Comments on: The Muskbox Likes Walks on the Beach, Crabs

By: Sman

Sman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:26:22 +0000

“I�ve called Jim Hendry fat, Matt Murton a ginger, Ryan Theriot retarded, and Milton Bradley a sociopath…”
…Antonio Alfonseca a mutant, Aaron Miles a Hobbit, Jose Macias a Gremlin, Randy Johnson a gimp septuagenarian, David Eckstein an Elf, Juan Pierre impotent, Sergio Mitre an enormous pussy, and countless others if you would like me to continue :)

Anyway, like I mentioned before, this person likely isnt for real. Someone seriously concerned over this wouldnt say �Besides, he plays better in day games than at night.�. And the stats actually do kind of support this, so they really looked it up! But someone concerned over the topic most certainly wouldnt ever look it up; they would never even think it.

Just ignore them.

…Well, either that or make a point of putting a Vampire reference in each topic for the next month or so :D

By: Bad Kermit

Bad Kermit — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:09:43 +0000

@Gina Strobl – Listen, ma’am. I didn’t know that either Fontenot OR Patton actually had albinism until you showed up. I’ve called Jim Hendry fat, Matt Murton a ginger, Ryan Theriot retarded, and Milton Bradley a sociopath. No fat, red-headed, retarded sociopaths have ever called me a bigot, because it’s a ridiculous statement. I have no idea how you’ve read my stuff for so long without being offended if making a vampire joke about Fontenot sets you off, but I really think you should take it down a notch.

It’s admirable the work you’ve done for kids with visual disabilities, and congratulations on the medal (though what that has to do with anything is beyond me). But this is a sports blog AND a humor blog (in theory). I have no issues with albino midgets, but if you think you’re going to shame me to stop making jokes by throwing around wild accusations of bigotry, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

By: Gina Strobl

Gina Strobl — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:05:27 +0000

I do not have albinism. I have blue eyes, and used to have light blonde hair, which is now white. I am 66. I used to have a glorious golden tan in swimsuit weather, and on my face all year. I was first a member of the Italian, and later, the American ski teams in the 60′s. I won a medal. My connection to albinism is that I taught visually impaired children before I retired, and hated the way other children treated albinos. This was in the U.S. In the small Italian village where I was born, that would not have happened. It could have happened in Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Turkey, Serbia, Georgia, and Armenia, where the people are very superstitious. That said, a person should not be harassed because of his skin color, or lack of same. In a sports blog, a guy can be criticized for striking out with the bases loaded, or even wearing a bizarre hair style, but not because of something he was born with. If he is, this indicates that the writer has issues, not with the way a guy plays, but with he and others who share his physical characteristics. So, the guy who called Mike a “pigment challenged midget” in 2008, and later wrote the above blog, has issues with people with albinism, and with short stature. I have issues with ignorant bigots.

By: Irish Yeti

Irish Yeti — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:42:39 +0000

Gina,
You oughta click that little Shoutbox button

By: Bad Kermit

Bad Kermit — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:58:10 +0000

@Sman - Well said. I was just going to continue being mean about it, but I like your strategy better.

By: Sman

Sman — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:55:41 +0000

Gina,

So it is okay to call someone a “dumb, dumb baseball player”, another the “Unfrozen Caveman Outfielder”, say another “spends a lot of time grabbing his ankles” and state “whose greasy coiffure is actually a wig made of llama hair” about another. BUT it isnt okay to imply a group of people (in this case, the residents of an old Italian village) could judge a person solely because of their skin tone and stereotypes? Seems to me youre trolling here.

This statement
�Mike Fontenot, who was once chased from an old Italian village by a pitchfork- and torch-wielding mob wielding crying, �NOSFERATU!��
would not be much different then saying “Bradely, who was once chased from an Alabama town by a group of people screaming “run you watermelon eating coon”. See, it is the people reacting that are the issue there, not Bradley (well, Bradley probably would have instigated the situation to that point, but for arguments sake…)

That statement is also infinitely less offensive then your own statement of
“Besides, he plays better in day games than at night.”.

Kermit didnt say he was a vampire, he just implied people might stupidly consider him as such based off stereotypes. You apparently thought on the side of the stupid people, and actually took the stereotype 20 steps forward by looking into his play during day and night games. And somehow you did this with a straight face, showing you might not have a strong grasp on what you are arguing here.

So I would ask you this. Do you think all pale skin people are vampires until you look into how they perform in the daytime verses at night, or find out they have Amelanism? Or how about this, which is worse – a person saying “I can see how some illogical people could claim vampire based off stereotypes” or a person saying “he cant be a vampire because I looked at his play in the day time and he is better”?

See, I say you are either are a troll (my thinking) or you are really just transferring your own issues here.

By: Bad Kermit

Bad Kermit — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:48:41 +0000

@Gina Strobl - Are you an albino? Or albina? Or vampire? Because I cannot fathom why else you'd be going nuts over this.

By: Gina Strobl

Gina Strobl — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:36:07 +0000

Don’t flatter yourself.

By: Bad Kermit

Bad Kermit — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:24:13 +0000

@Gina Strobl - You've been following me around for two years waiting for me to slip up on albinism? Holy shit, that's commitment.

By: Gina Strobl

Gina Strobl — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:00:58 +0000

Both Patton and Fontenot have albinism. Never call someone an albino.
You were aware of Fontenot’s albinism because you made a remark about it on someone else’s blog 2 years ago. Patton is open about his condition; Fontenot colors his hair. Of course you have noticed that he wears dark glasses most of the time, sometimes at the plate. At the end of Spring Training, when all the other white guys are golden brown, Mike is still white. He grows his facial hair long enough to color it, then cuts it, hence the scruff. Without the facial hair he looks no older than 12. Patton is 6′ 2″, and can be open about being different; Fontenot gets enough grief just for being a shade under 5′ 5″. I am not a brilliant anything, but I don’t like to see an educated adult act like an ignorant child.