An Open Letter To David Freese

Dear David,

Please leave St. Louis during the offseason. I’m not saying this because I dislike you. That is hardly the case. I say this because there seems to be a minority of people in this city who have this bizarre infatuation with putting sports stars on pedistals only to rip them down later. Hello, Kurt Warner?

Since you had your wreck on Thanksgiving Day, many Internet geeks have taken to the message boards with their best David Caruso impression by trying to solve the great “David Freese didn’t really swerve to miss a deer” mystery.

Now David, I have no idea whether there was a deer or not. I honestly don’t care. If you were speeding, that’s your problem. I’m sure many of the critics who are throwing stones have never sped a day in their life or broken a law. These infalliable people have also made allegations of you being intoxicated at the time of the crash. The police found no evidence of alcohol being a factor so I’m not going to criminalize a man when the facts being presented show the contrary.

You are a local boy. The hometown hero. Not to go all Spider-Man on you, but with that comes great responsibility. You are under a magnifying glass even more so because of who you are. There are the innocent fans who just want to shake your hand, take a picture, or get an autograph. You also have people who get sexually aroused over the concept of trying to catch you in the act of making mistakes so they can post the pictures all over Facebook and Twitter.

I think it’s ridiculous that you can’t just go out in this city and enjoy yourself, but life as you know it will never be the same again now that you are a celebrity. Don’t put yourself in a compromising situation because the minute you do, a handful of jackals will be there with their cell phone cameras in tow.

If you do stay here, stop being so accessible. You are friends with Matt Holliday. Hang out with him or other teammates in situations where you won’t be vulnerable to the local wannabe paparazzi. Some guy spends fifty bucks on a cell phone with video camera capability at Radio Shack and all of a sudden he’s Elliott Davis.

I’m all for innocent until proven guilty. Then you have the ones who make accusations first, and then ask questions later. You have many here in the latter boat. That’s why I’m a proponent of you leaving during the winter months. If you want to visit family during the holidays, by all means do so and then get out. Maybe then some of these vultures will find something else better to do…….like find another star to put on a cross and then crucify.

Sincerely,

Andrew J. Portico

 
Friend me on Facebook: Andy Portico



Follow me on Twitter:@AndyPortico