The Asshat Thread

[slide_into_first]

African Brits? African Canucks? African Aussies? African South Africans?

[Popeye_Card]

Good lord. Give it a [expletive] break. You guys pissing over something so insignificant is tiresome.

It is very significant. The future of America's youth depends on a steady supply of baseballs.

[dmarx114]

Good lord. Give it a [expletive] break. You guys pissing over something so insignificant is tiresome.

Perfect post for an asshat thread.

[ghostrunner]

I think it's weird that this ball has to become some lesson for a variety of people. They caught it, they wanted to keep it. More power to them. If the kid gets it, he learns to appreciate kindness. If he doesn't, he learns he won't get everything he wants. Either way, who cares?

Here's the thing about kids. They give the ball to the kid, he forgets about it 2 hours later and is in the backseat complaining for ice cream. They take it home and he either:

A. Plays baseball and the ball gets mixed in with a bunch of others
B. Doesn't like to play outside and it goes in a garage sale or gets thrown out or chewed up by a dog.

Let's not over-romanticize this on the kids account. I'd rather the grown up keep it and take their stupid pictures if that's what makes them happy. Everyone has so many damn judgements on people.

Also - if this same kid does this in a restaurant, everyone is murmuring about why these irresponsible parents don't discipline their whiny kid.

[Popeye_Card]

Also - if this same kid does this in a restaurant, everyone is murmuring about why these irresponsible parents don't discipline their whiny kid.

Oh man. The restaurant last night gave me desert on the house since my dinner took too long to prep in the kitchen (I didn't complain--honestly I didn't even notice). I should have gave that free desert to a kid. DAMNIT!

EDIT: But in general you make my general point much better than I have. There's a sappy romanticism with the innocence of children and baseball at play here, when there's a good chance that it was a 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum. Given, the ball was tossed into the stands, in which case the ballplayer is usually focused on either tossing it to a kid or giving his room number to an attractive female. But when it comes to foul balls, not sure why there's a social requirement to hand the ball off to a kid, just because they're a kid.

[TimeForGuinness]

Also - if this same kid does this in a restaurant, everyone is murmuring about why these irresponsible parents don't discipline their whiny kid.

Oh man. The restaurant last night gave me desert on the house since my dinner took too long to prep in the kitchen (I didn't complain--honestly I didn't even notice). I should have gave that free desert to a kid. DAMNIT!

It's just a [expletive] dessert...give it to the kid!

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Give it to the kid after you've taken a picture with it....and if you're fat and don't want to get fatter.

If you don't, you hate America.

[TimeForGuinness]

I think it's weird that this ball has to become some lesson for a variety of people. They caught it, they wanted to keep it. More power to them. If the kid gets it, he learns to appreciate kindness. If he doesn't, he learns he won't get everything he wants. Either way, who cares?

Here's the thing about kids. They give the ball to the kid, he forgets about it 2 hours later and is in the backseat complaining for ice cream. They take it home and he either:

A. Plays baseball and the ball gets mixed in with a bunch of others
B. Doesn't like to play outside and it goes in a garage sale or gets thrown out or chewed up by a dog.

Let's not over-romanticize this on the kids account. I'd rather the grown up keep it and take their stupid pictures if that's what makes them happy. Everyone has so many damn judgements on people.

Also - if this same kid does this in a restaurant, everyone is murmuring about why these irresponsible parents don't discipline their whiny kid.

The people offered the kid the ball, the parents refused. Nothing wrong with that.

Now that I think about it, that's probably the reason why the kid was crying. His parents told him no.

[sighyoung]

Also - if this same kid does this in a restaurant, everyone is murmuring about why these irresponsible parents don't discipline their whiny kid.

Oh man. The restaurant last night gave me desert on the house since my dinner took too long to prep in the kitchen (I didn't complain--honestly I didn't even notice). I should have gave that free desert to a kid. DAMNIT!

It's just a [expletive] dessert...give it to the kid!

The kid needs to grow up and realize that pleasure will kill you. By watching a grown man eat that dessert, accompanied by slurping noises and murmurs of ecstasy, the child will grow up associating pleasure with mortality, will avoid carnal relations, and will sublimate desire by inventing really great gadgets that will improve my life.

[dmarx114]

Common decency in this case being giving three year olds anything they ask for.

It is common decency for adults to give baseballs to kids.

Again, the kid's reaction was irrelevant.

These people are asshats because they thought it was more important to keep a baseball for themselves than it was to give it to a kid.

Why is a random ball handed from a stranger important to the kid?
Going back to the argument that catching the ball is more thrilling than the ball itself, how thrilling is it, even when you are 7, to be handed a ball that someone else caught? And when you are 3, you really have no clue about the value of a baseball tossed into the crowd. You know someone just got something and you didn't, so it is time to cry. Nobody involved in this situation would give 2 [expletive] about that ball in 24 hours, including and especially the 3 year old.

I would think because it makes them feel connected to the players and the game.

The better question is, "why is a random ball important to an adult"?

They feel connected because a random guy handed them a ball? I doubt that.

Why is it important to an adult? Well if it was a foul ball that he caught, there's a possibility that the adult has been waiting since he was a kid to catch a foul ball. So it probably has some meaning to him as a momento, that he was finally lucky enough to catch one.
I don't think many people have wanted to have a ball handed to them by a stranger, ever since they were a kid.

I feel sorry for any adult who thinks that way.