Adam LaRoche and his son

He said, "We're not big on school." I think the context of the quote was not being big on being formally enrolled in a school, not "school" as a synonym for "learning." I think that's an important distinction.

 

That's how YOU have decided to frame this issue, Dick.

Others see it in a different context.

You and the White Sox don't have exclusive rights as to how to frame this issue.

 

I understand that topics go off on tangents, especially here. But this is where actual sports columnists are taking this. In columns about whether the White Sox did the right thing. Whether Adam LaRoche should home school his kid, or whether his kid is hearing too many cuss words, has nothing to do with what the White Sox did. Nothing.

Drake LaRoche has been in the clubhouse for 12 years. Twelve years. And for 12 years, sports writer were happy happy joy joy about it. And now that he's gone, everyone wants to pontificate about whether he was raising his kid right.

OK, what's the hook? It's nothing Kenny Williams said, that's for sure. So what makes this column, this argument, any more relevant today than it was two days ago? People had 12 damn years to make this argument. Rick Morrissey had 12 years. David Haugh had 12 years. Mike Wise could have written about it. Any number of columnists could have. No one did.

 

You don't need to agree with LaRoche's viewpoints about child rearing to understand the White Sox singled him out for a policy change that they had a good idea he wouldn't agree with at a time he was widely considered to be underperforming his contract. Put all the moral, judgemental stuff aside. That has nothing to do with it.

 

I see your point.

 

Dick couldn't be more right.

If sportswriters have witnessed this child abuse for 12 seasons, why have none criticized it until now.

And, maybe he really isn't big on learnin', but unless someone has reported that, writers shouldn't just assume that's what he meant.

 

I certainly don't think Adam Kilgore thinks that's what he meant, and he wrote the story. That quote was buried deep in the story, in context, and Kilgore wrote a column this week sticking up for LaRoche.

 

This says No. 1 - that means I'm better than just Hall of Fame!

 

Ha, ha. Fair enough.

I just find it so ludicrous that this has turned into a national debate about whether Adam LaRoche is raising his son properly or not. It's got nothing to damn do with the story. Nothing. The story is just this thin reed that people want to use to tsk-tsk someone else.

 

LaRoche's uncle was his high-school coach and a teacher. His mother was a major-league wife and a teacher. His cousin now coaches the high-school team and is a teacher. One of his aunts is a teacher. So when he said, "We're not big on school," that was surprising.