That led to words between player and ump, which led to more emotion and confrontation and then to the spitting in the umpire's face. The upshot of his commentary was that the bad call led to the spitting and therefore Alomar should receive only a minor sanction, if anything. I must admit I was taken aback by the caller's take on the matter. But then again, after time to reflect, I wasn't surprised. For each infraction, indiscretion, insensitivity, there will be an excuse.
Sports can be and has been a wonderful tool to help young people build character.
Yet, if you ask the guy or gal on the street about that, you will get a real guffaw in response and for good reason. It used to be a person read the front page of the newspaper for the bad news and the sports page for the good news. Today, that is no longer the case. We get plenty of bad news on the sports page. That is shameful.