Biggie vs. 2pac, Lindsay Lohan vs. Hillary Duff, Bill O’Reilly vs. Keith Olbermann- verbal feuds are fun. And the biggest one of the 2011 MLB season is in full swing.
The wheelhouse of this feud began with the Florida Marlins Scott Cousins putting a big, but legal hit on San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey. It knocked the star catcher out for the season, and Cousins later released a statement apologizing for the situation. This led Giants GM Brian Sabean to say some harsh things about the situation. This led the Marlins Logan Morrison to criticize Sabean’s outspokeness.
And then Giants fans began sending death threats to Scott Cousins.
For the statements of Morrison, Sabean, and Cousins go here
And now, there’s more:
According to Carl Steward of the San Jose Mercury News, Buster Posey just a couple hours ago released the following three-paragraph statement:
“I appreciate the continued support of Giants fans and others as I begin the process of working my way back. But in no way do I condone threats of any kind against Scott Cousins or his family.
“As I said last week, I’m not out to vilify Scott. I appreciate that he made the effort to reach out to me on the night of the play, but I was in no physical condition to talk to anyone. I have not been back with the team since that night, so I haven’t even been aware of any other messages he’s left for me. We all need to move on, so it isn’t necessary to have a conversation with him at this point.
“My only focus right now is looking forward, getting healthy and returning to catching for the Giants.”
So, insane meatball baseball fans out there, heed his advice! Leave Scott alone. If he can move on, obviously so can you. Even though it appears the Giants actually aren’t moving on at all. But there are doing what’s right in the interests of PR and media relations.
The organization released the following statement on the harsh words of Brian Sabean. (San Francisco Chronicle)
“This is a very emotional time for the Giants organization and our fans. We lost for the season one of our best players to a serious injury and we are doing everything we can to support Buster Posey through this very difficult time. We appreciate Scott Cousins’ outreach to Buster Posey and to the Giants organization.
“Brian Sabean’s comments yesterday were said out of frustration and out of true concern for Buster and were not meant to vilify Scott Cousins. Brian has been in contact with Florida Marlins General Manager Larry Beinfest to clarify his comments and to assure him that there is no ill-will toward the player. He has also reached out to Scott Cousins directly.
The issue of catcher safety is a complicated one. There are a number of differing opinions around the circumstances of last week’s collision and about what baseball should do to prevent serious injuries in the future. This issue goes far beyond last week’s incident as there have been a number of recent collision-involved injuries.
We have been in contact with Joe Torre, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president for baseball operations, and have asked for a thorough examination of this issue for the health and safety of all players.
We intend to move beyond conversations about last week’s incident and focus our attention on Buster’s full recovery and on defending our World Series title.”
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook