You know what? It's just a game
by Swishdball on Nov 23, 2007 5:47 PM PST
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I blame myself. I write logs about how Marco Scutaro is better than Bobby Crosby. Big friggin deal. You know what? It does not matter. America just celebrated Thanksgiving. We should be thankful. And it's too bad it takes Joe Kennedy's death to remind me of that. No matter what, most of us were able to spend time with family, eat a great meal, and wake up in the morning. Joe Kennedy got 2 out of 3.
I booed Kennedy louder than anyone. I despised the fact he was on the A's. I was glad to see him DFA'd. I did not want this. This reminds me that we are all in it together. Athlete or not, we are all human beings.
Joe Kennedy was 28 years old with a wife and a 1 year old son. I hope to be as fortunate. RIP Joe Kennedy. #37....
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I agree
Just lost a co-worker last week, when a drunk driver, who was driving the wrong way on the freeway, slammed head on into the car her and her friend where in. She was 21.
Just today, my mother was involved in a serious freeway accident that I am glad to say, she walked away from with no serious injuries. It scared us greatly, as the accident was serious enough that it could have cost someone their life.
Events like these really put things into perspective. Whether we are angry at someone or something for whatever reason we must realize that life is too short to be spent being angry over insignificant things.
If a pitcher on your favorite team cant throw anything but balls, if you go to a restaurant and the food takes a little longer than usual to come out, if you don't like a fellow bloggers opinion or his/her bad grammar/spelling, don't get angry, smile! Its just a game/meal/blog and the quality of your life is not defined by these insignificant moments.
It goes without saying that I am deeply saddened by the tragic news about Joe Kennedy's death. The heartache of losing a husband/son/father at such a young age is something I can not even fathom and my prayers are with his family.
I realize now, that there is more to an athlete than just a batting average or an ERA. As Swishdball said, they are human beings as well. They are fathers, they are husbands, they are someones son and in the bright lights of the stadium, in television broadcasts or posters on the wall, it is all but too easy to forget that they, like us, are human beings too.
by Amnesiac727 on Nov 23, 2007 9:14 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Agree, Amnesiac727. For whatever reason,
maybe just me getting older, tragedy has crossed my path far too much in the past year or so - such as a colleague being killed instantly when his car spun out of control after striking a cow who was standing in the middle of the highway. A cow. It's enough to make you appreciate how precious life really is. Or how much you want to have a hamburger, I don't know. Watch the grammatical errors, though - I have a tendency to lose perspective when someone messes up your/you're. It's not difficult, people! Ahem, sorry.
by Nico on Nov 23, 2007 9:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Grammatical errors
I know exactly we're your coming from.:-)
by Amnesiac727 on Nov 23, 2007 10:44 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
:(
That's a lot of stuff going on for you. Sorry :( I hope your mom is doing OK. I know even when I have gotten into minor accidents it's something that takes a bit of time just for nerves to calm down. I'm glad she wasn't injured seriously.
I hate that it takes stuff like this for everyone (myself included) to realize how significant some things are and how really stupid other things are. I also hate that it seems like there have been a ton of deaths like this lately.
It's sad to me that I'll miss seeing the JFK comments in threads and the picture of him denying face-lick girl now more than when he left the A's. He wasn't the best pitcher ever, but he was a fun guy, and from everything I remember reading about him he was an awesome teammate and husband/father.
UGH. I hate stuff like this.
by drmmerchk on Nov 23, 2007 9:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Mom is doing fine
a little shaken up but otherwise fine.
I was reminded earlier about the time I took my little brother to his first baseball game at Angel Stadium, and how one of the first guys he spotted was Joe Kennedy. I realized then that, thats how I want to remember Joe Kennedy. I want to remember him playing catch with Haren, Zito, or Street. I'm going to remember him jumping up to reach an overthrown ball, the ball nearly hitting those of us in the seats directly behind him (in Angels Stadium the warm up by the first base foul pole). Kennedy would come over to retrieve the ball and flash us a smile. Yep, thats how Im going to remember him.
R.I.P Joe
by Amnesiac727 on Nov 23, 2007 10:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
I wasn't one...
...who slammed Kennedy too much. I don't say that out of some sense of superiority or anything, because I've been hammering Chavez alot, lately, myself. I just thought JK was having a bad year and was a better pitcher than his results were indicating. Why I'm bringing this up is because the following quote struck me...
I realize now, that there is more to an athlete than just a batting average or an ERA. As Swishdball said, they are human beings as well. They are fathers, they are husbands, they are someones son and in the bright lights of the stadium, in television broadcasts or posters on the wall, it is all but too easy to forget that they, like us, are human beings too.
...I too sometimes forget that they're really no different from me, sans the blessing to be able to do something one absolutely loves for a very good living. Maybe that's why I/we are so hard on them? I don't know.
by UncleLeo on Nov 23, 2007 11:21 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
I remember Duchscherer's reply
at an event -- he was sitting about 5 feet away from me with his wife and child, and dressed in a long sleeved shirt and jeans -- to a fan who said "you look like a normal person":
he replied "I am a normal person." Then he paused and added, "We all are."
by OaklandSi on Nov 24, 2007 4:38 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
I'm sorry to be that guy, but...
...they are different from you.
They get paid a lot to perform for us. If they do perform for us, we love them irrationally, and if they don't, we dislike them irrationally. They buy the ticket. They willingly take the ride.
I've never regretted a word I've said about any ballplayer, because nothing I've said has ever caused them hurt beyond a moment of bad feelings, and maybe a missed swing as a result. Nothing said by us here caused Joe Kennedy's death. It wasn't a factor.
And beyond that, 99.9% of us never yelled that Joe Kennedy was a bad guy. We yelled that he was a bad pitcher. And father or not, passed or not, we weren't wrong.
Look, I'm a good father. I'm a good husband. But if I screw up at work and deserve to be fired, nobody is going to cut me slack because I have my act together at home. Nobody is going to 'go easy' on me because I might die tomorrow, or the next day, or in 30 years time. You take it when you deserve it.
We are complex individuals full of hundreds of conflicts and contradictions and qualities and faults. We go about our business the best we can, and we take the good with the bad - that's the deal.
For me, the bad is when I can't pay the rent. The good is, when I can.
For Joe Kennedy, the bad was that he died young. The good was, he lived far more than most of us will ever dream of doing.
No matter what might have been shouted at him by a stranger from section 135 on a given day last year, he died well ahead of the game.
by Ozzz on Nov 24, 2007 3:36 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
What freaks me out
is that for those of you who have a 2007 A's calendar, Joe is the November player featured.
I'm sitting at my desk looking to where the calendar is hanging and he's sitting on the grasss at papago Park in shorts with two little pugs.
He looks so relaxed and happpy.
by Imaseasonticketholder on Nov 23, 2007 11:38 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Take it a step further.
Yes, baseball is just a game, and sometimes we all take it way too seriously. This realization, this perspective that has been granted us for what will no doubt prove to be all too short a time, this usually-absent understanding of what our priorities are and should be is also unfortunately usually-absent far more universally. People find it so easy to hate, to criticize, to sit back and say, "you suck."
Well, it's really easy to say "you suck" and it's really hard to put yourself out on the line and do something good, especially if that something is in the public eye. Joe Kennedy, as an example, had several really good moments. How many people are capable of even having one moment of excelling with so many people watching, critiquing? Jason Kendall, Joe Morgan, Dane Cook, Bobby Crosby....all these people are putting themselves out there, and doing their best, and that in itself deserves a certain amount of respect. I'm not saying that criticism is wrong, but it needs to be done with the understanding that the criticism is far easier to create than the original material.
It's easy to sit back and hate other people, to see their faults and consider oneself superior as one settles back into isolation. Road rage, yelling at a customer service rep, giving a waiter no tip....these are all symptoms of the same sickness, different ways of sitting back and saying "you suck" instead of trying to work together to solve the problem, or trying to see someone else's point of view.
Death gives us this perspective sometimes, but unfortunately it's all too fleeting. For a few days after 9/11, as I recall there was no road rage. People returned to letting others in when they signaled, and those let in returned to waving their thanks. These little things are SO easy to do, and add so much to each of our lives and (warning: non-FDA approved statement coming) life spans, and yet, most of us don't do them because there is no contract, no written obligation that we have to do it -- we can get away with NOT doing it without consequence.
Or so we believe.
Many people on this site toe that line all the time. It would be very easy to say something just a little more politely, or not to immediately rip someone but try to figure out where they're coming from, or just to let it go. No, you don't have to; not doing these things violates no community guidelines; no law is violated and you're unlikely (though maybe less than before) to get tasered. But is it really the best we can do?
Here's my plea, for any and all communities you're a part of: Do the right thing, not just what you can get away with. We all know what the right thing is; we can feel it when we do it, and we lose little bits of our soul when we don't (or, if you're not into souls, we just feel kinda bad). Just do it. You can't save the world; none of us can, but we all have the power to give the world an infinitesimally small nudge toward the positive or negative.
by oblique on Nov 24, 2007 10:53 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
You touch on something I say to my
mischievous middle schoolers sometimes: Just because you can take advantage of someone / get away with breaking a rule doesn't mean you have to.
by Nico on Nov 24, 2007 11:09 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
well put
at the same time, I'd rather those who said I sucked while I'm alive wouldn't be overcome with a change of heart if I were to die suddenly. Call that weird if you must.
of course my first preference would be that no one would tell me I sucked to begin with. But that's naive, isn't it?
as a fan we reserve the right to boo, or do we? I don't boo any player in green and gold, never have and never will...unless a player is blatantly not trying.
but yes persepective is fleeting, and that's unfortunate.
by 67MARQUEZ on Nov 24, 2007 11:21 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, definitely.
I'm not at all opposed to criticism, I just think that if it's done artfully, it's much more likely to affect the desired change. I know people like this -- my brother in law is a talent agent; you'd better believe he's critical of musical acts. But he is in a constructive way. There's a big difference between "I have no use for your act" and "Listen: if you work on your tuning, and add three more familiar '50s tunes to your rep, I can put you in the corporate market." The latter can only be done with a lot of expertise and self-confidence.
And in the case of a fan, or any audience member, sure, I feel, go ahead and boo if you've got to, yell if you've got to -- we buy tickets, players get paid a lot, that's all fair. But booing isn't a personal attack -- when personal and/or racially motivated comments are made, when heavy objects are thrown at players, that's a sign of people forgetting that there are human beings behind the performers. And those people hopefully feel really, really bad when something bad happens as in the case with Mr. Kennedy.
by oblique on Nov 24, 2007 12:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Nothing personal, mkt.
by Nico on Nov 24, 2007 1:12 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
If I die tonight you're gonna feel really bad...
by oblique on Nov 24, 2007 1:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Try me.
<sticks pins in mkt doll>
by Nico on Nov 24, 2007 2:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
...why do you have an mkt doll?
by oblique on Nov 24, 2007 4:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
They were selling them below mkt price
by Nico on Nov 24, 2007 5:36 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
+1
Although I might argue that Morgan's unwillingness to even learn about baseball players he's not watching shows that he's not doing his best.
I have kept quiet through most of this because I feel that no matter what I say, it's not going to bring Joe back or make it any easier for his family. I've wondered what I could actually do to help Joe's family. Really, there isn't anything I could do othan than maybe to analyze the way I treat people around me and try to do better. Even then, it won't directly affect them. It's amazing that people argue about global warming and other political/socioeconomic issues, yet many of us miss the boat on something as simple as common courtesy. Imagine how much better the world would be if we all just cared about each other.
by JediLeroy on Nov 25, 2007 4:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
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