When Will Clark Is a Jerk, To Whom Do You Turn?

Enjoyed the Deadspin piece about Will Clark being a jerk to ESPN reporter Jeff Pearlman on numerous occasions. In a nutshell, the post describes how Clark called Pearlman out and made a big stink of it in front of his Orioles teammates; years later, Pearlman barks back at "the Thrill" when Clark shows he maintains his grudge.

The piece itself isn't revelatory, except for the part when a Son of Steve Garvey provides a shoulder on which to cry and a sofa on which to crash:

I just stood there, feeling sort of naked. I was 27 years old, and had yet to fully grasp that men like Clark were actually schoolyard bullies hiding behind a loud voice and the uniformity of a major league clubhouse. Truth be told, I was also naively unprepared for the backlash that followed the John Rocker profile. Though the story generated a fair share of controversy, all of it had come during the offseason.

Clark continued. "No wonder you have your pass backward, you fucking coward! Nobody here is ever going to talk to you. No fucking way!"

"Did you have a problem with the way I wrote that story?" I asked (dumbly).

"Are you kidding me?" Clark replied. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

With that he huffed off, seemingly satisfied that he had outed me to his peers. My head tucked to my chest, my confidence at an all-time low, I shuffled over to good ol' Delino DeShields, hoping he didn't share Clark's feelings.

"I guess you saw that," I said, referring to the browbeating.

"Yeah," said DeShields, grinning slightly. "But you've gotta consider the source."

Leave it to Delino to care for the downtrodden. Way to go, Son!