There it is. The Vote of Confidence.

"Firing the manager is not in the cards."

So I guess Run-DMc got back to JJO, because he then went on to say:

He's only been the manager for a year and a half. I think that's somewhat premature (to discuss firing Cooper). We believe in Cecil. We played great in the second half last year with Cecil. We just need to come together as a team and say our mission is to win. Hopefully we'll start winning in Pittsburgh.""

Coop says:
"I think I'm doing everything I can, changing the lineup, moving people around. That's all you can do. You change the lineup. You try to motivate them every day. That's all you can do."

I'll go one more and say that maybe communicating to your veterans is in there with "all you can do." That said, I'm still in favor of retaining Cooper, if only for the future of the organization. If Coop is not the manager after 2010, so be it. You still play Matsui, when injuries allow, because he's under contract.

We harp on football coaches - that's you, Bobby Petrino - for changing teams with no regard for the integrity of the organization. Things get tough, things get investigated by the NCAA, you leave. That's college sports. That's the NFL. I like to think that baseball is the only sport with every contract guaranteed because baseball is still played by men of their word. We're offended by Pete Rose - for whom there's still an Off-Day Argument, by the by - because he messed with The Integrity. PED users dishonor the memory of the game. We know the names of Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson because those are the guys who Played The Game Right. We know what the number 56 means. We know 714, 755, and now grudgingly, 762. We know what .406 stands for. Baseball is about honor and integrity. To fire a manager six weeks after hiring him for eighteen months beyond that does not show integrity, and reflects poorly on a poorly-run organization.

That can change by honoring a commitment to Cecil Cooper.