previous relationship with the Marlins’ owner, Jeffrey Loria, dating back to when Valentine managed the Texas Rangers from 1985 to 1992, when Loria owned the team’s Triple-A affiliate.
Bobby Valentine postponed his scheduled trip to Florida today to interview for the vacant Marlins job and said he was uncertain when — or if — he would meet with team officials to discuss the opening.
Reached at his home in Stamford, Valentine said late Friday afternoon, “The process is going to take longer than expected, and I expect that the first interview will take place over the phone.”
Valentine declined to make any further comment.
In a text message to The Advocate Friday morning, Valentine denied reports from various news organizations that a tentative agreement had been reached for him to become the manager of the Marlins.
Valentine had confirmed in a phone conversation Thursday and in an e-mail Wednesday night that he was flying down to South Florida today to meet about the position.
There were several reports this morning that the 60-year-old Valentine had reached a four-year deal to take over the Marlins and would begin on Monday, when, ironically, Florida would be facing the Mets, the last MLB team he managed, in Puerto Rico.
The Marlins fired Fredi Gonzalez on Wednesday, and Valentine immediately emerged as a leading candidate, withdrawing his name from consideration for the vacant position with the Orioles.
Valentine has a previous relationship with the Marlins’ owner, Jeffrey Loria, dating back to when Valentine managed the Texas Rangers from 1985 to 1992, when Loria owned the team’s Triple-A affiliate.
Valentine was in his downtown Stamford restaurant Thursday morning and that night was the keynote speaker at Westhill High School’s graduation ceremonies.
Valentine, who is currently an analyst for ESPN, last managed in the fall, when he ended a six-year run with the Chiba Lotte Marines, a team he led to the Japan Series title in 2005.
Valentine, who managed the Mets from 1996-2002, has a career record of 1117-1072 with the Rangers and Mets. He led New York to the World Series in 2000.
Two pitchers who had memorable seasons have been selected as the BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Spring Players of the Year.
Ryan Carr of the Greenwich High School baseball team, who allowed just one earned run over his final 39 1/3 innings, and Jen Joseph, who led the Westhill softball team to its first state title since 1992, won votes that ended today.
Carr and Joseph will receive trophies from BlueStreak.
Carr received 834 votes, or 29.2 percent of the 2,855 cast.
Joseph, in a tight race, received 3,274 votes, just 49 more than Greenwich lacrosse player Sarah Kramer, who finished second. There were 7,520 votes in the female category.
In the winter, Greenwich’s Mark O’Connell edged St. Joseph’s Greg Langston by 169 votes, when 17,288 were cast.
Carr’s pitching helped carry the Cardinals to the FCIAC championship game. He finished with a 5-1 record, one save and a 1.15 earned run average. He ended up with 70 strikeouts, 20 walks and pitched an 8-inning no-hitter against St. Joseph.
Joseph pitched the Vikings to just their second CIAC Class LL title and to the FCIAC final for the third straight season. She finished with a 22-1 record, a 0.47 earned run average, 16 shutouts and 194 strikeouts. Joseph was 6-1 in the postseason and was named to the All-FCIAC and All-State teams.
The BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Player of the Week awards will resume in the fall.
Ryan Carr of the Greenwich baseball team and Jen Joseph of the Westhill softball team have been voted as the BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Spring Players of the Year.
Bobby Valentine looks on Wednesday morning during his Sports Academy’s Summer Camp. (Advocate photo/Kathleen O’Rourke)
