Kenny Rogers got his supension for knocking around two camera operators toting heavy equipment reduced from 20 days to 13 days. The fine became a charitable contribution, thus tax deductable. Which is good, 'cause you don't want multimillionaires to pay the same in taxes that a taxi driver pays.
Reading the news, I fully expected outrage from the baseball pundits, saying that this was another case of letting these guys get off easy. Instead, much to my surprise, I saw that Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune (who I am pretty sure is not related to Kenny Rogers) pretty much blasted Bud Selig. Another writer, Mike Celizic of MSNBC, did likewise. What did Bud do wrong?
Rogers writes that Bud was the person who issued the suspension, not baseball vice president in charge of issuing suspensions Bob Watson. Then Bud heard the appeal, which Bud denied.
What Kenny Rogers did was terrible. He acted like a bully. There are other instances of athletes or coaches or celebrities abusing workers doing their jobs whereever the event may be taking place. The stars of sports or the media depend on hundreds of lunchbucket folks such as camera operators, clubhouse attendants, sound engineers, and on and on, to let them bask in the glow and rake in the dough of stardom. Abusing the people who provide the entire support system that allows these people to be multimillionaires really frosts my butt. I thought that the original suspension should have been for more than 20 days.
Bud Selig needs to follow the rules, however. There needs to be some due process. He took over the whole process, grandstanding and letting everyone know that he's tough and not going to take it. Well, there are times that you need to let the process work. And this was one of those times.
Unfortunately, this looks like one of those stories that there is no real satisfactory outcome.
thankyouverymuch,
Old Cleat
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