Comments on: Yunel Escobar moving on, maybe learning a bit

By: natslady

natslady — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:08:10 +0000

I am still waiting for the first gay player feel he can open up (I won’t say “come out”) about his relationship. It really bothered me when a player said he could be an example to others who aren’t “normal” and almost choked. Being gay is normal. He may be a “minority” but he isn’t abnormal.

By: schlom

schlom — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:54:16 +0000

Damn you for bringing facts into this emotional argument!

By: brazcubas

brazcubas — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:39:05 +0000

Castro’s regime has been pretty anti-gay from day 1, and while the actual crackdown on and persecution of gays has eased up somewhat, the general atmosphere in Cuba is still significantly homophobic.

Vizquel is clearly wrong, “maricon” is an insult in all Spanish-speaking countries, it’s just more socially acceptable in most than “faggot” is in the U.S, though that is (very slowly) changing.

By: blacksables

blacksables — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:14:11 +0000

bichos

By: nothanksimdriving123

nothanksimdriving123 — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:01:44 +0000

I think Craig meant returned to Toronto.

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:52:26 +0000

See my comment. Vizquel grew up in a much different environment than today. Intellectually he can see that it’s wrong and you won’t catch him doing such a gaffe but he doesn’t feel it and doesn’t think it’s a big deal. In the Caribbean basin it’s still socially acceptable to refer to homosexuals in derogatory form, even though many do not have strong feelings pro or anti.

Also much of South America is primarily Catholic, so the Church has a vested interest in continuing to paint homosexuals in an unflattering manner.

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:46:28 +0000

I think we need stop lumping all the Latinos together. Different words will have different connotations depending on the country.

For example in Mexico, Maricon is nowhere near as offensive as Pendejo, yet in Argentina Pendejo is a term of affection for a child. I can’t confirm but I’ve heard that in Cuba Maricon is much stronger. Vizquel is from Venezuela where it’s a pretty light offensive word among the populace compared to others, that’s because we lop off the ‘n’, so you rarely hear Maricon and instead Marico in everyday discourse.

Also you need to consider the source; Vizquel is a heterosexual latino who grew up in the 80′s and early 90′s, where Maricon is par for the course in male groups. While Estevez is a gay man of Cuban who descent has grown up in North America and lived through the social changes that have made these expressions unacceptable in public company. Of COURSE they are going to disagree.

By: blacksables

blacksables — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:39:42 +0000

I’ve been busy.

By: RickyB

RickyB — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:37:59 +0000

You must have missed it 22 years ago … http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100240/

By: jaysjunkie

jaysjunkie — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:35:29 +0000

“I’m guessing that unless Escobar is an absolute idiot, he’s not gonna get caught up in this kind of thing again.”…He is an absolute idiot, so I wouldn’t put it past him.

Vizquel kills me. Everyone is falling over themselves to acknowledge how much Yunel screwed up and Omar is still shrugging his shoulders saying he doesn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

By: gamecock24

gamecock24 — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:29:01 +0000

Escobar actually returned earlier this week when the Blue Jays were in Baltimore.

By: Shafer's Dealer

Shafer's Dealer — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:18:38 +0000

Escobar visited the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta back in 2009 shortly after getting benched by Bobby.
He regained focus and had the best year of his career.
Yunel needs to get his shit together, and remember what he learned that day…

“It was an awakening for me,” Escobar said. “From this moment on, I will be more appreciative of the blessings God has given me. My girlfriend has a little boy. From now on, I’m going to look on him even better. From this moment on, I’m open to do whatever needs to be done to shine in other people’s lives and make this a better world for them.”
“From this day on, I’ll play even harder,” Escobar said. “I met kids that watch the Braves play all the time. From this moment on, they know that they met Yunel Escobar. And I’ll do whatever it takes to not let those kids down so they feel proud of having a friend like me.”

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090722&content_id=6003806&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

By: blacksables

blacksables — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:59:19 +0000

I’ve longed hoped for a sequel to “The Neverending Story”.

By: thatyankeedude

thatyankeedude — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:52:04 +0000

Well at least Escobar is moving on.