The Lunatic Fringe

I did write this script and send it out to Rog in the midst of the bullpen collapse, probably within about 10 minutes of the grand slam that gave the Padres a lead.

Despite the fact the Giants came back to win, and had a surprisingly memorable celebration (mostly thanks to Hunter Pence), this sentiment stands.

The past month has been a mostly ugly one for bay area sports teams.  And it’s gone beyond slumps and injuries.

The Giants recently began a boycott of Andy Baggarly for reporting a clubhouse altercation between Sergio Romo and Shawon Dunston.  This is just stupid and childish.  Even if Baggarly did not personally see it, it happened in an open area that others saw and reported.  Heated moments are going to happen, especially in a bad stretch (like getting swept by the Padres).  It doesn’t look good, but few people are going to look down on it.

Boycotting a reporter for reporting it?  That is an awful way to react.

When I was a minor league reporter, I followed Sergio Romo’s career pretty closely.  By the time he was in Low-A, I saw something that I thought could be special (mostly, his deceptive delivery that leads to the no-dot slider).  But he was a very energetic and temperamental pitcher, and there was one particular anger management incident that happened that few reported on.

When Romo was a Double-A all-star, I went out to Connecticut to interview him, and I brought up that incident, asking him how he learned from it.  I was interviewing all the all-stars that year (I think there were four) and I tried to do more than the boring fluff questions.  There was an instant of surprise and frustration he gave me for bringing it up (I doubt most reporters knew then, much less now).  However, he smiled, and he talked candidly about it.  It was clear that he did learn from the moment, and certainly I never received any flak from any teams for asking such a question.

I don’t think he precipitated this boycott, based on that interaction, but I’m disappointed that everyone is following it.  It’s the not the open, fun team that we’ve come to love.

The 49ers are an entirely different story.  What they are doing….I don’t need to repeat.  But it is awful, and it’s shameful, and it’s a waste of a championship season.

These teams need to do better.  And now is the time for both of them.