So the Houston Astros are in the midst of taking on the Washington Nationals in the World Series and I, for one, couldn't care less. But as much as I didn't care before, I now have a real good reason to not watch it.
The Astros beat the New York Yankees to get to the Fall Classic, which I enjoyed immensely, and now I hate the team's guts thanks to Brandon Taubman. Houston's assistant general manager decided it would be a good idea, for whatever reason, to boast in front of three female reporters about the fact that the Astros got Roberto Osuna. I can't SA国际影视传媒� and wouldn't even SA国际影视传媒� publish exactly what he said except to say he was happy.
Seemed like an odd way to celebrate considering Osuna had blown the save in Game 6 of the Astros-Yankees series after he gave up the game-tying home run in the ninth inning to DJ LeMahieu. There was more than one person who had a theory about why and the deduction was because the reporters had lady parts. One was wearing a purple bracelet, which signifies support for domestic violence survivors.
If you'll recall, Osuna was accused of assaulting the mother of his children last year while playing with the Toronto Blue Jays and was charged by Toronto police, which also resulted in a 75-game suspension from Major League Baseball. The Blue Jays wanted absolutely nothing to do with him after that and put him on the trading block with Houston happy to oblige.
Those charges were dropped after Osuna agreed to not contact the woman, Alejandra Roman Cota, for a year as she returned home to Mexico. Cota also did not want to testify.
Sports Illustrated published the story on Oct. 21 about Taubman's outburst, which was witnessed by other reporters in the room beyond the three women in question. The Astros countered with some lame-ass statement essentially saying the whole thing was taken out of context and the "executive's" comments were in support of a player going through a tough time.
OK, here's how ridiculous this whole thing is: if you're going to publish a statement such as the one the Astros put out, you better make sure the subject in question isn't anywhere near the stadium. Several people put Taubman in that situation and witnessed what he allegedly did. Why SA国际影视传媒� and how SA国际影视传媒� the Astros even thought refuting it outright was a good idea needs to be examined and heads need to roll in the media relations/P.R. department.
A good public relations move would be for the team to announce that it would be investigating, does not tolerate language like that of any sort and will have more information when it becomes available. Media Relations 101 and something even you could write because you have seen beige statements like that so many times.
Nope, the Astros decided to go full-blown Leeroy Jenkins. Remember, this got the green light from the bosses in the front office so no one in the organization can claim innocence on this. But it would appear someone had a functioning brain cell among the team as Taubman apologized for anyone who was offended by his actions while upholding himself as a "progressive and charitable member of the community."
Sure, you can be progressive and charitable but you can also be a certified ding-dong and Taubman was exhibit A of that. And he's now out of a job after the Astros announced Taubman was fired on Oct. 24 following its investigation. In the end, there was just no way Taubman was going to survive this, even in a news cycle where Justin Trudeau was re-elected after pretending he was black. The Astros screwed this up royally and even though they got it right in the end, this is a perfect example of how not to handle a situation as sensitive as this.
There were many witnesses lining up to corroborate the Sports Illustrated version of events and the writing was on the wall. Good riddance, I say.
It goes without saying, but if you find yourself in a situation where you are a victim of domestic violence, get help somehow. Police, friends, hospitals, anything. If you know someone who's a victim, speak up. Don't let it continue.
