after mathis had been traded, i was at fanfest with everyone in arizona. we were doing the sunday morning Q & A with tim mead and i asked something about how the organization felt when trading away a guy like mathis. i wasn't trying to be disrespectful or mean-spirited or anything (i may have mentioned something about him not being terribly productive offensively, too) but boy oh boy did i hit a raw nerve with mead. he was very defensive of mathis and talked about how he was generally considered the best athlete on the team (not kiddingly) and that it was really hard to let him go because everyone thought so highly of him.
needless to say, mead and i did not have lunch together that day. he wasn't very happy with me.