The Dominican Republic is a beautiful place to visit. But the affluence inside the walls of the all-inclusive superclubs flies in stark contrast to the harsh reality that exists outside of them. Poverty, hunger, and despair dominate a landscape bordered by one of the most violent societies in the northern hemisphere – Haiti.
For Dominicans, it is a life of endless boundaries, limitations, and sobering realities. For their children, it is a pre-disposed fate that you would not wish on your worst enemy.
We can assume that all of this was lost last week on the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN, when they hired a lawyer to dig up dirt on former American League MVP Miguel Tejada. What the witch hunt uncovered was a birth certificate that didn’t match the age that Tejada claimed to be. The reason? When Tejada was 19 years old (a senior citizen by unsigned, undrafted baseball prospect standards), he thought that if he lied to major league teams about his age, he would have a better chance at signing a contract that would allow him to leave his life of poverty behind.
If it all worked out, Tejada would ensure a better existence for not only himself, but a better life for generations to come. Heavy stuff for a hungry 19-year-old kid, but apparently not heavy enough for the company that brought you the great American tradition known as Sportscenter, to ignore.
So ESPN lines up the interview, requesting that Tejada show up in full uniform ready to talk about baseball. You can imagine Tejada’s surprise when the reporter ambushed him with a copy of his birth certificate, which has since turned into a public tar and feathering of obscene proportions.
All this from a broadcaster that recently had Michael Irvin on the payroll? In case you missed it, Irvin pled no contest to felony cocaine possession in 1996 in exchange for four years of deferred probation, a $10,000 fine, and dismissal of misdemeanor marijuana possession charges. That was BEFORE he got his job at ESPN.
When he got pulled over for speeding in 2005, the cops found a crack pipe in his back seat. Fortunately ESPN has a radio arm, and they hustled Irvin to the airwaves faster than you can say “8-ball, back pocket” where he told listeners that the pipe, get ready for this, belonged to his friend. It wasn’t until February of 2007 that ESPN decided to part ways with Irvin. Too bad they didn’t give Tejada that long to think about what HE did before responding.
How does that saying about glass houses go again?
So what if Miguel Tejada is 33 and not 31. How many of us knew how old he was in the first place? I know I didn’t. I didn’t care then, and I don’t care now. I only care that Tejada lied for the right reasons and I can’t say as though I would have done any different. So why all the grandstanding fellas?
Thank you, ESPN, for helping make athletes a little more guarded and skeptical of our intentions now. Trust and insightful newsgathering go hand in hand. Both of which are in far shorter supply today than they were last week.
Excellent post Sean McCormick. But I would also add that in the case of Irvin, like in the case of Tejada, an attitude of compassion would serve everyone better than one of judgement.
JR6543 |
11:03 PM, Monday April 21, 2008
It must have been a real slow day in the sports newsroom at ESPN for them to go digging for that information. For one thing Tejada was not even in the spotlight for baseball this spring. But this is America we are talking about where almost everyone has some degree of a skeleton in the closet and they all like to point fingers at someone else’s skeleton but they try to cover up their own. I could care less how old Tejada is. Does it affect his performance on the field which is what he is paid to do? No is my answer. As long as he is performing at a level that benefits his team it should not matter what age he is. There have been a number of players who have played over the years who did not know how old they were. The fans don’t care as long as those players keep hitting the ball and making plays in the field. This is sensationalism at its worst and ESPN should be ashamed of themselves. It wouldn’t surprise me that Tejada did something before that was not to ESPN’s liking and this was a way to get back at him. Why else would you look that hard for dirt on him? All of us would do the same thing as Tejada if we were faced with the same situation.
golfman2099 |
11:48 PM, Monday April 21, 2008
great blog Dude!
I wonder if the ESPN reporter really thought the whole story through. its not like its a groundbreaking report. like you said; who cares?
This just gives athletes another reason to avoid and hate on the media.
keon14 |
1:05 AM, Tuesday April 22, 2008
Nice job man……..that ABSOULUTELY needed to be said.
FaBoLoUs31 |
1:14 PM, Tuesday April 22, 2008
The Blue Jays claimed that both Junior Felix and Tony Batista had lied about their ages and used that to rationalize their trade and release respectively.
I remember being in San Pedro de Macoris in 1991 on a baseball pilgrimage and every young ballplayer I talked to told me that he would lie about his age if given a shot at a contract.
If it wasn’t a surprise to me, it certainly couldn’t have been a surprise to whoever scouted Tejada.
Groover |
1:15 PM, Tuesday April 22, 2008
Great Blog… who really cares… it’s not like he’s a 15 year throwing heat at 12 year olds in the LLWS.
jimycrakcorn |
4:16 PM, Tuesday April 22, 2008