Spring training is underway for Major League Baseball. Hope is in the air. Bellies are on display.
Most, if not all, MLB teams have a media training component built into to the their spring programs in Florida and Arizona. The New York Yankees are using the recent behavior of two prominent NFL quarterbacks to better prepare their players for the tabloid onslaught to come.
During the Yankees' media training, the Super Bowl is being used to portray the right and wrong way to act. Part of a video shown to pitchers and catchers compares how Cam Newton handled his Super Bowl loss to the way Russell Wilson dealt with his defeat the previous year.
If you're having trouble placing Wilson's Super Bowl XLIX postgame interview, that's the point. Wilson, never a magnet for controversy unless his thirst for Ciara is involved, answered questions in a post-Malcolm Butler world, accepted blame for the loss, and moved on without incident.
Newton, of course, was a different story.
The Yankees, we surmise, are preaching accountability and the avoidance of behavior that will create superfluous tabloid spectacle. We'll let you know if the Yankees release an internal video on Cam's fumble effort.
