Brett Myers whattya think?

[mth123]

Player X beats his wife, he doesn't hurt the game, he only hurts himself and probably his marriage. Player Y bets on the game, he destroys himself and the integrity of the game.

I usually like your posts but I disagree here. He doesn't hurt himself, he hurts his wife. Who is usually some one much smaller and defenseless. Arguing degrees of bad is usually a bad idea, but violence is on a whole different level IMO than Gambling and other such crimes. Woman are physically battered and many are killed each year in just such situations. Seems so much worse to me that the situations don't even belong in the same conversation.

Sorry to the board for getting too non-baseball.

[vaticanplum]

Player X beats his wife, he doesn't hurt the game, he only hurts himself and probably his marriage.

Uh...and his wife. And children if there are any.

Player Y bets on the game, he destroys himself and the integrity of the game.

Listen, I love baseball, but I don't consider it more important than people.

The argument of "his personal life is his personal life" is a valid one. But I think some of this reasoning for this argument is going a little wacky. These comparisons are ridiculous. Every time a crime is committed in baseball, gambling is brought up as a foil. Spousal abuse and gambling have nothing to do with each other. Of course the comparison is going to go wrong.

[Team Clark]

There are dozens upon dozens of players each and everyone one of us root for every day that have done the same or worse than Myers. You just don't hear about it. Which is probably a good thing. I have been at parties, clubs, homes, on planes and on buses where similar or worse crimes or immoral activities took place and not a word in the press. Minor leagues on up to the big leagues. Brett Myers is the torch bearer becasue he was "Caught".

[vaticanplum]

There are dozens upon dozens of players each and everyone one of us root for every day that have done the same or worse than Myers. You just don't hear about it. Which is probably a good thing. I have been at parties, clubs, homes, on planes and on buses where similar or worse crimes or immoral activities took place and not a word in the press. Minor leagues on up to the big leagues. Brett Myers is the torch bearer becasue he was "Caught".

I have no doubt about this. I think this is probably true not just for baseball for the population at large: a very small percentage of crimes is caught. Men, women, drinking and driving, abuse, everything. The law exists to deal with the people who are caught. That's the basis of a civilized society.