Extensive Ned Colletti interview

Guys over at the Dodgers blog, Blue Notes, have done an extensive interview with the Dodgers GM Ned Colletti. For convenience of reading, it is cut into two parts (one and two). Colletti does seem to be a very knowledgeable and baseball-sensitive chap.

Here are some excerpts that caught my eye. Part one:

Blue Notes: You mentioned that you had seen a team last year that didn't play up to its potential. What did you see as that team's identity when you came in and how did you want to tweak it?

NC: Just generally, again, I wanted a team that would play hard. In the course of a season there's going to be all sorts of ups and downs. Many downs. And a lot of adversity. And I wanted a team that was going to understand that and not be overwhelmed by it. Not be discouraged to the point where they stopped playing or stopped trying. Because you know, when you pay people a lot of money and it's guaranteed barring some fluke, you have to have the right people. Because when things get tough, you always find out who's who. In any walk of life. In your personal life, in your careers, in anything. You find out who's who when it takes more to survive or more to succeed. And I wanted a team that had that character to it. [...]

On passion of the Dodger fans:

What I've been, I don't want to say "surprised" because surprise isn't accurate, but what I've been taken by here is the passion of the fans. Because when you come into Los Angeles as a visiting player, you see the seats starting to fill up in the second and third inning, and you see the seats start to empty out in the seventh inning, and you're take on it is- and I said at the beginning of this, from an outsider's perspective, which isn't accurate- "They're kind of laissez faire. Come late, leave early." Until I started to listen to them and talk to them and run into them in the hallways because my office is (on one end of the stadium) and I walk the concourse to my booth every night, and I see a lot of people around town all the time. I see a lot of people who ventured to Vero Beach from Los Angeles. And their passion overwhelms me. They really are incredibly passionate fans.

Part two:

Blue Notes: Like everything in sports these days, it seems like general managers are as much a part of the "celebrity." And the new style of GMs, with greater emphasis on computer models and certain stats, there's sort of a new school and an old school. And at the risk of putting a label on you that you may or may not find appropriate, you seem more old school.

NC: Well, that's for people in the media and fans to label. I can't label me. I believe in people. I believe in hard work, integrity and people. People determine success and failure. Who they are. Their character. Their mindset. Their approach to life. Their priorities. Their work ethic. I don't find that in a book. I find that in people. I find it in conversation. I find it in watching. I find it in seeing how people handle adversity and handle life. I can't do it any other way. [...]

Photo: Ned Colletti (left) with skipper Grady Little [www.boston.com]