A trio of sports radio pundits made awful comments in reaction to New York Mets’ Daniel Murphy’s recent paternity leave. Their ugly, ignorant remarks are a disgrace and need to be repudiated in the strongest possible terms
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The wife of NY Mets’ second baseman Daniel Murphy went into labor just before Opening Day. He missed their first game of the season and may miss one or two more. As I’ve written about before, MLB is the first major league sport to provide players with up to 72 hours of paternity leave. I am on record that this policy sends an important public signal about the importance of fatherhood.
Within baseball, there is near-universal support for paternity leave. Among fans and the public, there is also widespread, albeit not universal, support for paternity leave. And, in fact, Murphy is one of three players to avail himself of paternity leave since the season began (Carl Crawford and Jimmy Rollins have as well, to no real criticism).
However, today, three idiots with huge media platforms (WFAN radio, YES Network and Fox Sports)—Mike Francesa, Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton—criticized Daniel Murphy and his wife in some of the most Neanderthal terms possible. From HardBallTalk’s Craig Calcaterra:
…in Esiason’s words, Murphy should “get his ass back to work.” Boomer also says that Murphy’s wife should’ve had a C-section before the season started so Murphy didn’t miss any time…
For his part, Mike Francesa called paternity leave “a scam-and-a-half” and started ranting about the very concept of paternity leave.
Paternity leave has been shown to have a number of huge benefits, including, but not limited to, helping forge stronger family bonds and benefiting women who desire to go back into the workforce following the birth of their children. At least one study has shown that the lack of paternal involvement in infant care is significantly associated with the intensity of maternal postpartum depression.
Maybe a rich professional athlete’s partner has financial and personal resources great enough to where the father’s absence can be made up for in part, thereby limiting the necessity of paternity leave compared to that of normal people. But mocking an athlete for taking paternity leave like this is to mock the very concept of paternity leave altogether and to make it seem that much more unacceptable for men to do the right thing and be there for their child and its mother at the most critical of times (emphasis mine).
While it’s ridiculous that anyone listens to these yakkers and takes anything approaching an example from them, the fact is that many do. Shame on these neanderthals for mocking paternity leave in general and Daniel Murphy specifically.
First, off, way to go Craig Calcaterra! I completely agree with him that paternity leave is good for dads, mom, kids, families and society. It is especially important considering most dads, at best, cobble together 1-2 weeks of unpaid leave and many have no real options to arrange for more time.
Second, shame on Francesa, Esiason, and Carton. Not everyone has to be on board with supporting fathers and families, I guess. However, it crosses the line to suggest that someone have an un-needed major surgery, with all of the attendant risks to mother and baby, to uphold some outdated model of masculinity. Simply disgusting.
As a NY sports fan, I have listened to these guys a fair amount over the past few years. Never again. I’m done with them. We should all do the same.
What do you think about paternity leave? These idiots’ comments? Let’s discuss in the comments section.
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Article originally appeared on FathersWorkandFamily.com
Is this about paid paternity leave or the ball player. Or is it about how a guy sees the birth of his kid and/or the importance of family? Or is it all the above? I was there for the birth of both my kids and I put aside vacation time to do so. There wasn’t much I could do for those three days in the hospital. Baby slept and ate. Wife was tired and slept a lot. To each their own.
In this world that shames men who best serve their families by providing for them in the way that they traditionally have by going out and working I applaud Boomer, Mike and Craig for their comments and leadership on this issue. I mean seriously. You could not select a more unsympathetic person than a professional athlete. First of all in the case of Daniel Murphy since the Mets will be out to of chase by the end of August he can spend everyday with his then 5 month old child from September 1 until Mid February when spring training begins.… Read more »
This is some excellent satire!
I thought your suggestion that Daniel Murphy take time off from a job that only keeps him working 6 months out of the year (God knows, the Mets won’t be in it come October) at an inflated salary to do what hang around the house while his wife breast feeds was pretty funny too.
@ courage the cowardly dog My employer provides paid paternity leave equal to the amount of maternity leave, which I believe to be three days. That’s the same amount we get for bereavement. There are several other employers who provide paid paternity leave, but it’s usually less than the provided maternity leave. Some states like California provide paid paternity leave financed through a payroll tax if memory serves. There are still many more employers who provide maternity leave, but no paternity leave. “I swear people find more excuses not to work these days, which explains are pathetic economy” Anyone who… Read more »
BTW- everyone, I’ll be on CBS This Morning on 4/4 to discuss this issue on national tv!
congrats to you man, it’s great uve been called to put the opposing position – what on earth were those three guys talking about.
They were talking about being men and doing what men were designed to do and that is provide for their families with their minds and bodies and not by changing diapers and nurturing which is what women were designed to do and would in fact prefer to do.
youre grumbling about 72 hours of paternity leave?
@ courage the cowardly dog
“They were talking about being men and doing what men were designed to do and that is provide for their families”
I thought the discussion was about paid paternity leave so aren’t they still doing that? I’m pretty sure he didn’t give up 3 games pay.
I am sure he didn’t give up 3 games pay. Unlike most businesses, MLB provides for paid paternity leave. Anybody who works for an employer that employs more than 50 employees can take unpaid leave under FMLA(you can call it anything you want–paternity leave–whatever as long as you are taking it for your own health reasons or someone in your family). It is the example he sets which I find offensive. This is a guy who only works 6 months out of the year anyway and if he makes the league minimum, which I am sure he makes more, gets… Read more »
Boomer you should be ashamed of yourself to criticize a man who wanted to spend time with his newborn son and wife. I would think you know better. I was a fan of yours all the way back to you Cincy days, but no more. Gain some perspective, sir. Life and the women who give life is so much more important than a baseball game or even a whole season.
I’m most disappointed in Boomer, too, considering his relationship with his son and his charitable work.
On a simple level, anyone will have far more workdays to show up for than birthdays. I think you can afford to call in sick for a few of them. I doubt you will be missed at work as much as you would be missed at home — even if you are the President of the United States. It’s funny how some people talk “family first” but don’t walk the walk. On a more complex level, the birth of my daughter was the happiest day of my life and a very humbling experience that I had taken for granted up… Read more »
Hi Les. Agreed. It boggles my mind how we talk so much about Family Values in the US but don’t follow up with policy.
I can almost see a case for football players to miss the birth of their child rather than a game because there are only 16 games. I would still say they should attend the birth. You win or lose with the players you have. If a player is injured and there’s another problem with professional sports the propensity to rush players back from injury, you step up not give up. In this case, he’s missing 10 – 12 at bats. I don’t think you can even make the contract / money argument.
Hi John-
I agree. Baseball put this policy into effect specifically because it is such a long seson with 162 games in about 180 days. In fact, one exec said “in such a long season, we need moments of accommodation for important events”. Most of us work even linger seasons than 180 days. We could use more paternity leave too.
As to football vs baseball- I agree with you too, and wrote about Joe Flacco missing the birth of his child and why I still supported him: https://goodmenproject.com/families/hesaid-joe-flacco-and-hunter-mahan-why-they-both-made-the-right-work-family-decision/