Man apologizes for knocking over 4-year-old to retrieve foul ball (1 Viewer)

[ThomasC]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5224652/

 

[Shawn C]

That guy was a complete dick. They showed the footage on GMA this morning. He was gloating the whole time that he caught that baseball. Nice job, dumb-ass...

 

[DanaA]

Based on my reading of the article, I'm hoping he gets out of this OK. Shawn is correct though. It was the expressions of gloating that pissed me off. All over a freakin' baseball. It wasn't something like Bond's 700th home run or anything. Stupid really.

 

[DavidY]

Too little too late. He was so arrogant after getting the ball. He should have given the ball back to the boy and apologized immediately stating that he was over the line. But, no, he had the gall to be a smart alec.

 

[StephenA]

That guy needs a good whack across the head. If I was in his shoes I would have got the ball for the kid and make his day. The kid would cherish it more than I ever could. What a rude dick he was to do that.

 

[Evelio Figueroa]

Here is the video.

You need to download ESPNMotion to view it.



http://abcnews.go.com/sections/sport....html?06161153

 

[Scott L]

aww man I just did a fresh install of XP, any links to the video without having to download special players?

Edit- Thank goodness for Google news, no one else had it.

http://www.pe.com/nationworld/nation...269aedb5b.html

 

[Christ Reynolds]

what a moron. nice to see some other people come out with acts of generosity for the little kid.

CJ

 

[Citizen87645]

The Today show this morning said he was a former youth minister. Hmm...I wonder why FORMER?


I think it already has

 

[Christ Reynolds]

whaaa? who do these people think they are kidding? millions of people saw the tape. short of a ghost pushing him over onto the kid and making him act like a dickhead, we already know the truth about this guy.

CJ

 

[JonZ]

If it was my kid he squashed to get a stupid baseball he would be missing teeth.

What a jerk

 

[Peter Kline]

Many years ago while attending a Dodgers Game in L.A. I was able to catch a foul ball that bounced off a seat in front of me. A young boy (about 7 or 8 years old) was next to me along with his father. He looked at me and asked whether he could touch the ball. I said, of course... and as a matter of fact, you can have it. His father looked at me and said absolutely nothing. I was tempted to take the ball back, but it was a little kid and well, even having a jerk for a father was not his fault.

 

[RobertR]

It's fascinating to me how often people will come out of the woodwork to say how surprised they are that someone they know committed some dastardly deed.

 

[RobR]

Just saw the video. The man dived for the ball as anyone would. It looks to me that he didn't really see the kid, even when he got up (kid was behind his legs). The kid, on the other hand, did absolutely nothing to capture the ball.

I wonder whether he actually knew about the kid and ignored him or was made aware of the kid after the incident.

 

[Mark Sherman]

What a DICK. After the kid got the bat he should have turned around and Clocked that FN Guy. F Him.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

the guy sat right behind the family for the entire game (not sure which inning it was) so it's not like he had no idea who was in front of him. when the foul ball came dropping in, he dove right on the family. he jumped for the ball as if he was going to land in a swimming pool, he had no regard for whoever was sitting in front of him. i agree with mark, f him.

CJ

 

[RobertR]

I find it hard to believe that he was utterly oblivious to the presence of the kid right in front of him. Wouldn't he know if the seat in front of him was empty or not?

 

[Marque D]

This isn't more than a copy and paste from what I posted in the MLB thread. Because what I saw and what the rest of the media who have influence what America say is completely different. That ESPN motion video says the boy was crying and all that other crap about bullying and stealing the ball from the kid. People, that aint there and we need to wake up and stop having such a knee jerk reaction to little stuff. The guy was in the wrong but this being in the news more than the 9/11 commission reports is a sad state.

Here's my take on the foul ball insident, this thing has gotten out of hand. The guy was simply a clumsy person who tried to catch a foul ball and missed. He saw it rolling on the ground and tried to pick it up but he fell over. It's nothing more than that, all this talk of him stealing the ball from the kid is BS. I am defending him cause now they have put his name in the paper (also online from AP) and said what line of work he's in and that he used to be a youth minister. This is the leading story on the news here in Dallas the last 2 or 3 days and I’m sick of it. [Bill Parcells mode] No disrespect to the little kid...no disrespect, but he's got to get it together. Next year he's supposed to be starting elementary, and if he doesn't start being aware of what’s going on he might being riding what we like to call the short yellow bus... no disrespect.[/Bill Parcells mode] Now I know I’m going to get blasted by everyone for that but he was off in "La-La land" during that foul ball play, completely oblivious to the fact that he was at a baseball game. And then in the two different local TV interviews (and GMA interview) I've seen he was in "La-La land" at them. Now he might have been thrown off by the cameras but I'm not so sure.

Sure the guy is a dope and clumsy person for falling over but he didn't intently lay into the kid. Lastly, why do people bring gloves to a ball park? For that once in a life time opportunity where you might catch a foul ball or even a Home Run ball. Sure he's not going to actually go put it on his mantle and label it foul ball. But that's one of the sacred things about going to a baseball game. This aint the first time that "give him the ball" chant has been used. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a person (grown up) legitimately catch a ball and some troll of a parent sends their little kid over to ask for the ball. And then you have to feel pressured to give it up. Well let me tell you if that day comes that I catch a ball, I’m going to tell that kid and to keep on walkin' cause I’m not going to give that little brat a baseball that I've wanted to catch every time I ever go to a baseball game.

 

[Kevin M]

I have to agree with one thing, from what I saw of the video the child didn't have any interest in the ball at all, he did seem to notice that he was getting jostled around a bit but never fell or even noticed who was knocking him forward. The dude was a jerk for diving so near a child and indeed knocking him about rather ignorantly but the idea that he "stole" the ball from the kid is simply blown out of proportion news hyperbole.

My question is when the kids fat father saw his child in danger of getting knocked over by some big stranger what did he do? Not a damn thing, he sat on his fat ass and looked on sheepishly....the ball chaser should be glad none of us were the kids father.

BTW, that was the kids father siting next to the mother at the game, right? It sure looked like him compared to the interview video.

 

[Marque D]

well Mark, how bout the 3 of us meet up so that we can find that out. Like it or not, everyone doesn't think along the same lines.

BTW, for everyone did this guy steal the ball and did he bully the little kid? That is the key thing I have issues with. I think this is nothing more than a spur of the moment mishap like what happened to Steve Bartman from last year.