WHY KLAPISCH MISSED THE POINT OF THE JOBA OUTRAGE

I admire Bob Klapisch so much, but in his attempt to be provocative, he missed the entire point of why so many spoke their mind on the Joba Chamberlain trampoline debacle. He had the nerve to attempt to call out some who speak their mind, like me writing "Only the black-hearted wouldn't feel forry for Joba Chamberlain, who for one unlucky moment had stopped being a Yankee and was just a dad..." His full piece is HERE. Look, after I ripped Joba alittle, I decided to move on, explaining that I am wishing Joba well and wanted the best for him and so over this past weekend, I asked many, many fans about Joba because I wanted a batch of ideas and opinions on the husky right hander’s injury. But more importantly, I asked Yankee fans who were parents. Why? Because it goes back to Klapisch. Sure, Joba was trying to be a dad, we all get that, I wrote about that in my piece WHY JOBA CHAMBERLAIN NEEDS TOUGH LOVE... this is what I wrote:

"I get it, kids want their dad’s to do stuff with them and you never say "NO" to your kid because, they think you're Superman and you always want to do things for your children... I have 4... I get it. Who knows if that’s how it went down, but in my mind, I see Joba not wanting to let his son down, getting on the trampoline and suddenly, there's tragedy."

But it’s much more than trying to be a dad, there’s a much bigger point; Responsibility. You are a member of the New York Yankees and that doesn’t stop when you leave the ballpark unfortunately for the players that put on that pinstriped uniform. Sure, Joba can be a dad all day long, a lot of players have kids, but Joba needed to carry with him the notion that he was asked by his employer to stay on the straight and narrow and NOT to do things risky in fear that he may jeopardize his progress, he should follow directions for the sake of personal responsibility and for of the team. (Read Bill Madden HERE on that.)

Being a parent is providing for your family as well as throwing the ball with your kid, or riding bikes, or in Joba’s case, jumping on a trampoline. If I lost my job, I’d worry about not being able to provide...that's also being a dad by the way. I feel like that should have been in the back of Joba’s mind too. “What if I get hurt, will the Yankees dump me?” Especially after all Joba and the Yankees have been through together. No one is untouchable.

Now, people said I was being hard on Joba in my piece the other day, but if you know me, I have a heart too. Sometimes tough love is needed to open someone’s eyes. Many of these players are given a boatload of dough before they even go pro. All I was suggesting was that Joba needed to think for a moment, then act. How about miniature golf? Maybe laser tag? I’m half joking but I’m making a point. A trampoline was a ridiculous idea. You’ve heard the expression, "You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone"... and if you grew up in the 80’s, you know Cinderella sang that classic song with the same title. But the words are important. If Joba were to lose his job with the Yankees, a job he been working toward all his life, and god forbid he couldn't get another job pitching anymore, what would be of him then?

We fans love Joba Chamberlain. We love him so much the debate about Joba Rules and whether or not the Yankees “ruined” him has always been debated. The point is if we were so worried about the Yankees "ruining" him, why wouldn’t we be on the same page and apply that to Joba "ruining" himself? Many of us want him to succeed. He was literally weeks away from returning and then the trampoline got in the way. What a dick tease...seriously! The point is now we start all over and Joba’s got to know that he’s in jeopardy of being a former employer of the New York Yankees, and not providing for his kid, which in my opinion is worse than NOT going on a trampoline with my son.

In the end, the Yankees have come out and said they will not release Joba, read Jon Heyman HERE…maybe they will and maybe they won’t, but there is one thing I believe for sure, Joba Chamberlain made a mistake and he’s man enough to admit it and hopefully bounce back. Joba just matured the past 3 days and what we’ll see from him now is some hard work and dedication as he tries to get on track, he’ll be like the workout montage in any of the Rocky movie…once he’s allowed to put weight on his ankle…in 3 to 4 months, of course.

So yeah, Klapisch was being provocative, but missed the point. Oh and Bob, just because some people used their frustration and hammered Joba alittle bit doesn’t mean we're black-hearted, it does mean however that we believe in personal responsibility, and that’s not just a baseball thing…that’s a life thing too.

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