Selfishness run amok
Sunday night saw history being made as Major League Baseball held its first ever regular season game on an active U.S. military installation. The Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves met on a specially constructed stadium on the grounds of Fort Bragg, NC. I was never assigned there, but at one point in my career it seemed almost a certainty I'd be sent there. Ultimately I wound up on Guam instead.
Because the one-time use stadium, constructed at a cost of $5 million to MLB had seating for only 12,500, nowhere near enough for every military person on the post to receive tickets. So a lottery was held. According to the local paper, those who got tickets for the game were supposed to list the name of any guest they would be bringing. This is where it gets tricky.
Zack Hample is a famous "ballhawk" who made it known he would pay up to $1,000 for a ticket to the game. He claimed in a tweet that a "friend" gave him the ticket. Maybe he did, but he definitely posted this ad.
Hample's story is that the friend got a 2nd ticket to take his girlfriend with him but the soldier's girlfriend doesn't like baseball; so he took Hample instead. That raises a couple of issues. First, is the soldier guilty of violating the terms of the agreement he signed? Without seeing the actual text it is hard to make a judgment. However, based on the newspaper story, the soldier was supposed to turn the ticket back in if the guest he named on the form he signed wasn't going to attend. In the civilian world that's not a big deal but for military personnel, that could result in consequences for the soldier. It depends on just how the command at Fort Bragg issues the instructions regarding issuing of tickets.
The decision by Mr. Hample to attend the game, as usual, has stirred up an internet hornet's nest of commentary. Some defend what he did, calling the sale of the tickets just part of our system of capitalism. Some who identify themselves as veterans don't see this as a big deal. But the defenders of Mr. Hample are vastly outnumbered by the critics. One woman who says she's the mother of a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg said in a tweet that Hample cost her son the chance to go to the game.
Several people who defended Mr. Hample claim there were empty seats at the stadium and I have no doubt this is the case. That's not the point. The point is that the ticket given to him should have gone to an active duty military person or the dependent of one. Or the actual significant other of that military member. Not to a self-aggrandizing collector of baseballs whose other passion appears to be playing video games on a competitive level. Hey, if you can earn money doing those things, more power to him. But not when his actions are at the expense of someone serving our country.
At least he finally issued an apology and said he was wrong.
I still think he's a jerk but the apology is a good thing. For him and all of us. A lesson to be learned.
Because the one-time use stadium, constructed at a cost of $5 million to MLB had seating for only 12,500, nowhere near enough for every military person on the post to receive tickets. So a lottery was held. According to the local paper, those who got tickets for the game were supposed to list the name of any guest they would be bringing. This is where it gets tricky.
Zack Hample is a famous "ballhawk" who made it known he would pay up to $1,000 for a ticket to the game. He claimed in a tweet that a "friend" gave him the ticket. Maybe he did, but he definitely posted this ad.
Hample's story is that the friend got a 2nd ticket to take his girlfriend with him but the soldier's girlfriend doesn't like baseball; so he took Hample instead. That raises a couple of issues. First, is the soldier guilty of violating the terms of the agreement he signed? Without seeing the actual text it is hard to make a judgment. However, based on the newspaper story, the soldier was supposed to turn the ticket back in if the guest he named on the form he signed wasn't going to attend. In the civilian world that's not a big deal but for military personnel, that could result in consequences for the soldier. It depends on just how the command at Fort Bragg issues the instructions regarding issuing of tickets.
The decision by Mr. Hample to attend the game, as usual, has stirred up an internet hornet's nest of commentary. Some defend what he did, calling the sale of the tickets just part of our system of capitalism. Some who identify themselves as veterans don't see this as a big deal. But the defenders of Mr. Hample are vastly outnumbered by the critics. One woman who says she's the mother of a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg said in a tweet that Hample cost her son the chance to go to the game.
Several people who defended Mr. Hample claim there were empty seats at the stadium and I have no doubt this is the case. That's not the point. The point is that the ticket given to him should have gone to an active duty military person or the dependent of one. Or the actual significant other of that military member. Not to a self-aggrandizing collector of baseballs whose other passion appears to be playing video games on a competitive level. Hey, if you can earn money doing those things, more power to him. But not when his actions are at the expense of someone serving our country.
At least he finally issued an apology and said he was wrong.
I still think he's a jerk but the apology is a good thing. For him and all of us. A lesson to be learned.
posted by me at 6:49 PM
<< Home