San Francisco Giants third base coach Tim Flannery had some harsh words for the Dodgers after Tuesday's game, but they had nothing to do with the action on the field.
Before the game, 10-year-old Dodgers fan Casey Johnstone threw out the first pitch. He's the Bay Area kid whose speech at his fifth-grade graduation went viral because he talked about being a Dodgers fan in a school full of Giants fans.
Casey, at the suggestion of his parents, agreed afterward to give all the ad revenue from the YouTube video to Bryan Stow, the Giants fan severely beaten at a Dodgers game. It was a kind-hearted gesture in one of baseball's most bitter rivalries.
That brings us to Flannery's beef: When Johnstone was honored at Tuesday's game, there was no mention of the donation or of Stow. Here's what Flannery posted early Wednesday on the Facebook page for his band, Tim Flannery and Lunatic Fringe:
Tonight the Dodgers did something that really pissed me off...yeah they beat us, they are better this time around, but this is about other stuff..they honored Casey Johnstone the kid who made a video and gave his $200 bucks to Bryan Stow...but the Dodgers never ever mentioned What the kid did with his money, or Bryan's name. I once had a Dodger broadcaster tell me " we wish he would just go away".....ok...more shows for Bryan...another way to shine the light, and to the Dodgers how you handled this pregame first pitch tonight....you just got me started all over again......we won't go away, till you do what is right here..had your chance tonight......failed in the humanity department....
Some helpful background: Flannery's band has played concerts and released a DVD to benefit Stow. They raised $75,000 for Stow at four concerts earlier this year. The Stow family sued the Dodgers in 2011 for "negligence" related to the attack in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.
So Flannery has a point about the Dodgers not mentioning Stow and the donation when Casey trotted out for his first pitch. What the Johnstone family did is the type of goodwill gesture that transcends rivalries and shows that, for the right cause, people from very different walks of life can come together. The Dodgers had to know about the donation. Sure, they're probably limited for time when giving the kid a shout out before his first pitch, but how much longer would it have taken? Twenty seconds?
"... And Casey has decided to selflessly donate the ad money from his video to Bryan Stow. Let's hear it for this kid."
That would have certainly got an applause from all the fans in attendance — whether they were wearing orange or blue.
Baseball season's in full swing. Don't miss a thing.
Follow @MikeOz and @bigleaguestew, on Twitter, along with the BLS Facebook page.
No comments:
Post a Comment