April 8, 1974...I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was actually working on a class project for English that I was doing with my friend Dave Cavanaugh. But I was paying more attention to Al Downing throwing a pitch that would ultimately be hit and land beyond the outfield fence in the glove of Tom House.

That project included an audio tape and Dave and I were late with the project and sort of...sort of...told a fib to our teacher about when we had completed the project. What happened on that date was captured on that tape and could be heard in the background. Dave and I were caught by Mrs. Pellecchia. So I am not sure if I remember that event more because of what happened to us...or because of what that event meant to some guy with the quickest wrists I have ever seen - Hammerin' Hank Aaron.

Just when you think things are looking up, you are pulled right back down. We seem to have been down this road before. A year ago, one of my favorite players ever, Carlos Beltran, was hired to be the new Mets manager. Hailed as a smart baseball person, Carlos Beltran jumped on board without any prior managerial experience. Before even getting to spring training, Beltran was fired amidst the exposure of the Houston Astros alleged sign stealing cheating scandal.

New ownership. New philosophy. New ethics. Old-school Marine Sandy Alderson is brought back to take the reigns and steer the team into a new era. A young upstart is brought in to be the team’s general manager after stints with the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and Arizona Diamondbacks learning under the tutelage of Theo Epstein. And before even getting to his first spring training…fired.

Jared Porter, considered to be a young upstart in the field at 41 years old, with an understanding of the new methods in baseball…like sabermetrics and computer analytics…apparently didn’t have an understanding of baseball’s (and society’s) emergence from the dark ages. I have warned my kids, and the students I taught in college communications classes about posting on the internet, texting, and other forms of communication that are not appropriate and, once out there, can come back to bite you. But even before this modern age of communication, we were supposed to have all learned that “no” meant “no.”