So I’ve received a lot of heat, RE: my last post and the repeated usage of the word “fuck.” Much of the criticism came from followers of Craig Calcaterra’s excellent Hardball Talk blog. Craig took me to task for repeatedly using the word, suggesting I was directly tossing f-bombs toward Alex Rodriguez. This, of course, was not the case. And if you read the post, I think it’s pretty clear the word was used to convey the emotions of fed-up ballplayers.
What I was doing, by repeatedly breaking out the ol’ “fucks,” was showing (or trying to show) what Ryan Dempster’s pitches toward Alex Rodriguez seemed to symbolize—both to Dempster, as well as other clean players around the Majors.
Whether one agrees with Dempster’s tactics or not, I assure you—without question—there were cheers throughout Major League Baseball clubhouses. Two reasons: 1. Because, even without the whole PED issue, Rodriguez is considered a selfish fraud phony with the sincerity of a used car salesmen; 2. Because Rodriguez, along with Ryan Braun, has come to symbolize cheating in baseball, and non-cheaters are fed up.
Was Dempster right to hit him? No. But did I like the raw emotion and oomph behind it? I have to say, I did (whether that’s OK or right, I can’t say. We don’t always control how we feel. Sometimes we just … feel it). Because, no matter what Yahoo reported about Dempster being dissed by ARod at some point, I believe he was trying to convey a larger message. Are there inconsistencies in that? Certainly. Readers are right—has he ever said a thing to David Ortiz? To other cheat teammates? I’m guessing no. Still, I tend to think he was trying to take a stand.
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On a side note, I love cursing. I really do. I don’t curse around my kids or my nephews, because they’re young and I don’t want them getting kicked out of class. But a good curse feels greeeeaaaaaat. I’ve also never fully understood the taboo of the curse word. Years ago I wrote a lengthy piece on curse origins, and it’s all silly nonsense. They’re words. They come, they go, nobody dies.
