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Sports Watch
WHEN Carl Everett head-butted baseball umpire Ronald Kulpa, the least he could have done was to plead mea culpa. Carl Everett can
cool off for 10 gamesInstead, the Boston Red Sox outfielder has shown no remorse.
He must figure the only way to play baseball is to use your head. Too bad, he wasn't using his brains. He sure wasn't thinking by hurting the Red Sox cause.
Everett was hit with an undisclosed fine and a 10-game suspension for head-butting Kulpa in last Saturday's game against the New York Mets.
He's appealing, of course. Probably on grounds of ignorance.
And, not surprisingly, the major league players union is appealing Everett's suspension, showing that union solidarity can sometimes border on absurdity.
It's not the first time that the players union went to bat for unseemly behavior by one of its members in not-so-good standing.
Remember Roberto Alomar?
So until the appeal is heard, Everett can continue playing. No date is set for the hearing, so figure on Everett being in the lineup until then.
Of course, Everett, a talented but troubled player, could have just shut up until his case is heard.
Or, at least pleaded mea culpa, that is, give a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error.
But, no. Like so many spoiled athletes today, Everett says it's not his fault. Instead, get this, he blames the media.
Everett says the media portrayed him as a "monster."
Everybody, especially the media, is quick to judge, he said.
"I would say I didn't do the things people said I did," he added.
But he did head-butt Kulpa, which we have seen. Replay after replay. And for which Everett received his 10-game suspension.
Alomar, then with the Baltimore Orioles, missed five games for letting loose his now famous "spitter."
Ten games seem a small price to pay for Everett's tempestuous outburst. A no-brainer, really.
Hey, baseball's got to protect the umpires. And the sooner the players union realizes that, the better off we'll all be.
Besides, anything less would be just a slap on the wrist. Everett's deserving of more than that.
Sure, it will hurt the Red Sox, who are in a three-way battle in the American League East with the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.
Everett should have thought of that in the first place. But he lost his cool.
So let him sit it out and cool off for 10 games.
Maybe seeing how he hurt his teammates will temper some of Everett's inner rage, which has embarrassed even the partisan Boston media.
ENOUGH about a guy who gave the Red Sox a black eye. Instead, let's talk about one of Boston's greatest players -- Carlton Fisk, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame tomorrow.
Sure, he changed the color of his sox, playing more years with the Chicago White Sox than the Red Sox.
Ever the New Englander, Fisk has chosen to wear a Red Sox cap for posterity.
Fisk caught more games (2,226) and hit more home runs (351) than any catcher in the major leagues.
It was a personal thrill, seeing Fisk hit perhaps the most memorable home run in World Series history -- a 12th-inning shot seen 'round the world in the sixth game of the 1975 fall classic at Fenway Park against Cincinnati.
Too bad, there had to be a Game Seven.
Bill Kwon has been writing about
sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1959.