Oh, Aramis…
It was fun chuckling about Pedro Martinez the other day when he was getting all the attention regarding cockfighting in the Dominican Republic, his home country. After all, how often does a sport in one country double as one of the funnier terms that can be used on network television in this country?
Yet now that the spotlight is shining brightly on Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez, the look on my face is 
. Not because I profess to be Mr. PETA, but because of how deep this rabbit hole may ultimately go. Is it wrong to make reference to the cartoon theory of digging so deep that we get to China, where everything is upside down? I forget. But that’s where this could be headed, and here’s why:
What plays there doesn’t play here
I get it that cockfighting is a gruesome thing, as gruesome as any other animal fighting, and I don’t condone it. But I’m saying that out of inexperience. I’ve never been to a cockfight, so I only have a guess as to what it’d be like. For Aramis, it’s got to be an entirely different ball of wax growing up in a culture that loves cockfighting more than the people that sent letters to Barbaro love Barbaro. I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s just…different.
Asking Aramis to apologize for cockfighting is completely misguided
For Aram to apologize for stuff he does that is legal (and embraced) in the country that he resides for most of the year — it would be totally wrong. He’d essentially be apologizing for an entire culture’s pasttime, which is even more wrong. The only apology I want to read is from the person that put golf on TV. And the person that gave golf its own channel? That person is a nihilist.
How long, how long
Whatever it takes for this to go away, I’ll be happy when it does. This is a fine op-ed piece for the NY Times or the Trib or wherever, but it has no place in or around baseball. Carrie Muskat does not need to cover it in her next Cubs.com mailbag — it’s irrelevant to the Cubs. The bigger issue, though, is the possibility of something like this messing with Aram’s head during the season. I will freak out if that happens. Big Jerry make-a big-a mistake! I had to.
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Tags: Aramis Ramirez, cockfighting, NY Times
5 Responses
Charlie February 15th at 10:29 am
Shame on Aramis, but you’re right — shame on Muskat for already putting this in her notes on Cubs.com. It’s not a Cubs story!!!!
sneetch February 15th at 1:22 pm
Just because big Jerry Seinfeld is a has-been, don’t make Little Jerry Seinfeld a never was!
ryne22 February 15th at 5:11 pm
I completely agree. Its amazing that Americans feel like that have the right to judge other country’s cultures are right or wrong. I can only guess what the Dominicans think about American Gladitors or even futbol americano.
Nate February 18th at 12:09 pm
How could Hemingway enjoy a bullfight? *sob* I’ll never read his books again!
I made an offhand comment about it on the message boards but if Americans want to get enraged about the treatment of animals, they should look at their industrial meat complex. Hypocrites.
JohntheGoatherder February 23rd at 11:26 pm
As you folks pointed out on your show, (sorry, just getting around to listening to it,) cockfighting was an American tradition for generations.
You correctly note that several American presidents engaged in cockfighting, and some would argue that most presidential campaigns continue to come down to arguments about who has the most powerful cock (though some would argue that there is little evidence that the current occupant posesses a cock, much less would have any idea to do with one.)
Indeed, this practice was once such a part of the American fabric that the nickname for the athletic teams at the University of South Carolina still have the nickname the Gamecocks. This leads to the otherwise inexplicable popularity of that particular educational institution at other colleges and universities throughout the country, where coutless frat boys walk around wearing baseball caps with “Cocks” on the front.
Properly, the women’s teams ought to be called the “Gamehens,” but instead have taken the curious moniker “Lady Gamecocks.” My Spanish is a little rusty, but I believe that if this were to be translated into Aramis Ramierez’s native language, the result would be something like “women who play games with cocks,” which most men would agree would describe most of the women they have ever dated.
But I digress. As someone pointed out above, while this practice is cruel and barbaric, it is probably less so than the practice of factory farming chickens. Those poor birds spend their lives in the dark in sheds full of chicken droppings, (allegedly the most foul smelling substance on earth) being force fed before being electrocuted, plucked, gutted, and packaged. Right now, I am cooking up a very nice pot of chicken soup. My thanks to the poor cock who gave his life for it. The unfortunate creature likely went limp without having a chance to put up much of a fight.