The Feesh open the 2017 campaign today against the Gnats, and every member of the squad will be wearing Number Sixteen patches for the entire season to honor Jose Fernandez.
Look, everyone who reads these comments regularly knows I’ve argued on many occasions here that his otherwise remarkable life shouldn’t be reduced to the awful mistakes he made early one morning last September.
But neither do I think now that the painstakingly researched official report has been released that Jose was drunk and coked up and personally drove that boat into the jetty, killing himself and his friends, he has earned the honor of having his number patched onto the uniforms of the entire team. The hard truth is that Jose committed a serious felony. It would have landed him in jail for years had he survived. He destroyed two other families and left his daughter fatherless in the process. I also don’t doubt that if he had lived he would have been properly banned from the game for the rest of his life.
Jose may have been the heart and soul of the Feesh in his lifetime and a kind, generous and even heroic soul in other compartments of his life, but his actions on that fatal night shouldn’t be overlooked. Unfortunately, that’s what this honorary patch is asking us to do. I don’t think this sends a very healthy message to the fans of the team – especially the younger ones – nor to anyone else, for that matter.
The Feesh are asking us to wink at mortally criminal behavior. I refuse to do so. So should everyone else.
Well said. I’m with you on this one, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Loria, like MLB as it most often does, has made a shameless marketing decision, but the real shame lies in the fact that this decision will make money, that the life ending tragic mistake of this young man, encouraged to be perceived as the final act of an imaginary vicarious replacement of our individual life disappointments, will provide a net positive effect on ticket and hot dog sales. Remember our kleptocratic oligarchs do not create our sins, they merely prey on them.
Shame. Shame on us
LikeLiked by 2 people
We mourned his loss, as well we should have. Because it was a true loss, for baseball, for the world, for his friends and family. But boy, he made some really awful decisions. I hate knowing that really stupid, foolish, criminal decisions took his life and the lives of his friends, but they did.
Loss is such a weird thing. His stupid mistakes doesn’t take away from me missing his joy of life, nor does it take away from my appreciation of his enormous talent. But I can’t think of him in the same way anymore.
Jose was human. Flawed, deeply flawed. Beautiful, and damaged. And the damage can’t be ignored, because ultimately it broke him apart.
The Marlins can continue to mourn, but maybe this is not the best way to do it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Having just visited that other site, I can only imagine the (lack of) civility in the comments section had this been posted there. I think I’ll just lurk here, if you guys don’t mind.
LikeLike
Consider yourself more than welcome here. Hope you’ll throw in a few comments of your own once in a while.
LikeLike