Batterers

Last summer, when the Phillies were in the thick of the NL Wild Card hunt, their ace pitcher, Brett Myers, had to miss several starts for court appearances after he allegedly beat up his wife.

The Onion's take on this story was horribly close to how it actually played out: "Brett Myers Atones for Punching Wife With Solid Seven-Inning Outing."

This summer, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports, that headline could read "Elijah Dukes Atones for Threatening to Kill Ex-Wife by Leading All Rookies With 9 Home Runs."

Passan notes that this has happened before and it's still dismayingly common.

I'm not suggesting that baseball players are more likely to beat up their wives and girlfriends (although clearly too many of them do since one is too many). But the way the players union reflexively files grievances protecting players accused of domestic violence is disgraceful.

I've nothing more to add here other than to tell you to go read Joss Whedon's rant and check out the site he recommends.