Generally speaking, I don't really hold professional athletes to a higher standard than anyone else. I understand that, just like everyone else on the planet, they sometimes lose their tempers, and when people lose their tempers, an altercation quite frequently ensues. I obviously don't admire this kind of behavior, but I do think to a degree it's understandable, especially when you consider that every time a pro athlete goes out to a bar or a restaurant he is going to get harassed to some degree by complete strangers.
So when I heard the news that Mets' outfielders Shane Spencer and Karim Garcia had gotten into a brawl on Friday night outside a pizza restaurant, I wasn't altogether surprised, especially considering that last October Garcia and his good buddy Jeff Nelson had leaped into the bullpen at Fenway Park and beaten the crap out of a groundskeeper. However, when I read a newspaper article explaining the specifics of what had happened, I became more than a bit concerned. I mean, it's one thing to leapfrog a bullpen fence and get into it with a grown man who most likely provoked you with some horrendous insult. This makes you a hothead, but not necessarily a sociopath. However, when you transition from in-the-heat-of-the-moment brawls during a baseball game when the adrenaline is running to assaulting a teenage boy outside a pizza shop when you get caught pee-peeing behind your Hummer, you're heading further and further away from being a functional member of society. And to tell the truth, while this brawl clearly illustrates a disturbing pattern of violent behavior on Garcia’s part, the fight itself isn't even close to the worst thing about it. According to reports, before the fight began, Garcia came out of the restaurant and commenced to drizzling by his vehicle, at which point one of the boys told him he wasn’t allowed to engage in such behavior at that particular place. To this, with his sabre still unsheathed, Garcia responded by winking and then saying, “You want to have some fun?”
I'll give you a moment to absorb that quote.
I would hope that the “fun” Garcia was referring to here had something to do with fighting – i.e., he was asking the kid if he wanted to rumble, and by "have some fun" he meant something along the lines of "start some static," as the kids say these days. However, the fact that Garcia not only winked when he said this line but also had his trouser snake still out of its proverbial cage makes me think that we are looking at one true sicko here.
Memo to MLB: please get this man some counseling. Note to self and everyone else on the planet: if you ever catch Karim Garcia peeing in any capacity, turn and run away.
