Austin Kearns, Manchild

[919191]

Originally Posted by Falls City Beer

Yep. A good workplace understands that the worker has a life and people he loves.

And the rest need organized labor.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by cincinnati chili

What's a checkbook?

Sallie Mae's best friend.

[M2]

Actually I've always found a child on the way a professional motivator. Different people are wired different ways.

A parent's illness obviously weighs on you in some fashion.

Though I'm not so sure Austin's personal life is the reason why he's had a disappointing season. IMO he's always taken his talent for granted and what we've seen the past two years is a guy who hasn't understood the amount of work required to unleash it in the wake of a serious injury. Would the light have gone on without the external distractions? Maybe. You never know what a young guy's going to learn or when he's going to learn it.

Though he also has to learn the fine art of compartmentalization. I'd argue the players that do it easily tend to enjoy greater success on the field, prime example - Pete Rose. There's always going to be something going on in your personal life.

[westofyou]

prime example - Pete Rose.

On the flip side of that we have Jimmy Piersall

[Falls City Beer]

Originally Posted by 919191

And the rest need organized labor.

Basically.

[Blimpie]

Originally Posted by wheels

To add another thought....

The fact that we knew nothing of these things speaks volumes of Austin. Not one one time did he use them as an excuse.

His priorities were right where they should have been.

His family.

Not some stupid game. No, baseball isn't stupid, and yes, it's his job, but a father with heart problems and a child on the way makes it very very stupid.

I've got alot more respect for Austin now, and I consider it proof that he's grown up tremendously over the last year.

Austin will arrive upon the Cincinnati landscape with a vengeance next season.

Excellent post, Wheels. Austin is a private person--perhaps to a fault--but he is not big on excuses.

[Tools of Ignorance]

Well, I guess this proves that he indeed worked hard on his stickwork in the offseason.




Sorry, couldn't resist.

[4256 Hits]

Originally Posted by SteelSD

Y'know, I have no kids and I still know what a crock that is.



Bunk. Complete. In fact, absolute. If you don't know if you'll ever see a parent again, your outlook, focus, and priorities change.

Being completely heartless has nothing to do with being "professional". Learn that and you'll be with the rest of the world.

1st off I didn't want to come along as being heartless.

Let me clarify a few points. First of all I have 3 kids 2,4,5 so 3 times recently I have had to "deal" with a birth of a child 3 times and none of them effected my job performance other than the time I took off. I have no problem w/ him taking the time off at the birth. But to think that his troubles at the plate in April were partly because he was going to have a baby in 4 months, I don't buy it.

I haven't had to deal w/ a parent illness but have had to deal w/ the death of all four of my grandparents so I have watched my parents go though having their parents ill. I understand it impacting your job for awhile but a person needs to get to a point where they can focus and do there job and if he was having trouble dealling with it I would have had no problem with him asking for as much time time off as he needed.

Look at a player such as Brett Farve (or Roger Clemens eariler this week) that has had to go though many personally trouble in his past and hasn't let it impact his performance. Most people every few years has some big (bad) thing happen in there life and it is something you have to learn to deal with.

My worries are what if he has another kid next year or if another family member gets sick does that excuss him to have another bad year next?

I am sure so of you will view me as "evil" but that is not how I want to come across. I do wish Kearns the best and hope next year is a happy and healthy year and we can all see the type of MVP year that he is capable of.

I hope this come accross clearly but I have never be very good at getting my point accross in my writting.