[jg2977]

Mike Francesa: I gotta tell ya, Dog… this is one of the strangest firings I’ve ever seen. I mean, what are we doin’ here? The guy wins 90 games, then 110, then 93, then 106, then 86, then 113… and finally gets ya to the Pro Cup. Not the playoffs, not a near miss — the actual championship series! And two days later he’s outta work?! C’mon.

Mad Dog Russo: Mike, I am STUNNED by this! STUNNED! This is not some bum manager finishin’ 58-96 every year! The guy averaged basically a hundred wins a season! He built a powerhouse! Blue Lake was one of the marquee franchises in the whole IPA under Nate Ward!

Mike: And lemme say this too — the 86-win year almost hurt him more than anything. Because the fans got spoiled. They started thinkin’ 100 wins was their birthright. That’s dangerous. That’s when organizations lose perspective.

Dog: Exactly! You know what this is, Mike? This is fans falling in love with the idea that “the manager can’t win the big one.” That’s what happened! They lost three Pro Cups as a franchise — 1881, 1885, now 1891 — and somebody had to take the blame. So the poor guy becomes the lightning rod.

Mike: But he wasn’t even there for the first two losses! That’s the crazy thing! He finally gets ‘em over the hump and into the championship round, and now suddenly he’s the problem?

Dog: And this “Fire Ward Zone” stuff? The T-shirts? The signs? Ahhh c’mon! That’s tough. That’s brutal. You can’t tell me that didn’t seep into ownership’s brain a little bit. The front office can deny it all they want — of course fan pressure mattered! Of course it did!

Mike: Here’s the thing, though. There are expectations now in Blue Lake that are sky high. And when you create expectations, eventually somebody pays for not cashing the ticket. Fort Benton beats ‘em in six, Bobby Hayden shuts the door, and all of a sudden ownership panics.

Dog: Mike, I think they’re gonna regret this. I really do. You don’t casually replace a guy who wins over a hundred games multiple times! Managers like that don’t grow on trees! They don’t! And lemme tell ya somethin’ else — another club is gonna hire this guy immediately. Immediately!

Mike: Oh, there’ll be a line around the block. Any team trying to become respectable? Nate Ward’s gonna be the first phone call. Because the résumé speaks for itself. Six years, six winning seasons, multiple dominant clubs, a pennant, a Pro Cup appearance. That’s elite.

Dog: And now Blue Lake’s gotta live with this. Because if the next guy wins 78 games? The fans who screamed for Ward are suddenly gonna remember how good they had it.

Mike: And that happens all the time in sports. People confuse not winning the title with failure. There’s a difference. Only one team wins at the end.

Dog: Poor Nate Ward. Guy probably thought he finally bought himself some security by winning the pennant! Instead he packed his office two days later! That is cold-blooded, Mike! Cold-blooded!