JimH5

Brennaman is a 56-year-old professional broadcaster. His profession requires that he uses words and that he does so properly. He's not a retired athlete color commentary guy, and he's not new to the profession, just figuring things out. He should be at the peak of his professional life, experienced enough to know how to do it right, and still young enough that he hasn't lost a step. He's not of another era. I'm 58 and it's never been acceptable to say what he said. We have had enough bad apologies that people should know how to do it correctly. I don't give him any pass for not getting his apology right.

So many of these apologies get it wrong when they use phrases like "that's not who I really am", "I'm sorry if you were offended", etc. Brennaman did both of those and he threw in the ever popular "I'm a man of faith", and talked about possible punishment, taking away his headset, his paycheck... Whatever punishment he is due will come at the right time, and it will be decided by people who aren't him. What he should have done was talk about his own mistake, his own shortcomings, and express remorse and contrition for that. Leave the rest for others to deal with. Here is how I think it could have gone better for him: "Earlier tonight, I said something that was wrong in every way, and I apologize for that. I used hateful language toward a group of people who deserve better from me and from everyone, and in doing so, I brought embarrassment to this broadcast and everyone associated with it. I wish I hadn't have said what I did. There really is no context in which it's okay to use that language, or to harbor the hateful, ignorant thoughts behind it. I'm sorry that I let everybody down." Don't defend yourself, don't explain yourself, don't blame others, or require that they pass a test to qualify that they are authorized to be offended. Don't ask for forgiveness or leniency. Save that for another day. If "this isn't the real you", let others make that case. I think being the son of Marty Brennaman will serve him well in Cincinnati. But not today, and not for the rest of this season. I think he needs to go away for awhile and give people time to consider whether he is a good guy or not. Ryan Braun stained his image badly. But since his suspension, he's done the right things and has made some significant repairs. I don't know if that works for a broadcaster, of whom there are many. Braun was under contract and had unique talent. Lots of guys can do baseball on tv.

Yep. Watching him squirm, getting interrupted by the homer, him updating the game score and then returning to his apology. For fans of uncomfortable cringe, tonight was special.

And as fate would have it, Brennaman's on-air apology was interrupted by a Nick Castellanos homer into an area of the park labeled as the "Judgement-Free Zone". It was nice to hear his weak apology have to take a pause for a poignant play-by-play call.

He was just pulled from the Reds broadcast after a live mic caught him making a homophobic slur about an undisclosed location. Cincinnati is not known as the hotbed of progressivism, and he's the son of their broadcast legend, Marty Brennaman, so maybe he'll stick around on their local broadcasts. But I think his time as a national voice is over.

The NFL needs to cancel their season, but if they did, it would be the first time that owners ever put player health and safety ahead of revenue, so I wouldn't count on it.

The draft is only the first step in an organization's process to create major league players. There is a cloud of secrecy between the draft and a player's MLB debut. What kind of instruction did he have? Nutrition? How was he worked? What skills were emphasized? Cleveland seems to be able to unlock greatness in pitchers. Not sure if they drafted any better than the Brewers...maybe it's their development efforts.

I think the money issue is on the risk management/litigation end. Is there an insurance company willing to insure a university or conference against a wrongful death or disability claim in the event that a player, coach, school employee, referee, etc became sick or died because a school played a game requiring extreme physical exertion and closeness during a pandemic? And what of the potential fallout after such an incident? Every one of those university presidents would be forced out if a death occurred. Most of these universities have medical schools within their academic programs. And each of them is recommending adherence to CDC guidelines. It would seem hypocritical to suggest that football programs are exempt from behavior expected of all other students and staff.

Reports tonight say they're going to shut down Big Ten football sometime this week. It seems inevitable. 160,000+ dead, no uniformity on masking, players balking over safety concerns. Fans are going to be upset, but for the first time in a long time, schools are ignoring the fans and are doing what makes most sense for the short term health of their students, and the long term health of their football programs.

Add the MAC to conferences cancelling fall football. Northern Illinois was the catalyst behind the conference's action.

The Players Tribune is reporting that a group called College Athlete Unity is making demands of Big Ten schools on their preparedness for Covid, along with some social justice causes. They claim to represent the interest of more than 1,000 football players. I don't think I can believe that number, since this is the first we have heard of the group, and 1,000 people can't both gather (even remotely) and keep quiet about it. But still, there could be some disruption to teams and schools, depending on how they manage their health and safety initiatives and social stances, and the cohesion of the members of this CAU group. More to come, as schools react to this story, and as players stand up for their grievances.

The way that college teams have been impacted by the virus should be a harbinger of what's ahead for the NFL. There's no way to play the game or scrimmage without having lots of close contact, hard breathing, saliva, etc. Add in large rosters and travel and it's very likely that teams and game officials will contract the virus. Whether that stops the NFL from pushing forward or not is questionable. Players want to get paid and the league has proven again and again that player health and safety is less important than making money. Even a player hospitalization or death seems unlikely to stop the league from moving forward. The viewing public has ignored so many scandals, crimes, disabling injuries and premature deaths that the NFL is impervious to things that would halt other aspects of life. People want football, period, pandemic or not.

Bo Black died today at 74. She was best known as the Executive Director of Summerfest for many years. The festival and grounds really grew in quality under her leadership. She was also married to former Brewers skipper Tom Trebelhorn. In a city without many celebrities, Bo Black was a pretty big deal. If you enjoy Summerfest, she is as responsible as anyone for making it what it is.

Rumors are flying that the team name is the least of Dan Snyder's problems.

Aaron Nola is a top of the rotation starter, Tommy Pham is a 20/20 outfielder who's good for 3+ WAR, Will Smith was the most coveted reliever in the offseason, Sal Perez is a 5-time Gold Glove franchise player, Miguel Sano hit 34 HR last year, David Price is a former Cy Young Award winner who was expected to be a mainstay in the rotation of one of the best teams in the game. We can split hairs on whether these guys are worthy enough to join Lemahieu and Freeman in your eyes. But put them all together and you'd have a pretty good core around which to build a team.

I didn't say or suggest what the impact would be on MLB moving forward at all. I looked at the actual numbers of what it is right NOW and made a statement based on those numbers. There was no guessing or speculation or predicting the future. Just a statement based on the low number that has tested positive thus far. Got it. And my response was to say that a low number of players is one thing, but even if the overall count is low, what matters is what happens with star players. A 7th reliever isn't the same as an MVP or Cy Young candidate. And some valuable players have been affected this week...not including Mike Trout, who remains noncommittal about playing this season. So just a week into this, there are some key guys either with the virus, sitting out because of it, or not yet sure that they're all in on the season. That's what I was getting at.

Stars sit out significant portions of the season every year due to injury. This particular reason is nothing more than a brain injury. The guys who've tested positive will all be fine by opening day. With the protocols in place, it's likely they are less likely to be infected than if they were out doing their thing. You don't know if they're going to be fine or not. Nobody does. My post was in response to HiAndTight's suggestion that the impact on MLB will be minimal. Every possibility for injury and illness that existed in 2019 exists this year, too. And less than a week into the spring training reboot, there have already been 8+ star players lost to the virus. It could turn out fine, but to insist that it will is just wishful thinking.

All cases are not equal. Star players sitting out or getting sick mean more than guys we've never heard of. Freddie Freeman DJ Lemahieu Tommy Pham David Price Aaron Nola Will Smith Miguel Sano Salvador Perez That's a significant impact, and they're just getting started.

Until a pitcher is warming up to throw the first pitch of the season, I don't want to hear from Rob Manfred, Tony Clark, Bob Nightengale, Ken Rosenthal, Jon Heyman, Buster Olney, etc. This constant back and forth, will they or won't they stuff is tiresome and not worth my interest.

Seems like MLB is stalling on implementing the 50 game season, so the Union has less of a leg to stand on when they file their grievance. That sounds like the timing of it fits, but it's pretty gross when industry expects employees to assume all the risk related to getting sick during a pandemic. Employers should be expected to provide reasonable care in trying to keep employees safe. Waiving away rights puts all of that burden on the players.

The demand that players waive any legal claims against the league is a deal breaker. No employee in any industry would give their employer such protection. Add this episode to the list of failures on Manfred's record. He's been a terrible commissioner. At a time when the game needs innovation and growth, he's offered nothing.

It's encouraging that the Players Association came back with an actual offer. With all of the tragic news in the headlines over the past few days, neither side of the baseball negotiation is likely to garner much in the way of public support. Caring about baseball seems like a luxury. The two sides will either work it out or they won't. But doing their negotiating in public seems petulant. We have more important stuff in the public consciousness right now.

It's not the Business side of the Front Office, nor the stadium or gameday operations people...but the Brewers announced today that the Baseball Ops folks will be paid for the duration of the 2020 season. No pay cuts. No furloughs. That pretty much shuts me up in terms of criticizing the Attanasio/Stearns tandem from here out. They didn't have to do this. I think they might be the first team to announce plans this generous. Good for the Brewers leadership in keeping key front office employees paid, despite no revenue coming in, thus far.

No, it deserves what it gets because it NEVER has long enough sleeves. Counterpoint: The sleeves are ALWAYS comically long on me. I am lucky to be sized accordingly. My sleeves cover my wrists and no further. I can wash the dishes without them getting wet. Team Jim with the victory! As for the tri blend shirts that stout mentioned above, I'm glad to leave those on the rack for the rest of you. They are often too thin and clingy, or they are cut for a fitter, younger person.

Funny, Louis! I've had good luck with Gildan and Jockey. Maybe it helps that I'm an XL and I don't have enormous biceps to pull the sleeves up.