KNOBLAUCH, PETTITTE, HONESTY & REPUTATION

The fact that Chuck Knoblauch can make news for tweeting that Andy Pettitte took HGH, and taking a shot against him is mind-boggling to me.  It must really be a slow, cold, nasty winter, because we're just hanging onto anything these days, aren't we?

Look, there's a few things I need to get off my chest, and I'm not gonna take a lot of time about all this because the reality is, I don't get it, I don't care much about it. What I do understand is jealousy, sour grapes and making mistakes, and trust me, we have all made them in our lives.  So, me telling you what's right from wrong isn't what the point of this article is.  The point of this article is to merely say that honesty is part of what this "feud" is about. The other part is reputation.  Once you figure that out, you can move on, not only from this ridiculous story, but in life.

Let me first state that I have zero hate toward Chuck Knoblauch.  On a personal level with me, he's been nothing but courteous.  We don't hang out. We don't take walks together or play golf or none of that.  We talk on Twitter and he supports the BYB brand.  That's it.  I also know that Chuck has had his problems and it's been documented.  I don't hate, so I'm not about to dive in to his life. It's not my place... it's also not my business.  

Congrats to 46. Yankees retiring his number. Hopefully they don't retire it like his HGH testimony.
— Chuck Knoblauch (@chuckknoblauch) February 16, 2015

What Chuck Knoblauch said about Andy Pettitte on Twitter was an unnecessary cheap shot. That's my opinion.  It was low and it was stupid. But guess what else it was...  It was also honest.

Andy is a top notch athlete with a crap load of drive and determination and was a fierce competitor on the mound for the New York Yankees.  He was our go-to guy for years and won 5 rings in his Yankee journey. I love the guy. I'm a fan, huge fan.  And guess what else happened...  He's also dabbled in HGH.  

We were all there front and center when he admitted it at his press conference.  Andy says he made a mistake and we never heard about him involved in it again.  It was hard to see him have to admit that, and it was devastating to us when we heard it was true.  It almost didn't make sense to many of us.  But it was also very honest and soon after, he was back and pitching again.

What I've seen between fans and Chuck Knoblauch the past 24 hours sickens me.  I don't get it and I may never get it.  Chuck made a statement, a dumb, but honest one from his own perspective, and he had to know he was about to get dragged into a hornet's nest... or maybe he didn't.  But what Chuck said was very unpopular to many fans.  Why? Well, because in our forum of public opinion, we appear to be more disappointed in the way Chuck has handled his life any Andy has in his.  After all, Andy Pettitte apologized for what he did wrong and was forgiven.  Maybe it was him being part of the Core Four that helped that along, who knows, but I'd like to think that we appreciated his honesty and sincerity and decided to move on.

For Chuck Knoblauch, well, it's much different.  He came off as Sour Grapes, and with all that Chuck's been dealing with on a personal level, well, instead of his honesty about Andy being accepted, it's trashed, mainly because of his recent track record.  I mean, I understand it, but I just didn't expect the backlash Chuck got the past few days.   We could have ignored it, I mean, who cares? We didn't though... many fans went for the throat.

Look, honesty can be a very hard pill to swallow.  But reputation is very key as well.  I've told you this story before, but it's worth repeating again.  After a full night of partying in the city, a friend of mine and I came back home around 6am to my parents house. We were still buzzed and  I was in college at the time.  I walked in the door with my buddy Dan, only to see my tired father in his work suit standing in the kitchen. He was up all night waiting for me to get home safe.  He sat my friend and I down and said this:

“You can be a champion all your life, but you miss 1 commitment, you lose trust in 1 person… and the rest of your life, you lose.”

That was it. He got up and went to work. It was about reputation and trust, and it's always stuck with me.  If you looked at that sentence, it applies to both Chuck and Andy, but here's the difference that I guess fans are seeing;  Andy apologized and worked toward a solution of success.   Chuck's struggled, and so, in the end, fans don't appreciate Chuck's negative words toward Andy... they reject them, probably because he doesn't lead by example.

Now look, I'm not here to judge anyone. I'm just trying to understand it all.  Life ain't always easy, but when you know you can better yourself, my advice is to do it, because when you're thrown into the forum of public opinion and you DON'T do it,  you won't be looked at fondly... you may in fact be looked at rather ugly...

Enjoy your Tuesday... keep it clean today.

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