Bobby Valentine Fell Off His Bicycle Into A Waterlogged Ditch

Bobby Valentine was riding his bicycle around the Central Park Reservoir and then—what do you know—he fell into a ditch:

In the final days of one of the most painful seasons of his career, Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine on Tuesday lay entangled with his bicycle at the bottom of a ditch next to the Central Park Reservoir.

On the wet, slippery path, Valentine was reading a text on his phone from Dustin Pedroia, the Red Sox second baseman, and riding his bicycle. When he looked up, he had to swerve to avoid the umbrellas of two French tourists walking in front of him. The bike skidded, and he lost his balance and went careening head over pedals down the side of the hill by the road.

Could this be an even better metaphor for managerial incompetence than a fish truck driving into a building named for Jeffrey Loria at Yale? That incident was in some ways more complex and layered, but it's hard to argue with the pure immediacy—the visceral imagery and emotional resonance—of Bobby Valentine going for a jaunt in the park and falling off his bicycle into ditch. Hopefully Bobby V. made the deadline for the MacArthur Fellowships.

Valentine Hurt After Reading Text Message on Bike [NYT]