I follow two sports closely--hockey and baseball. I love hockey and have a nostalgic interest in baseball. For me, money has ruined baseball. The players make so much money I find it offensive. I also object to the cost of attending a baseball game. Last year I went to Citifield where the NY Mets play--it cost me $200 to walk through the gate. I did not have great seats, just good seats. Sure I had fun but come on. $200 to see a ball game.
Baseball has history and a connection to American culture that is unique. To understand baseball one must understand Americans. The sport reflects our culture. Given this I find all sorts of meaning in baseball writing. I thus read far more about baseball than I ever watch. Yesterday I was reading about a San Diego player I had never heard of, David Newhan. Few people have heard of him because he is a journeyman, one of the many faceless ball players that populate the game. So why am I writing about this man? There was an article in Yahoo Sports The Post Game--"Old Ball Player, New Soul". Apparently Newhan broke his neck in a surfing accident. He was not paralyzed but came very close to being a high level quad. This is a good hook for any article but especially about an unknown baseball player. What shocked me however was the introduction to the article. It was gripping in all the wrong ways. Judge for yourself. Here is the opening:
"It was a simple act. David Newhan held open a restaurant door for a person in a wheelchair. And yet he was overcome by emotion. Gratitude gave way to longing, longing gave way to resolve, resolve circled back to gratitude, and then he wanted nothing more than to find the nearest ballfield, crush a fastball and dash around the bases.
As the wheelchair rolled past, Newhan silently thanked God for his own miraculous luck."
Let me see: I can open my own door thank you very much. I am also a human being. I am not "the wheelchair" that rolled past. How dehumanizing. Here is the blunt message: using a wheelchair is horrible, a tragedy. You do not see a human using a wheelchair you only see the wheelchair, the symbol of all that can go wrong. What are we expected to feel? Why pity of course. Pity the poor bastard that is confined to a wheelchair. This sort of dehumanization makes me furious. How can I ever expect to be treated equally when such destructive sentiments are expressed. Here is what I thought could have been written instead. The player in question takes an interest in disability rights and advocates for people who were not so lucky to avoid a paralyzing injury. This man in his spare time and from his privileged position helps people with disabilities attend or participate in adaptive baseball. Now that article would be worth reading and send a good message. But we rarely if ever see such an article. Charity sells papers. Tugging at people's heart strings gets people to read. Who wants to write about civil rights of people with disabilities. No major newspaper I ever read does this. This void can be overcome but we need people with disabilities to be writers, editors, or employed in some way throughout each section of American society. Without this I do not see an end to the dehumanized status of people with a disability in American society. Not a happy sentiment for sure but accurate.