Does Anger Work?

By Dana Brand
Posted Thursday, June 28, 2007

When a team breaks out of a slump and starts a winning streak, sports radio and newspaper analysts inevitably try to find “what caused the turnaround.” That is part of their job and I don’t blame them for doing it. But everybody knows that it is hard enough to pinpoint the cause of a turnaround for one person, let alone a team of twenty-five. And as for proving that something caused a turnaround … Forget about it.

But to judge from the way radio guys bark! and some sportswriters write!, these guys seem to think that all they have to do is assert their explanation forcefully. They don’t have to think it out. And as for considering the evidence for and against it …. What? …Are you kidding?

So this week, we’ve had to listen over and over again to people telling us that the Mets came out of their slump and are back in business because David Wright threw his glove and Paul LoDuca threw various items of catching equipment. Do you really believe this? Maybe it’s true. I don’t really know. But I have a hard time understanding how there can be a connection between these two bizarre little incidents and the settling down of the Mets’ defense and four individual starting pitchers, which to my inexperienced eye seem to have been the most important factors behind the success the Mets have had since last Friday. Does someone want to try to prove to me that a teammate throwing sporting equipment in anger causes a few pitchers to settle down and pitch more effectively?

And remember that, however good the starting pitching has been this week, two of those games might have been lost had it not been for two ninth inning at-bats by Castro and Wright on Saturday and one swing by Shawn Green on Monday. Can someone prove to me that any of those three at-bats turned out the way they did because of the adrenalin that might have been in the blood of Castro, Wright, and Green that wouldn’t have been there if objects had not been thrown? I’m sorry. I’m not convinced. Why didn’t the flying gloves and masks produce some hits and runs during the other innings of those ball games?

Do displays of anger and frustration make the difference? Do they get people riled up? Did they get the Mets to wake up and show that they really wanted to win?

My gut and my head come back to me with the same answer on this one and the answer is “no.” But the truth is that I have no idea.

I think that the idea that anger makes a difference is based on an analogy that sports analysts like to make between sports and the psychology of fighting and warfare. And there’s probably some truth to this. I do think that anger can be a motivator in a fight or a battle. If the opposing team does or says something to show disrespect, I think that a team can indeed get riled up. I can see how that works. It may not lead to anything. And it may not be better than maintaining a sense of calm. But on occasion, I can see where it might make a difference.

But how would that work in this situation? LoDuca was mad at an umpire for what he felt was an inconsistency in the way in which he was calling balls and strikes. Did El Duque also get mad at the umpire and decide to throw a shutout? Did Tom Glavine look at David Wright throwing that glove and think “Hey, my teammates really want to win. I didn’t realize that. I’ve gotta stop crapping around and go win my 296th game!” When Shawn Green hit that home run that almost went over the scoreboard, do you think he was thinking, “Thanks, David and Paulie, for waking me up and inspiring me to want to hit that home run.” I know you don’t know Shawn Green that well, but from what you have seen of him, do you think it is likely that that’s the way his psychology works?

Look, I’m not ruling it out. I just don’t know. But from what I’ve seen of the human race in my half-century, I still need to be convinced. In most instances in which I’ve seen people turn something around, they turn it around because they’ve quieted down, gotten focused and gotten serious. Sometimes they express anger before they get there and sometimes they don’t. I don’t think that the expression of the anger necessarily accomplishes anything in itself. And I’ve seen cases in which the expression of anger and frustration derails people and sometimes ruins everything. Some older Mets fans may remember a very good late ‘70’s Mets pitcher named Pat Zachry who was having a very good season. One night, after a crappy outing, he kicked the dugout steps hard in anger, broke his foot, and was out for the rest of the season. Let me tell you. It didn’t fire up the team at all.

I remember back in 2000, when some idiot, I think it was Mad Dog, said that the Mets might have won the 2000 World Series against the Yankees if Mike Piazza had charged the mound after Roger Clemens threw that piece of the broken bat in his direction. That, he said, might have woken up the Mets. Yeah, Mad Dog, that’s how human beings work. The Mets didn’t want the 2000 World Championship badly enough! They needed a thoughtful grown man to act in a way we try to teach our children not to act in order to realize how badly they wanted it! Just like, Mad Dog, when you’re constipated, you don’t really want to take a crap! Oh, give me a frigging break.

The Mets may or may not be out of their funk. Signs are encouraging. This is a very good team, but it is not a flawless one. There may be other rough patches before the end of October. I just hope that if there’s another bad stretch, nobody on the Mets is going to feel obligated to think “Okay! What can I throw? What can I kick? Who can I scream at?”

 

You can contact Dana Brand at danaabrand@yahoo.com. Dana is the author of Mets Fan, which will be published later this summer by McFarland. Please check out his book site at http://metsfanbook.com and his blog at http://metsfanbook.com/blog/