John McCain Understands Tom Glavine

The Braves treated Tom Glavine shoddily by coldly releasing him like a dermatologist slicing a frozen wart off a patient. Baseball does this all the time, but Glavine's case might involve a dispute over a million dollar roster bonus, plus all of the hurt feelings accompanying the release of an aging pitcher with deteriorating skills, all accompanied by the Braves GM Frank Wren going on Atlanta radio last week to overstate the case because ... well, because he wanted everyone to know precisely how over the hill he thought Glavine was.

Wren missed the point completely: Glavine wanted a party. Or failing a party, he at least wanted a backrub, or a hug, or a golden watch, or a "hang in there!" cat poster and a handshake on the way out of the door, something the robotic GM seemed unwilling to do. (An executive plague, it seems: the need to bully unnecessarily in order to establish dominance, a.k.a. Manginiosis.) Who understands what Glavine wanted here? Another recent legend who lost out to younger talent, John McCain,<!-- a--> who tweeted about it while eating his usual breakfast of courage and pure broken glass. (Why broken glass? Why NOT, pansy?)

Back in McCain's day they at least gave a man a Conestoga Wagon, 500 dollars worth of Spanish doubloons, and pointed him towards the Oregon Trail. (Where you would inevitably die of dysentery, but still: you had a chance, especially if you started as a banker.)

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.