If there’s one factor you possibly can depend on in sports activities, it’s the will of a sure section of the media to rehabilitate their favourite gamers and coaches, irrespective of the hurt accomplished. 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, much more glowing items have been written about Peyton Manning than had been ever written concerning the allegations that he sexually assaulted a coach 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 group in Birmingham, Ala., after an inside investigation by the group, 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 could be keen 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 keen to take heed to “his aspect of the story” and write the inevitable puff piece, which is strictly what USA Right this moment’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 mates being concerned in baseball when he’s ignored 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 12 months’s, Omar). I suppose all of this was designed to make me empathize with Vizquel and begin considering 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 choose on Nightengale — these sorts of restorative items on gamers’ photos are all the time round. Like I stated, there has by no means been an athlete accused of something that sportswriters weren’t dying to write down the “comeback” piece about. Partly, I believe, 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 approach 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 accomplished the whole lot he might do. However somebody with information 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 had been you one-on-one with a counselor? You sat silently by whereas your spouse, Janay, apologized for “her position” in you punching her within the face in an elevator. Do you continue to consider she “performed a job” in your resolution to hit her? What did you study energy and management whereas in remedy? Do you now really feel much less of an urge to manage the whole lot round you? All of those symbolize axioms lengthy understood by these within the home violence neighborhood (abuse shouldn’t be about anger, however energy and management, victims typically recant their tales primarily based on concern of the abuser or the implications to the household, group remedy batterer’s intervention is probably the one type of therapy that has been confirmed efficient for abusers, and so on), however not well-known by most people, together with sportswriters.
I don’t imply to recommend that sportswriters shouldn’t interview topics who’ve been accused of violence, solely that educating ourselves on a few of the ins and outs of matters like home abuse and sexual assault is necessary earlier than conducting the interview. In spite of everything, home abusers, specifically, are well-known for charming family and friends into believing they’re harmless. (Which is why group remedy with different abusers is the really useful therapy — they will name one another out on their deception.) I typically marvel if reporters speak to consultants in home abuse or sexual harassment earlier than arising with an inventory of questions and methods 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 damage he was as a result of he wasn’t among the many gamers the Mariners celebrated through the All-Star Sport. That the Guardians didn’t enable him on the sector to honor his former teammate, Manny Ramirez. That a couple of MLB group pulled his invites to seem at youth camps.
To which, once more, I say “So?” While 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 a substitute 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 cause, on the subject of 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 type of introspection on Vizquel’s half. There isn’t any self-reflection, no particulars of what Vizquel may need accomplished to take a protracted, onerous take 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 aspect 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 will likely be a lot of males screaming (there all the time are) that Vizquel obtained a uncooked deal and ought to be again in baseball, however nothing Vizquel stated within the USA Right this moment 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 have to find out about Omar Vizquel.
