We, as paying fans, hold our athletes to a fairly high standard. We want them to make rational decisions both on and off the field. We want them to have respect for the rules and to play the game the “right” way. We want them to play for their teammates, the city and most importantly, the fans.

If players can do this for us, then all is well. They will be showered with Bobbleheads, jersey sales and cheers. It’s a beautiful thing.

However, it seems more often than not, fans complain about players being immature. Whether it’s their actions off the field or their lack of “maturity” in game-time situations, they incur the wrath of the public (Ben Wallace and Sammy Sosa come to mind). We boo them mercilessly until they either lash out against us or are forced out of town (usually some combination of the two). Players don’t get free passes for not acting or playing like professionals.

Unfortunately, fans don’t hold everybody in sports to these standards, and we let the actions of certain people slide. This, in turn, can have a negative effect on the players and the franchise as a whole. Of course, I’m talking about the coaches.

In this case, I’m specifically talking about baseball managers. Besides the occasional hilarious tirade, managers get away with saying and doing pretty much whatever they want without receiving the same treatment a player would get from the fans for similar actions. The men who are responsible for running our favorite teams are often more childish than we think, and this can drastically alter the way players approach the game.

Some managers are just stubborn, like a kid who won’t eat his vegetables despite the fact they are good for him. They won’t budge even when making a change is sensible.

Let’s look at good old Lou Piniella here. Lou continues to hit Alfonso Soriano first in the batting order.

Of all the places Soriano could hit, leadoff is probably the worst. His .132 batting average and his .214 on-base percentage (Whoa. Stat point. I just had a Baseball 101 moment) are amazingly bad for a leadoff hitter. Yet there he stays. Striking out and trying to crush homers as the Cubs leadoff man.

So how does Lou react when reporters question his decision to leave Soriano in the No. 1 spot? He snaps at them, critiques their reporting ability and intimidates them into not bringing up the topic again. Stubborn to the end.

On the South Side, the seemingly endlessly talking blowhole known as Ozzie Guillen’s mouth never stops supplying reporters with quotes. Usually Ozzie is a pretty funny guy and has a good reason behind his outbursts.

Recently, though, Ozzie decided it was a smart idea to publicly admit he dislikes umpire Phil Cuzzi (who is responsible for Guillen’s last two ejections) and was going to escalate this dislike to a new level:

“Put it this way, as soon as I know he’s going to be behind the plate, I know I’m going to get ejected … You can ask my bench coach (Joey Cora). As soon as I see (Cuzzi), I say, ‘You’re going to handle this game today because I know I’m going to be ejected because that’s how I feel about that situation,'” Guillen told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Not only is it utterly ridiculous to hold an open grudge against an umpire, but it is a completely selfish act by Guillen to admit that he will get himself ejected every time Cuzzi is the umpire of a Sox game.

He is putting his personal issues above that of the team, his players and the fans.

Finally, over in Cincinnati, former Cubs manager and current Reds skipper Dusty Baker and the coaching staff that followed him from the Cubs told the Chicago Tribune earlier this week that they still feel cheated by their experience in Chicago, and believe they were treated unfairly by the fans and media.

Baker and his staff go on to blame the media for being too harsh on them for circumstances they believe were outside their control, and they say that Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry was unwilling to spend top dollar for key players.

Regardless of what Cubs fans might think of Baker and his managing strategies (aka pitcher abuse), the fact that Baker is unwilling to take any blame for his failure in Chicago shows his lack of leadership and responsibility.

So as we continue to harshly judge players for not acting like professionals or mature adults, maybe we should be taking a closer look at the people who manage them, and we’ll find the real source of the problem.

As I’ve said before, I truly believe a team takes on the personality of its coach. The last thing I want is for my favorite players on my favorite team to start acting like stubborn, selfish and irresponsible children.

Kyle Betts is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected].