Need a manager?

One of the more humorous aspects of evolving media is how people keep finding interesting ways to play practical jokes or to just pass along out of band messages in forums never intended for the purpose. I get a kick out of some of the oddball stuff people pass on from eBay, CraigsList and the like.

Jon Weisman passed along this advertisement posted on CraigsList a few days ago:

All of my other avenues for finding a good manager for my team have been exhausted, so I'm turning to Craigslist. Over the past few months, our organization has gone through some small turnover (our General Manager had to let go of our manager for gross incompetence, and then we had to dismiss our General Manager at the advice of my favorite newspaper columnist). There's an opportunity for you to be our next team manager, but only if you're willing to take the job. The past few people that we've looked at have all either declined to be interviewed, or have taken a job with a different team.

Before you respond to this ad, there are a few things you should know about our team, and a few requirements for you to get the position.

First and foremost: your actual baseball skills can be subpar, but you must, must, must absolutely be able to be a media darling. If you cannot be interviewed by the paper, radio, and tv every single day, regardless of whether we win or lose, then don't bother applying.

Second: you may or may not have some knowledge of statistics, but we will absolutely not allow you to use a computer to help with your work. Baseball is primarily about people, and about the amount of heart and soul they can put into their work. Using statistics can only cloud your judgement about the actual baseball skills of your players.

Read the whole thing, it's a nice commentary on the current state of the Dodgers.