Bloggers vs. Athletes

by jbox on Aug 3, 2008 11:51 AM PDT Comment 13 comments

Online Photos of top athletes a cheap shot?

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong posting these particular pictures. These were taken at a charity event where the Padres bar tend and serve drinks. It's whole purpose was to gather media attention and raise money by bringing fans and players together. Peavy should not have been blindsided by these photos. Peavy being the most popular player on the team seems to run into the most scrutiny and because he is one of the players that seems to socialize in bars more than others.

"The perception is not always the reality," Peavy said recently.

"The Internet is a crazy thing," he said.

"It's the world we live in," Towers said.

Getting blindsided by bloggers is a concern because athletes are human beings, too, who need to socialize just like anyone else, he said.

"They have to be real careful," Towers said. "They have to use good judgment."

Surprisingly we get very few rumors about the Padres, though we have heard about cheating and affairs, but most of the time we have no way of knowing if the stories are true or not. I doubt we would post this kind of information ourselves but if it's already on the web in other places we might direct your attention to it. In cases of affairs is it really the bloggers who are "not very nice people" as Professor Levinson suggests or is it the players who are actually cheating on their loved ones? I think in these cases that the players need to take all the responsibility.

Last week Clay Hensley was seen making out with a chick at the Tavern in Pacific Beach but you don't see us blogging about that. Why? Because we are good at keeping secrets and well Scott Hairston puts it best:

“There's nothing wrong with a guy going to a bar,” Padres outfielder Scott Hairston said. “We're people, too.”

By the same logic there's nothing wrong with a guy getting his picture taken at a bar and posted on the internet or say... playing baseball while drunk.

My thinking is that if the player is posed for a photo, posted it himself on the internet or at a media event then there is absolutely nothing wrong with a fan or blogger putting it on the internet.

I'd like to think we are different than some of the other blogs mentioned in the article because we are actual fans of the players and of the team. We are not looking for unflattering gossip like other sports/gossip sites.

What do you think? Where should bloggers draw the line?

Poll

Should Gaslamp Ball post pictures, rumors and stories of the Padres' off the field antics?

Yes

84 votes

No

23 votes

Sometimes. I expect Gaslamp Ball to use their best judgment

77 votes

184 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 13 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I think everybody should calm down

and think of the Bambino. Imagine the pictures we’d have if the Internet were around then.

If people wanna say these guys party too hard, they’re making the call from an uninformed perspective. It’s not like guys are showing up to the All-Star Game and having to have themselves pulled because of “dehydration.” Right, Little Timmy Lince?

can you cure us of this fate
mock the litany in its face

by Axion on Aug 3, 2008 12:50 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

They are people too

Who doesn’t tell stories to their friends about the crazy drunken guy at the bar… now who isn’t going to tell everyone about the crazy drunken baseball player… They should be aloud to go out with a certain amount of being left alone, I think that if you are there as a player, you should be mindful of what you are doing, know that you are in the public eye and be responsible. If you are out on your own, not doing the public relations part of your job you should still be aware of your reputation but you should be completely left alone to do as you please. I find nothing wrong with a baseball player partying as long as they didn’t have a game the next day to be partying that hard… that might make me punch them. If they behave and play well on the field then thats all I can ask for.

Plus even if no one posted in on the internet it would still spread throughout the community by word of mouth and people are gonna think what they wanna think with or without the pictures…

I don’t think everything should be told or photographed, but the players are ultimately incontrol of their own actions and shouldn’t complain about it later… but people need to give them their space and their normalcy… but if they are at a Padres event then all is fair!

You know I could go for a sandwich, but uh, I'm not gonna open two jars. I can't be opening and closing all kinds of jars.

by C8LIN B on Aug 3, 2008 1:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

watching players get crunk

sexay

And here's a young child saying those 2 words we all wanna hear. "DON'T SUCK!" ~our thought when the game starts.

by eastbaysd on Aug 3, 2008 4:03 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Is any of this activity illegal?

I highly doubt it is. They aren’t breaking the law, so who really cares? It’s not as if though he’s drunk off his ass with his dinghy in his hand, waving it at some teenager.

by Lancers46 on Aug 4, 2008 11:40 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

GLB

The drunken athlete pics from some club or bar is so cliche at this point. I’d like to see some paparrazi style pics of GLBers all liquored up all over town.

Like maybe a shot of WG at Buddies II in Dallas guzzling Champagne Coolies. Or SammyG vomiting all over the sidewalk in front of the San Diego Brewing Company. Or wiggins getting thrown out of the Liars Club Tavern in Alpine; while his mom hits the door guy over the head with her purse. Or J Dub and PSA quietly sipping Cosmos at The Brass Rail.

Now those would be cool.

"Do you ever think, when you're all alone, all that we can be, where this thing can go? Am I crazy or falling in love? Is it really just another crush? Do you catch a breath, when I look at you? Are you holding back, like the way I do?
Cause I'm tryin, tryin to walk away, but I know this crush ain't goin away, goin away."

by Drama on Aug 4, 2008 1:21 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

true story

in the late 80s a friend of the family had season tickets for the mets (i live in new york, ok?), and david cone once made a pass at this guy’s wife while he wasn’t around at some fan fest and got really persistent with her when he’d see her at games, propositioning her in front of her kids while the players were boarding the team bus (keith hernandez intervened finally, pushing him onto the bus and apologizing for him)

YEARS later, her daughter wound up working for mlb.com, and was at a promo party in tribeca to be attended by current and former players…she wound up at the bar, drunk out of her mind, when david cone, also completely shit-faced, approached her, told her she was gorgeous, and asked if she wanted to leave with him

she flipped out, called him every name in the book, and told him he once did the same thing to her mother….she described the bus boarding incident in detail, and he remembered and apologized….the girl called her mother, put cone on, and he proceeded to apologize profusely for his behavior from twenty years ago….then asked if she was still married and if she wanted to meet for a drink

to me that’s the ultimate drunken athlete story

This from a man who thinks the plural of goose is sheep.

by joereiter on Aug 4, 2008 1:33 PM PDT reply actions 3 recs

I don't buy it.

David Cone has never shown anything but respect for women.

by Drama on Aug 4, 2008 1:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

the only thing scarier than a drunken athlete

is a drunken wnba fan

This from a man who thinks the plural of goose is sheep.

by joereiter on Aug 4, 2008 2:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

wnba fan?

Now we’re just getting into mythological territory.

can you cure us of this fate
mock the litany in its face

by Axion on Aug 4, 2008 3:58 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

oh no, they exist

they share the following traits:

- few in number

- strong resemblance to rosie o’donnell

- an intense dislike of all things male

- a supremely intense dislike of being called ‘sir’ or ‘hey buddy’

This from a man who thinks the plural of goose is sheep.

by joereiter on Aug 4, 2008 5:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep, that's about right

and there are hundreds of them living here in Portland

"...do hereby declare that I am not a member of the Human race (not an earthling) and in fact am an alien from another planet other than earth. I hope that this will prove to the person that is putting electric shocks to my head that I am an alien. I am declaring this so that I am not in any violation of any world or international laws of the earth as I am showing by this admission that I am in fact an alien."

by The Kipper on Aug 4, 2008 5:38 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs