There are a lot of divas in the sports world. It’s often hard to even consider some of today’s sports figures in the same league as the tough-as-nails athletes of yesteryear. However, professional athletes choosing family over team over a game does not a diva make. In fact, it’s a quality we should celebrate. But don’t tell that to Dallas Observer Columnist Richie Whitt.
Whitt recently attacked pitcher Colby Lewis of the Texas Rangers in one of his columns for skipping a scheduled start to attend the birth of his child. According to the Huffington Post, Whitt had this to say:
Follow me this way to some confusion.
Imagine if Jason Witten missed a game to attend the birth of a child. It’s just, I dunno, weird. Wrong even.
Departures? Totally get it because at a funeral you’re saying goodbye to someone for the last time. But an arrival is merely saying hello to someone you’ll see the rest of your life.
Dave Bush filled in for Lewis last week in Detroit and threw three scoreless innings of a game that Mark Lowe and the bullpen eventually coughed up. But that’s not the point. Baseball players are paid millions to play baseball. If that means “scheduling” births so they occur in the off-season, then so be it. Of the 365 days in a year, starting pitchers “work” maybe 40 of them, counting spring training and playoffs.
If it was a first child, maybe. But a second child causing a player to miss a game? Ludicrous.
What’s ludicrous is actually the fact that, while un-thinking reactionaries like Whitt complain about a father being there for his wife and family, they simultaneously lament the lack of integrity and dedication in todays pro athletes. Whitt is likely one of the first people to tell you that there’s rarely any soul left in sports, that everyone is just in it for the money. Luckily, there are saner voices out there willing to contest Whitt’s assertions.
“I understand that there are trolls out there trying to get a rise out of folks and that they might otherwise be fine upstanding people,” wrote NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra. “But as a wise man once wrote, we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be. If you write idiotic things, for whatever reason, sorry, you’re an idiot.”
Those aren’t the words of a blogger, Mr. Whitt, but a colleague.
[PhotoSource: The Huffington Post]
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Check out what others are saying about this post...[...] Not to take anything away from Weavers performance, but I wonder if Richie Whitt will try to blame this loss on Texas pitcher Colby Lewis or the birth of his daughter. [...]