Posted on 04/04/2014 7:36:50 AM PDT by Morgana
Being a sports radio host sometimes means being full of hot air when white noise would be preferable, as in the case Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason. The big names showed their small attitudes when New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy chose to be with his wife rather that at opening day of baseball season.
Esiason said:
“I would have said, ‘C-Section before it starts. I need to be at opening day. This is how we make our money; this is how we live our life. This is what is going to give our child every opportunity to be a success in life. I’ll be able to afford any college I want to send my kid to because I’m a baseball player.’”
Carton followed, “I got four of these little rugrats; there’s nothing to do,” as he talks about how Murphy can’t possibly have a need to be home past 24 or 48 hours post-birth. The hosts point out that federal law gives Murphy a right to two weeks of paternity leave, but he shouldn’t take that right because baseball is more important than birth.
To his credit, Murphy dismissed the criticism, telling ESPN New York:
“I got a couple of text messages about it, so I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I didn’t hear about it. But that’s the awesome part about being blessed, about being a parent, is you get that choice. My wife and I discussed it, and we felt the best thing for our family was for me to try to stay for an extra day — that being Wednesday — due to the fact that she can’t travel for two weeks.
“It’s going to be tough for her to get up to New York for a month. I can only speak from my experience — a father seeing his wife – she was completely finished. I mean, she was done. She had surgery and she was wiped. Having me there helped a lot, and vice versa, to take some of the load off. … It felt, for us, like the right decision to make.”
This controversy is one that would not be a controversy in a culture that valued life and birth. These “rugrats” are precious children. Opening day is, as Sporting News noted, one of 162 games played each day. It’s a day of work. The day of a life of a baby can’t be compensated with cash. The support to his wife can’t be replaced with a paycheck.
Baseball is a game. Birth is the miracle of life. To even compare one as being more important than another reveals the attitudes that have permeated a culture that regards sports figures as demi-gods while reducing the true value of life. Once upon a time, criticizing a man for caring for his wife and baby, telling him he should have told her to get a C-section–major surgery–and then calling kids rugrats with an entirely derogatory tone would have been considered offensive to the masses. Now it’s fodder for radio hosts to use airtime at the expense of a man who valued his baby and his wife over a game. If there is a baseball hall of shame, Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason should be the pillars of this museum.
Oops, that should be...
He was always a jerk, even back when he played for the Bengals.
You are absolutly correct. Jobs come and go. Further, baseball is played at the pro level for only a few years. Marriage, kids and family are for the rest of your life. Kudos for having the correct priorities.
Exactly. Back when abortion was illegal, if the wife had a baby a man would dig in and work twice as hard. Because he was now responsible for another mouth to feed.
Only because we know the collective will pick up the bills.
Boomer is an ass. I am now a Murphy fan.
It was just for ONE day...not like he was taking a week or more.
fanatics
and it shows
It’s a business. It’s a job. Do your job.
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The player has a contract and he is working within the boundaries of that contract.
So you agree with me that it’s not just a “game”.
As a dad, I think it’s the most important job. It may not be a paying job, but after losing a fiancee and 3 stepchildren to be a week before our wedding (by a drunk), I know it is the best job, next to being a mom.
In this particular job you get several months off to bond with your babies.
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And by contractual agreement, 3 days at the birth of the child.
Not only is Pro-baseball a business, it is one of the worst examples of crony capitalism in the country. Second only to Pro-football.
Apparently, you just don't get it.
Corporations > your family & children (even if you do have a contractual right & your boss supports your decision).
Game 7 of the World Series perhaps. But opening day? No.
So you agree with me that it’s not just a “game”.
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Baseball stops being “just” a game when you make your living from it.
Not only is Pro-baseball a business, it is one of the worst examples of crony capitalism in the country. Second only to Pro-football.
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Of course it’s a business. It’s hard to imagine anyone over the age of 15 or so not fully recognizing that.
And that also helps explain why the players have contracts, providing them with particular benefits, like the one being discussed here, that of 3 days of paternity leave to be at the birth of your child.
It’s hard to imagine anyone over the age of 15 or so not fully recognizing that.
Sandy Koufax refused to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur.
Sorry folks, paternity leave for men is nothing more than the wussification of America. Being with his wife for the birth of a child is fine. The ballplayer, a millionaire, in a seasonal business, has an obligation to the team. Chances are his wife has a nurse along with parents, friends and inlaws or are only too happy to help out with the changing of the diapers. As they say on Broadway “the show must go on” or as the postal service says the mail goes thru in snow rain or sleet.
LOL. I said hard to imagine, not impossible.
But I would have thought it impossible that Daniel Murphy would face negative commentary on freerepublic, you know the site that is: “pro-God, pro-life, pro-family”.
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