Posted on 04/04/2014 7:36:50 AM PDT by Morgana
Being a sports radio host sometimes means being full of hot air when white noise would be preferable, as in the case Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason. The big names showed their small attitudes when New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy chose to be with his wife rather that at opening day of baseball season.
Esiason said:
“I would have said, ‘C-Section before it starts. I need to be at opening day. This is how we make our money; this is how we live our life. This is what is going to give our child every opportunity to be a success in life. I’ll be able to afford any college I want to send my kid to because I’m a baseball player.’”
Carton followed, “I got four of these little rugrats; there’s nothing to do,” as he talks about how Murphy can’t possibly have a need to be home past 24 or 48 hours post-birth. The hosts point out that federal law gives Murphy a right to two weeks of paternity leave, but he shouldn’t take that right because baseball is more important than birth.
To his credit, Murphy dismissed the criticism, telling ESPN New York:
“I got a couple of text messages about it, so I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I didn’t hear about it. But that’s the awesome part about being blessed, about being a parent, is you get that choice. My wife and I discussed it, and we felt the best thing for our family was for me to try to stay for an extra day — that being Wednesday — due to the fact that she can’t travel for two weeks.
“It’s going to be tough for her to get up to New York for a month. I can only speak from my experience — a father seeing his wife – she was completely finished. I mean, she was done. She had surgery and she was wiped. Having me there helped a lot, and vice versa, to take some of the load off. … It felt, for us, like the right decision to make.”
This controversy is one that would not be a controversy in a culture that valued life and birth. These “rugrats” are precious children. Opening day is, as Sporting News noted, one of 162 games played each day. It’s a day of work. The day of a life of a baby can’t be compensated with cash. The support to his wife can’t be replaced with a paycheck.
Baseball is a game. Birth is the miracle of life. To even compare one as being more important than another reveals the attitudes that have permeated a culture that regards sports figures as demi-gods while reducing the true value of life. Once upon a time, criticizing a man for caring for his wife and baby, telling him he should have told her to get a C-section–major surgery–and then calling kids rugrats with an entirely derogatory tone would have been considered offensive to the masses. Now it’s fodder for radio hosts to use airtime at the expense of a man who valued his baby and his wife over a game. If there is a baseball hall of shame, Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason should be the pillars of this museum.
It’s a business. It’s a job. Do your job.
Family is more important than any job, as such.
“EARLY” in my military career, there was a saying, “If the Army wanted you to have a wife and baby it would have issued you them”. Another saying, was “You need to be there at the launch, but not at the delivery”.
Most every job I know of will allow a spouse time off to visit a loved one in the hospital during an emergency situation. Even more so if it’s the wife giving birth. At least this was so in the old days before this ugly thing we have called “abortion” that has so cheapened life.
If he has a great season it will be forgotten. If he has a mdeiocre season it will be cited as an example of his lack of commitment when letting him go.
In this particular job you get several months off to bond with your babies.
Your attempt to bring abortion into this is laughable.
Well Murphy’s being there didn’t appear to make a difference in yesterday’s game. The NY sports crowd are fanatics, possibly on par with Philly.
None of our business. None of Boomer’s business either. If a fan doesn’t like it, find another team.
His job allows for 3 days off for paternity leave. I fail to see how it is anyone's business.
Ask the poster.
Don’t forget Bommer’s vitriol toward Tebow. There is some darkness in his soul. I guess we all have some darkness, but his is on full display.
Amen....
When my daughters were born in 65 & 68 I wasn’t really allowed to be anywhere near, I worked and stayed at work, visiting in the evening.
I also advised my ‘young laborers’ later on that when they wanted ‘extra time off’ because their lady was pregnant, my advice was ‘Son, now is the time you want to start chalking up the overtime, not missing work and the pay that goes with it’.
We actually have a ‘LAW’ that mandates 2 weeks for the male?
Guess I am among the ‘uninformed’ but why would someone that works seasonal work (say Baseball announcers) be given ‘vacation or leave or whatever they call it anymore’ in the middle of July?
When I was in the Paving business, NO ONE even dreamed of taking time off in the Summer...and that was in Virginia, where we shut down from mid Nov to Mid March except for ‘emergencies’.
We had ‘paid holidays and paid vacations’. Show up for work on the 4th of July and you will have a paid holiday.
Designate ANY 2, 3 or 4 weeks in the summer as your vacation, and as long as you are at work, you will have your paid vacation.
Let’s see if baseball is standing next to him when he is at the end of his life, Boomer. I think it is called living life with no regrets!
I say good for him.
Boomer is an idiot.
I know a business owner who has some branches of his company in Canada. His guys there are legally entitled to five weeks of paternity leave at 70% pay. Each and every one takes advantage of it. He knows they are spending it out on the golf course and not changing diapers. Drives him nuts!
We was always a jerk, even back when he played for the Bengals.
I hope Boomer and Craig never plan on taking a sick day unless they’re barfing up blood.
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