If you are not a Cubs fan, or maybe even if you are, you might be forgiven if you have forgotten about Addison Russell. He has not played for the Cubs since September 20, 2018, and has (quite intentionally, I'm sure) not exactly been a focal point for the Cubs leading up to that point. If you have forgotten, Addison Russell was accused of abusing his then-wife and having an affair by a third party by "a friend." At first, his wife would not cooperate or legitimize any of these accusations to anybody official, which left Russell, the Cubs, and MLB in a really awkward spot. It looked bad to have Russell playing, but on the other hand, they couldn't just suspend him on some third-party accusation, especially when the alleged abused spouse was not even backing up the claims. Eventually, though, she did start cooperating with MLB and their investigation and backed up those claims, leading to the separation and divorce between her and Russell. Addy has just gotten back to being able to play baseball, getting back to Major League shape in Iowa (AAA). Apparently, even after his suspension is officially over, he is going to stay in Iowa for the time being. His Wikipedia page is pretty constantly vandalized to reference these abuse allegations. It really makes me think about how we deal with these sorts of actions and letting these people ply their (very lucrative, admittedly) trade. The Cubs might be a bit lucky here. There are baseball reasons not to worry about rushing Russell back to the bigs. Javy Baez has become a mainstay in the "best defensive player in the league" conversation while also learning to hit more consistently (and do it with power). I don't think you can move him off shortstop again. The Cubs already went out and paid Daniel Descalso to fill the hole at second base, and he's been fine. Not spectacular by any means, but fine. David Bote's bat has been hot enough that I wouldn't be shocked to see him show up at second base, or if Kris Bryant logged some time there to get Bote in the lineup. And, of course, Ben Zobrist can fill any hole you can find on the diamond. So, just in baseball terms, Russell might be superfluous anyway. But, this isn't really a baseball story, is it? Should we allow somebody with this sort of record to even be in the position to be a professional athlete? I was not shy about saying Ray Rice shouldn't in the NFL after what he did, and what Kareem Hunt did seems to be on par with that. I wonder, though, if we would judge them as harshly if there were no video. Like, say, in this case. As far as I'm aware, there's no visceral documentation of what Addison Russell did. If we saw him knocking a woman out, we might all feel differently. Should that make a difference? I think we can all say no, it shouldn't make a difference. I think I'm forced to admit, practically speaking, for most of us, it does. But then there's the other side of this. What sort of space do we give people to grow and change? Some of the videos we've seen are really awful. No argument here. But, on the other hand, how many of us would look irredeemable if our worst, darkest moments happened to be caught on film? How many of us would suddenly be monsters based on one bad moment, or something taken too far without context? Think about your worst moment. Really put it in context in your life. You can probably start explaining some of it away, can't you? It doesn't excuse it, and I'm sure you're not asking anybody to excuse you. But maybe you were a product of how you were raised, so you didn't know a better way to act or didn't have the emotional tools to deal with the situation in front of you until later in life. Maybe there was some circumstance that made your action or decision feel necessary in the moment but turned out not to be true later. Nobody else can answer the exact details for your specific moment other than you, but I think that's a very common thing. We all have things we are not proud of, but I think nearly all of us can attach a "but. . ." to it. We have a lot of access to athletes and celebrities these days, but even now, we still don't know these people as, well, people. We might have heard stories of their upbringings and seen their antics on the field or PR stunts. But we weren't there. We haven't really been in their shoes, to see what they have really been exposed to and how they have been shaped and molded over the years. And really, at the end of the day, most of these people aren't in a position to affect our day-to-day lives. I'm talking about ballplayers here.* *The standard feels a bit different for politicians. When you get to be the one writing or enforcing the laws we live by, it's much more important to be beyond reproach. So, as I've given this some more thought, I guess I lean towards forgiveness. Some of these actions are, again, heinous. The ones we have seen on video are just breathtakingly evil. I'm not at all trying to excuse it. But, I was always taught that God's grace is infinite, and everyone is redeemable if they still draw breath. Now, it isn't automatic. This kind of forgiveness needs to be sought after and backed up by changed action. But if God is able to forgive anyone, then it isn't our place to decide who might be irredeemable. That's a position I try to take on the death penalty as well, for whatever that's worth. And I will tell you that is not always an easy place to maintain. I don't generally mix religion and law, because the United States is explicitly not a Christian nation, but when it comes to deciding life and death, it's the only real guiding principle I can come up with. We're forced to use the tools we have, I guess. Anyway. We may never see Addison Russell in a Cubs jersey again. He may not see an MLB stadium again. I don't know. Even if he does make it back, it's going to be uncomfortable rooting for him. And I get it. I'll be uncomfortable, too. But I'll give him a shot to show us that he's grown and that he's learned. The same with Kareem Hunt, when (and it does look like a "when") he comes back. I'm not going to excuse what happened, I'm not going to forget what happened. But we all deserve at least one shot at redemption. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
March 2022
|