If there’s one factor you may depend on in sports activities, it’s the need of a sure section of the media to rehabilitate their favourite gamers and coaches, irrespective of the hurt carried out. There was the notorious Adam Schefter softball interview with Greg Hardy shortly after he was accused of doing this to his then-girlfriend. Within the days earlier than he was accused of sexually assaulting an Uber driver, I recall a number of items touting how a lot Jameis Winston had “matured” since he was accused of assaulting one other girl in school. And, in fact, way more glowing items have been written about Peyton Manning than have been ever written concerning the allegations that he sexually assaulted a trainer in school. Neither Hardy, Winston nor Manning have ever been convicted of the allegations towards them.
Enter Omar Vizquel.
After we final caught up with Vizquel, he had been fired by the White Sox Class AA workforce in Birmingham, Ala., after an inner investigation by the workforce, prompted by a lawsuit that accused Vizquel of sexually harassing a 22-year-old batboy with autism. Amongst different issues, the batboy alleged that Vizquel was “sexually aggressive” with him and that he as soon as demanded the batboy wash his again within the locker room bathe. Vizquel settled the case out of courtroom in 2022. Previous to that, Vizquel had been arrested for, however not charged with, home violence towards his ex-wife, Blanca, who stated Vizquel had bodily abused her on a number of events. Vizquel denied the allegations and was not prosecuted for home abuse.
Given the allegations towards Vizquel, it’s curious that anybody can be prepared to provide him cowl to rehabilitate his picture, however that is sports activities media and, notably when allegations of violence towards a girl are concerned, there by no means appears to be a scarcity of dudes prepared to take heed to “his facet of the story” and write the inevitable puff piece, which is precisely what USA Right now’s Bob Nightengale did for Vizquel.
Nightingale’s piece is rife with vivid imagery of Vizquel’s ache — how unhappy he’s to see all his pals being concerned in baseball when he’s omitted within the chilly, how he as soon as spent three days in a room with solely a glass of water (what?), that at one level, he didn’t even know what day it was (welcome to the week between Xmas and New Yr’s, Omar). I suppose all of this was designed to make me empathize with Vizquel and begin pondering he ought to get one other likelihood, however there was nothing included on this piece that made me say something apart from “So?”
I don’t imply to select on Nightengale — these sorts of restorative items on gamers’ photos are at all times round. Like I stated, there has by no means been an athlete accused of something that sportswriters weren’t dying to jot down the “comeback” piece about. Partially, I feel, as a result of what precise home abuse appears to be like like, what sexual assault appears to be like like, what sexual harassment appears to be like like, are amorphous concepts to those that haven’t been within the trenches. Adam Schefter, who so far as I do know shouldn’t be educated in any manner within the dynamics of home abuse, had no enterprise interviewing Greg Hardy — he didn’t know what inquiries to ask. When a participant like Ray Rice, who was honored by the Ravens on Sunday for causes nonetheless not understood by me, goes to anger administration counseling after which a PR tour, too many sports activities reporters merely settle for that he’s carried out the whole lot he might do. However somebody with data of the cycle of home abuse would ask completely different questions: “Did you ever go to batterer’s intervention counseling? For the way lengthy? Did you go to group remedy with different abusers or have been you one-on-one with a counselor? You sat silently by whereas your spouse, Janay, apologized for “her role” in you punching her within the face in an elevator. Do you continue to imagine she “performed a job” in your resolution to hit her? What did you find out about energy and management whereas in remedy? Do you now really feel much less of an urge to regulate the whole lot round you? All of those signify axioms lengthy understood by these within the home violence group (abuse shouldn’t be about anger, however energy and management, victims usually recant their tales primarily based on worry of the abuser or the results to the household, group remedy batterer’s intervention is maybe the one type of therapy that has been confirmed efficient for abusers, and many others), however not well-known by most of the people, together with sportswriters.
I don’t imply to counsel that sportswriters shouldn’t interview topics who’ve been accused of violence, solely that educating ourselves on among the ins and outs of subjects like home abuse and sexual assault is necessary earlier than conducting the interview. In spite of everything, home abusers, particularly, are well known for charming family and friends into believing they’re harmless. (Which is why group remedy with different abusers is the beneficial therapy — they will name one another out on their deception.) I usually marvel if reporters discuss to specialists in home abuse or sexual harassment earlier than developing with a listing of questions and techniques for interviewing a participant accused of such issues. They need to.
Nightengale’s piece goes on to speak about how accepted Vizquel felt at Ronald Acuña Jr.’s MVP celebration, however how unhappy he feels about his life in Houston. How harm he was as a result of he wasn’t among the many gamers the Mariners celebrated in the course of the All-Star Recreation. That the Guardians didn’t permit him on the sphere to honor his former teammate, Manny Ramirez. That multiple MLB workforce pulled his invites to seem at youth camps.
To which, once more, I say “So?” Whenever you’ve been accused of sexually harassing an autistic man and beating your ex-wife, lots of people will determine to not affiliate with you, and if Vizquel was an abnormal citizen as an alternative of a perennial Gold Glove winner, anybody who heard concerning the allegations towards him would say “Good. You reap what you sow.” However for some motive, with regards to males who play sports activities, there’s a line out the door of individuals demanding the athlete’s second likelihood, as if the logical penalties of his actions are unfair.
Noticeably missing from the Nightengale piece is any sort of introspection on Vizquel’s half. There isn’t a self-reflection, no particulars of what Vizquel may need carried out to take a protracted, arduous have a look at himself and dedicate himself to enchancment. As a substitute, we get dozens of paragraphs of Vizquel whining and crying that he’s not the man portrayed by the media (in fact), and that nobody listened to his facet of the story, which I’m pretty assured shouldn’t be true, given that there have been investigations into each the allegations of sexual harassment and home violence.
In fact, there can be numerous males screaming (there at all times are) that Vizquel bought a uncooked deal and must be again in baseball, however nothing Vizquel stated within the USA Right now piece convinces the reader of something apart from that Vizquel sees solely himself, not his ex-wife or the 22-year outdated batboy, because the true sufferer. And that tells me the whole lot I must learn about Omar Vizquel.