September 29, 2004
Paradise Lost
Milton Bradley was suspended for the rest of the regular season by MLB. At least he is contrite:
"From the bottom of my heart, I apologize for my outburst," the 26-year-old Bradley said shortly after learning of the suspension. "Getting upset has caused me to hurt family, hurt friends, hurt my team, hurt fans.
"I need to talk to somebody about anger, get treated, find a way to correct that situation. It's not even about baseball. This is about what I need to do for my life. I let anger get the best of me."
I'm glad he realizes he has a problem. Too bad he didn't deal with it sooner.
I still think 5 days for rifiling a plastic bottle, that was thrown at him, to the ground is a bit off when you think a guy broke a girls nose with a chair and only got 15.
Lots of public figures come out and make "apologies" for their actions, and it's usually just a veiled way to throw an excuse out there or a thinly veiled attempt to shift the blame or get sympathy (my favorite line: Kobe Bryant admitting to "the mistake of adultery").
Bradley's apology on Wednesday was different. It was genuine. He's a guy who recognizes he had a problem, and that regardless of what the fan did, he overreacted and it had bad consequences for a lot of people involved. I wish him well.
He's had anger management before, hopefully it'll stick this time. Still, I'd be pissed off too if someone threw something at me.
I agree with these comments, especially the first one. What Francisco did was much worse, they're not even in the same ballpark. Not that I put much stock in apologies but have the Rangers come off their blaming the fans stance. Is Francisco still planning on suing?
