Happy New Year, everyone. I hope all of you had a wonderful
(insert holiday you celebrate in late December). Myself, I’ve had a rough
couple weeks. I strained or ripped a muscle in my lower back causing some
extreme discomfort and pain for almost a month. Getting older sucks, my twenty-something
year old friends out there. You’ll see in your thirties. Then, a week before
Christmas, one of my closest friends went into cardiac arrest and we’re still
not sure she’s going to survive. That’s been really hard to deal with. I had to
spend hundreds of dollars that I shouldn’t have been spending on my ungrateful
son in the yearly holiday tradition of trying to buy his love. And Christmas
morning, I woke up to find myself being attacked by what I believe to be SARS
or bird flu that lasted until late yesterday. December is the worst.
So yes, the launching of TigerSnark hit an unexpected snag
the past couple weeks. But before we get back into the groove, I wanted to
touch on this Torii Hunter thing. If you missed it, Kevin Baxter of the Los
Angeles Times quoted Hunter on the subject of how he would feel to have a gay
teammate. Torii’s alleged response was, “For me, as a Christian … I will be
uncomfortable because in all my teachings and all my learning, biblically, it’s
not right. It will be difficult and uncomfortable.”
Hunter has since released the predictable follow up
statement that he was misquoted. “I’m very disappointed in Kevin Baxter’s
article in which my quotes and feelings have been misrepresented. He took two
completely separate quotes and made them into one quote that does not express
how I feel as a Christian or a human being. I have love and respect for all
human beings regardless of race, color or sexual orientation. I am not perfect
and try hard to live the best life I can and treat all people with respect. If
you know me you know that I am not anti-anything and to be portrayed as
anti-gay in this article is hurtful and just not true.”
Whatever. I couldn’t possibly care less what Torii Hunter
thinks about gays, race, the TV show “Mad Men”, Britney Spears, or anything
else. I just don’t think it’s important. All I care about is his performance on
the baseball field. Is that wrong? Craig Calcaterra, a writer at NBC Hardball
Talk who I greatly respect, thinks that Hunter’s quotes are quite important and
Craig makes some good points in his article on it. But I still don’t think it
matters for one simple reason.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIKE YOUR CO-WORKERS TO STILL DO YOUR JOB
EFFECTIVELY.
Let’s say Alex Avila and Rick Porcello fall in love and
announce it to the world. Adorable. Now if Torii Hunter does happen to have a
problem with homosexuals, does anyone with half a brain think Hunter will not still
try his best on the baseball diamond? Will he refuse to catch fly balls hit to
him with Porcello on the mound? Will he stubbornly choose not to applaud Avila
after a home run? Of course not. He is a professional, and well paid to do his
job. Granted though, he might not be as likely to give Alex a celebratory slap
on the ass afterwards.
I work in a profession where it is imperative that everyone
working the same shift must work together to get things done. And guess what?
Many of the workers don’t like each other. It might be because one has a
problem with another’s race. It may be because one doesn’t like another’s
sexual preference. It may be because that one girl is a stuck up bitch and she
rubs everyone the wrong way. But you know what? They still do their jobs and work
together. It’s their job to do so. And it’s my job do make sure this happens.
I promoted a guy to management a couple years ago that
happened to be gay. And I can think of one particular girl that didn’t like him
for the sole reason of his homosexuality. Like Hunter, she was very religious
and frowned upon gays for that reason. But despite not being BFF’s for life,
they were able to put that aside and still do their jobs. This happens every
day in almost every profession out there, I imagine. Lots of white folks don’t
like blacks. The same is true of blacks with whites. Gays. Jews. People like to
hate each other for dumb reasons. It’s sad, but I think it’s just human nature,
unfortunately. But we all still have to work together in peace if we want to
keep our jobs and get things done.
I’m no different. There’s, in fact, a group of people out
there that I cannot stand. Guilty as charged, your honor. I think they’re dumb
animals. I think they’re the product of inbreeding going back centuries. The
sight of them, their foul odor, and the sounds they make disgust me to no end.
But I’m forced to work with them. I’m forced to deal with them while conducting
business. I don’t like it, but I do it. I am, of course, speaking of the group
of individuals known as Pittsburgh Steelers fans. Filthy creatures.
Now we’ve seen this stuff in Detroit before, quite recently.
Whether it’s been Gary Sheffield (Hispanics), Delmon Young (Jews), or Brandon
Inge fans (anyone not white), the Detroit baseball scene has seen its share of
unnecessary dislike of certain groups. And it is silly. But none of it matters.
All that matters is what happens on the baseball field. Does the player
produce? If so, great. I could give two tugs of a dead dog’s dick whether the
other players like him or if he hates Chinese people. I don’t look to my
favorite baseball team’s right fielder when deciding how I view society. Anyone
that does is a buffoon.
Is Torii Hunter uncomfortable around gay people? Probably. Sadly,
it’s apparently what he was raised to believe. Many hardcore Christians out
there agree. And you’d be ignorant to think that he’s the only player in the
Tigers clubhouse that feels that way. But it doesn’t matter. It’s just how he or
they may or may not personally feel.
Do I agree with that particular philosophy? No. I think it
is silly. Yes, I wish we lived in a world where folks didn’t hate people based
on their race, religion, or sexuality. But to think that will ever truly happen
is just as silly. People suck, sometimes. And it’s Jim Leyland’s job to make
sure that these guys put their personal feelings aside and do their jobs.
Torii Hunter is good at baseball. That’s all I care about.
Anything else is just pointless nonsense.
Besides, if he could get along peacefully with Jered Weaver,
he can probably do so with anyone. That guy’s an ass.
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