On another site

[Slyder]

there was a thread started about Joey Votto, I know a few of you are on that site also but a few I dont know. Just wanted to get some reactions to my thoughts in response:

Joey's Dad passed away last summer I believe?

I agree that a person's well-being (physical, mental, and emotional) is far more important than any stupid game.

That's why they should let him take as much time as he needs, without pay.

Brett Favre lost his father and then came out and threw for almost 400 yards. Life is pain...anyone who tells you differently is selling something.

If he is missing time because of losing his Dad at this point, then they need to take away the paychecks. Think about it. What if you called your employer Monday and told him you "won't be in to work for the next month or so because your Dad died last summer."

Maybe you have a special employer like Votto does that would pay you whether you worked or not, but for most of us "that dog would not hunt."

Suck it up, Joey. We all lose people we love. It is the cycle of life, and death is one of the few guarantees of life.

It sounds cold, but taking the paycheck away has a funny way of bringing people back to reality.

You would NEVER win that PR war.

You would alienate any fan that has ever had anything remotely close to that happen to their family.

You would alienate Votto.

You would alienate anyone currently on the team that were friends of Votto or knew of the situation.

You would be cold, unfeeling, uncaring among other things as other teams would spin this to their advantage with the few Free Agents in which we compete for.

You go all hardcore on Votto and I can guarentee you, you would lose more than just ball games.

Give Votto some space, you ever think maybe just maybe his mom might be real sick right now and wants to be there to help?

He went on to say that the FO "owes" us an explanation...

They dont owe us jack. It doesnt affect our daily lives: Whether or not we pay or listen, it wont affect us buying that Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Edison Volquez replica jersey. It wont keep us from going to the ballpark and paying 6 bucks for a pepsi. Thats ur choice, apparently youve never had anyone work under you if you did you would realize theres more to it than this.

Joey told the Reds what was up get off his back. He asked the Reds to keep it quiet which theyve obligued. I hope youre never in this type of situation.

[HollywoodLeo]

Think about it. What if you called your employer Monday and told him you "won't be in to work for the next month or so because your Dad died last summer."

Maybe you have a special employer like Votto does that would pay you whether you worked or not, but for most of us "that dog would not hunt."

Most employers I know would give you PTO if a parent died.

Probably not a month, but you would get some paid time off.

[Kingdom]

There's a thing called FMLA and it was created for situations much like this.

[Slyder]

There's a thing called FMLA and it was created for situations much like this.

I just brought up maybe mom was sick as a reason for it nto neccessarily saying thats why he's been gone just wanted to make sure I didnt confuse people.