So I got to the punchline last night, and I realized there was so much more I needed to say.
Yes I was trying to be cheeky when I suggested I wasn’t Porter’s “type” – but I realize this is no laughing matter. And I also stand by what I said as true. It appears he does have a type, that there might be certain people who get a little extra attention when he’s introduced to them. And they don’t look like me.
It’s terrifying to think about.
What if, instead of just another wannabe baseball dude, I had been a wide-eyed young woman interning on the Cape that day when I met him at Fenway. A 23-year-old discovering her passion and wanting to thank the person who, in no small way, led me to it. What if he had taken an interest in me?
Would it have led to something so scary it would have chased me from the game, as it did for the unnamed woman in the ESPN story?
How many others are there? How many others did this one guy scare out of baseball? Beyond him, how many other baseball guys – executives, coaches, players and media members – have preyed on eager young women working their first or second job in the game?
Off the top of my head I can think of two guys, for sure.
And no doubt there are A LOT more.
Even the busiest baseball guys have way too much free time on their hands. Honestly, I’ve always been cognizant of how much time execs spend staring at their phones around fields and batting cages. They look like the busiest people on the planet. Are they all just begging people to talk to them? To meet them in fancy hotel rooms (rooms no doubt paid for on company accounts)? Who knows. Jared Porter may end up being the first domino to fall.
Sadly, looking at his texts, one must also realize that they are reading the messages somebody who isn’t well. The guy obviously needs – or at least in 2016, needed – some help. Like serious medical attention. One cannot be simultaneously mentally healthy and sending 60+ unresponded-to texts over the course of a month. So, as he is rightly stripped of his salary and position of power, let’s also hope he is given the opportunity to receive whatever care he needs.
Beyond that, let’s continue to emphasize the fact that it’s simply not ok to abuse one’s position of power and trust, in any profession, or really any situation in life.
Fittingly, I saw the film Promising Young Woman tonight. I honestly didn’t know much about it going in. Turns out it is one crazy, unique flick. And it hammers home the same message. Actions have consequences. Sometimes far beyond what one might imagine. So seriously, let’s be better towards one another, and do our best as a group to hold people who abuse others accountable.
Also, remember when Brett Favre did the same stuff and it was basically brushed under the rug? Amazing what a difference a decade makes.