A few days ago Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips took to his Twitter account (@DatDudeBP) after a 14 inning victory to accuse one of the Pittsburgh Pirates of shouting something racial at him. He used the hashtags #RealTalk and #Racism to emphasize his point.
There’s only one problem with that, none of the Pirates said any such thing to him. So much for “Real Talk.”
Naturally the Pirates player in question, pitcher Jared Hughes, quickly and rightfully defended himself but that’s time he had to waste because of a completely bogus charge. He had a conversation with Phillips and Andrew McCutchen, and thought the issue was cleared up, yet Phillips went out after that meeting and continued to cry racism.
Video replays from the Pirates’ broadcast show Hughes never used any racially charged words, though he did scream profanities at Phillips. That’s not the same thing as racism though.
Racism is a pretty serious charge, and I’m sorry but I think it’s ridiculous for anyone these days to throw out accusations like that or call people racists without it actually taking place. Take a moment to look at the political world these days. Anyone who disagrees with the direction our country is headed under our president must be a racist right?
We’re supposed to live in a world where we’re moving past these things, and yet it seems like every week we hear more accusations of racism or people crying wolf about such claims.
It’s also not the first time that Phillips has misheard what someone said. Gregg Doyel of CBS writes that Phillips misquoted him to a Reds team official who then approached Doyel about the situation.
Brandon Phillips should be ashamed of himself right now. MLB and the public would have come down on the Pirates if Hughes did say something like this and, to be honest, they should come out and condemn the actions of Phillips immediately.
There’s no place in baseball for this kind of crap.
I thought this was supposed to be the United States of America, and yet we’re more divided than ever. Everybody is labeled with titles like African-American, Latino-American, Idiot-American and what not. Okay I made that last one up, but it would certainly apply to half the country. It certainly applies to Phillips.
We can’t get past racism until idiots like Phillips stop crying wolf. Of course he’ll probably turn around and call me a racist for this article. Once again, he’d be dead wrong.
Photo Credits: Sports Grid
