It must not mean what he thinks it means

So Chipper Jones has just had enough of the Mets and the Phillies – especially Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran.

These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game.

Dwight Evans Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

I’m not a big fan of folks using the word “class” whenever they discuss sports, but since Chipper brought it up – let’s talk about class.

Is class schtupping a Hooters waitress and having a child with her while you’re married to someone else?  Destroying a marriage that spanned almost seven years and produced a son just to get your rocks off with another woman?  Is that how class is defined these days?

I get it.  That happened off the field.  Doesn’t matter what happens off the field as long as you stay classy on the field, I guess.  Every ball player cheats, so cheating on your wife and child isn’t indicative, really, of what type of person you are, is it?   Cole Hamels is without class because he called the Mets “choke artists” during a radio interview?  Let’s get THAT quote, shall we?

…he was asked outright, “Do you think the Mets are choke artists?”

“Last year and this year I think we did believe that [they were choke artists],” he said. “Three years ago we didn’t because they smoked everybody, and I think we all thought they were going to win it all. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. But, yeah, that’s kind of what we believed and I think we’re always going to believe that until they prove us wrong.

“For the past two years they’ve been choke artists.”

Not exactly evil sounding, is it?  Doesn’t even sound all that “classless” to me.  Maybe Chipper’s too busy banging waitresses to look up the meaning of the word?  I believe if Chipper is so eager to become relevant again that he’s going to throw himself into this fray, well, maybe he should choose his words more carefully.  I look at Chipper Jones and, in all honesty, the first thing that comes to mind is “he cheated on his wife with a Hooters waitress”.  I don’t think about his stats.   Not about how good he was or all his success with the Braves.

I think about what a scumbucket he is.

So when I read that he’s calling others out for being classless it really got a chuckle out of me.

In any other field, your morals and your standards define what kind of person you are.  No one says “He’s a great accountant.  Sure he cheats on his wife and shoots up, but he’s a tax wiz!”  People call that guy an ass behind his back, because that’s what he is.  In baseball, the type of person you are off the field only seems to matter when you’re a good guy.  Everyone wants you to know that this player devotes a lot of time and money to charities or that player spends all his free time with his elderly grandparents.  We get beaten to death with those stories.  But you’ll never hear about a pitcher touted as a fabulous guy who was screwing a groupie while his longtime girlfriend was planning for their future or about the married catcher with a different girl in every city his team visits.  The press knows these stories, the players know these stories, and they all ignore them.  You’ll read everywhere about what wonderful people these players are.  Great guys, a tribute to their teammates…but you’ll never hear about their personal lives.  Because it doesn’t matter, right?  They’re fabulous players and all their teammates love them so who cares if, when they walk off the field, they have no problem cheating and lying?

I have a problem rooting for these men.  I do it for some on my team, so I’m a bit of a hypocrite here.  But I’m not whining about the lack of class in an area where I’d be throwing stones in a glass house.  Chipper is surrounded by glass and he needs to mind his own business.

Chipper also needs to get the hell off his high horse and leave the likes of Cole Hamels alone.  The Braves finished in 4th place in 2008 and third place in 2007.  Maybe he should focus on helping to improve his team instead of whining about the way other players are handling their successes?