View Full Version : Marlins To Allow Players To Boycott Game To Show Support For Elian Gonzalez!
CalifYanksFan
04-25-00, 09:56 AM
4 Marlins Will Boycott Game
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — Four Florida Marlins players, including third baseman Mike Lowell (He's married to a Cuban-Russ), plan to miss tonight's game against San Francisco to honor a call by Cuban-Americans for a work stoppage over the Elian Gonzalez case.
Marlins GM Dave Dombrowski said the club's front-office workers, players and coaches would be excused with pay for the day.
"I agree with it 100 percent," Marlins manager John Boles said. "There are more important things in the world than our game ... Not a lot, but this is one of them."
Lowell, whose parents are Cuban exiles, will miss the game along with pitchers Alex Fernandez, Vladimir Nunez and Michael Tejera (DL).
Third base coach Fredi Gonzalez, infield coach Tony Taylor and bullpen Luis Perez also plan to be absent, as does Cuban-American Hall of Famer Tony Perez, an assistant to Dombrowski.
I can understand the Marlins' thinking on this, but I think it sets a dangerous precedent. What happens the next time there's a international gaff. Are they going to allow players, etc. off for those too? Plus, it puts pressure on other clubs to follow suit. I can just see it now..."Hey the Marlins are letting their guys go.."
I think baseball should stay out of the political arena. If need be they could wear a MLB sanctioned armband or Elian's name somewhere on their uniforms. It would be just as effective in letting people know where they stand.
Opinions?
I'm sorry, but this is a joke. They have a job to do. Is baseball now a political organization? If I was Bud I would fine the players and Marlins. Maybe Al Shapten should demonstrate on behalf of baseball
orangemom
04-25-00, 03:29 PM
Well, I think it's stupid, and it does set a dangerous precident. Regardless of what I think of the whole situation, I just don't think you can not allow these kinds of protests. What would happen to us who work in the real world if we were allowed to protest every time something regarding our "home land" upset us? Good lord it's time these people got a dose of reality.
Ansky39
04-26-00, 09:37 AM
keep the stench of politics out of our national pasttime... you wanna protest, do it on your own damn time... imagine payin to see the lousy devil rays minus canseco, and they lose by one damn run...
I am in the minority here, and I am standing up and saying it!
I have no objections to what the cuban ball players did yesterday! When I heard the news I didn't feel like they were doing anything uncalled for! I don't feel strongly for what they did either.. I just felt like they did what THEY thought they had to do!
Ansky39
04-26-00, 10:39 AM
i hear ya shotty, but what if every right to life player decides to sit out a game because abortions are legal... what if every player that has a gripe against the gov't for anything from taxes to nafta to the potential breakup of microsoft sits out...
i don't EVER claim to take the moral highground on anything... i am, just a fan... a baseball fan... a sports fan... it's the one place that should just be about, fair competition... the best wins... no politics, no religion, no morals... just the best team or athletes winning... that's why irrgardless of what you feel about russia, china or cuba, you can appreciate their contributions to sports... you can compete in olympics you can compete in the world cup, and not have to worry about anyone's politics invading the arena... it's all about fair competition... and no way is it fair to me as a paying sports fan who may be a diehard devil rays fan (i'm reaching here...) to get shorted out of seeing canseco cause he's upset some kid got reuinted w/ his pops... this from many of the same people that have benefitted from the american gov't's efforts to grant their asylum requests are now taking OUR national pasttime to bit(h about the american government... right or wrong, I don't wanna hear it or have to deal w/ it...
don't hate me shotty, but as a life long student of politics and religion (the only people i hate more than politicians and priests, are lawyers... and some home plate umps), I'd really HATE for it to invade our precious national pasttime and protests become a routine thing in baseball. it just ain't right...
p.s. i still say "yuck!' to arod... ;)
Hate you Ansky? Never! Thanks for finally letting me have it. Though I do feel you are being real soft on me! ;)
It wasn't about the boy being reunited with his pop that the players were protesting, its the way the US government went about it! I for one find the us of force and the gun pointed at a 6 year old boy as the most deplorable thing our government could have done! I was sickened when I saw that picture, and when I heard about how that poor boy was removed! I don't care where he lives, however, I feel that the US methods were disgusting! I am a mother of small kids, my children would be scarred for life if this sort of thing had happened to them!
Ansky39
04-26-00, 11:00 AM
i gotta be nice to "you" shotty ;)
anyway i understand, (not agree) your points and you're entitled to them... i just think that baseball ain't the place to express em... they're are people that feel equally offended by abortions... they gotta right to feel that way... just don't use our national pasttime as your forum...
personally, i think the gov't was extremely lenient w/ the cuban community in miami... but that's just my personal take, no more imprtant or valid than anyone elses... but if we allow this sorta stuff to spill into baseball... there will be no end... everyone's gotta gripe.. except me of course... my only gripe is having to hear loudmmouth pedro or carl everett... yeah, i think i'm gonna protest the fact that pedro talks too much... i'm gonna take a day off from work and catch the yanks the next afternoon game they have in protest... i'm gonna even get a tee shirt printed... it'll read,
"Hey Pedro, SHUT IT UP!" or how about,
"Carl NO RINGS Everett: Yankee, Mutts and New York REJECT!!!"
Ansky, I look forward to you really letting me have it! ;) ;)
I see your point too! I feel that these players are humans first and ball players second! I love baseball too, but I would have done what they did, outta respect! I dunno.. I ain't from Cuba, I am from Bermuda! :D
[Edited by Better Than Hoover Lite on April 26th, 2000 at 12:10 PM]
Ansky39
04-26-00, 11:17 AM
i hear bermuda's nice this time of year...
YUP! VERY! Wanna take me? ;)
seahorse
04-26-00, 11:21 AM
You guys just don't understand Cubans. I don't, and I've been married to one for 20 years.
Ansky39
04-26-00, 11:37 AM
i understand "el duque"
it means "ace of aces..." :D
shotty, you tease... ;)
I have dated many cubans.. let me tell you... hmmm well maybe I shouldn't! hehehe!
A39.. I told you about that tease crap! ;)
AND those 20 years have been the greatest, right SEAHORSE?
seahorse
04-27-00, 04:43 PM
No question Maf. She's good with a knife I'll tell ya that.
JTMenniti
04-29-00, 08:42 AM
Ansky39 and I agree on something :-)
I agree, I don't think the players should be taken aleave to protest. And I agree with that fact that the US government was too lenient with this whole situation.
That family in Miami brought this all upon themselves. The US gov't bend over backwards time and time again and ordered the boy back with his father while the uncle refused the court order. HIs words were, you ar going to have to use force to take this boy. Well, the US should have stood up much earlier in this situation, and the family and the crowds of people gave the US no other choice. I would have loved to see everyone involved get arrested for holding that boy and refusing that court order.
How could the US go in there unarmed? AS soon as they got there people were throwing bottles, chairs, anything they could. How could the US go in there unprotected? Who knows what people in that crowd had to use as weapons, and who knows what the family had, it is my understanding that the uncle has a rap sheet.
But anyway, get these guys back to baseball!!!
Jeff
NewYorkIrish
04-29-00, 10:39 AM
I think they have the right to do whatever they want. That's one of the reasons they came to the country, freedom of choice, expression, all that good Constitutional stuff. If they want to take time off to protest, that's their right. Common sense dictates that just because an organization gives someone time off to do something, that doesn't mean the organization AGREES with the act.
All of us are passionate about certain issues. Baseball players may be in the public eye, but they have no less rights because of that. And a one-game protest is not going to destroy the National Pasttime. El Duque was off that day anyway.
And I'm not trying to argue with my pal orangema, but Phil, in the past I've taken days off from work in the real world to protest outside the British Consulate (ENGLAND GET OUT OF IRELAND!).
The Elian issue was a very unusual, passionate, rare issue. And I understand the passion behind the ballplayers' decision. And I fully support them. I hope the kid stays, and I hope the father stays. What a well-deserved slap in the face to Castro.
madforyanks
04-29-00, 10:41 AM
They weren't showing support for Elian! They were showing support for those Miami fanatics who forced a potentially violent confrontation to occur before Elian could be freed and reunited with his father.
The way the Miami relatives paraded Elian reminded me of how the North Vietnamese paraded our POWs.
When I stay out of work for a reason that isn't covered in my benefits, I don't get paid. What the Marlins, Mets, etc., allowed is a disgrace. (At least Cashman implied that if Hernandez had been scheduled to pitch he wouldn't have be so gracious.)
There was also probably some element of coercion (see Miami fanatics above). Jose Canseco wasn't go to participate. At the last minute he changed his mind. He has a lot of business interests in South Florida.
Aside from the above, Ansky39 has pretty much said everything that's on my mind.
NewYorkIrish
04-29-00, 10:56 AM
But those 'fanatics' had a depth to what they were protesting. Those people have lived through Castro's regime. The only reason it turned into a media circus is because of the media.
I would be appalled if the Mets or Marlins DIDN'T allow the protest. I just know there's something not right if freedom of thought or action, legally, in the United States, is even slightly curtailed. We take that so for granted in this country.
CalifYanksFan
04-30-00, 09:03 PM
NYI - Remember that when you've paid your hard earned cash for a Yankees ducket and the players you've paid to see aren't there because their off protesting cruelty to groundhogs or whatever the next big political hotbed is.
If they want to protest let them do it before and after the game. During the game they're being paid to play baseball. Baseball should not, I repeat, should not get involved in the political arena. It sets a bad precedent and let's face it it wouldn't take much to drive the fans away again. Baseball is on thin ice anyway. I think if you took a poll you'd find that the majority of people are against what these players did. I don't blame the players, I blame baseball. Selig should have seen this coming and put his foot down. Once you open the floodgates it's hard to close them again.
orangemom
05-01-00, 07:54 AM
The problem as I see it, is that this should never have been a political issue to begin with. Maybe it's the Mom in me talking, but all I see when I look at that kid is a little boy who just lost his Mother, and who needs the other most important person in his life, his father. I know that Castro got his butt involved,and then the US politicians felt they had the right to get involved, and I really don't care where the kid lives, but where ever he lives, it should be with his father. The family had no right, in my estimation, to try to keep the two of them apart. Some things are just so much more important than politics.
Ansky39
05-01-00, 08:08 AM
sniff, sniff,
that's my ma... i agree 100% ma...
NewYorkIrish
05-01-00, 12:10 PM
Well, CalifYanksFan, the animal rights dig was a nice touch, congratulations, but I'll keep away from animosity, thank you. We all have issues we are passionate about. And that includes baseball players. Just basic rights to freedom of expression that they're entitled to the same as everybody else.
Anyone see Andy Pettitte in that Power for Living commercial?
yanksgirl24
05-02-00, 11:29 AM
maybe i really shouldn't be venturing into this topic because i'm more or less a kid with no politcal knowledge, but i'm going to take a stab at it anyway. as someone else said, i didn't see the protest for elian. i think it was more or less how the american government went about getting elian to his dad. i'm not a parent, but i do have mixed views on forcefully taking a 6 year old kid. i have thought from the beginning that the boy belonged with his father and the relatives had no right to keep him from his father. the relatives had the chance to give him up and spare him the terror of having guys with big guns coming to get him. its not like it wasn't traumatic enough to be pulled from the ocean after his mother died trying to get him here. the only way the relatives could of made a case of keeping elian was if they could prove that the father was uncapable of taking care of him and providing for his well being. but from what i've seen, i gather that the father is capable of taking care of his son. and as i see it, the relatives turned him into some sort of poster child and i find that wrong. they paraded him around in front of the protesters and cameras pleading their case. they could of made their case without the circus on their front lawn. as for the ball players protesting, i see no problem with it. it was a peaceful protest for something they believe in.
YankFan36
05-03-00, 07:16 AM
One quick thing...
I believe that El Duque and some of the other players offered for their day off to be without pay, and their teams said, "No, that's okay." I think it should have been without pay, but I think it was okay for them to be allowed to take it off.
--Britt
(YF "peaceful demonstration is alright for me... this may be *our* sport, but it's *their* job" 36)
Ansky39
05-03-00, 03:27 PM
it's not supposed to affect the game... and it did... goin to a one run devil ray loss while canseco protests, is just as wrong as us goin to a sox / yanks contest in the heat of a stretch playoff run, we're up 1 in the 8th and and we lose by 1 cause mariano is out protesting the return of the panama canal...
it's wrong... sports are supposed to be immune to politics... they played the olymipcs despite world wars... we've competed against the soviets thru the cold war... we compete against cuba this summer in the olympis...
what if the canadian nhl players boycott the stanley cup cause they say canada's gettin the short end of nafta...
protest, if you want. but not here... not in sports...
sports is supposed to be about the best athlete wins, the best team wins... not as a medium for political beefs... not my favorite pasttime.
CalifYanksFan
05-05-00, 05:38 PM
Maureen - my groundhog thing wasn't meant as a dig. I was just using it to illustrate that we're all passionate about something. I think President Clinton should be in jail, but I'm not taking off work to protest about it. I'm just saying that by allowing these kinds of things to go on in baseball, no matter what the reason is, is a bad precedent. It's a political hotbed that baseball should stay out of. If the Cuban players want to be interviewed and speak their mind, fine. If they want to wear something to show support that's fine too. It shouldn't affect the integrity of the game. And saying El Duque or anybody else wasn't playing that day misses the point. What if something like this comes up and they are supposed to play? And you bought tickets to see certain players and they're not going to be there. I think you'd feel you got ripped off. I would. Baseball should stay out of politics period!
PS: I'm sorry you took my meaning the way you did. :(
As I said I was just using it as an illustration not a dig.
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