Another head-scratcher

[NightHawk112005]

Look, I'm going to stretch this and say this: If a pitcher and his wife have decided that, for whatever reason, he needs to pitch in a game instead off attend the birth of a child, so be it. Maybe he's squeamish. Maybe he's a nervous wreck, and she'll be more relaxed with him elsewhere. It's not for me to say.

The point, though, is RW isn't the one to be judging that call, one way or another.

Couldn't have said it better.

 

[albert77]

Just for the record, my daughter (the last of three) was born exactly 42 minutes after we pulled up in front of the ER. We got my wife into the room there and at the moment of delivery, a nurse tried to get me to step away, and I told her no.

"I missed seeing my other two kids being born, this is the last one we're having and I want to see it." She didn't say a word, and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

So y'all won't think I'm a deadbeat, my oldest son was born by c-section, so I couldn't be there for his birth, and while I was in the delivery room for our other son, I was concentrating so much on my wife, I completely missed his birth. Wife asked me if I'd seen it, and I said how? "I was worrying about you." "Didn't you see the big mirror they had down there?" "No." So much for my powers of observation. :

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Imagine what this guy woulda' said to Phil Mickelson in 1999 if his pager had gone off.

 

[MacDaddy]

Just for the record, my daughter (the last of three) was born exactly 42 minutes after we pulled up in front of the ER. We got my wife into the room there and at the moment of delivery, a nurse tried to get me to step away, and I told her no.

"I missed seeing my other two kids being born, this is the last one we're having and I want to see it." She didn't say a word, and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

So y'all won't think I'm a deadbeat, my oldest son was born by c-section, so I couldn't be there for his birth, and while I was in the delivery room for our other son, I was concentrating so much on my wife, I completely missed his birth. Wife asked me if I'd seen it, and I said how? "I was worrying about you." "Didn't you see the big mirror they had down there?" "No." So much for my powers of observation. :

Sorry for the tangent, but why couldn't you be there for the C-section? My son was born by C-section earlier this month and I was there.

 

[DanOregon]

I think it also needs to be mentioned that fathers "participating" in the birth is somewhat of a "new" development. No more of Don Draper sucking down whiskey and smokes in the waiting room with other expectant fathers.

 

[Point of Order]

And that's OK, Shaggy. But in just about everything involving one's personal lives, it's a personal decision. And that means it's not black-and-white. To you, it may be. To the guy next to you, it might not be.

Look, I'm going to stretch this and say this: If a pitcher and his wife have decided that, for whatever reason, he needs to pitch in a game instead off attend the birth of a child, so be it. Maybe he's squeamish. Maybe he's a nervous wreck, and she'll be more relaxed with him elsewhere. It's not for me to say.

The point, though, is RW isn't the one to be judging that call, one way or another.

There, as usual, is the hammer hitting the nail on the head.

yep

 

[Lugnuts]

When I think about the child and what it will think when he or she is old enough to understand this, I want to vomit.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Colby Lewis' child?

 

[clutchcargo]

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.

 

[Lugnuts]

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.

 

[Turtle Wexler]

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:

So it’s really very simple: by choosing his family over his job, Colby Lewis is not performing masculinity properly, and that scares the **** out of people who have invested their entire careers, even their whole identities, in reinforcing said masculinity. What do I mean when I say a super studly professional athlete is not performing masculinity properly? I mean this: Colby Lewis’ act of choosing to be at the birth of his kid rather than starting as pitcher in a major league baseball game is a direct and public challenge to the patriarchal norm which dictates that women will be the ones to make career sacrifices, full stop.

 

[MartinonMTV2]

That's excrement.

 

[murphyc]

FWIW, the guy is getting ripped in the comments.

Since you've never had a kid, you can't understand.

Two men can't make one. A baby isn't like a fire, you don't just rub two sticks together and {fire crackling}

 

[Johnny Chase]

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.

 

[Brad Guire]

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.

 

[jr/shotglass]

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

 

[Roscablo]

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

One last thing on Rangers' pitcher Colby Lewis. I've had numerous people -- including during interviews on NBC 5 locally and Inside Edition nationally -- ask me "Yeah, but if you ever have a kid will you miss work to attend the birth?" Answer: Of course. Reason: Nobody will give a damn -- or perhaps even notice -- if I miss work. Critics comparing my piddly professions to a Major League Baseball pitcher was perhaps the funniest, most ridiculous aspect of the whole overblown episode.

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. ****, 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?

 

[jr/shotglass]

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.)

 

[MartinonMTV2]

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.

 

[Roscablo]

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?