MLB umpire Joe West has forgotten the Mark Twain truism that it’s best to be silent and thought to be an idiot than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.
This week he gave an interview and revealed an impressive lack of knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic.
To him, Joe Diffie had lung cancer when he died from the coronavirus, therefore his death shouldn’t be counted as a coronavirus death. He is unaware of the meaning of “proximate cause.”
He claimed that hospitals get paid more for coronavirus cases, so car wreck injury victims get diagnosed with COVID-19. I’ll be generous and assume he doesn’t know he just accused the entire medical community of insurance fraud. Still, it’s appallingly stupid…and as a medical professional, I am offended.
He also stated that, at 67, he’s survived many viruses and that no virus was going to take him down. That’s the Jeopardy $100 answer to the question “What are famous last words, Alex?”
Joe West is 65 regular season games shy of breaking the record for most games umped. That means we “get” to see him ump shows in 2021 too. Yay.
Today, the umpires’ association made it clear West does not speak for them. It’s rare they don’t back members no matter how obviously wrong they are, but this was obviously too much. They should, however, replace his mask with a gag.
Fan Interference 
I just came across this a few minutes ago. What happened in New York looks to be starting in Houston. As Houston emergency rooms, ICU beds are flooded with COVID 19 patients care is being delayed for hear attacks, strokes, car crashes etc, resulting in degraded outcomes including death. Joe should not just understand the term proximate cause but know that it is a term that cuts in all directions.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/all-the-hospitals-are-full-in-houston-overwhelmed-icus-leave-patients-waiting-in-er/ar-BB16AFOW?ocid=spartan-dhp-feeds
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ICUs are all full in Miami/Dade and Broward counties in FL, too.
Our numbers are surging while other Canada’s are declining. We have a critical mass here of Covidiots thinking not social distancing and not wearing masks are somehow constitutional rights.
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Thank God this is not just a baseball site. Thank God you have kept it going while most of the rest of us (including me) have been too exhausted and anxious to contribute.
Thank God does not just mean Thank God to me it means THANK GOD!!!
I am going to try and get myself to start writing again. But even if I can it will be far more about what baseball means to me than just baseball
Maybe
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My roommate is a medical anomaly as he proves a complex life form can exist without a brain. (I know this is true from watching “Spock’s Brain” the first episode aired in the fin
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Sorry! I guess I lost Angels134’s brain, too! “…first episode of the final season of ST:TOS) My roommate said the same thing weeks ago.
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