2.18.2005
"A Daring Raid"
It appears that Ugueth Urbina's mother has finally been rescued. I was wondering when ESPN would come around to the idea that this saga is worthy of an above-the-fold headline. How many kidnappings do you get to cover in the sports world? If I ran a sports section I would have devoted at least half a page to this...maybe a full page on a slow day. Even if I wasn't based in Detroit. C'mon guys, grow a sense of spectacle here.
The kidnapping, which happened on September 1 of last year, was accompanied by a $15 million ransom, which had dwindled to $3 million by last month. Talk about a tough racket: if you know Urbina (or, possibly, the Player's Association) can pay $15 mil, then why let them haggle you down like that? Clearly I need to brush up on my kidnapping knowledge.
This sentence from the above story caught my attention: "Urbina had left the club in September to go to Venezuela, and the Tigers had been working with Major League Baseball and its Venezuelan contacts to assist the pitcher." Aside from any personal support from the MLBPA to Urbina, how exactly would MLB work with him in a kidnapping situation? Send Billy Beane to Venezuela to negotiate?
The more I think about this, the more I think MLB probably tried a little too hard to be included in that sentence for the sake of a little positive PR. Every little bit helps these days, I suppose.
The kidnapping, which happened on September 1 of last year, was accompanied by a $15 million ransom, which had dwindled to $3 million by last month. Talk about a tough racket: if you know Urbina (or, possibly, the Player's Association) can pay $15 mil, then why let them haggle you down like that? Clearly I need to brush up on my kidnapping knowledge.
This sentence from the above story caught my attention: "Urbina had left the club in September to go to Venezuela, and the Tigers had been working with Major League Baseball and its Venezuelan contacts to assist the pitcher." Aside from any personal support from the MLBPA to Urbina, how exactly would MLB work with him in a kidnapping situation? Send Billy Beane to Venezuela to negotiate?
The more I think about this, the more I think MLB probably tried a little too hard to be included in that sentence for the sake of a little positive PR. Every little bit helps these days, I suppose.
