Fans at a Wisconsin charity softball game this weekend witnessed a truly disgusting act.
The game, put on by the Green Bay Packers’ Donald Driver, should have ended with one young boy being truly happy. Instead, it ended with one adult woman making a fool of herself.
Video posted Monday on the Internet shows an adult woman after the game wrestling a cleat out of the hands of a young boy. Driver had handed the boy, identified by the Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel as Stephen Wagner, one of his cleats that he wore during the charity softball game. The video, however, shows an adult woman first trying to block Wagner, then forcefully taking the cleat from him.
The woman, who the Journal-Sentinel identified as 37-year-old Robyn Ereth, later posted on her Facebook page “Donald is missing a shoe!!! thx Donald!!!”
Facebook photos also show her posing with two other ladies as one of the ladies is holding the shoe. All three women are smiling.
Driver clearly wanted to give Wagner the cleat, as the video shows him reaching toward him. Sports momentoes such as balls, cleats, bats or any other item are usually meant for the children. They will truly cherish the momento and remember it. Adults have no business taking memorabilia away from children, especially when it is clearly meant to be given to the child.
From time to time, baseballs are snatched away from children during games as fans instinctually charge after foul balls or home runs. Usually, however, an adult fan realizes there might have been a kid near the ball who was trying for it and that adult hands it over.
In this case, the adult just took the cleat. Let’s hope she’s not proud of herself.
The good news out of all of this is that Driver wants to personally give Wagner a momento. In the end, Wagner ended up with a better deal and Ereth is facing public scorn ranging from the media to Internet blog comments. We’re not saying she’s a bad person, but she did act inappropriately in this situation.
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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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