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Oh good! I saw that picture posted somehwere and thought he deserved some recognition by the team, glad to hear it and hope they have a fantastic time

TIL there are still coal mines operating in the US.

I just hope the people sitting around him were cool and not bitching about the guy next to them "being dirty." If it was me, I'd be buying him beers.

Sorry we can’t come BECAUSE WE’RE WORKING IN THE MINES.

Okay I'm going to be a downer. I'm glad the kid got to go with his dad but how is this news. Parents get off work and go straight to events with their kids all the time. They just aren't carrying visible markers of their profession.

The headline makes it sound like the kid was playing his first game which made more sense. Who the fuck cares this guy rushed to watch a college practice

You seem extremely angry. I hope things get better for you, man.

I worked in medical management and had patients with black lung which was surprising

I think it’s the fact he worked in a coal mine that day then took his kid to a basketball game without getting to change. Most kids I see with parents at events they are wearing nice business clothes

Like the other replay touched on its the fact that he’s a coal miner. Coal mining is hard dangerous work where the company generally treats you poorly and is in flexible with things like leaving an hour early.

I hope you realize others down voted you because of your disregard for the hard work of coal mining and not because you were a “downer”

I'm not trying to bring down what this guy did. I just think that This is being portrayed as a feel-good story but really is an indictment of abusive and exploitative practices of labor in this country. There are dangerous and exhausting and inflexible jobs being worked all over the country and working parents are trying the best to get time to be with their families. The fact this guy had to do this isn't noble in so much that it's shitty that society doesn't expect this kind of thing as feasible.

It’s a cool story, but as a safety guy I can’t help but cringe at the harmful substances and chemicals he’s just hanging out with his family in.

I make a big deal that you need to change at work and clean up before taking all those toxic substances and heavy metals home with your family.

I see family members picking up kids at school each day dressed exactly how they get off of work. Some of them are laborers, driving work trucks and dressed exactly how they were when they were roofing or pouring concrete Just before picking up their kids.

Burning coal is killing the planet and as you say, it’s a shit job anyway, so I can’t wait until there are no more coal mines and coal burning.

That’s why this story isn’t a “feel good” to me because it highlights how this dude is probably working a dangerous job with not enough pay and too many hours of it, and the job itself results in thousands dying of diseases and cancers.

What you say is true, but the appeal of the story isn't "Dad goes straight from work to game with kid", it's "Dad subjects self to judgmental stares and potential ridicule to make son happy".

Try going to Kentucky or Alabama and telling that to their fan bases.

You do know that fan is short for fanatic, right?

That’s fair enough, but there’s no support or complacency about the current labour industry in this post. It’s just some guy who has a hard labour intensive job got noticed/appreciated and a good thing is happening for him.

Though potentially unintended, your comment (at least to me) came off as though you don’t see how this coal miner likely has one of the hardest jobs out of the people there, and he still put in the extra effort to rush to this game with his son. You focused on “why is he getting special treatment” which somewhat misses the point.

It's a feel good story because the coach took his position and used it to get this guy noticed and recognized AND invited him out to another game. It's an uplifting story because in a shitty situation someone said "hey man! I notice you" to someone who deserved it. Boyo

Its still around. But no one is singing songs about it. The company broke all the backs and spirits

That's wild. Coal has been a hot topic during election cycles in recent memory

If only people kept this same energy to the parents rushing in still smelling like fry oil.

Ehh unless he's making a meal for them with those things still on his hands/body then it's not a big deal. You're talking the most trace of trace amounts that would be transferred through the air by being near him

You killed me! Can't stop laughing, thanks

“On the shortlist for father of the year”

Kudos to the guy for the recognition but fuck if standards really are that low…

There they are just mining their own business when someone snaps a pic

There are more people who work at Disney World than there are coal miners in the US.

The article said that he had a choice to go home and take a shower, missing half the game with his son or just go straight to the game. I think what he did was the right choice. I’m sure he at least wiped himself off as well.

Probably if he was black there would be no recognition

Calipari’s grandfather was a coal miner in Pennsylvania. That is the connection that made him want to reach out.

The game was the Blue White game preseason scrimmage normally played in Lexington. It was moved to a venue in Eastern Kentucky as a way to raise money for flood relief after the recent floods. The people around him would all have been Eastern Kentucky folks accustomed to coal workers.

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Ok can see your point. Seems like there's a lot of angles you could view this story from

This is such a sweet story! What an amazing father :)

He isn’t really that much more of a contributor to coal burning, they’d find someone else for the job. Coal mining actually pays a good amount (in the US at least). His work being gruelling and him still showing up and trying his best to take his kid out for a fun time is enough to make it feel good. If you want to critique about coal killing the planet complain about the companies and countries behind it, not the guy just doing his job.

I get you're a hard working coal miner, but can't the face be wiped by a bunch of baby wipes while you are driving? I mean, come on 🤷

> TIL there are still coal mines operating in the US.

It's really a huge shame. Whenever I see a story about another coal mine closing I like to post it to this subreddit.

> If it was me, I'd be buying him beers.

Why? That seems really random.

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Is it treatable?

Sure, I don't feel the need to buy strangers who work physical labor job gifts though.

Is this actually r/orphancrushingmachine

Lol *what???