I am tired of Milton Bradley. He needs to go and he needs to go now.
After Tuesday’s loss, Milton Bradley talked about "the hatred" he faces at Wrigley Field:
"‘It's hard to be comfortable when you don't get a hit and get booed every time. … When I go home and look in the mirror, I like what I see. My family is there I have people I can talk to who are very supportive, in spite of everything and all the adversity and the hatred you face on a daily basis. But I'll be alright. I always have.’"
The next day, Bradley was asked about his comments. Here is what Bruce Miles reported in the Daily Herald:
"Get in and get out.
That's all Milton Bradley says he wants to do at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs right fielder responded forcefully but calmly Wednesday to follow-up questions about his comments from Tuesday night, when he talked of facing ‘hatred.’
Although he said he has no regrets about signing with the Cubs, he said he hopes the games at Wrigley Field are over as quickly as possible.
Bradley was asked by writers Wednesday about saying it was hard for him to feel comfortable because of ‘all the adversity and the hatred you face on a daily basis.’
Told that some in the media and public were construing his comments to mean he has been the victim of racial abuse, Bradley said, ironically: ‘America doesn't believe in racism.’
Bradley, a black man, was asked if he was talking about ‘hatred’ in terms of baseball performance or ‘hatred’ of a personal kind.
‘I'm talking about hatred, period,’ he said. ‘I'm talking about when I go to eat at a restaurant, I've got to listen to the waiters badmouthing me at another table, sitting in a restaurant, that's what I'm talking about. Everything.
‘All I'm saying is I just pray the game is nine innings so I can be out there the least amount of time as possible and go home.’"
Even though it is pretty had to tell what Bradley was talking about there, Paul Sullivan led his story in the Chicago Tribune this way: "An angry Milton Bradley lashed out at his teatment from Cubs fans Wednesday, suggesting he has been the victim of racial abuse at Wrigley Field."
Even though neither Miles nor Carrie Muskat of Cubs.com (see here) said that Bradley was charging racism, it was the Sullivan story that got all the play. And so, what we wound up with was is stuff like Gene Wojciechowski’s article on ESPN.com: "Bradley doesn’t deserve racism". Except that Wojciechowski realizes that Bradley never came out and gave any specifics about racism, so he has to write things like this:
"What if Milton Bradley is right?"
"What if Bradley has been subjected to racial abuse at his workplace"
"If racism exists outside the ballpark, then it can exist within it too. Just because Wrigley Field security says it is unaware of any reported racial taunts directed toward Bradley doesn't mean they haven't happened. It only means nobody has complained about them. It doesn't take a leap of faith to envision a scenario where some overserved Bleacher Bums go racial on Bradley."
But what if Bradley is wrong; what if Bradley has not been subjected to racial abuse; what if overserved fans have not gone racial on Bradley? Bradley refused to give any specifics, so why does Wojciechowski, in effect, accuse Cubs fans of being racist?
According to this article, bleacher security is now throwing out fans who say things as bland as "Bradley sucks". Does that indicate everybody is out to get Milton Bradley and that nobody cares about him? Or does it indicate that Milton Bradley is pretty much a self-absorbed whiner who is having a bad year and won’t take any responsibility for it himself?
I have been accused in the past of being too easy on Cubs’ players, of not booing them when they should be booed. But I have always felt it was unfair to boo our players as long as they are trying, as long as they are team players. On that basis, I think may be time, perhaps past time, to boo Milton Bradley.
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Update (8/29/09 12:15 p.m.): I should have mentioned that this post comes to a different conclusion than my earlier post on Milton Bradley. (See here.) But that was still early; I was still in my supportive Cubs fan mode. Two more months of Milton Bradley being Milton Bradley has tired me out.
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