one COOL pitcher

This story has made national headlines and could be construed as a sad story with an unfortunate ending but it turned out to be a great lesson in COOLITICS.

Armando Galarraga, pitcher for the Major League Baseball team Detroit Tigers, was on the verge of pitching a perfect game which is a very hard and rare feat in baseball. In fact, he would have been only the 21st pitcher in history to complete such a feat. It would have been a great night for baseball as this rare accomplishment would have been the third one this season and second in four nights.

With two outs in the ninth inning the batter at the plate, Jason Donald, hit an infield grounder that was handled cleanly and thrown to first base clearly beating him to the bag. The announcers yelled he's out and were dismayed when they saw first base umpire, Jim Joyce, raise his arms and declare him safe. The replay clearly showed that the ball beat the runner to the bag. Armando stayed focused and retired the next batter thus ending the game but leaving him without a piece of history.

Armando could have easily lost his cool and berated the umpire, which no one would have blamed him for. However, Armando kept his cool and though he didn't want to talk about losing his perfect game due to a bad call he did meet with Jim Joyce afterwards who offered him an apology, "You don't see an umpire come out after a game and say, 'Hey let me tell you I'm sorry,'" Galarraga said, "He felt really bad. He didn't even shower."

Armando is truly a COOLITICIAN, he realizes that mistakes are made and that he can either let them bring him down or, as he has done, be the COOL person in such an unfortunate situation. Also, Jim Joyce should be commended as well for him taking responsibility for his mistake and not making excuses, "It was the biggest call of my career and I kicked the @#!$ out of it. I just cost the kid a perfect game," he admitted, "I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay."

So here's to you Armando for staying cool in your moment of blown glory and to you Mr. Joyce for admitting and taking responsibility for your mistake. Hopefully, adults and children alike will learn from your cool responses when being in the fire-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of how Mr. Armando Galarrago and Mr. Jim Joyce have responded to their much publicized event?