The Ryne Sandberg era hasn’t even begun, but already I am looking forward to his firing.  It’s nothing personal — Ryno was a helluva Cub and all indications are that he’s a fine minor league manager — but I don’t know how many times I can stand hearing the phrase “player x plays the game the right way” or “player y knows the way the game is supposed to be played.”  If you listen to sports radio or read the beat writers, you’d think every Big Leaguer save Adam Kennedy never learned the proper rules for tagging up.  Milton Bradley probably runs to third instead of first after hitting the ball!

But enough from me, let’s hear it from Mr. Sandberg himself.  From his 2005 Hall of Fame induction speech:

The reason I am here, they tell me, is that I played the game a certain way, that I played the game the way it was supposed to be played. I don’t know about that, but I do know this: I had too much respect for the game to play it any other way, and if there was there was a single reason I am here today, it is because of one word, respect.

And here I thought talent was what got you into the Hall of Fame.

Anyway, Dave van Dyck, laid the first sacrifice at the altar of doing things the right way in yesterday’s Tribune.  He even uses the catchphrase!

He [Sandberg] gives a very similar talk about playing the game the right way to his players before each season begins.

As van Dyck and of course Ryno remind us, the phrase can be molded to suit any circumstance, and can be combined with other cliches (“play hard all the time,” “I am what I am,” “paying dues”) for an added bonus.  Keep up the good work, fellas.