Giants catcher Buster Posey crushed the spirit of a 12-year-old boy, on multiple occasions, by blowing him off in a simple request for an autograph. Eric Lichtblau of the NYT has the story:
[My son] Andrew had idolized Buster Posey, the San Francisco Giants catcher, ever since he came back from a season-ending injury in 2011 to win the Most Valuable Player Award the next year. A pair of Cubs-Giants games we would see at Wrigley Field were marked on Andrew’s calendar for weeks, and he came to the park in one of his Posey jerseys and Giants cap, waving an orange sign he made reading: “Posey for Prez!”
It wasn’t a good night for the Giants, with Posey flying out to seal a loss. Afterward, Andrew waited excitedly at a hideaway in the stadium where I’d heard visiting players sometimes emerged after showering to catch the bus. Sure enough, 20 minutes later, a tall, bearded man walked out alone. “Mr. Bumgarner!” Andrew yelled. “Can I get your autograph?” Smiling, Bumgarner, the M.V.P. of last year’s World Series signed balls and caps for Andrew, Matthew and three other boys nearby. Four other Giants soon followed and did the same. Then came Posey, security guards at his side. “Mr. Posey! Mr. Posey!” Andrew yelled. “Could I get your autograph?” I held the “Posey for Prez!” sign over his head. The All-Star waved him off. He always seemed to be smiling in his commercials, but now he just looked annoyed as he walked away. “Maybe he’s just having a bad night,” I offered.
The next day, after another Giants loss, Andrew was back at the same spot, waiting and hoping for a different result. Again, Posey walked right past the handful of boys pleading for an autograph. He didn’t even look up this time. “What a jerk,” Andrew said. I was still holding his “Posey for Prez!” sign. Andrew grabbed it out of my hand, crumpled it up and stuffed it into a garbage can outside Wrigley.
Somewhere amid the trash was a life lesson for a crushed 12-year-old about the way heroes can disappoint us.For all the controversies, the kids still had their heroes — at least until we got to Wrigley Field.
And this is why you shouldn't have heroes nicknamed "Oyster Pubes." Heck, even MadBum signed autographs! What's eating Oyster Pubes?
Funny enough, NBC Bay Area tried to do a piece defending Posey's arrogant behavior by following tweets. Lichtblau fired back to the few Oyster Pubes defenders:
2 comments:
One time I was volunteering at church in Berkeley/Oakland and I was wearing an A's shirt because why not try to blend in a little. Some guy was like "Ohhhh are you an A's fan?" and I was like "Yeah a bit. Really I'm a Dodgers fan but I like the A's and I'd rather not wear a Dodgers shirt everywhere, but I've always liked the A's. $2 Tuesdays and all." Then he's like "Oh boo. You know, I LOVE OYSTER PUBES. He's such a good player and SUCH a good role model. I wish I could suck on his oyster pubes." And I was like "ohhhh dear, I was trying to keep the conversation towards a neutral team to stay away from having to talk about the Giants."
Ohhhh dear indeed. The moral of this story? Never volunteer.
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