Myers guilty; what will MLB do?
| 11
|
by user Xinoph
Asked after the game yesterday, when asked about the booes wife-beater Brett Myers received yesterday at Fenway, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said, "It didn't surprise me. Boston is pretty rough." [1]. My first response to that idiotic quote was that the crowd wasn't being rough - they were showing common decency. My second response was, "Boston's rough? Apparently not as rough as being married to Brett Myers."
The most disgusting thing about this whole situation has been the muted reaction from the Phillies and Major League Baseball. While Ozzie Guillen was suspended last week for asking David Riske to hit somebody, Myers did hit somebody - no, viciously beat is the term I'm looking for here - and he's getting off scott-free so far. The Phillies let him start, and MLB's only comment was, "We have to wait until the justice system runs its course before we can really comment on it." [2] A cop-out response if I ever heard one. It's a standard cop-out response that doesn't make any sense. Anyone can comment on anything they wish at any time; unless it's a grand jury with which they're involved in some way, there is no gag order. MLB can get up there and defend the rights of women and the honor of their players who aren't wife-beaters, but they didn't. As is becoming increasingly common in the Selig Era, they have ducked the tough issue yet again here.
Meanwhile, the Phillies themselves apparently don't much care who Myers beats off the field, as long as he keeps beating people on the field. The Philadelphia management is standing by their man; they're slower to punish their player for beating his wife than the Texas Rangers were last year when one of their players took a jab at a reporter.
Myers' guilt or innocence is not really in doubt, despite what the too-politically correct MLB is saying. There were a half-dozen witnesses; he attacked her in front of a bar on the sidewalk. This is not the Kobe Bryant he-said/she-said type of situation. The trial will be quick. The only question is whether MLB's response will be as well.
Date
Sun 06/25/06, 7:01 am EST
