Air Cleared Between Phillips and Hughes

If you were watching last evening’s Pirates-Reds game, you undoubtedly saw Brandon Phillips and Andrew McCutchen exchange words. Then, if you were still awake after the game, you saw BP’s tweet.

Well, we had to wait until today to get the full details (like we needed them to begin with) on what occurred.

First, any time I see, read or hear the word “racism”, I become instantly charged. Reasons are personal and I will leave them as such. Second, without any inference at any individual player left many wondering the dubious question of “who?”, and that quite frankly, is unfair.

According to Mark Sheldon, MLB.com beat writer for the Reds, BP and Jared Hughes talked everything out over the phone. Here’s what Phillips told Sheldon.

"“Last night, it was a heated moment for me, especially being from Stone Mountain, Ga., a lot of crazy things go down and a lot of racist stuff happened from the south,” Phillips said on Tuesday. “I was real pissed off about the situation. Me and Mr. Hughes, we had a great conversation before I came to the stadium today. It was the best thing that ever happened, talking to him in general about what happened and talking to him about things that I heard and stuff. It was great just to hear what he had to say and for him to hear what I had to say. It made us feel better about the situation.”"

Sep 10, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; BPturns a double play during the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. (Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE)

This incident is a prime example of why it is rarely, if ever, beneficial to jump the gun and declare this person did this or this person did that before having all the correct and necessary information. Don’t jump the gun. Very little of the events from last evening had been made public, yet, everyone had their take. No facts to substantiate anything. Everyone saw the tweet and immediately ran with it.

On this subject matter, I believe it is even more imperative to have the proper information before going public and voicing an opinion. In this day of the 24/7 news cycle, there honestly isn’t a thing as “breaking news”. The tag of being the outlet to break a story doesn’t carry the cache it once did. With so many outlets at our constant disposal, who actually cares where you got it as long as it is credible, right?

A mantra you might hear these days is “be the first to opine”. In some cases, sure. I feel that way a lot, but when it comes to the issue of racism, not so much. I want facts. Correct facts. Pointing a finger in the wrong direction without any relevant facts deem your pointing meaningless and could serve only to further charge the situation and/or implicate a person that actually did nothing wrong.

Yes, I am fully aware it happens the other way on a daily basis, too.

As long as BP and Hughes have this behind them, we should follow suit here.

And could we please stop with the screaming for bench clearing brawls?