Kirk Gibson can't be bothered to attend his son's HS graduation (SIAP)

Says it's because "you're supposed to graduate"

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/kirk-gibson-doesn-t-attend-son-high-school-154024158--mlb.html;_ylt=AsNjg7nBx179TldMxz6uTqI5nYcB

I'm a little torn, because I definitely agree with the sentiment, that graduating high school should happen. But if he can't make the effort to at least be there to give his son a pat on the back for 13 years of academic work and take some family pictures with his kid wearing the cap and gown, I've got to think this is an incredibly big dick move.

And from what I've heard, it shouldn't be a surprise in the least that "Kirk Gibson" and "dick move" are used together.

 

I don't have a major problem with it. Gibson has a big boy job. One that 90% of the people will eventually get fired from. He, I presume, has provided a strong financial living for his family.

Some jobs simply require you to be around. MLB manager doesn't come with PTO days. Gibson will have November to February to spend all the time he needs with him.

 

+1. I think the only games the late Dave Niehaus ever missed were when his children graduated.

And, yes, Kirk Gibson is prick of gargantuan proportions.

EDIT: looked it up and Niehaus did miss games when his health started to fail him.

 

Yeah Kirk, you're supposed to get the game-winning hit. That's what the Dodgers paid you for.

Yet, you seemed quite overjoyed to be running around those bases with your arms pumping.

 

The Diamondbacks had open dates on the Monday before and then the Thursday after the graduation date.

I am sure if four or five months ago Gibson had sent a nifty little 5-figure check (chicken feed to him) to the Grosse Pointe South athletic (or even academic) fund, the school would have been happy to change the date.

 

Just as I'm sure the Dbacks would have let him go.

 

No problem with it at all.

He's one of 30 people in America who manage major-league teams and are extremely well compensated for it. His son is one of roughly 2.8 million students who will graduate from high school this year.

If he's like most kids, he would probably skip the ceremony and the boring speeches if he could and go straight to the partying.

 

While I have no doubt that Gibson is a dick and this anecdote serves in support of that, it's also true that in these families, the wife and kids are used to dad missing stuff. If the kid plays baseball, there's a good chance Kirk has never seen him play. So as I fathomable as missing graduation would sound to us, to them it's just another thing dad wasn't there for.

 

The D-backs would probably have let him just skip the game itself anyway -- as others have noted, this sort of thing is quite commonplace.


Basically it boils down to this.

1) Kirk Gibson is a rich guy. He has plenty of money.

2) Rich guys get what they want by shelling out money.

3) If Kirk Gibson had shelled out the money six months or so ago, he would not have been ripped or criticized or anything else; in fact, in all likelihood, no one would ever have known the difference; graduation ceremonies get moved three or four days one way or the other six months ahead of time and nobody ever bats an eye. GPS would have sent out an email in January, "please note, the graduation ceremony will now be held on Monday, June 11 instead of Thursday, June 14" and nobody would have ever said a thing about it.

So, 4) the fact that Kirk Gibson did not lay out a sum of money which would have been a pittance to him to see his son's graduation in order to get a schedule change nobody would have known or cared about, simply reinforces the fact he is a cheapskate selfish dick.


Oh, and the idea of Kirk Gibson managing a MLB team is hilarious in itself.

He has got to hold the MLB career record for stupid throws to the wrong base. Even after 15 years in the majors, he was still a football player playing baseball.

 

It's a high school graduation. It's not that big a deal.

 

Maybe high school graduation isn't a big deal in their family.

Maybe they've got a special celebration planned next week instead.

Maybe his son told him not to miss any games to attend this ceremony.

There are all sorts of reasons why Kirk Gibson might choose not to be there.

Frankly, when he made his comment about it, I laughed. His son clearly didn't have a problem with the whole situation, either. Not sure why everyone's so eager to judge Gibson as a prick.