The Texas baseball fan who prompted a public outcry when he knocked aside a 4-year-old to get a foul ball now says he will give the ball to the youngster.
Matt Starr has also agreed to send a letter of apology to the family of Nick O'Brien and buy his family tickets to future Texas Rangers games, club official John Blake told The Associated Press yesterday.
"The fan let it be known to us that he wanted to give the ball back, and we informed the family that it indeed is going to happen," said Blake, the Rangers' senior vice president.
No one answered the telephone at Starr's home yesterday, and he has not publicly responded to the criticism. The Dallas Morning News identified him as a married, 28-year-old landscaper and former youth minister.
I can't seem to recall...
Is dkw going to a Cubs game while at KamaCon?
Are there precautions we should take if she is?
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
If I recall correctly (no guarantees here, of course), dkw's desire to go to a Cubs game registered as somewhere between tepid and luke-warm. Se seemed to brighten when I said that my own interest was secondary to any activity that involved her actually being willing to attend.
In other words, it doesn't look like either of us will be in attendance at the Cubs game.
Also, just for the record, my desire to catch a foul ball at a baseball stadium is nil. My immediate reaction to an errant orb hurtling through space in my general direction is to duck. The biggest danger to nearby 4 year olds is that the ball might bounce off me and hit them. Or that I might trample them in my headlong flight to safety.
LOL.
People do realize you can go buy a perfectly good brand-new baseball at any sporting goods store in the U.S., don't they? I mean, you're out there trying to catch a used ball that someone might've spit on or spread hair goop on or something. Yuck! You don't know where it's been people!
Just let it go!
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Well, I might try to get to a Cubs game sometime this summer, but it won't be during the get-together.
My reactions to a ball coming my way are almost identical to yours, Bob. The only part of dodgeball I was good at in school was the dodging part. At least once my team was cursed to have their last person standing be me - someone who didn't even try to catch the ball.
Dunno though, seems like extreme behavior for any adult - maybe the fact that he's a former youth minister in not a coincidence. Shrubs and lawns don't take offense if you're an aggressive landscaper.
Still, it might have been fun to have Dana at a Cubs game and warn everyone with kids that she was a youth minister - something they should know if a foul ball came anywhere near her. Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Whoa! Don't call Dana a "youth minister!"
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Wow, even in the church there is a caste system where being in charge of the "youth" is a negative? And people wonder why teachers get paid so little.
(I know you were joking, or serious in that Dana is a "real" minister and a "youth" minister might not have to have her credentials, but it made me think. I do remember that the youth ministers in the churches I went to were always "lesser" ministers.)
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
*ahem*
I distinctly remember a thread in which Dana announced having been assigned to ride herd over the church youth program - I think she said she was typing from under her bed after her first time with the group.
Doesn't that make her a youth minister?
Or were you interpreting that in a punning way, Bob? Such as "Dana the youth who is a minister?"
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Hmm...
I don't think Dana would care to be called a "youth minister" even though she does minister to some youth in her capacity as pastor.
At the same time, I doubt she'd agree that it is a lower caste position within the church. The importance of working with youth cannot be underestimated.
It's just not "for" everyone. Just as not everyone is called to be "music minister" or even to preach, or be anything other than a good member of the congregation.
I was merely reacting to the fact that youth ministry is not the defining characteristic of Dana's calling and that she has other aspects of her pastoral duties that she feels a stronger affinity towards.
She has, on occasion, expressed strong admiration for folks who ARE youth ministers and said very supportive things about their contributions and their achievements, including ordination.
There is, apparently, some tendency within some denominations, however, to assign pastoral duties based on gender and/or age, and in those cases, it seems that ministering to youth is generally assigned to the women or newly minted clergy. It is somewhat antediluvian and probably occurs more in places where the culture is more conservative in general, and the church makeup probably reflects the community.
But Dana is a pastor. She tends to the spiritual needs of everyone in her congregation, from the newly born to the elderly. And I think she feels drawn to that level of engagement in the congregation as a whole.
She has a lot of fun with the kids, so it's not antipathy by any means.
Beyond that, I wouldn't want to answer for her, of course. And I hope she'll come in here to correct any mistaken impressions I've created.
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
I'm a former youth camp counselor, youth camp staffer, and Sunday School teacher, and I'm going to a Cubs game during our KamaCon trip. However, I'm far more likely to try to run away from a foul ball than fight over it. The falling over a row of chairs may still occur, though, so I'll try to be careful.
--Pop
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Hmm... I snagged a foul ball at the last (minor league) baseball game I went to, and didn't give it to the 10-year-old who was also trying for it. But he had a glove and was running around chasing after balls the whole game and probably got other ones, so I felt OK about keeping mine.
*NOT a youth minister*
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Okay, what's a youth minister? I thought it meant that he was a minister in his youth, and that the chances that you can't swing a dead ferret in Dallas without hitting someone who was a minister in his youth and that it's tacky of the press to mention it.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I saw the footage, and it wasn't really that bad. He fell into the kid, and then when he got up (after falling over a row of serats) the kid was in back of him and got squished. Not cool at all, but the press is acting like the guy took a swing at him, or deliberatly jumped him for the ball.
He should have been more careful, but I bet he has gotten a lot of ahte mail for what was, in essance, an accident that happens all the time at baseball games.
Kwea
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I don't remember seeing very many "youth" in Dana's town OR congregation...
FG
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Dana is in Ames today but will probably have time to post later tonight. In the meantime, you're all stuck with me.
I met some families with kids (toddlers on up to teens) from Dana's congregation. I know that there are more in the town than those who attend her church too (i.e., they aren't UMC). But...the two towns, and especially Elsworth, certainly have a higher median age than the more urbanized portions of Iowa. And Iowa's median age is probably higher than the nation as a whole, but that's just a guess.
Octogenarians are fairly thick on the ground there.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Kat, a youth minister is a minister who works primarily with youth (grades 7-12). In some congregations that might be an ordained pastor with specialized training in age-level ministry. In some congregations it might be a layperson with a degree or certification in youth ministry. And in some congregations it’s a title given to whoever volunteers to chaperone the youth fellowship group. Whichever the case, I agree that it was tacky of the paper to mention it.
I have a great deal of respect for people, both clergy and lay, who are called to full time youth ministry. I’m certainly not offended by sndrake calling me a youth minister -- it’s not an insult, but it’s also not accurate. Even in churches with a full time youth minister on staff the senior pastor is expected to spend some time with the children and youth. And in my case, I’m the only pastor on staff at two churches, so I do some youth programming. But it’s not my primary role.
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