The window is in a million pieces
Matthew Trueblood wrote a great piece about TwinsFest going on while ICE murdered Alex Pretti just blocks away:
No longer will the pretense of normalcy hold. The windows have been shattered; the whole world is watching. TwinsFest ended a bit early, but even while it continued, it was overshadowed and rendered joyless by the irruption of evil into the city.
Yearning for safety and comfort, we try not to stare danger and discomfort in the face until it’s absolutely necessary. It is absolutely necessary now.
You can stay on this side of the window; you can keep enjoying baseball. But the window is in a million pieces on the floor, and you have to let in the sights, sounds, and smells of what just broke through it. Neither baseball nor any other distraction will keep you above the fray.
Instead of apologizing for the post when there was backlash from terrible people, Steven Goldman defended Trueblood's piece:
First, this screenshot of the inevitable "stick to sports" comment from Trueblood's article:
We could, in each case, simply not acknowledge that these stories had happened... That would be a legitimate approach, and it would satisfy some readers. Alternatively, we could make reference to these stories, but take a neutered, see-no-evil approach...
When the events of the day drag the nation out of whatever we pretend is normality and an approach must be devised that will return us to the status quo ante bellum, the potential answers will be political or politicized, and there is very little that one can say that won’t be viewed by some as taking a position on one side or the other. Speaking is a political act. Not speaking is a political act. Often just trying to reason through the problem will seem to some readers a political act.
Asking “Can there be baseball?” seems like the most basic, essential thing a baseball publication can do. You might not like that we have to ask it, but don’t get mad at us for that. Be angry at the world in which we’ve chosen to live.