The Lowe Down
By Karlsie
The gossip pages are all abuzz about Derek Lowe and his most recent girlfriend. As the society vultures swoop down to pick over the remains of Trinka and Derek Lowe's marriage to fuel our bar talk, they are forgetting one seemingly small phrase that sums it all up: Houston, we have a problem here.
Divorce is never a good thing (in spite of Willie Nelson's one liner from the remake of Dukes of Hazzard: Why do divorces cost so much? They're worth it!), especially when there are children involved. The main criticism of Damon's book "Idiot" was that he aired a lot of dirty laundry regarding his divorce which leads to the question: why?
Tabloids are made on this stuff - are Brad and Jen divorcing? Is he moving in with Angelina Jolie? How does Nicole feel about Tom's recent meltdowns? And so on and so on. For some reason, we all take delight that there is someone as miserable, or more miserable, than we are in spite of piles of dough they're earning.
Which brings me back to Lowe.
If the recent spate of gossip is true there are some real questions we need to be asking of team management. Supposedly the owners were aware that Lowe had a problem with wine, women and song - literally. If that's the case, why did they shake him loose instead of helping him get to the root of his problem? Perhaps management is more concerned with illegal drugs than what legal drugs do to a player. I mean, banned for steroid use makes the front page of the paper while a divorce makes the gossip pages.
Yet, I have to wonder, what if the Sox had staged an intervention? What if they had gone to Lowe and said, "We think you have a problem. We'd like to have you back but first you have to undergo counseling and work out some issues we think are effecting your pitching, the clubhouse and, more importantly, your family."
But they didn't. It makes me wonder how many other "minor" problems are being swept under the clubhouse rug in a way that will have a greater impact than a trade or outright release of a player. For too long a sort of nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, say no more attitudes has ruled. I'm tired of people feeling there is entertainment in a great athlete with a drinking or drug problem squeezing some Baseball Annie's uh… um… womanly protuberances.
Let's get real these men are a part of our lives. We welcome them into our homes as if they were family. We let our children hang their posters on the wall and buy shirt with their names and numbers. Would we let our family get away with that kind of behavior?
If I hear about what a reprobate Babe Ruth was one more time, I'm going to scream. The man is dead and gone and the product of an era that has long since gone with him. Yes many of our baseball legends had their tragic flaws, but maybe instead of excusing them, management and fans can start doing something.
The first thing to do, as a fan, is stop feeding the gossip columnists little tidbits. So long as people call in and say, "I was just at Club Wannabe and guess who I saw making out with the 21 year old waitress in the corner!" then they'll stop printing it. The next step is to start writing letters to the local papers. Tell them we're disappointed in them covering this crap but, if it's true Lowe had a drinking problem and management was aware of it, we demand better of management in terms of caring for the players.
But, more importantly, if you are somewhere - such as Club Wannabe - and see a player misbehaving and you have their ear for a second, don't gush over that game that just blew you away. Instead say something a bit more sobering along the lines of, "Man, you're a great player, but if this is how you behave when your wife isn't looking, maybe you aren't the person I thought you were. I hope you get your head on straight before the next game because I'd really like to see you break some records."
Then walk away.
Maybe it will make a difference, maybe it won't. I just keep thinking of an old Jewish proverb that says: You can not fully repair the world, but that doesn't relieve you of your obligation to try. It's up to us to try because we are the bottom line and if the bottom line moves, believe me, so will the club.
