Jim Leyland: 'They Just Don't Like Me. That's OK'
By: Jeff Riger
It didn't take very long at all for the Tigers to announce that skipper Jim Leyland will be back for his eighth season in a Detroit uniform. Afterward, Leyland, in his crowded office, answered questions for almost an hour ranging in topic from the fans' dislike of him to how happy he was to be back as the manager of the Tigers.
Below are some great responses from the skip…
On the people who dislike him-
"Life is life, some people don't like me. They look at me, I'm bald, I got scars on my face, I'm not too pretty, they just don't like me. That's OK. I've looked at people like that, too; There are some people that I don't like. That's life; it's not a big deal. I learned a long time ago, one of my first bosses as a major league manager told me; if you don't like somebody, don't look at them because they are going to piss you off if you do."
Some people are unhappy that he is back-
"I know some people will probably be happy, I know a lot of people that I have seen this morning are happy about it. But I'm sure there are some, you know… probably Tom in Royal Oak isn't too happy right now but that's OK. That's just the way it goes. I'm sorry Tom, but I'm back."
Needs and loves the stress of the job-
"I live on stress, that's what makes me tick. I truly believe that. My dad was like that, he had a tough time operating unless there was some kind of chaos going on. I truly believe there are people like that and I'm one of them. I like action, I got to have action and sometimes when it's negative it's still action. You know when you're getting ripped up pretty good or things are going great. I like it. I don't know if IO would really call it stress but I like that type of stuff that keeps me going. I'm like a fart in a mitten sometimes, I bounce around, I got to go."
Is he too loyal?-
"As far as the loyalty stuff, a lot of people have said that I'm loyal to a fault. I hope I take that to my grave with me."
Listen to the entire audio of Jim Leyland below. Leyland was in a great mood and you can definitely tell from most of his responses.
