Allow Me To Defend Vince Velasquez
Were talking the person and the behavior, not the pitcher. I cant defend giving up 8 earned runs in less than 3 innings. But as the Phillies were boarding the bus Vince Velasquez came out with headphones on (that clearly weren’t on) and gave a wave acknowledging the fans that were waiting. But then some idiot told him “learn how to pitch”
At that point Velasquez wasnt going to let this troll just chuckle to himself that he “got one in” on ol Vinny V. Velasquez put his stuff on the bus and then headed out to confront the fan idiot.
“I want to see your fat ass go and do it.” Velasquez told the heckler.
You can see that interaction below
This led up to it. pic.twitter.com/Dp35rcK3jx
— Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) July 11, 2021
A lot is being made of this interaction, with two sides; This is great! OR He shouldve ignored the guy and needs to grow up our own John Kincade went with the latter when the show discussed it Monday Morning, but I’m team Vinny V. Im about to go out and buy a Velasquez shirsey after this interaction. Im all for it.
I think it was one hit wonder Daniel Powter who said “Because you had a bad day”
(Still a banger of a song) but there is a message in there. Bad days. We all have them. Everyone. And Vincent Velasquez had a VERY bad day on Friday night. He got shelled in the start of a crucial three game series. Im sure it was still sitting with him when the team left Fenway on Saturday (the day this interaction took place.) Just imagine how you felt the last time you were reprimanded at work by your boss, or let your co-workers down. Its a crappy feeling. I imagine that is what Velasquez was going through when he stepped on that bus.
But too many people are failing to put themselves in Velasquez’s shoes. They just think because athletes get paid millions ($4 million to be exact for Vinny Velo….god this guy has a lot of different ways you can say his name) that you can talk to them however you damn well please. Wrong. These athletes are people too. Sure, they have a higher profile job than you or I, but they are people. With emotions. Not robots. And What Vincent Velasquez did on Saturday was pure human emotion.
Because of the day and age we live in with social media, people think they can say whatever they want to complete strangers. Take a look at the last time Ben Simmons tweeted (I have no idea what was last tweeted by Simmons but thats how confident I am in this experiment) and I am sure you will find a spew of nasty tweets in the replies. Its worth mentioning that Velasquez himself hasn’t tweeted since a retweet from Astros starter Lance McCullers in 2019. He has seemingly given up on the platform and I am willing to bet being inundated by a bench of keyboard warriors is a good reason why.
So when this idiot said what he did, he needed to be put in his place. He needed to realize that you cant just walk around saying whatever the hell you want to anyone and think its going to fly. Turning the other cheek only goes so far. Even Jesus went into that church turned casino and started flipping tables.
Should Velasquez have ignored the guy? Maybe. But this is one isolated incident. Do you not think Velasquez and his teammates have not dealt with hecklers in the past? But hes constantly supposed to ignore nasty comments and not say ANYTHING?! nope. I don’t buy that. I applaud Vinny Velasquez for doing what he did. For standing up for himself and reminding this troll that he cant do it. He couldn’t get out there and pitch more effectively. And because of that he should shut up.
Some will read this and think “This is rich! Isn’t this a sports radio station? A station that rips on players constantly?!” Yes Percy Perceptive! It IS a radio station that gets critical of local athletes. But the difference is when one of the shows on the Fanatic gets critical, were not calling the athlete and getting him on the phone to tell him why the (fill in the blank local team) needs to get rid of him. Ignorance is truly bliss.
The Vincent Velasquez situation should not divide the fan base. What it should do is remind everyone of the golden rule that we all learned when we were kids. “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.” Because there’s a rule that follows the golden rule and it goes “Something something get hit.”……ill look up the exact phrase later.
