Engage or Ignore

 

Maybe the posts are hiding in there?

I almost titled this post "F U Snow" because, well, yeah. Fourteen inches? Sixteen? More? Less? My back isn't telling after we fought with the snowblower and shovels. But the driveway is done and it's passable.

The stairs? HA! Not happening. Please make all further food and other deliveries to the garage, thanks.

This is one of those posts I started hours ago. I keep tweaking it with things that I thought were funny but knew others wouldn't (like what I was thinking about while shoveling). Nature of the beast and all.

So, let's proceed.

*****

We know social media is a cesspool. Oh, it can be great, and I advocate for it in many regards, but my goodness it can be terrible.

I've been debated with and called names and so on. Some of it has been friendly fire. Others were worse.

There's a simple option when it comes to these things. Those options are:

- Engage

- Ignore

Honestly, it's that simple.

Perhaps, say, you were reacting to Major League Baseball's announcement that Negro Leaguers will be recognized as major leaguers and their stats will be accepted into those of MLB, 

Many, to be blunt, have overreacted to the news. I believe the recognition is great and long overdue. Awesome.

On the other hand...

It does not, however, mean Josh Gibson is now the home run king, as most of Mr. Gibson's home runs were hit in exhibitions and barnstorming efforts. Babe Ruth (you might have heard of him) also hit myriad barnstorming and exhibition home runs and they don't count.

As of today, Gibson sits at 238 home runs, per Seamheads.

The whole background of Negro League statistics is, at best, dicey and complicated, but MLB will do its best to get proper recognition. This is great news but too many are wildly overreacting. It has, of course, headed down political paths. Not here, mind you.

Back to where I'm going with this. So you decide to post a tweet that says the Hall of Fame should reopen consideration regarding the Nefro Leagues.

Two problems here: 1) this is what the Veteran's Committee is supposed to do and 2) the Hall of Fame did a full reevaluation of the Negro Leagues in 2006. A special committee on the Negro Leagues selected 17 people for induction, including the first woman, Effa Manley.

Shawn Sailer and I chose to respond to the tweet in question. I pointed out basically what I've just highlighted here and added that the committee screwed up by not including Buck O'Neil. I also mentioned that not everyone could be a Hall of Famer.

This morning, the user not only retweeted his own post but hid both responses. 

This is not the first time he's done this, by the way. Something happened on another platform.

See, here's the thing. You want to write stuff? Be prepared to be called out when they're ridiculous. It happens to me frequently. Then I'm left with the decision of ignoring or engaging. 

Really. It's that simple. Or you can mute or block that user.

Too many want to step into the arena.

Not enough are prepared for what that means so they get "people" (real or imagined) to attack, or they hide it.

You wanted to play in the big leagues. 

Be careful what you wish for.