Memo To Carlos Gonzalez: Know Your Audience

Carlos Gonzalez is a Hollywood kind of guy. His star appeal ranks up there with any athlete not named Peyton Manning in the state of Colorado. If he plays like he did in 2009, he has the kind of appeal that extends outside of Colorado. As such, CarGo might be interested in connecting with other star MLB players. He might also be interested in connecting with stars from other walks of life. Like, say, the NBA…

Kobe Bryant gets booed, taunted, and jeered when he visits the Pepsi Center. He also consistently kills the Denver Nuggets. I cannot speak for everybody, but I feel safe in saying that Bryant is not popular among Colorado sports fans.

Like, at all. I hate the guy (sports hate, not real hate. I’ve never met him).

CarGo. Image: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

He is also a notoriously wicked and difficult teammate. Odds are he did not talk to Gonzalez about clubhouse culture. Hopefully he did not discuss the art of belittling and screaming at your teammates when they do not play well. Hopefully their conversation did not include the art of throwing your teammates under the bus in the media (although CarGo already did a little bit of that this year).

I am all for Gonzalez connecting with championship players. Pick their brains, learn from them, and get hungry to lead your team to glory. That’s all good. Just any champion but Kobe Bean Bryant. Seriously, CarGo, anybody but Kobe Bryant. Know your audience.