Perhaps you've heard about the little dustup in Yankee-land yesterday between Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain. The short version is that Mariano was doing an interview in the dugout, Joba was chatting kind of loudly near the dugout, Mariano asked Joba to pipe down, Joba took exception.
In truth, they probably both could have handled it better. Maybe Mariano could have grabbed Joba privately after all was said and done and explained that he was talking about an emotional meeting he had with families earlier in the day. Perhaps Joba could have said, "Sorry, I didn't realize I was messing up your interview" when Mariano first brought it up and quieted down or moved a little further away.
But from what I have read, the whole incident is Joba's fault because who was involved, and some of the comments on the Daily News piece linked above are classless, particularly the "send him back to the reservation" (Joba is a Native American) and referring to his family as "fat pigs in wheelchairs" ones, although someone did point out that it's pretty low to make fun of his father's polio.
On the one hand, you have Mariano Rivera, one of the classiest and rightfully most-respected players in baseball. If the guy has ever put a foot wrong in public, I can't remember it off the top of my head. He even resisted the urge to tell the entire city of Boston to perform certain anatomically impossible acts when they gave him a standing ovation for blowing two saves in the 2004 ALCS.
On the other hand, you have Joba Chamberlain, he of the drunk driving charge, the trampoline-related injury ... and the disappointing career in pinstripes.
So, obviously, people are going to take Mariano's side, regardless of who was right and who was wrong. I had two discussions on Twitter this morning based around that line of thinking, and you can read a blog post from one of the people I was conversing with here.
I know I'm in the minority on this one. Oh well.
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