It's been a pretty popular story on the day, making its rounds across the nation from ESPN to the local media in Dallas-Fort Worth. To some it may be pretty funny, and to be quite honest if I didn't fully understand the situation myself, I would probably be laughing pretty hard at it. However the situation hits a little close to home for me and to be quite honest, just thinking about it literally nauseates me.
For those that don't know the situation, I'm referring to Texas Rangers TV play-by-play man Dave Barnett and his pretty incoherent rambling from the eighth inning of last night's 2-1 Texas victory over San Diego.
I heard the audio myself last night, and again this afternoon when a local radio show discussed it. Barnett talked at one point about the go-ahead run being on "fifth" and that Rangers pitcher Mike Adams was "insisting" a play was a "botched robbery." He later mentioned that it was actually "his henchmen."
Some have rumored he was drunk during the game, which I believe is completely untrue. Some have rumored that he suffers from strokes or minor seizures. I also believe those aren't the culprit.
To shed a little light on the situation, it's rumored that Barnett suffered some sort of minor head trauma during the off-season. This has led to some health complications that he's had to face during the season and recover from. One of those symptoms is the occasional migraine headache. This is the explanation the Texas Rangers are giving about the situation.
As a migraine sufferer myself, I can attest to the validity of this explanation. I've been known to suffer from 2-3 of them per year, typically in the fall. For me, the most common symptom is a weird flash of light that looks very similar to an aurora in either side of my vision. With it a blind spot starts to appear that grows with each passing moment. Sometimes I will experience partial numbness on one side of my body as well.
It makes it very difficult for me to see when it happens and there's a funny taste in my mouth. I also become tongue-tied on some occasions. Off the top of my head, I can recall two occasions that this happened. Once I was explaining to my wife what I was feeling (I was at work at the time) and describing the migraine to her. It wasn't my description, but the words I used that led her to interrupt me and tell me "hang up and come home now. You're talking weird."
Another time, I was driving a friend of mine home and I began to tell him that the upcoming exit was a good reason to change his shoes or something to that effect. I'd first began experiencing migraines at that time, so we both laughed about it.
But in both instances, when I got home, the party was over. I had a splitting headache and well, in the interest of divulging all the details, I was given a quick recap of everything I had eaten that day.
So I say all of this to tell everyone, I understand what Mr. Barnett is going through. Migraines are a horrible mystery of the human head. I wouldn't wish one on my worst enemy.
So cut him some slack. He's not drunk. He doesn't need a random drug test, and he's not simply "going crazy." Although, anyone who has experienced a migraine will tell you it drives you crazy.
Get well soon, Dave!
