Analysis by Joe Schaeffer
Having learned exactly nothing from the Nick Sandmann rollercoaster ride of two-plus years ago, a Woke lynch mob galloped to judgment Sunday in painting a Major League Baseball fan as an especially vile bigot who shouted the dreaded “N-Word” at a black batter during a Florida Marlins vs. Colorado Rockies game at Denver.
In fact, as video clearly and easily proved, the fan was gesturing away from the action and towards a section of seats where the team mascot, who goes by the name “Dinger,” was residing:
It’s all just another silly, stupid moment in 2021 America, right? Well, except for the disquieting fact that Major League Baseball and its associated personnel and big-box media attendants desperately wanted – needed – its original wild overreaction to be true. MLB wants to think the worst of its customers.Here's the video by the way. I've highlighted both the fan and Dinger in the the first clip, then zoomed in on the fan in the second clip. And Dinger in the third. pic.twitter.com/ul14jQjavx
— Steve Staeger (@SteveStaeger) August 9, 2021
"The Colorado Rockies are disgusted at the racial slur by a fan directed at the Marlins' Lewis Brinson during the ninth inning of today's game," the team blustered in a statement following the game, without haven taken a moment to determine if the charge were true.
"While many are truly committed to respect and equality for all, the abhorrent racial animus displayed today highlights that there is still much work to be done," MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark sermonized in his own statement, again without determining the facts of the matter.
Countless big-box media outlets parroted the racial slur claim, without doing a shred of basic reporting, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and the hometown Denver Post among them.
All these entities readily believed that a fan would yell the N-word in a public stadium in America today while surrounded by other spectators given all the ways that person's life would be immediately destroyed by doing so.
It's sick how much these people want to believe their fantasies. Innocent people are suffering in DC Jail right now because of this endless pining for a cheap moral high.
Amazingly, even after the allegation had been thoroughly disproven, two MLB players continued to use it to smear their own fans as racists. Two pitchers – one a star for a New York team – tweeted the following morning, well after the pathetic narrative had completely crumbled, that their own fans are racist garbage.
We’ll quote from the tweets as well as post them in the event these players have a moment of sanity and delete their comments.
Washington Nationals pitcher Sterling Sharp at 8:44 am on Aug. 9:
For all these just made faceless and or egg profile pic bot accounts commenting that you heard “Dinger”… y’all just getting that quick block, it’s that simple lol
Just as ridiculous, if not more so, was the bizarre reaction by the batter involved in the non-event. Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson acknowledges the conclusion that the fan said “Dinger” but that is not what he hears – and continues to hear – therefore he is a victim.... of something that did not happen:For all these just made faceless and or egg profile pic bot accounts commenting that you heard “Dinger”… y’all just getting that quick block, it’s that simple lol
— Sterling Sharp (@DatDude_Ster42) August 9, 2021
Sports reporters who quickly piled on at least conveyed some remorse once the easy-to-deduce truth finally emerged. Yet they still obnoxiously clung to the moral high ground as they ostensibly were professing regret over their grotesquely unprofessional behavior.#Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson says he has watched the video 50+ times and still hears a racial slur not the #Rockies mascot, #Dinger. pic.twitter.com/wYVVzgmH37
— WSVN 7 Sports (@7SportsXtra) August 9, 2021
Bob Nightengale is a USA Today MLB columnist. His original tweets:
Disgusting. Please find him. And put him in jail without the right to ever attend a sporting event, let alone anything else.
And then the apology, where he manages to be just as insufferable in playing the racism card:And put him in jail without the right to ever attend a sporting event, let alone anything else. https://t.co/cZIXfGgQK5
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 9, 2021
The #Rockies complete their investigation and find that no slur was used. I sincerely apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusion after the video. Unfortunately, after personally seeing the racism family/friends endure every damn day, it was too easy to believe it happened again
Colorado Rockies MLB.com beat reporter Thomas Harding proclaimed his satisfaction at the “happy” “conclusion” – as if that was the crux of the issue here, rather than the inescapable observation that he acted like a total hack in rushing to judgment when his very job description entails relating the facts of events involving the team he covers as his full-time work assignment:The #Rockies complete their investigation and find that no slur was used.I sincerely apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusion after the video. Unfortunately, after personally seeing the racism family/friends endure every damn day, it was too easy to believe it happened again https://t.co/g1PaBoKirj
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 9, 2021
It must also be pointed out that the patron involved can be described as your typical adult white male professional sports fan. And that he apparently had moved down into the lower bowl from the cheap seats – where the peasants all sit – for a religious-themed concert.... me for casting aspersions on the fan base and stadium worker. The team also tracked video and audio from both broadcasts, even talked to season ticket holders, the fan and his wife. I am happy for the conclusion.
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) August 9, 2021
As ESPN reported: Fans had started to fill the lower deck of Coors Field in the late innings, moving closer for a postgame concert that was part of a Faith Day celebration. In other words, he was the perfect mark for a Woke Lynch Mob, just as young Nicholas Sandmann was in Washington, D.C. in January 2019.
It’s been emphasized repeatedly, but we'll say it again. This doesn’t end until Americans stop giving their money to people who hate them.
People who are making it abundantly clear that they loathe and despise them. It doesn’t even have to entail any kind of serious sacrifice anymore.
Moral arguments are never going to convince someone to stop doing something they truly enjoy doing. But if the thing stops being enjoyable, then it is easy to jettison.
Americans who continue to support professional sports in this day and age are living in denial. They simply need to face up to what deep down they already know: It’s a poor product all around.
Poor fundamentals. Poor attitude. Poor sportsmanship. Poor teamwork. Poor... everything.
Big money poisoned this well a long time ago. The descent into an oddly plastic and pixilated narcissism, far removed from any genuine connection to fans, was inevitable.
Things that become compromised always end up degenerating. Big-ticket sports fans don't even have to make a brave stance against the compromise.
Just stop watching the lousy product.
