Clueless Sports Commentators Need a Primer on Paternity Leave

Here’s why gender roles in relation to American child-rearing are so hopelessly steeped in sexist tradition: because of guys like radio hosts Mike Francesa, Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason, all of whom, if you’ve not yet heard, have slammed Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy for daring to take a three-day paternity leave (after missing opening day on Monday, God forbid, for his son Noah’s birth).

Thankfully, Murphy spoke up eloquently in defense of his decision on Thursday. “The awesome part about being blessed, about being a parent, is you get that choice. My wife and I discussed it, and we felt the best thing for our family was for me to try to stay for an extra day — that being Wednesday — due to the fact that she can't travel for two weeks,” the ballplayer told ESPN. “It's going to be tough for her to get up to New York for a month. I can only speak from my experience — a father seeing his wife — she was completely finished, I mean, she was done. She had surgery and she was wiped. Having me there helped a lot, and vice versa, to take some of the load off. ... It felt, for us, like the right decision to make.”

He was responding to the critical comments from folks including Carton, co-host of the CBS Sports Radio show "Boomer & Carton." “Assuming the birth went well, assuming your wife is fine, assuming the baby is fine, 24 hours — you stay there, baby’s good, you have a good support system for the mom and the baby, you get your ass back to your team and you play baseball,” he bellowed. “There’s nothing you can do anyway! You’re not breastfeeding the kid!”

Boomer, after first noting the hopeful, “But he’s got legal rights to be there if he wants to be there,” had this draconian bit to add: “Quite frankly, I would have said ‘C-section before the season starts, I need to be at opening day. I'm sorry. This is what makes our money. This is how we’re going to live our life. This is going to give my child every opportunity to be a success in life. I’ll be able to afford to send my child to any college I want to because I'm a baseball player.’”

Meanwhile, over on sports radio station WFAN, Francesa — who has been criticized in the past for offenses from abusing callers to falling asleep on the air — called paternity leave a “scam-and-a-half” during a five-minute rant. “That’s ridiculous! What are you supposed to be doing? Vacationing? What are you supposed to be doing for 10 days? I’m being honest.” It’s not clear where he got the 10-day figure, but after he was told that Major League players are actually allowed up to three days of paid leave, he added, “All right, one day I understand. And in the old days they didn’t do that but one day, go see the baby be born and come back! You’re a major-league baseball player. You can hire a nurse.” After all, Francesca’s just a baseball announcer, and when his child Harrison was born at 9 in the morning, he brags, he was back at work by 1 in the afternoon!

The only bright spot in all this darkness has been the criticism of the critics, particularly from men. “Society has come to a point where we recognize this is one of the most important milestones and it’s important to be with your family,” said one caller, before getting ridiculed by Francesa. Another explained the finer points of post-partum life that the very important radio host clearly missed. “He’s learning [post]natal care, he’s learning how to take care of the baby,” the caller said. “He plays a 162 games season, he wants to spend time with his family.”

On Twitter, baseball analyst and former pitcher CJ Nitkowski stood up for Murphy, writing, “Why does Daniel Murphy have to defend his paternity leave? The insinuation that you should be anything but a family man first is disgusting.” Other tweeters have called the criticism “bullying,” that's both “sad” and “shameful.” Bestselling author of “Boys Will Be Boys” Jeff Pearlman, after aptly noting that Francesa is a “caveman,” had this to add to the tweet mix: “Daniel Murphy deserves nothing but praise. Ballgames are forgettable. A new child is eternal.”