Don’t blame the locker room

It’s been more than a week since the Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs by getting swept by the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS and I’ll admit that I am still recovering. It was depressing to see David Ortiz retire without a final World Series send off, but with three huge World Series rings on our fingers because of his awesomeness, it’s hard to be sad for too long.  Unlike so many other baseball fans, we’ve seen plenty of champagne-soaked locker rooms and have lots of winning moments to remember.

I am having a harder time trying to process some of the “locker room” talk that seems to have infected this year’s presidential campaign. I have a high tolerance for bad language and have been known to use it myself at times, but this latest chapter in “how low can we go” has brought us to a new sad spot. Just as the Monica Lewinsky scandal introduced new words to water cooler chatter, Donald Trump’s bragging about being to assault women as he sees fit has caused Republicans at every level to disavow his comments and has caused a wave of un-endorsements as well.

I don’t pretend to know what goes on in men’s locker rooms, but considering that jokes about wives, mothers, sisters and girlfriends have often lead to locker room fights, I have to believe that Donald Trump’s bravado might get him a punch in the face in a real locker room. Also, I do not know any men (thankfully) who would publicly brag about assaulting a women, so I think we need to reject the excuse this this was locker room talk altogether and just call it what it is: offensive, perverse and perhaps even the last straw for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. When pollsters look back on the 2016 presidential campaign, it will probably be considered an outlier because Hillary Clinton will likely win with a higher unfavorable rating than any President before. Likability matters in politics and the “who would you rather have a beer with” question can be a good indicator of who wins the race. Let’s face it, no one wants to have a beer with a pervert.

With this interminable campaign coming to a close in a matter of days, the revelations of the last few weeks have left many voters without a candidate to support. I share your sadness and disgust and simply say… Go Cubs!