Keeping The Proper Perspective

I know that a sports columnist's job is to talk about issues in the arena of sports. And my old sport's econ teacher used to joke that your could find out more from the police blotter than the sports pages about today's athletes. When handling stories like these, you really have to be mindful of all the issues involved, if you just correlate it to sports, you can miss the bigger picture and come off as slightly ignorant to the rest of the world.
So here are some news articles about K-Rod. Now let's get into the opinions. First up: Bob Klapisch

Mets organization shows a lack of backbone

The first few paragraphs are well-written and thought out. Then he gets to the second half of the article:

K-Rod may do time, but this much is certain: He’ll return to a clubhouse full of nice guys, not one of whom is a leader.

Huh? What does this have to do with anything you've talked about in this article? (Yes I'm making you read the article from it's source, sorry) The man has a history of violence against both men and women and you're decrying the lack of leadership in the Mets clubhouse? Not the time Bob.

David Wright? He gets the most TV face time, but he’s a watered-down version of the ’80s-era Keith Hernandez. Beltran is the Mets’ most talented player, but he’s as non-confrontational as Wright. Jose Reyes is just trying to stay healthy. And what about Manuel? He’s just a short-timer with no credibility in the room, on his way to getting fired.

So Bob has decided that this incident of domestic violence is the perfect opportunity to rip into various members of the Mets organization. Classy. Also Beltran is the most talented player? He's played 106 games in the past two years. Angel Pagan would have a quarrel with Bob's contention, at least this year.

That, in part, is why Rodriguez went off on a family member on Wednesday, because somewhere in his consciousness he knew he could get away with it.

No, it's not. That's just ridiculous. He did it because he's a hot-headed bully.

At no time did K-Rod stop to think, “These are my teammates’ wives, their children, they shouldn’t have to witness this.”
That deterrent should’ve stopped K-Rod, had he been more self-aware.

That, or the idea that beating up a 58-year-old man when your a pro athlete in his prime is just flat out wrong.

That’s why he’s going to need counseling. It may or may not work. Rodriguez’s rage comes from the same place that makes him fearless in the ninth inning.

Wow, I can't tell you how stupid I think this statement is. Dumb and ignorant. His rage has caused two people to file for restraining orders against him. His rage does not help him paint the outside corner with a breaking ball. Really stupid statement. Then I read this statement from Carlos Beltran:

Carlos Beltran said one of the reasons the Mets played so well yesterday was that they are tired of being publicly embarrassed.

Joke Number 1: You'd think the Mets would be used to that.
Joke Number 2: Maybe they should hire Fishburn's daughter to do their PR. Then they'd be really motivated every time she sent a tweet.
Joke Number 3: Which player will beat up a family member next to spark their big run to the playoffs?
Joke Number 4: You'd think the Mets would be used to that.

Then Kevin Kernan writes this:

Maybe they will keep that edge for a while, especially with the Phillies coming to town.

Dear Lord, he bought into it.

“It’s disappointing,” Beltran said of the K-Rod situation. “Everyone has family issues, but you don’t want something like this to happen at the ballpark nor at the place where you work."

Someone tell Beltran to shut up, now. Carlos, you shouldn't want something like that to happen ANYWHEREERERERERERERERER!

“We felt all the negatives would turn into a positive,” Beltran said.

The negative being your closer beat up his 58-year-old father-in-law. Great math lesson from Professor Beltran about negatives turning into positives. Beating up an older man and getting accused of rape (Santana) are both negatives. 2 negatives = a positive! And a Mets victory! Yay math! Though a word of warning Mets, one more negative makes things go back to negative.

Case Closed.

Another person forgets last year...

Bob Klapisch on Fox Sports makes the same mistake as our good friend Jeff Pearlman in this article: Bay is nice, but not what Mets need.

In the meantime, the Mets are getting an infusion of power that will take pressure off David Wright. The third baseman, once a 30-home run threat, hit only 10 HRs last season, and just five at Citi Field. Bay will be a welcome antidote to the power deficit, although he’s more likely to hit 25 home runs at cavernous Citi than the 36 he slugged with the Red Sox.

Did everyone in New York suffer a concussion last year and forget about Wright's condition? Again from Wikipedia:

In a season where many other Mets' players have already been injured, the injury bug finally caught up to Wright on August 15. Wright suffered a concussion when he was hit in the head with a 94 mph fastball by San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain.
On August 16, he left the hospital, diagnosed with post-concussion symptoms. He was then placed on the disabled list for the first time in his career...

How do people keep ignoring this as if Wright is just some washed up bum? I mean, any amount of research would remind the writer about this. I guess New York is so tough that even a concussion isn't an excuse for an off year.
Case Closed!