Baseball has taken a few hits the last couple of years. Cheating scandals have run rampant and many have worried about how this will affect the impressionable youth of our country. Well boys and girls, you can start watching again because the 2010 Postseason has been filled with moments that would make any mom proud.
Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad had a day that was so terrible, horrible, no good and very bad that even Alexander would be thankful that he wasn’t in his shoes. Still, there was his manager Bobby Cox standing up for his player in the postgame press conference and even more touching was the fans cheering for him the next day when he took the field to warm up for a game he would likely see little playing time in (Hey, Bobby Cox is a nice guy, but he’s no dummy and this isn’t intramurals).
Fast forward through nine innings of torture for both Braves and Giants fans alike and you’ll see another class act. The Giants have just completed their 27th out and are headed to the NLCS for the first time in eight years. Naturally there’s a lot of jumping around, hugging, yelling, but there’s also something else. The Braves fans are making noise too. They’re not booing the celebration, they’re chanting “Bob-by, Bob-by, Bob-by.” As Bobby Cox, the Braves manager of the last 20 years, steps onto the field to greet his fans one last time before hanging up the metal cleats for retirement, the Giants players press the pause button on their moment of bliss to pay tribute to a guy who has been managing baseball longer than most of them have been alive. Both sides recognized that this moment was something bigger than just a win or loss, even a postseason series win or loss. It was about respect for someone who has accomplished so much and given his life to the sport.
It seems like baseball celebrates by pouring alcohol all over the locker room for just about everything. You clinch a postseason berth, bring out the tarps; you win a series in the playoffs, better put on your little goggles; you save 15% on car insurance, get out the raincoats, but baseball can’t pretend that all of its players are saints or 21 and over for that matter and maybe alcohol can’t always be at the center of the celebration. When the Texas Rangers clinched the AL West title, they celebrated with champagne, but Josh Hamilton, who has struggled with alcohol addiction, decided not to participate in order to keep himself away from any kind of temptation. When the team won their first ever playoff series, the possible MVP candidate was intent on sitting this one out too, but his teammates found him and surprised him by dousing him, and each other, in Ginger Ale instead of champagne, which they soon found out is just as sticky and stings just as much as the real thing.
This postseason has seen examples of players and fans alike recognizing that the game is just that, a game and that occasionally there are moments or stories that are bigger than the final score. Maybe baseball players are working their way back up to role model status. Keep it going boys.
No comments:
Post a Comment