Bob Cramer's Blog

In the news the past few days, two incidents have caught this less than consistent blogger’s attention.   They represent actions that on the surface don’t make sense, for the individual or groups involved, but come back to deeper human qualities that perhaps drive all of us.

Wednesday night, riding an 11 out of 12 game winning streak and getting his team over the .500 mark for the first time in years, the manager of the Washington Nationals Jim Riggleman quit out of the blue.   He felt he wasn’t being respected by the organization as they had consistently refused to extend his contract for another year.   Many people in sports say that this sudden move hurts everybody involved: Riggleman, the players and the team, and that Riggleman will most likely never manage in the big leagues again.   Riggleman, a proud man who has done a remarkable job turning around a perennial loser in less than a year, said he asked repeatedly to “talk” about his contract status, and when that message wasn’t heard, he acted, perhaps in self detrimental ways, but in a way that protected his integrity.  Powerful stuff.

I awake this morning to read about state workers in Connecticut rejecting a deal to produce cost-saving in this budget-strapped state.  In turning down this carefully crafted structure that basically all sides including the union hierarchy expected to pass, the state workers’ action will likely lead to the firing of 7,500 of their brethren and “wreck chances of addressing the states long-term fiscal needs”, say the experts.  Like the Riggleman situation, this action seems to hurt everybody involved: the workers themselves, all Connecticut taxpayers and the state’s budgeting efforts. 

I’m certain there were many reasons why Connecticut workers voted against the deal, but one employee said, “if I lose my job, I won’t lose my integrity”.   In a simplistic sense,  it is not often that you see people standing up for principles that superseeds their self-interest, but these two particular cases offer interesting and striking exceptions.