"I know you did not mean it..."
-Anonymous
Todays MM is more of a lesson in being a good person, than being a professional, even though they are intertwined. I hope you all can learn from my STUPIDITY and accept my apology to anyone I have offended. I am not looking for understanding or sympathy. I am an idiot. Learn from me.
Last night, while playing kickball, we were in a close game with our pitcher "throwing" a strong game. It was a late inning, two (2) outs and two (2) strikes. This was the moment I yelled out, "Give him the 'Helen Keller' pitch!" This "pitch name" has been the name of the expected strikeout pitch in a pressure situation for many years in my sporting career. I have likely said this over 500 times in my lifetime. PC? No. Innocent in nature. Absolutely.
Here is where your MM author promptly swallowed his foot up to the hip bone. The batter, he is deaf. (yes, let your jaw hit the floor) I felt like the worlds biggest a**hole...and deserved it!
2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP: Here is the deal. I, like any other half decent human being, would NEVER have said that knowing he was deaf. I would never had said it had I known a deaf player was in our league. Nevertheless, should I even be saying something like that? No. It is ignorant and in no way professional.
Why admit to this in open public? Why not just learn my lesson internally and move on? Well, primarily because I feel so bad about the situation, albeit unintentional, that I wanted to make sure others do not walk that path.
In sports, as in business, we get competitive. We may bad mouth a competitor indirectly while trying to take the high road. We may even speak ill of someone in the community, never knowing the relationship the person we are speaking to has with the other. WE JUST NEVER KNOW...
Knowing you do not know, why take the chance? Say dumb stuff and eventually you will say the wrong thing (ugh, Zach) at the wrong time (oh man was that bad timing). Is your reputation worth a silly comment?
Cheers,
Zach
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