Deadspin has an IDIOT of the year. You can enjoy Nos. 50 through 11 here. Our top 10 so far.
10. The man is called Thom Brennaman.
9. Ted Cruz is a Republican.
8. The man is Rob Manfred.
7. Irving is a person.
6. Steele is named Sage Steele.
5. Urban Meyer.
4. The Chicago Blackhawks are from the city.
3. There is a person named Trevor Bauer.
It is obvious that he is an odd fit for this honor. He is definitely a world-class moron, and he was able to fool enough people by never shutting the fuck up, even though they labeled him quirky or different. This list is supposed to be full of people who accomplished things or became entities. A town is kind of like that. Bauer is more than that. He is dangerous. He has always been.
We already knew that Bauer was the most arrogant human on Earth. Bauer was given all the oxygen he could possibly consume to get even more up his own ass, because of the baseball media fascination with anyone, even if they are white, or anything that doesn't just spout the normal cliches. He could feed himself on his own will. Even though no one who played with Bauer could stand him, broadcasters and writers couldn't wait to tell us how interesting he was because he built his own pitching lab or used "spin."
Bauer wasn't wrong about pitchers using foreign substances to increase spin rate, but when he blatantly and nakedly started using them himself before becoming a free agent, it was clearly the actions of someone who never even thought about consequences. He would get a lot of coverage, why wouldn't he?
He wouldn't have had a bad sense of self if he'd been given $40 million a year by the Dodgers. Losing a sense of self-awareness and being constantly fed doesn't lead to a lot of caring about others.
We knew that Bauer thought of women as little more than trinkets. If he just walked around with a neon sash that said "SOCIOPATH," he would be more obvious. It was all there. Even if the details are horrifying, it isn't that big of a shock for him to violate a woman for his own pleasure. Bauer was one of the monsters in plain sight.
G/O Media might get a commission.
Bauer may never play again if he goes to trial or not because of MLB's domestic violence policy. He had to be a raging asshole that his teammates and employers didn't want to work with and no other team could justify signing him. This is what it takes to make crimes like these stick to a player and end his career. It should happen more often.
We can not laugh at Bauer, and he will still be rich. All we can do is shake our heads at how quickly he was promoted and protected, and how much of his success is a reflection of society as a whole.
There arediots of month and year.
