Sam de Brito was stunned when he saw they Mayor of Cincinatti throw like a girl when he opened a Reds game. He’s not alone. The event was shot, broadcasted, youtubed and now blogged. Sam says “it’ll be a long time before anyone tops Mallory’s astonishingly bad throw and the guy was rightly crucified for it by the US media.” The question is: Can it be OK for a guy to NOT know how to throw? Or are there some things a man must know how to do?

For those who are not familiar with the tradition, US baseball teams often invite dignitaries to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at the beginning of games and over the years there’ve been some truly pathetic efforts. However, it’ll be a long time before anyone tops Mallory’s astonishingly bad throw and the guy was rightly crucified for it by the US media.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t practised either. He’d been tossing balls after hours at City Hall, and even got some help from a University of Cincinnati pitching coach. On the day, he practised in the batting cage at Great American Ball Park.

I’m a poor thrower myself, and I would probably turn down any request to throw the first ball at a baseball event. I’m not too bad at soccer and volleyball, but somehow it just looks more manly to be able to throw a football or baseball.

That doesn’t make me feel less a man though. If there are some things a man should be able to do, in order to call himself a man, I would range this one as number one: To be able to stand up for himself, the people he care for and the causes he believes in. Not backing down when important thing’s at stake, that’s manliness to me.

Photo: And the games have begun by Mayr