Tag Archives: class act

Adam Jones and the Banana Split

As a Giants fan watching last Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and the SF Giants, it was something to behold. I mean it was a decent game until the 7th inning and then the Baltimore Orioles remembered why they were there, that they had come to play and were still in the game. In the 9th inning Adam Jones hit a spectacular 3 run homer and it was downhill from there, Orioles winning 10-2. It was just another disappointing game for the Giants and especially for their fans who’ve had to endure late inning come-from-behind wins by their opponents all season. So be it, la dee dah, c’est la vie. That’s baseball.

So Monday morning as I’m reading the commentary and box scores and perusing the sports section I come across an article Adam Jones had tweeted about someone throwing a banana at him in the 9th inning. I’m thinking how juvenile and not very sportsman-like it was, but didn’t give it much more thought. Until the next day. A fellow came forward Monday afternoon after reading the banana article and recognized, to his dismay, the article was about him. Evidently as he was leaving the game in the 9th inning, he grabbed a banana off one of the vendor’s carts and hurled it toward the field, thoroughly disgusted by the Giants performance in the day’s game. It was a pretty stupid thing to do, but I could relate. I felt the same way after watching the game on my telly but, there being no bananas on a cart close by, I decided to watch a movie instead.

Here’s the tweet the illustrious Orioles’ outfielder posted after the game:

“I want to thank whatever slapdick threw that banana towards my direction in CF in the last inning. Way to show ur class u jackass.”

And way to show yours Mr. Jones. Baseball players are generally a classy lot. Whether you agree or not, I’m thinking in particular of Barry Bonds, who endured bottles and cans thrown at him on a regular basis and at least on one occasion, was drenched as a bottle of beer was poured on his head as he chased the ball in left field. The particular play I’m thinking about was televised at Dodger Stadium and he ended up making the catch. But never once did I hear about Barry Bonds complaining of the fans treatment of him. Not once. Not that he shouldn’t have, but he just didn’t. And neither did scores of other ballplayers in similar situations. The Giants organization immediately responded to Mr. Jones tweet with this statement:

“We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Adam and the entire Orioles organization for this unfortunate incident. The inappropriate actions of this individual in no way reflect the values of our organization and our fans……The Giants have a zero tolerance policy against this type of behavior ….”

I don’t know about you, but it seems obvious to me the fan was being, well, a fan, which is short for fanatic. He shouldn’t have thrown anything onto the field, bad behavior, bad thing to do. Can’t do it. Whether he threw it “at” someone is debatable and I’d like to take him at his word and assume he did not. It just seems to me that everywhere you look people are trying to turn situations into something they’re not. Is it political correctness? Is it racist? Or is it just plain stupidity?

Personally, I’d like to see an apology from Adam Jones for maybe overreacting just a wee little bit. Now that would show some class. How about it Adam? Show a little class.

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The Morning After ….. from a Fan’s Perspective.

I love the morning after.  My morning coffee and the sports page ~ one of the joys of my life. This morning I read the sports page with great intensity, devoured every word and then turned to my trusty PC, starting with the major sports media and ending up with the baseball blogs.  And here’s the one that really struck my fancy.  “Letter from a Disappointed Fan.”  It was a good read and I could relate.  I’ve been there.  But in 2010 my team won the World Series and my perspective changed.  I was ecstatic, in heaven, loved everything and everybody.  Life was good, no it was  great!   I’ll never forget that feeling because I still have it, it’s still there.  So this year to be perfectly honest when we made the playoffs it was really nice, but it wasn’t the same, especially when we were down 3-1 to the Cardinals and it was okay. I mean we’d already won the World Series so I was okay with that.  I really thought the Nats or Reds would take the Division this year anyhow and that was my mindset and it was okay, since they had the better records. 

Miguel Cabrera 2004 World Series

So we made it to the World Series again and, to tell you the truth, I really like the Detroit Tigers.  I like their players, their manager and their fans.  I’ve been a Miguel Cabrera fan since, as a rookie with the Florida Marlins, he helped whoop the Yankees into submission in the 2003 World Series, and now this year he’s won the Triple Crown.  How cool is that?  The same goes for Justin Verlander.  I think he’s a real asset to baseball.  He’s a great role model for our kids and his persona during the first game of this World Series says it all.  I wrote about him last week “Paper Tigers Tamed by a Panda and a Bear”.  And of course Prince Fielder.  Seems like he’s always been around, always has and always will be.  Just a lot of fun to watch.  And these Detroit fans are the same ones who gave  Umpire Jim Joyce a standing ovation the day after he blew a call that cost the Tiger pitcher, Armando Galarraga, a perfect game, because he was forthright and honest to immediately ‘fess up to his error.  Class.

So last night during the post game shows (sometimes they’re  more fun than the game) I heard Jim Leyland say this.     

“They were better than we were,” Leyland said, “and you can’t say anything different. I mean, if it goes seven games and you lose the seventh game on a freak play or something, you might say, well, we were as good as they were. But in this series, we were not as good as they were. The Giants beat us. They did a fantastic job. They’re the world champions and they deserve to be the world champions.”

Detroit’s Jim Leyland

And you can’t forget Jim Leyland.   How can you not love these Tigers?  Did you ever during one play, one at bat, during this World Series see or hear anything negative or unsportsmanlike out of any of these guys?  I sure didn’t (well, maybe after the game or in the dugout, but nothing for public display).    Here’s a team that beat the stuffing out of the New York Yankees in the ALCS chase for the pennant.  They beat them bad.  They beat them four games in a row in a best of 7 series.  So of course there was genuine disappointment on the Tigers team but they played with class and they lost with class.  

So this morning I was really super happy that my San Francisco Giants had won their second World Series in three years. It was great!  And, from this fan’s perspective, it was equally great (well, almost) witnessing the first class Detroit Tigers standing tall in their defeat, gentlemen to the end.  And,really, isn’t that what it’s all about?   It is from this fan’s perspective.