|
May 26, 2012
Who is Shyster?
Monthly Archives
November, 2009
October, 2009 September, 2009 August, 2009 July, 2009 June, 2009 May, 2009 April, 2009 March, 2009 February, 2009 January, 2009 December, 2008 November, 2008
Or you can search by:
Most Recent Comments
Mike Hargrove Interview (7)
Cole Hamels Meets Talk Radio (21) Just another ten-percenter (his mind is like an ocean) (5) The Waiting Game (10) Rules = Destiny (1) Shyster's Daily Circuit
Rob Neyer
AaronGleeman.com Joe Posnanski Blog Baseball Analysts Baseball Musings Cot's Baseball Contracts It IS About the Money Keith Law Cardboard Gods Baseball Think Factory MLB Trade Rumors Retrosheet Vegas Watch Way Back and Gone Bats -- NYT Baseball Blog The Biz of Baseball The Daily Fungo U.S.S. Mariner Braves Journal Scott Simkus The Common Man Jorge Says No! Baseball Over Here Fack Youk Wezen-Ball Chop-n-Change |
Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.Wednesday, June 24, 2009Comment of the DayI think that, with this comment, J.W. gets at the core of a good third of the baseball debates that go on around here and elsewhere:I agree that Manny doesn’t deserve adulation or admiration. Neither does A-Rod (for cheating on his wife, etc.) But this brings us to a difficult question regarding entertainment. Can we divorce entertainment from the men and women who play the role of entertainer? Can we like Woody Allen movies and still disapprove of his conduct towards his wife and one-time step-daughter? Can we watch and enjoy Roman Polanski films? Can we listen to Chris Brown’s music? Michael Jackson’s? I can usually ignore the personal baggage and enjoy the entertainment. Usually. "Chinatown" and "Annie Hall" are two of my favorite movies, but I have a much harder time watching "Manhattan" and "Tess." I guess what that means is that if the performance is really, really good, I'm willing to put aside the baggage. Or heck, maybe it's all just the performance talking because "Chinatown" > "Tess" and I don't know that I need to reference Polanski's issues to not like the latter as much as the former. But it is worth thinking about. Do those who disapprove of Manny, Manny, Manny (and others) disapprove of the transgression or of the person? Is there even a valuable distinction to be made there? More relevantly, is it possible to enjoy baseball while disapproving of those who play it? My answer to that last question is an obvious yes, within limits. Steroid use really doesn't bother me that much from an enjoyment-of-the-game perspective. I enjoyed 1998 and 2001 and all of that stuff, and I'm not now going to pretend I didn't. I'd have a hard time watching Roger Clemens pitch today, but that's because of the Mindy McCready business, not the juice. Not that philandering baseball players in general bother me -- no one knows what goes on in anyone's marriage so it's probably best not to judge too harshly unless you have all of the facts -- but Clemens was messing with a kid on an emotional level at the very least. Let's see what else: I have no tolerance for domestic violence, so the Brett Myers and Bobby Chouniards of the world can die in a fire as far as I'm concerned. Some of my favorite artists and just about all of my favorite writers were drunks, so while I'd wish people wouldn't do that to themselves, it's not going to keep me from enjoying what they do. Pete Rose turned out to be a piece of crap, but if he were playing in 1973 form today and all of that stuff hit the fan I'd enjoy his game until the moment he was banned. Basically, if you avoid violence, cruelty and the mistreatment of kids, I'm probably going to still buy your product even if I wouldn't seek you out at a party. I guess that still leaves me conflicted about Polanski. But man, there's no way I'm going to give up one of my favorite DVDs. Forget it Jake; it's "Chinatown." Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:07pm Comments
themarksmith said...
Fair enough. Posted 06/25 at 11:16 PM
Page 2 of 2 < 1 2
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Next Post: Even more Manny outrage>> <<Previous Post: Marlins-Yanks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It’s not a matter of forgiveness or second chances really. Bobby Cox doesn’t need my forgiveness. He didn’t do anything to me, and I’m not so engaged in his life or he mine where that level of analysis is required.
To me, it’s just about whether you have a favorable opinion of a guy or not or whether you’d find the guy interesting beyond the game and stuff. I don’t stay up at night hating Bobby Cox, and unless the issue really comes up I rarely think about it. But when I do, I think negatively about him. Could that opinion change if I knew the guy better? Oh, I’m sure it could, but the only other thing I know about him is his life in baseball, so the whole issue of second chances and all of that is not really out there.
I’ll grant you that 99.9% of his other actions impact the way I perceive the guy, but his life is more than just me watching him manage the Braves. We can’t know any of that, so the whole exercise of judging him as a person isn’t really for us to do. The most I can do is have a bad impression of him based on what I know. Maybe that’s not fair to him, but it’s no more unfair than ballplayers expecting us to love them based on the good things they do.