Sunday, June 5, 2011

On unfortunate situations

As I'm sure many of you have already heard, on May 26th, San Francisco Giants' Catcher, Buster Posey, suffered a season-ending injury as a result from a collision with Florida Marlins' outfielder, and former USF Don, Scott Cousins. The play at the plate left Posey with a fractured fibula and three torn ankle ligaments in his lower left leg.

As a big Giants fan, this really sucks- Posey is the heart of the team, and the brutal truth is that this injury is going to cause real setbacks in his career and affect the rest of the Giants' season. I'm sure all of Major League Baseball and its fans are wishing him a speedy recovery.

Just to provide a little background for those of you who haven't heard: Cousins made numerous phone calls to Posey the night of the incident, which went unanswered and unreturned, and hand delivered a letter of apology to the Giants' clubhouse the following day before the next game. Giants' General Manager Brian Sabean later described Cousins' intent as "malicious" and went on to say, “If I never hear from Cousins again or he never plays another game in the big leagues, I think we’ll all be happy.”

As you read the rest of this post, please note that I'm writing from my experiences as a former catcher (6+ years), and I totally understand what it feels like to deal with season-ending injuries (three broken legs- two within two years).

I think the best word to describe this situation is unfortunate. I don't think Cousins is at fault in any way, and here's why: when the game is close and you're rounding third base, your one and only goal is to score. If the catcher is in your way, you go through him. You can't blame Cousins because he was just playing the game the way he's supposed to- I would have done the same thing. I think trying to contact Posey to apologize was admirable and his persistence speaks to his character.

On the other side, I can totally see where Posey is coming from. The reigning National League Rookie of the Year and World Champion just had his season pulled out from under him. He must be incredibly frustrated and upset- not at Cousins, but due to the fact that he's physically unable to play for the remainder of the year. The reason he's not answering the calls or letters is probably because he has too much on his mind. I don't think he blames Cousins for the injury- he understands that it's baseball. Playing catcher involves a lot of risk- that's why they make you wear all that gear. This was just an extremely unfortunate freak accident.

Brian Sabean needs to be more careful about what he says- I think he was out of line. Although I can understand he's frustrated (because he now has to make many roster changes) and concerned about his players' well-being, he needs to realize that some situations are simply unfortunate and blame cannot be assigned. It's not fair for him to speak of Cousins' intent (and play with his reputation) because that's not something you can effectively determine.

I'll say it one more time- this was just an unfortunate situation, and what's worse is many seem to be blowing it way out of proportion. I think it would be best if everyone tries to move on.

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