Shortstop Ryan Gridley has been one of the best baseball players for Mississippi State University baseball this season, so it should be no surprise  people are upset he will be missing MSU’s game against Alabama tomorrow. However, the fact people are still upset after hearing his reasoning is pretty crazy.

Gridley is missing the game because his sister scheduled her wedding on the day of this game. Usual second baseman Hunter Stovall will play short stop in Gridley’s place tommorrow.

It is absolutely crazy to think people are upset about him missing this game for his sister’s wedding, but low and behold, one trip on the normal fan message boards or on Twitter and you find them complaining.

Of the arguments I have seen made, the two main ones are that Gridley should not miss the game for the wedding and that his sister should not have scheduled the game on the weekend of a MSU baseball game. 

To the second one, the sister planned her wedding on that day because it was the  day she could plan it. 

The first argument, shows how far the culture of the selfishness of sports has gotten.

 The arguments that I have seen online have been absolutely out of this world as well. Everything from, “what if it was MSU quarterback Nick Fitzgerald were to miss a football game?” to people saying Gridley should lose his athletic scholarship.

There are multiple holes in all of these arguments. The first of which is Gridley’s desision is not a new revelation. Head coach Andy Cannizaro told the media on Wednesday  that Gridley  asked him about missing the game in December. He gave Gridley the okay then.

 The entire baseball program is behind Gridley on this decision so why should fans outside the program criticize him for this?

The other argument that people would be okay with everyone being upset if it was Nick Fitzgerald missing a football game is also a poor argument. 

If the coaches are okay with it and were told significantly in advance that Fitzgerald was going to miss a football game, people should not get upset at him. 

Sports should never come before family, end of story. People who are critizing Gridley or anyone else for missing a game to go to a family event as big as a sibling’s wedding, need to take a step back and re-examine things.

At the end of the day, everything does not revolve around sports. 

Just because your life may revolve around sports does  not mean everyone’s does. Gridley’s sister’s wedding is her day, why should she move it for her brother just because he plays sports? How can you expect him to ask her to do that? Hopefully, no one has the level of selfishness it would take  of Gridley to ask his sister to do that; he for sure does not.  

Really, this goes back to a problem that has risen in sports today, from the lowest levels of little league all the way to at least the college level. This problem is that people take sports way too seriously and forget that at the end of the day, sports are  just games. 

When a college student missing one out of almost 60 baseball games to go to his sister’s wedding is an issue in your life, you may need to tone back the fandom. I have seen MSU fans call Gridley’s sister pathetic, ironically, for planning her wedding on the day of Gridley’s game.

Everyone, from the little league dad to the super fan, need to tone it down just a bit. I was fortunate to have a parent who pushed me to do well in sports and made sure I gave it my all. However, they constantly reminded me that sports are just a game and not to get in to deep. 

This is something I am thankful for and it makes me sad to see all these people getting up in arms over Gridley missing one baseball game. 

Sports have become way too big a part of people’s lives and until people learn to tone it down a bit, sports will always  have somewhat of negative attachment to them.

Sports are a bit of an escape, a fun thing to follow and keep up with. They are not something to base your entire life around.

If sports ever do eventually fall off and die as an industry, it will not be because thay have gotten boring or because the competitiveness has diminished. It will be because fans have become so toxic, people are turned away from watching  and participating in sports.

Maybe one day people will learn to treat sports for what they are, a game that is intended to be fun.  

Editor’s note: due to weather Saturday’s game had been moved to today.