The Hypocrisy Of The Walter Reed "Story"

As Beltran’ endevour is admirable he still could have joined his teamates it’s not like he was laying bricks or running the electrical lines but be that as it may, I agree there has been too much written about the no shows and not enough about the wounded military personel.

some of these so called sports journalists remind me of a pack of Paparazzi hacks following the starts….

As far as Beltran and ‘he should have rescheduled his meeting’ mindset……
No one knows who that meeting was with. Some are assuming it was with people who live in town, available at Beltran’s beck and call. For all anyone knows, some flew in for the day to accommodate Beltran’s off day and rescheduling it might have been extremely inconvenient.

Those that jumped to conclusions did so for no other reason than just to create a story hoping thousands would read it….

Beltran has a year left to go on his contract. So does Castillo. So does Perez. All athletes worry about their next contracts when they get close to the end of their current ones. It is why Beltran wanted to get back on the field, even in his current diminished capacity, hoping he would look better than he has before his walk year, worried about what happens to him when he comes to the end of his $100 million contract a year from now.

Carlos Beltran just wants to play because he wants to play for a new contract. It couldn’t be that he actually likes playing baseball…right?

1) I actually feel this is a vaguely political team trip, so I do think that players should be able to excuse themselves should they wish. Equally they should expect people to ask them why they aren’t there, that’s fair enough.

2) The WSJ article is such hypocritical BS. This is a paper for millionaires. Many of its readers will be earning at least Castillo money, and you can be sure they aren’t heading down to Walter Reed to pay homage to the men and women who fought to defend their way of life. So they should button it.

Jason Gay’s writing style is more befitting of the Post or the Daily News. His thinly-veiled smugness is always apparent—as is his incredibly weak sense of humor. Here’s a guy who’s writing as if he should be postulating for some rag, but the WSJ being the WSJ, they always have to refer to athletes as “Mr. Beltran” or “Mr. Castillo.”

And I’m not referring to the players.

Look, I am as politically conservative as they come and think this is a total non-story. ( (I know we discourage political talk here, but I thought it relevant to mention that to let you know where I’m coming from – although I guess this is a non-partisan thing since Lupica is definitely on the other side of me politically. ) It’s being blown out of proportion mainly because it happens to fit into a couple of neat narratives: the players mentioned are all scumbags (according to the media), the Mets clubhouse is in dissension, the franchise is a joke. Maybe the third of the three propositions is true, but no matter.

Also, I think it’s kind of abhorrent to look down on people for not volunteering to do something which is voluntary. Doesn’t mandating such activity actually demean the very thing? What does it say about what you’re trying to do when you shun anyone who, for whatever reason, declines to take part?

Most of those articles are race/politic-baiting bullshit. Keep sports about sports.

This strikes me of media deflection by the Mets’ F.O. If the newspapers are covering this issue, they won’t be covering the performance of the organization.

but why is it nowhere mentioned that actual Met players went on record to at least indirectly throw their team members under the bus. No doubt, some reporters went over the top, but there is a story here—this wasn’t made up out of thin air. Also, is it really so crazy to suggest, in general, that Beltran is disgruntled with the team?

ever been to the veteran’s ’hospital (or built a school)? Had any of them even HEARD of Walter Reed before this?