Barlow was a good traffic cop, one who could field the dozens of requests from the public and the media and figure out which request should get a green light. She had to understand the different personalities of the 25 players and the manager, who would be fine sitting down for 40 minutes with a newspaper reporter and who was best on television. She knew how each one handled criticism and compliments, and how to deal with the issues that arise when a player is injured, sent down or called up, according to Bader.