The Green Phone was created so the fans could voice their opinions. Give us a call and let us know what’s on your mind.
CALLER 1: Hello, I don’t have a beef but I think your question in today’s paper was something about the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong and I’d just like to say that I watched the Tour de France and have watched it faithfully for the past three years because of Lance Armstrong. This is a man who has not only overcome many, many odds – including cancer – but I think that he has been a shining light in the world of cycling. I just wanted to say that. I think it’s wonderful. I’m glad he went out on top and I will continue to watch the Tour. I think it’s a marvelous event. That’s it. I’ve never called about a sports thing before.
GREEN PHONE: Welcome to the Green Phone, first-time caller! We’re glad to hear Lance Armstrong not only inspired you to watch the Tour, but to call us as well. The Phone agrees with your stance on Lance and actually wears a Livestrong bracelet around its receiver at all times. Lance has done wonders for the Tour de France and the sport of cycling – you couldn’t have put it better. The Tour truly is a marvelous event. It’s international, in a beautiful country and a wonderful display of the gentleman’s sport of cycling. The Phone hopes Armstrong fans follow your lead and continue to watch the Tour and appreciate the sport of cycling.
CALLER 2: How can you people give all that press to boxing? It’s just plain disgusting how two people can get into a ring and bloody each other up. It’s also a bad influence on children. It makes them think fighting and hurting another person is OK.
GREEN PHONE: A contingent of the boxing haters has spoken. We respect your opinion and understand your point of view. But Green Phone disagrees with you. Boxing is strategic. It’s not just an all-out street fight. The sport takes place within a controlled environment. And fighters aren’t just out for blood. A boxer respects his or her opponent’s ability and devises a plan on how to best win the match. It really is a science. The Phone would also like to say that boxing, when conducted fairly, doesn’t set any worse of an example for kids than any other sport. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of violence in other sports. Baseball has bench-clearing brawls. The NBA has Ron Artest.
CALLER 3: I recently read your article, “Let’s give credit where credit is due,” and it brought back wonderful memories of my grandfather who also was a local boy that made it big in baseball. His name was Bob Fontaine. He was drafted by Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers when he was just 17 years old in 1941. He played ball at Bellarmine but transferred to San Jose High his senior year, where he was scouted by Brooklyn. He played on Brooklyn’s farm team with Jackie Robinson and was one of the first to befriend Jackie and his wife. He pitched for Brooklyn until 1946 when his arm developed calcium deposits as pitcher’s arms often do. Being a favorite of Mr. Rickey’s, my grandfather was then moved into the scouting office where his lifelong career would begin. He scouted for such teams as the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants. He was San Diego’s first scouting director and then went on to be general manager in 1977 until 1980. He then moved to San Francisco where he was director of scouting from 1980 until 1992. He lived, breathed and most of all loved the game. Thank you for taking the time to read this and again for the terrific memories.
GREEN PHONE: Caller 3, thank you! You’ve made Green Phone’s day with that timeline of your grandfather’s baseball accomplishments. It’s wonderful how baseball, more than any other sport, becomes such a way of life for its participants. Glad we struck a chord with you in our own recent reminiscing about area baseball folks.
