Posts tagged ‘NY Times’

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.