Erik Bedard at the ESPN Zone This Afternoon...
This afternoon at the ESPN Zone in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Oriole ace and Cy Young Award candidate, Erik Bedard took out time from his schedule to meet and greet fans.
I will say that I have not missed one event this year, and in my opinion, his appearance at the restaurant perhaps has drawn so far the most amount of fans I have ever seen.
I was interested in this event in particular, mostly because the way Erik has been portrayed in the national and local media. He's more or less been seen as an arrogant, moody, ornery athlete who despises the media and fans in general.
However, on Thursday afternoon, those who got to meet him would think different about our ace.
Although I would say Bedard is fairly reserved, low-key (just by his demeanor), comes off as a little shy and perhaps unaware of the attention he's now receiving for his mastery on the mound; however, he was relaxed and down to earth.
The fans who were in attendance only gave Erik a lot of love and high praise, as he's a talent that the organization cannot afford to lose.
The event was emceed by Jim Hunter, and most of the questions directed towards him were of the pitching variety, and almost very little on his personal life. He spoke a lot about his pitching philosophy, how he was able to learn the nuances of the game and transform himself into one of the best pitchers in the baseball.
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2 comments:
I had the good fortune of attending as well, and am really glad I went. I was hoping you'd go, ha, because I knew you'd get some good pictures. I took one or two, but the lighting was so weird and I barely know how to use my camera, so they really didn't turn out. So thank you kindly for sharing yours!
Anyway, I think an event like this is far more indicative of how Erik Bedard is as a person than how he deals with the media. Quite honestly, though I know I'm biased, I think the media just expects too much out of him sometimes. You want him to answer your questions? Fine, he answers them. It's ridiculous to then complain about the answers he gives or the length of them - I half expect them to hand him a script to read from. "We'd really like it if you'd just say this..."
He seems like a shy, humble guy who just doesn't feel comfortable talking about himself and really doesn't like the media hyping him up. Not everyone is a Millar-type talker. I get the impression he's just never going to be able to really talk freely with the press, and I don't think it should be a problem. He definitely deserves credit for adhering to Trembley's request to meet with the media after every game even though he obviously doesn't enjoy it.
I think it says a lot about him that he would agree to do something like this and take fan's questions so patiently. And he just seems so incredibly down to earth. Seeing him just wander in through the front door and look around puzzled was definitely worth it, heh.
I'm glad Bedard even considered doing an event like this. It shows that he's not some terrible, horrible, evil person who despises the fams.
I am just a fan, and sports is entertainment. I do not look towards athletes for moral values, and look into to getting to know as deeper people.
However, a lot of fans believe just because an athlete wears a uniform that they should know more about them.
Bedard only wants to focus on his job - pitching. He could care less about attention, but it comes with the territory of being a millionaire athlete.
He will not be Millar, and nor should he be. If he does not want the spotlight and wants to be left alone, leave him be.
If the media cannot get what they want, go to someone else for an opinion.
He did come off as a shy, almost naive to his success as a pitcher.
Bedard only talked about his pitching and not much else, which was fine with me.
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