For some reason the discussion of military training and the Pittsburgh Pirates is still going on. Back in September, Bob Nutting addressed the media and commented on the topic, with the original comments seen here. A big focus was placed on this quotes:
“We should not be, will not be, are not a military organization.”
That’s led to a lot of people saying that Nutting ordered the military training to end. Because of this perception, every time Neal Huntington, Frank Coonelly, or anyone else discusses the military training, it is met with comments about insubordination. I feel like the only person who remembers this part of Nutting’s press conference.
“If we can find the appropriate balance, where we have the safety of our players utmost in mind, that we have the baseball development utmost in mind, we can supplement that baseball focus with additional drills, team building training, I think that we should be open to and find ways to do it within context and so forth.”
That’s a direct quote from Nutting. He didn’t say the military drills were coming to an end. He said they would be scaled back, and that they could continue if there was an appropriate balance and the safety of the players was in mind. It would be insubordination if the Pirates didn’t make the changes outlined above. But considering Nutting never ordered a full stop to the training, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the topic is still discussed by members of the Pirates management.
There are two different aspects here. The Navy SEAL training is about team building, and isn’t a big risk to players, as I outlined back when this stuff came out. The “Hoka Hey” stuff seemed to be where the “military organization” and some of the risks came in to play. I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept the Navy SEAL training, which is more about team building and something that hundreds of teams participate in across several sports. And if they continue that, keep in mind that there was never a public order for the training to completely stop.
