They Just Don't Get It

High-paid jocks who just don't get it have become the norm. It's one thing for these so-called leaders and erstwhile role models to frequent strip clubs at 3:00 a.m. brandishing firearms. I guess that’s their pathetic business. It’s quite another matter, however, when they turn their backs on wounded servicemen and servicewomen recovering at the Walter Reed Medical Center.

Enter three fools from The New York Mets. It seems that multimillionaires Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez, and Luis Castillo had better things to do on Tuesday than to join their teammates on an annual visit with wounded soldiers. Shades of Manny Ramirez's boycott when the Red Sox visited Walter Reed in 2008.

It’s pretty clear that these beauts don’t know much about much at all. At minimum, however, one wonders why their handlers failed to persuade them at least to appear to do the right thing. Beltran’s told The New York Times today that, “I don’t know who is creating this issue. I had my own things to do, and I couldn’t make it.” Here’s the answer Carlos, you are creating the issue and it is manifest in your profound selfishness and ignorance.

What would guys like this see if they possessed the ability let alone the willingness to be introspective and think beyond themselves? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! Let's leave to another day why it is that some organizations (like the Mets) acquire more than their fair share of such characterless people.