The Biz is back!

I tried to make it through a semester without updating the Biz Blog, but it ate away at me. So in honor of my return, I’ve included three separate snippets from the news this week. As always, feel free to e-mail me at nowakjo2@msu.edu with feedback and ideas. Enjoy.

Big Mac’s back
And I thought the Indians hiring Manny Acta as the team’s next manager was the worst front office move of the week in baseball (with Don Mattingly and Bobby Valentine on the market who reportedly interviewed for the job).

But the Cardinals — in conjunction with bringing back manager Tony La Russa for another season — have announced Mark McGwire will be coming on as the team’s new hitting coach. What next? Announcing that Bernie Madoff has been hired as the team’s next financier? The team is making two major mistakes here.

One is obvious — they’re hiring one of the poster boys for the steroids era. McGwire was one of the first players to be exposed for using HGH and made a fool of himself in front of Congress. Great, now let’s let him guide the youth of the organization.

The second mistake — steroids aside — is McGwire was never a great pure hitter. Even when he was with the Athletics (likely still using ‘roids) he was a “bash brother,” known for hitting the ball a mile, along with teammate Jose Canseco (and we know how that turned out). Right now, the Cardinals’ best player and hitter, Albert Pujols, can hit the ball a mile but still has one of the most pure swings in baseball. If the Cardinals were going to be best served, they’d bring in someone who has a higher career batting average than McGwire’s, at a rock-solid .263. Pujols may as well just play first base and coach the hitters himself.

Pen in the company ink
We’ve had presidents, presidential candidates and national celebrity and talk show hosts riled in intra-office scandals in recent memory that have caused huge rifts in their marriage. Now, we have a former big league GM-turned ESPN broadcaster. Steve Phillips, a former New York Mets GM, was outed last week for an affair with 22-year-old production assistant Brooke Hundley.

He took a leave of absence, but it was reported Monday that Phillips has since been fired. Steve: You’re married, with a family and have a great job. You threw it all away. And she’s not that hot. Is Harold Reynolds available?

Hats off to the Mountaineers
It’s nice to see the West Virginia athletics department finally made a sound choice in terms of its coaching personnel. Bill Stewart, former Mountaineers head coach and current Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez’s successor, was at the forefront of a resounding statement in West Virginia’s weekend home game against Connecticut.

The Huskies, playing in their first game since cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed to death, received a loud standing ovation from the Mountaineers home crowd. Many in the stands held signs and banners in remembrance of the 20-year-old who was killed shortly after UConn’s homecoming victory the week before.

But the strongest showing of support was Stewart’s idea. After both teams and the entire stadium honored Howard with a moment of silence, the two teams — not just the captains — met at midfield to exchange hugs, high-fives and handshakes. It was an emotional scene (West Virginia ended up winning a close game) that was as sportsmanlike as it gets.