Plaschke on Tim Crews' family

It was a fabulous column. In my opinion the column was more about Travis Crews than it was Tim Crews (or Plaschke as some you think). A father-son relationship lost. Tim Crews, and Plaschke's relationship with him, was only the vehicle for that story.
Granted it was a fastball. But, he consistently hits them in his Sunday-takeout columns. They're barely about sports, but that's their appeal. They're about humans and Americans and the trials we all endure.
Plaschke's written voice is so much more powerful than his spoken.

 

Who the fuck said he's <b>more</b> deserving? This isn't a series, this is a piece about someone Plaschke happened to know.

Tim Crews fucked up. He shouldn't have been operating the boat under the influence. That doesn't mean his wife and kids miss him any less. In fact, it might make things worse. He was human. He made a mistake. He paid a horrible price, and so did his family. If anything, that's <u>more</u> reason for people who were his friends to be sensitive to the needs of his family.

 

It was well-written, and the "I" voice was effective here, but the ending also didn't work that well for me. For all their "Dodger family" pushing, that organization has not been good about preserving what made it matter.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/crewsti01.shtml

Good story. It should make everyone think twice about drinking and driving, and what might happen and what might be left behind.

He is just a young man looking for some fatherly advice. I'm glad Plaschke is someone that followed through and got a hold of her.

I interned with a profootball team when I was in college, and I remember hanging out for a few days with him and helping him with interviews and player information. He told me about an internship at the Times I should persue, but I was moving back East. He also told a very funny story about a violinist and a guy falling out of a bed.

The long and short of it is that him doing something nice is something that comes naturally.

Does anyone remember the handicapped woman who wrote the Dodger summaries with a pencil in her mouth to type with and Plaschke tracked her down? Great story as well. Sometimes as a writer you do become part of the story.

 

It got dusty in here about midway through the third page.

 

Not to get all picky here, but there were no hurricanes that threatened Central Florida last summer. Don't let the facts get in the way.

Still, a great story. However, I can understand some of the sentiments. Maybe Tim Crews should have thought about what would happen to his family before he pounded however many beers resulting in a .14 and got behind the wheel of any vehicle.

 

Saw Juan Williams speak at a Poynter workshop in St. Louis in 2003. Through half-awake ears and eyes at 9 a.m. I heard him say that we reporter folk are in a position to help people and should do so when the opportunity presents itself. It appears to me that Plaschke heard that speech at some point too.

 

Doesn't make life any easier for the kids and the wife. Don't quite see what you and spnited don't get about that.

 

As someone who has lost a child and a parent within the last five years, I understand what's going on. But as near as I can tell, the wife and kids were provided for very well, and their only complaint is that no one from the Dodgers will call up and invite them to opening day. Not like Tim Crews was the backbone of the Dodgers for decades. I mean, come on, 423 innings? And he left the team for free agency with the Indians, so why should the current Dodgers administration, who wasn't around 14 years ago, give a flip?

As I said, great story, well-written. Certainly sad how this family lost a father and husband. But let's save some sympathy for the family of someone killed in a war, or the family of a Virginia Tech shooting victim, who didn't leave their family millions of dollars.

 

<i>"Maybe Tim Crews should have thought about what would happen to his family before he pounded however many beers resulting in a .14 and got behind the wheel of any vehicle."</i>


I can assure you he won't do it again.

 

Yeah, that's it exactly.

How many innings do you have to pitch for a team before someone cares enough to send a kind word to his family? Doesn't have to be a speech, how about a five-minute call to say I hope you're doing OK? How about a freaking card? Nobody was a teammate in the minor leagues? Nobody ever hung out with him? How about an encouraging word for the son who is now a pitcher? How about someone telling him what they remembered best about his dad -- the man he never really knew -- and how he approached pitching and competing? You think something that simple wouldn't mean the world to that kid?

But, hell, WTF? They got money. Quit yer bitchin', right?

I feel badly that you parcel out compassion in such measured doses that it's all spent on the VT victims these days.

 

Great column. Had no issues with it.

If something happened to me, I'd hope my coworkers and others would tell my seven-month old son stories about me so he had some clue about what his father was like. (The slightly edited for TV version, of course)