When The Mighty Fall/ Fail

Through my usual beat of baseball rumination, I want to address a central issue of sport that has bugged me for a long time – how we respond when the mighty fall/ fail. So, firstly, an update on the Red Sox.

 

After one of the most complete seasons ever by a team in the majors, the Sox have kicked off 2019 in a less than spectacular fashion. A long road trip of three series saw the miserly return of just 2 wins. Once the glitz of World Series rings and pennant presentations was out of the way, their first outing at Fenway was another less than glitzy defeat. Many scribes are canvassing the options on how this particular mighty team has fallen with repeated failures in the early part of the season. Selection policy and the way Spring Training was handled are the two most common entrails picked over but there are many more, as one can imagine, for such a high profile team. I haven’t really formulated my own theory yet. Suffice to say, I’m somewhat flummoxed and hoping for better days ahead. But one response I have had is a feeling of  the days of beer and skittles inevitably come to an end and it is how we cope that really matters.

 

Last night, two major stories broke on social media in relation to high profile sportsmen. I am a rugby tragic who is fully aware of the impact Israel Folau has had on the game over the last decade. I’m also a boxing fan who has enjoyed watching Anthony Mundine in that time, and before as well. Their controversial forays into the public realm were not particularly controversial in my mind. Folau’s religious zealotry is a fundamental part of his being, more so than his rugby prowess for anyone who has taken the time to notice. Equally, Mundine has a long history of making statements that clearly have not been through his PR handlers. These most recent entries into their checkered timelines are no more noteworthy than a host of other examples. They are consistent in a way many other high profile people actively choose not to be as hypocrisy and flip-flopping are more trade-able currencies in the bubble they inhabit.

 

While I find the essence of the ideas Folau and Mundine espouse to be personally repugnant, I do not find them so as people. In fact, I admire both of them for their track record of civic duty. I know many look up to both of them and will want them to continue to be involved in public life. I believe we should find ways to build bridges to them and others who fall outside our conventional realm of acceptability. Intolerance and idiocy can be called out without us losing our common humanity. We do this by staving off bloodlust and calls for retribution for every indiscretion. The mighty do fall. They do fail. So do we all.

 

As for the Red Sox ……….. come on fellas, I don’t mind if this year is to be a write-off but for Christ’s sake just stick it up the Yankees!!!!!

 

 

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