Fortunately that silly rule has since expired with the latest collective bargaining agreement. The pennant winner with the best regular season record earns the home field advantage.
Chicago Cubs 2018 Season
Fortunately that silly rule has since expired with the latest collective bargaining agreement. The pennant winner with the best regular season record earns the home field advantage.
Nice showing by Schwarber in the HR derby tonight! Fun stuff!
Baez and Contreras each with a hit tonight. Javy 1-2 with a leadoff single, Willson 1-1 with a solo HR.
Brewers RP Josh Hader had a rough day yesterday...
http://www.bleachernation.com/2018/...ad-all-star-game-on-the-field-and-on-twitter/
http://www.bleachernation.com/2018/...ad-all-star-game-on-the-field-and-on-twitter/
KBLEE
- Montgomery, IL
I sure am glad that social media didn't exist when I was a stupid high school kid.
In theory I agree, as I am a firm believer in people making dramatic/transformational changes in one's life. That said, I think there's a major difference in being a "stupid high school kid" and the things he tweeted out.
Use of the n-word for pure shock value was something that was not unheard-of in my high school, sadly.
You grow out of that stuff. Most people do anyway. It's not really a dramatic transformational change, it's just the circle of life.
It's definitely not unheard of, though regardless of intent (shock, hatred, poor attempt at humor, etc...), typically the way people grow out of it is by way of some form of confrontation to those words. This happens usually in one of three ways: 1) A direct challenge coming from someone they respect, 2) Personal experience with populations outside of their bubble of development in which insight to why those words can be damaging is discovered, or 3) Social backlash for those comments/opinions.
Perhaps this is the moment where he is facing consequences of those words and learn. It is my hope that he genuinely takes this experience to learn from those mistakes and move toward growth within himself.
Just my two cents.
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bdutts
- Houston, Texas
100% agree.
Whatever the reason he did it, I feel like the micro-scrutiny of Twitter wasn’t happening back then like it does now. People used to think posting on Twitter/Facebook was a private way to interact with friends. Had he said those things around a campfire with his buddies, nobody would ever know about it.
What they now realize is posting something on social media is the equivalent of going into a quiet gym with all your friends and casual acquaintances and yelling whatever it is you post for all to hear.
If your popular enough, it’s like you yelling that phrase is televised.
If he truly changed since posting those tweets, I bet he wishes he would have remembered them so he could delete them.
What they now realize is posting something on social media is the equivalent of going into a quiet gym with all your friends and casual acquaintances and yelling whatever it is you post for all to hear.
If your popular enough, it’s like you yelling that phrase is televised.
If he truly changed since posting those tweets, I bet he wishes he would have remembered them so he could delete them.
KBLEE
- Montgomery, IL
Seeing as I haven't heard of any issues with teammates of color prior to this being dug up, couldn't you make the case that point #2 above had already occurred? Have him make a statement of apology and get on with it. People looking for a suspension, etc. are way off base.
It is absolutely plausible that #2 has already occurred. The tweets, though, have surfaced, and a discussion will (and needs to) be had. Lorenzo Cain commented on the situation earlier today in a very professional manner. I don't think there is a need for suspension or fine, but Hader could take some steps to show that he's working toward continued growth (especially if he's already done so prior to the discovery of the tweets.).
The ol' PR public apology formula is:
1) Acknowledge
2) Apologize
3) Make it Right
4) Recommit
He kinda already failed step 1 and 2. He didn't really specifically acknowledge what he said, just vaguely said "I said some dumb things when i was younger and no longer feel that way". He kind of apologized, but not very earnestly, which granted is very hard to do when this stuff is thrown at you.
If he had gone out there and said "I'm sorry for using the n-word, my sexist remarks about women, and my homophobic slurs" then said something about "I'm actually now a champion for gay rights... etc." then it might have worked, but he's 24 and no PR expert.
I'm kind of blown away that his agent or the Brewers don't regularly do a social media check and scrub stuff like this away. It should not have come out this way.
I will also add that I had a Facebook at 17/18, and knew not to have anything controversial publicly available, and this was in 2007 (I'm 28, Hader should have known better). I'm sure I said stupid crap in high school that would be embarrassing to have a record of, but 17 year olds are smart enough to know it's wrong (in general) to think those ways and definitely wrong to tweet about.
1) Acknowledge
2) Apologize
3) Make it Right
4) Recommit
He kinda already failed step 1 and 2. He didn't really specifically acknowledge what he said, just vaguely said "I said some dumb things when i was younger and no longer feel that way". He kind of apologized, but not very earnestly, which granted is very hard to do when this stuff is thrown at you.
If he had gone out there and said "I'm sorry for using the n-word, my sexist remarks about women, and my homophobic slurs" then said something about "I'm actually now a champion for gay rights... etc." then it might have worked, but he's 24 and no PR expert.
I'm kind of blown away that his agent or the Brewers don't regularly do a social media check and scrub stuff like this away. It should not have come out this way.
I will also add that I had a Facebook at 17/18, and knew not to have anything controversial publicly available, and this was in 2007 (I'm 28, Hader should have known better). I'm sure I said stupid crap in high school that would be embarrassing to have a record of, but 17 year olds are smart enough to know it's wrong (in general) to think those ways and definitely wrong to tweet about.
Yeah that should really be standard procedure at this point.
South Farms
- near Ogden & Rt 83
geez, life was so much simpler in the 1970's - not saying it was better, just way simpler. No one had weapons, just fists.
I played high school football at a private parochial school. out of 35 guys on the team, 3 or 4 were black. There were scraps during practice between white players all the time. A few times during the season there would inevitably be a scrap between a white kid and a black kid , and sometimes bad words would be spoken, by either player - usually the n-word would get said. These are either on the field or in the locker room. In the end, fists landed on jaws, chests or arms , and the fight would quickly end.
The coach and the school had no tolerance for the racist language and the offending players would ALWAYS be required to do some type of school service together.
More often than not, those players would end up becoming good friends. Something about fighting a kid first makes you respect him more later.
I played high school football at a private parochial school. out of 35 guys on the team, 3 or 4 were black. There were scraps during practice between white players all the time. A few times during the season there would inevitably be a scrap between a white kid and a black kid , and sometimes bad words would be spoken, by either player - usually the n-word would get said. These are either on the field or in the locker room. In the end, fists landed on jaws, chests or arms , and the fight would quickly end.
The coach and the school had no tolerance for the racist language and the offending players would ALWAYS be required to do some type of school service together.
More often than not, those players would end up becoming good friends. Something about fighting a kid first makes you respect him more later.
And that's the perfect 17 year old response to a 17 year old transgression.
What Josh Hader deserves is to go back in time to 2011 and have some black kids from his high school (one gets the sense there probably weren't any) see those tweets and beat him up over it.
But we can't do that, and now we're in 2018 and he's a millionaire employee of a professional sports team and we have to go through all this rigamarole about sensitivity training and people deeply transforming themselves and all of this kabuki theater to wash the stink off of the Brewers PR department over some dumb kid being obnoxious, a dumb kid who from the reaction of Hader's teammates clearly no longer exists.
But don't cry for Josh Hader, he'll be fine. Cry for the people behind bars for dumb stuff a kid who no longer exists did under the same rationale.
South Farms
- near Ogden & Rt 83
has the Brewers long gradual descent to .550 ball (90 wins) already started with the 5 game sweep at the end of the first half ?
or is this now the straw that broke Counsels back, as we can all guess Hader will likely get lit up like a Christmas tree the next 2 weeks.
since we cant beat the Packers, its great beating the Brewers !
I say this as a guy who has kinda fallen in love with that city
wifey and I spent last Sat night at the Iron Horse Hotel , having spent the weekend of June 2 at the Kimpton Journeyman.
Both are very nice hotels, and at half the cost of a $700 night in a Chicago hotel. Its insane in our city these days.
or is this now the straw that broke Counsels back, as we can all guess Hader will likely get lit up like a Christmas tree the next 2 weeks.
since we cant beat the Packers, its great beating the Brewers !
I say this as a guy who has kinda fallen in love with that city
wifey and I spent last Sat night at the Iron Horse Hotel , having spent the weekend of June 2 at the Kimpton Journeyman.
Both are very nice hotels, and at half the cost of a $700 night in a Chicago hotel. Its insane in our city these days.
I'm originally from about an hour north of Milwaukee and definitely agree with your perspective on the city. Milwaukee is a great town with plenty to do. And I think Miller Park offers one of the best MLB gameday experiences there is.
Cardinals @ Cubs is the only game in town tonight.
Martinez vs. Hendricks. Can't wait!
Martinez vs. Hendricks. Can't wait!
illini80
- Forgottonia
The Cubs really need to put the hurt on STL in the next two series. It's a great chance to make a statement and put some distance between them and the rest of the division. Finished the first half great, now lets play like we mean it.
Pitching match-ups for the remainder of this weekend's series:
Friday: Flaherty (3-4, 3.24) vs. Lester (12-2, 2.58)
Saturday: Weaver (5-8, 4.72) vs. Montgomery (3-3, 3.91); Gant (3-3, 3.49) vs. Chatwood (3-5, 5.04)
Sunday: Mikolas (10-3, 2.79) vs. Quintana (8-6, 3.96)
Friday: Flaherty (3-4, 3.24) vs. Lester (12-2, 2.58)
Saturday: Weaver (5-8, 4.72) vs. Montgomery (3-3, 3.91); Gant (3-3, 3.49) vs. Chatwood (3-5, 5.04)
Sunday: Mikolas (10-3, 2.79) vs. Quintana (8-6, 3.96)
Cubs got Jesse Chavez from Texas for a marginal A-ball prospect.
Since his boy-band career ended in the early ‘00s, Chavez has been a journeyman spot starter/long reliever. He’s averaged 120 innings a year over the last 4 and has nearly 60 innings this year without any starts. Good command, but gives up the gopher ball. ERA typically in the low 4s.
On one hand, he’s just a guy who can chew some innings without sucking too much. On the other hand, he gives the Cubs the option of having Montgomery in the rotation long term or of making Montgomery a piece in a larger trade. Jesse Rogers wrote for ESPN yesterday that Montgomery would be one of the pieces the Mets would want in a DeGrom trade.
Since his boy-band career ended in the early ‘00s, Chavez has been a journeyman spot starter/long reliever. He’s averaged 120 innings a year over the last 4 and has nearly 60 innings this year without any starts. Good command, but gives up the gopher ball. ERA typically in the low 4s.
On one hand, he’s just a guy who can chew some innings without sucking too much. On the other hand, he gives the Cubs the option of having Montgomery in the rotation long term or of making Montgomery a piece in a larger trade. Jesse Rogers wrote for ESPN yesterday that Montgomery would be one of the pieces the Mets would want in a DeGrom trade.
Not typically a fan of Rogers, but I did like that piece on deGrom.
Also, nice comeback win against the Cardinals yesterday!
[ W ] #56
I too am not a fan of Rogers. But that article, plus the Chavez acquisition, plus the rumors of the Cubs kicking the tires on some veteran outfielders like Adam Jones and Curtis Granderson (Almora or Happ replacements?) makes for a bit of smoke.