Making fun of mentally ill folks: Good AND good for you!!!
I'm talking mainly about the piece on HBO Real Sports from April '06 about Darren "Dutch" Daulton, ex major leaguer. Here's the message board for April's show. Daulton was the rugged heart and soul catcher for the first Phillies team in years to MATTER post Schmidt, Luzinski, et al. Behind Dutch, Curt Schilling, and Lenny Dykstra, this group of grungy, hard drinking outcasts took the Blue Jays to six games in the 1993 World Series before succumbing. Daulton was a guy who was known back in the day for playing hurt, being a standup leader, and for coming through in the clutch. He had a solid career, with several outstanding years with the Phillies then contributing to the '97 Marlins team that won it all as a kind of "last call" for him. Another thing I remember about the guy is the fact that he was (and still is), in this heterosexual's opinion, one good looking dude. Seem to remember pix back in the 90's of him and his wife, who was, not surprisingly, astonishingly good looking as well, going to A-list parties and such.
Fast forward 13 years, and it seems as if poor Daulton is living in his own personal hell: in the HBO piece he is interviewed and describes having out of body experiences, time travelling, something called "metaphysics" (I won't even bother to google it: if you want to, go for it...); just completely wacky stuff that anyone who has ever had dealings with profoundly mentally ill people knows can't be argued with. You, or in this case the interviewer, can only nod your head and hopefully try to move to safer conversational territory. It seems that Daulton has had several run ins with the law concerning spousal abuse, violation of protection orders, and the like: funny stuff maybe to the general public but I have a feeling that his ex wife is not getting too many chuckles out of being terrorized by a drunk guy on the edge of sanity. The suit interviewing Daulton seemed to take the stance that it was the man's drinking causing the wierd and certainly dangerous behavior, but I think that the drinking is the ex player's attempt to cope with whatever dark shit is going on in his head. A lot of mentally ill people self medicate with booze (ex: homeless folks getting drunk at sunup to quiet the voices in their head), weed, whatever to alleviate the symptoms of their core illness: mental health problems.
As far as Daulton, my current favorite sports website (seriously, it's awesomely funny....usually) had this to say. For deadspin, the headline was actually mildly restrained. But the reader comments show what great fun was had by many who watched the piece or have read any of the interviews with Daulton lately.
Oh yeah, the reason for the media onslaught is that Dutch claims to be writing a book, which I suppose it why he is opening himself up to national ridicule (although maybe not in his mind, but certainly someone close to him must be telling him how this looks) : trying to pull a Canseco and sell some books/score some cash. You know he has an agent or someone pulling the strings on this embarrassment. The whole thing, to me, stinks as bad as the fight promoters who let Jerry Quarry box back in the early '90s when he was almost completely incapacitated due to brain damage in order to make a couple of bucks; the scum. Daulton has, not surpringly, major money problems despite earning $25m in salary during his career and must feel that a book sounded like a good idea to earn some dollars.
I wish him the best. Not in getting any book published, not in getting ripped off in any more investment schemes by the filth of society (can you imagine burning through $25m (less taxes)?? that must have been hard!), but in getting a support system in place that will allow him to possibly get some insight into his illness(es). No sycophants, no agents, just maybe family or even a friend (does he even have any??) who will tell him straight out: "We care about you but you need help. When you're ready, we're here for you." Take care Darren Daulton and all the other less famous, less attractive, less telegenic folks in the U.S. who could use a friend to help them when they need it. Daulton's double edged sword here is that if he was not a formerly great athlete, his mental illness wouldn't matter to anyone not in his immediate family. Because he is still somewhat famous, he's now a national punchline. Too bad for him.
Fast forward 13 years, and it seems as if poor Daulton is living in his own personal hell: in the HBO piece he is interviewed and describes having out of body experiences, time travelling, something called "metaphysics" (I won't even bother to google it: if you want to, go for it...); just completely wacky stuff that anyone who has ever had dealings with profoundly mentally ill people knows can't be argued with. You, or in this case the interviewer, can only nod your head and hopefully try to move to safer conversational territory. It seems that Daulton has had several run ins with the law concerning spousal abuse, violation of protection orders, and the like: funny stuff maybe to the general public but I have a feeling that his ex wife is not getting too many chuckles out of being terrorized by a drunk guy on the edge of sanity. The suit interviewing Daulton seemed to take the stance that it was the man's drinking causing the wierd and certainly dangerous behavior, but I think that the drinking is the ex player's attempt to cope with whatever dark shit is going on in his head. A lot of mentally ill people self medicate with booze (ex: homeless folks getting drunk at sunup to quiet the voices in their head), weed, whatever to alleviate the symptoms of their core illness: mental health problems.
As far as Daulton, my current favorite sports website (seriously, it's awesomely funny....usually) had this to say. For deadspin, the headline was actually mildly restrained. But the reader comments show what great fun was had by many who watched the piece or have read any of the interviews with Daulton lately.
Oh yeah, the reason for the media onslaught is that Dutch claims to be writing a book, which I suppose it why he is opening himself up to national ridicule (although maybe not in his mind, but certainly someone close to him must be telling him how this looks) : trying to pull a Canseco and sell some books/score some cash. You know he has an agent or someone pulling the strings on this embarrassment. The whole thing, to me, stinks as bad as the fight promoters who let Jerry Quarry box back in the early '90s when he was almost completely incapacitated due to brain damage in order to make a couple of bucks; the scum. Daulton has, not surpringly, major money problems despite earning $25m in salary during his career and must feel that a book sounded like a good idea to earn some dollars.
I wish him the best. Not in getting any book published, not in getting ripped off in any more investment schemes by the filth of society (can you imagine burning through $25m (less taxes)?? that must have been hard!), but in getting a support system in place that will allow him to possibly get some insight into his illness(es). No sycophants, no agents, just maybe family or even a friend (does he even have any??) who will tell him straight out: "We care about you but you need help. When you're ready, we're here for you." Take care Darren Daulton and all the other less famous, less attractive, less telegenic folks in the U.S. who could use a friend to help them when they need it. Daulton's double edged sword here is that if he was not a formerly great athlete, his mental illness wouldn't matter to anyone not in his immediate family. Because he is still somewhat famous, he's now a national punchline. Too bad for him.
posted by joe sweeney at 8:40 AM
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