Another head-scratcher

One of the main purposes of any sort of opinion or commentary piece in our business is to stoke the passions of folks on all sides of the issues, with the realization there will be plenty of name calling.

Obviously, as seen on this website, mission accomplished. Ho-hum.

 

Oh, I misread. The pitcher was there. The writer is the douche. Got it.

Well I feel bad for the stepchild he "raised" for 8 years.

 

A Dallas-area freelance journalist/blogger lays the smack down:
http://hayladies.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/dallas-sports-columnist-displeased-with-pitchers-decision-to-do-a-totally-normal-thing/

The deconstruction:

 

That's excrement.

 

FWIW, the guy is getting ripped in the comments.

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a player missing a start to see the birth of a child. However, if this was the postseason I would lose a lot of respect for a player if they missed a game for that reason.

 

Curious how many reporters would miss covering a game for the birth of your child? If it's the WS, does that make it OK? I'm assuming that the Dallas writer would have no problem neglecting his family.

 

The Dallas writer probably isn't making $10,000 per article, Brad.

 

He had a note in a column from Friday addressing it one last time:

Yeah, great, you just go do that. I don't know about others here, but I've had two kids in the last six-plus years and it was a pain in the ass to get time off to be at either birth or have a few days afterward. When my first son was due, the paper I was at was especially hard headed. It was ridiculous in this day and age, and it's obviously still a battle for men to be equal partners in the parentling world. This columnist's hypocrisy further proves that.

Of course he'd go see the birth of his child, and just because someone is in the spotlight doesn't mean he shouldn't be allowed to do so. Shit, it's just a baseball game. Can you imagine telling your kid down the road that you missed his birth to be a part of a seven-hit no decision in April?

 

Yes. I'm sure that's just how he'd put it, too.

"In retrospect, son, I wish I'd been there for your delivery. I mean, I didn't get a decision."

(If you're going to make the argument, don't go out to ridiculous extremes.)

 

Ridiculous extremes are the lifeblood of this board.

 

Who are we saying is going to ridiculous extremes? If it's me, this columnist set it up for such. It's a ridiculous thought, which opens it up to such scenarios. If the pitcher had chosen to make his start instead be at the birth of his child I guaran-damn-tee you he'd have to answer why he wasn't there and his kid may not understand. My kids, even at a young age, have already been curious about their birth stories. Do you think it would be better if it was a one-hit win?