Sure, but you're the closer for the Red Sox and you're gonna ride a slow moving parade through the heart of NYC and you decide to bring your pregnant wife along? Leave her in the hotel room with some pickles and ice cream and let her watch you on TV.
Papelbon needs to learn that to avoid getting comments twisted and exaggerated by the press, you need to not make any in the first place. Just repeat "I'm very honored to be in the All Star Game" over and over again.
But I might just be cranky because I'm up at 1 AM watching the 13th inning of a meaningless game.
Papelbon should've brought his whole damn family, every cousin, uncle, and sibling he could find, armed them all with machine guns, and put big flashing signs all over that say "All hecklers will be shot!" Yes, this is a little bit of hyperbole (emphasis on the "little bit" part), but there is a certain point at which shouting threats at people stops being free speech and becomes harrassment. These stupid collectivist diehard baseball fans are the lowest of the low, the dregs of society, about the biggest bunch of retards on the planet. They ought to go back in time and join their tribalist brethren in 7th-century Arabia. They don't deserve a place like NYC. They have no lives, so what do they do? Sit on their asses and do nothing but watch sports, talk about them, and oh yeah, make death threats at pregnant women. This goes for the same types of Boston fans as well of course. Papelbon can probably never step foot in Manhattan for the rest of his life because of BS like this. Yes, you can say that it comes with the territory, but that doesn't make it justified. It's one thing to boo an opposing player at a game, but this is ridiculous.
Caleb I really can't understand your thinking about Papelbon and the media. So Papelbon now has to assume the responsibility of predicting what those vultures can twist and what they can't? Good luck with that one. Sounds like self-enslavement to me. If I were one of these guys I would pick one of two options: 1) Say whatever the hell I want about anything, or 2) Don't talk to the bastards at all, ever.
Not everything requires a moral stand. There will always be dregs of society. Better to keep your family away from them than to aggravate them just because you can.
As for the media, I'm an advocate of not saying anything at all. Or just repeating the same phrase over and over again, like McCain with the Steelers' offensive line. They're gonna twist absolutely everything you say, so you don't need to bother predicting anything.
"Better to keep your family away from them than to aggravate them just because you can."
So we should hand society to it's dregs and allow them to run the show? No, Papelbon and his family ought to be able to enjoy New York just like the rest of us. Those who actually inhibit his ability to do that should be arrested. I'm not talking about a little bit of name-calling of course, but I think it is possible to define a point at which this kind of thing becomes harassment. Not because it offends, but because it actually interferes with your ability to live your life.
I would never fault someone for expecting to be left alone in what is supposed to be a civilized society. Nor would I ever fault someone for honestly speaking his mind. I just can't understand criticizing Paps in this one. It seems to me that he's put up with enough crap already; he is very clearly the victim in this situation. Blaming him for what the media does to attack him is like blaming the US for supposedly creating Islamic terrorists. It's deterministic.
Meh. Your "determinism" is my "getting through the day with as little aggravation and stress as possible." It's all fine and well to speak in "shoulds" and "oughts," but at some point you have to look at the actual situation and decide how best to handle it. There ought to be a million alert police offers to arrest everyone who says something threatening, but we all know there aren't. The dregs of society ought to find something better to do, but we all know they won't. Why put your pregnant wife in a high-stress situation just because you have the right to?
I think you misunderstand me a bit anyway. I know Papelbon was the victim, to both the media and the crowd, and that he didn't do anything he didn't have the right to. I'm talking about not putting yourself (or others) out there to become the victim in the first place. When I lock my apartment door at night, do I hand society over to the dregs? Maybe, but at the time, I'm just trying to prevent myself from falling victim to them. I have a right to walk down to 60th street at 2 AM, but I don't, because I'll get mugged or worse. I guess that's handing society to the dregs, yes, but it's also acknowledging the world we live in and that our options to actually do something about it are limited.
Fair enough. But I do think a public parade in the middle of the day in midtown Manhattan is a different scenario then 60th street in Philly at 2 AM. If I were Papelbon, I would've been surprised too. I guess I, or Papelbon, would've expected people to show a little more class at a parade that's supposed to be a celebration.
Also, in this case it's not just about the fact that he has the right to be there. He was invited there because he earned it by his own achievement. It's not taking his wife out in the parade just 'cause he can, it's because he earned it and he wants to and he has good reason to want to. I agree that it would be incredibly stupid to take a midnight stroll through Harlem or to not lock your apartment door just to prove a point. At that point it becomes martyrdom. That's why I said he should've brought the machine guns.
Papelbon's young and his prior parade experiences have probably been mostly limited to Duck Boat celebrations before adoring New England crowds. He and his wife may not have realized what he was in for, though somebody probably should have warned them. A street crowd in New York would be the defining example of No Class, dregs of society, etc. etc. They do it on purpose!
I agree that he didn't do anything wrong and that the crowds and the media are the bad guys here. But I also agree with Caleb that the best approach to the media is usually to say as little as you possibly can. Even if they don't twist it on purpose, they will get it wrong by accident.
The All-Star game is dumb, anyway. I think they should just skip the whole business.
10 comments:
Sure, but you're the closer for the Red Sox and you're gonna ride a slow moving parade through the heart of NYC and you decide to bring your pregnant wife along? Leave her in the hotel room with some pickles and ice cream and let her watch you on TV.
Papelbon needs to learn that to avoid getting comments twisted and exaggerated by the press, you need to not make any in the first place. Just repeat "I'm very honored to be in the All Star Game" over and over again.
But I might just be cranky because I'm up at 1 AM watching the 13th inning of a meaningless game.
True. True.
And it's the 15th.
Papelbon should've brought his whole damn family, every cousin, uncle, and sibling he could find, armed them all with machine guns, and put big flashing signs all over that say "All hecklers will be shot!" Yes, this is a little bit of hyperbole (emphasis on the "little bit" part), but there is a certain point at which shouting threats at people stops being free speech and becomes harrassment. These stupid collectivist diehard baseball fans are the lowest of the low, the dregs of society, about the biggest bunch of retards on the planet. They ought to go back in time and join their tribalist brethren in 7th-century Arabia. They don't deserve a place like NYC. They have no lives, so what do they do? Sit on their asses and do nothing but watch sports, talk about them, and oh yeah, make death threats at pregnant women. This goes for the same types of Boston fans as well of course. Papelbon can probably never step foot in Manhattan for the rest of his life because of BS like this. Yes, you can say that it comes with the territory, but that doesn't make it justified. It's one thing to boo an opposing player at a game, but this is ridiculous.
Caleb I really can't understand your thinking about Papelbon and the media. So Papelbon now has to assume the responsibility of predicting what those vultures can twist and what they can't? Good luck with that one. Sounds like self-enslavement to me. If I were one of these guys I would pick one of two options: 1) Say whatever the hell I want about anything, or 2) Don't talk to the bastards at all, ever.
...and the AL wins on a walkoff. Thank god.
This was a great game thread, Laura.
Not everything requires a moral stand. There will always be dregs of society. Better to keep your family away from them than to aggravate them just because you can.
As for the media, I'm an advocate of not saying anything at all. Or just repeating the same phrase over and over again, like McCain with the Steelers' offensive line. They're gonna twist absolutely everything you say, so you don't need to bother predicting anything.
"Better to keep your family away from them than to aggravate them just because you can."
So we should hand society to it's dregs and allow them to run the show? No, Papelbon and his family ought to be able to enjoy New York just like the rest of us. Those who actually inhibit his ability to do that should be arrested. I'm not talking about a little bit of name-calling of course, but I think it is possible to define a point at which this kind of thing becomes harassment. Not because it offends, but because it actually interferes with your ability to live your life.
I would never fault someone for expecting to be left alone in what is supposed to be a civilized society. Nor would I ever fault someone for honestly speaking his mind. I just can't understand criticizing Paps in this one. It seems to me that he's put up with enough crap already; he is very clearly the victim in this situation. Blaming him for what the media does to attack him is like blaming the US for supposedly creating Islamic terrorists. It's deterministic.
Meh. Your "determinism" is my "getting through the day with as little aggravation and stress as possible." It's all fine and well to speak in "shoulds" and "oughts," but at some point you have to look at the actual situation and decide how best to handle it. There ought to be a million alert police offers to arrest everyone who says something threatening, but we all know there aren't. The dregs of society ought to find something better to do, but we all know they won't. Why put your pregnant wife in a high-stress situation just because you have the right to?
I think you misunderstand me a bit anyway. I know Papelbon was the victim, to both the media and the crowd, and that he didn't do anything he didn't have the right to. I'm talking about not putting yourself (or others) out there to become the victim in the first place. When I lock my apartment door at night, do I hand society over to the dregs? Maybe, but at the time, I'm just trying to prevent myself from falling victim to them. I have a right to walk down to 60th street at 2 AM, but I don't, because I'll get mugged or worse. I guess that's handing society to the dregs, yes, but it's also acknowledging the world we live in and that our options to actually do something about it are limited.
Fair enough. But I do think a public parade in the middle of the day in midtown Manhattan is a different scenario then 60th street in Philly at 2 AM. If I were Papelbon, I would've been surprised too. I guess I, or Papelbon, would've expected people to show a little more class at a parade that's supposed to be a celebration.
Also, in this case it's not just about the fact that he has the right to be there. He was invited there because he earned it by his own achievement. It's not taking his wife out in the parade just 'cause he can, it's because he earned it and he wants to and he has good reason to want to. I agree that it would be incredibly stupid to take a midnight stroll through Harlem or to not lock your apartment door just to prove a point. At that point it becomes martyrdom. That's why I said he should've brought the machine guns.
Papelbon's young and his prior parade experiences have probably been mostly limited to Duck Boat celebrations before adoring New England crowds. He and his wife may not have realized what he was in for, though somebody probably should have warned them. A street crowd in New York would be the defining example of No Class, dregs of society, etc. etc. They do it on purpose!
I agree that he didn't do anything wrong and that the crowds and the media are the bad guys here. But I also agree with Caleb that the best approach to the media is usually to say as little as you possibly can. Even if they don't twist it on purpose, they will get it wrong by accident.
The All-Star game is dumb, anyway. I think they should just skip the whole business.
I just think it's funny that the Daily News called him PAPELBUM. I bet they thought they were being really clever.
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