Some notes on the task itself:
·
It took me about 5 minutes to find the
article (I knew what I was looking for) and a little less than 25 minutes to
write up my response.
·
I picked five arguments to respond to;
I did not respond to every argument the author made.
·
I found it easier to copy and paste the
article into a google doc and work from there, rather than flipping back and
forth from an internet tab to a doc.
·
I used a table to format my response so
that the quotes and the responses lined up neatly and were easy to read.
·
I put quotation marks around everything
I copied from the article. Quotation marks that appeared in the article itself
were turned into single quotation marks, which is why some of the quotations
begin or end with three quotation marks.
“Opinion: It's Up To Baseball Fans To
Demand MLB Teams Add More Protective Netting,”
by Bob Nightengale
USA
Today
30 May 2019
The
scene was heartbreaking -- a 4-year-old girl was hit in the head by a foul ball Wednesday
night in Houston. Making it even more emotional was seeing Chicago Cubs center
fielder Albert Almora, a 25-year-old father of two boys, fall to his knees
and weep at the mere sight.
No
baseball player wants to endure the pain that Almora experienced
-- watching a foul ball off his bat injure a child.
Players have told USA TODAY Sports in the past, and reiterated again Thursday, that they don’t permit their young
children to sit in the stands at their own games in any area not protected by a
net.
“When
(2-year-old son) Xavier comes to games, he watches from inside,’’ Boston
Red Sox veteran starter David Price told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday.
“Baseballs are coming off bats harder than ever.
“Just
like always, it takes something like this for MLB to take action. It’s sad.’’
Before
the 2018 season, Major League Baseball expanded protective netting to the
far ends of both dugouts for the first time, with commissioner Rob Manfred
thanking the owners for agreeing to the initiatives.
Now,
just a year later, after the latest terrifying incident, we’ve learned it’s not
enough.
Just
ask Jana Goldbloom Brody, whose 79-year-old mother died last August after being
hit in the head four days earlier at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s
unconscionable that fans are still getting hurt by hard-hit foul balls and MLB
has not increased the netting requirements,’’ Brody told ESPN producer Willie
Weinbaum, “even after a foul ball caused a brain hemorrhage and my mom’s death.
“We see not only the fans, but the players are
traumatized by the horror and damage …this sad injury … may be a message from
my mom, Linda, to speak out once again and keep demanding more ballpark
safety.’’
If
you ask Almora and his teammates like Kris Bryant, they’d like protective
netting that not only extends from the foul poles, but one that covers the entire ballpark, making sure it’s impossible for
anyone to ever be hit again.
“It’s
a real awful moment, for a player to go through something like that," Cubs
manager Joe Maddon told reporters after the game. "Albert is an emotional
young man, with children, so that made it even more real to him.’’
MLB,
in response, said Thursday: “The events at last night’s game were
extremely upsetting. We send our best wishes to the child and family involved.
Clubs have significantly expanded netting and their inventory of protected
seats in recent years. With last night’s event in mind, we will continue our
efforts on this important issue.’’
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Author’s
Arguments
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My
Response
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“The
scene was heartbreaking … Albert Almora, a 25-year-old father of two
boys, fall to his knees and weep at the mere sight.”
|
The
opening line of the argument pretty much announces that this is going to be
an emotional argument rather than one based on facts and statistics. That’s
an interesting choice because data about the number and velocity of foul
balls entering the crowd is plentiful and easily available.
|
|
“Players have told USA TODAY Sports in the past,
and reiterated again Thursday, that they don’t
permit their young children to sit in the stands at their own games in any
area not protected by a net.”
|
I
find this argument fairly convincing: if players – who have an enormous amount
of experience watching balls zip into the stands – think the stands are unsafe,
they have a lot of experience to back up their claims.
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“‘It’s
unconscionable that fans are still getting hurt by hard-hit foul balls and
MLB has not increased the netting requirements,’ Brody told ESPN producer
Willie Weinbaum, ‘even after a foul ball caused a brain hemorrhage and my
mom’s death.’”
|
Most
of the author’s arguments are captured in quotes from other people. This
quote (another emotional appeal) is one of four direct quotes in a 13
paragraph article. The author name-drops three other people without directly
quoting them. I’m not sure whether this helps or hurts the argument. I think
I’d like to see a little more reasoning and a little less quoting.
|
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“‘We
see not only the fans, but the players are traumatized by the horror and
damage …this sad injury … may be a message from my mom, Linda, to speak out
once again and keep demanding more ballpark safety.’’’
|
This
quote is less convincing than the argument in box two, above. Messages from
beyond the grave are rarely credible sources.
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MLB,
in response, said Thursday: “‘The events at last night’s game were
extremely upsetting. We send our best wishes to the child and family
involved. Clubs have significantly expanded netting and their inventory of
protected seats in recent years. With last night’s event in mind, we will
continue our efforts on this important issue.’’’
|
This
is a fascinating way to close an opinion article. The author closes with a
quote without providing any commentary. The reader is left to infer that the
author believes MLB is not doing enough, despite their “best wishes.” It’s a
great way to condemn someone without alienating them.
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