{"id":951,"date":"2011-09-13T12:51:10","date_gmt":"2011-09-13T16:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/changingchannels\/?p=951"},"modified":"2011-09-13T14:59:32","modified_gmt":"2011-09-13T18:59:32","slug":"barry-zito-struggling-pitcher-heckuva-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/changingchannels\/2011\/09\/barry-zito-struggling-pitcher-heckuva-person.html","title":{"rendered":"Barry Zito: Struggling Pitcher, Heckuva’ Person"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s so easy to get disappointed with athletes and forget they are human beings too.<\/p>\n

Being brought up in the four-paper, 24-hour sports radio environment of New York I have often fallen into the trap of disliking players … often on the New York Mets … for underachieving.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of players who underachieve though, and it DOESN’T make them bad people.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito<\/strong> is a good example of someone paid tons of money, over $100 million on one contract. to pitch well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Barry Zito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although he starred with the Oakland A’s for several seasons,\u00a0 Zito has been mostly disappointing in his other Bay Area stint.<\/p>\n

Not as a person, however, as a recent piece on The Franchise: A Season With the San Francisco Giants<\/em>, revealed.<\/p>\n

Zito is still a stand-up guy who will interact with fans and offers genuine compassion and love to his ailing father, Nick, a former composer\/arranger who worked with Nat King Cole.<\/p>\n

Barry Zito also formed a charity Strikeouts for Troops<\/em> which provides money to hospitals for soldiers wounded during war operations.<\/p>\n

Kudos again to Showtime<\/strong> for digging below the surface on this terrific series.<\/p>\n

……………………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n

For more sports of the day check out: http:\/\/www.heapsgoodstuff.com\/unbearlievable-bears-linebacker-superb-in-opener\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s so easy to get disappointed with athletes and forget they are human beings too. Being brought up in the four-paper, 24-hour sports radio environment of New York I have often fallen into the trap of disliking players … often on the New York Mets … for underachieving. There are plenty of players who underachieve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":407,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,26,6,10,7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documentary","category-drama-2","category-opinion","category-reality","category-sports","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nBarry Zito: Struggling Pitcher, Heckuva' Person - Changing Channels<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/changingchannels\/2011\/09\/barry-zito-struggling-pitcher-heckuva-person.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Barry Zito: Struggling Pitcher, Heckuva' Person - Changing Channels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s so easy to get disappointed with athletes and forget they are human beings too. Being brought up in the four-paper, 24-hour sports radio environment of New York I have often fallen into the trap of disliking players … often on the New York Mets … for underachieving. There are plenty of players who underachieve…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/changingchannels\/2011\/09\/barry-zito-struggling-pitcher-heckuva-person.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Changing Channels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-13T16:51:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-13T18:59:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/changingchannels\/files\/2011\/09\/barry-zito-134x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mattaug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Barry Zito: Struggling Pitcher, Heckuva' Person - Changing Channels","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/changingchannels\/2011\/09\/barry-zito-struggling-pitcher-heckuva-person.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Barry Zito: Struggling Pitcher, Heckuva' Person - Changing Channels","og_description":"It’s so easy to get disappointed with athletes and forget they are human beings too. 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