0:01
Because Marte was the subject of some
0:06
vicious cruel taunting at the ballpark
0:08
this week and it made news because not
0:11
only was the fan thrown out and banned,
0:15
but because we saw Marte visibly shaken
0:19
on the field having to be consoled by
0:22
his teammates and his manager.
0:25
Now, what is the type of taunt that
0:27
could be so vicious that a player would
0:32
Well, Marte's mother was killed in a car
0:36
accident a number of years ago, and this
0:40
this fan taunted him about that. I don't
0:44
think it takes me to tell you how below
0:47
board that is. It's one thing to taunt a
0:50
guy obviously about baseball. It's one
0:53
thing to do good naturatured ribbing.
0:55
It's another thing to taunt a guy about
0:58
a deceased relative, his mother. I mean,
1:01
obviously, I don't have to say this, but
1:03
obviously that's there's no place for
1:05
that. And that guy should get tossed.
1:08
That guy should get banned. And Marte
1:11
has every reason to be shook by that.
1:14
That's not the sign of some weak-minded
1:17
player or overly sensitive athlete.
1:20
That's what who wouldn't get rattled by
1:22
that. But my bigger point is this.
1:26
It's almost a given that if you say
1:30
something like that at the ballpark,
1:33
you're going to be tossed and banned. So
1:36
there is ramifications. You will be
1:38
banned from the stadium perhaps for life
1:42
for saying something like that.
1:45
And yet, what are the ramifications of
1:48
doing so on the internet? I bring a
1:54
Jordan Whitlock, who is the wife of Red
1:57
Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock, and she
2:00
screenshotted a number of disgusting
2:04
messages that Garrett got this week on
2:10
you could only imagine how ugly they
2:13
are. We we all have seen these types of
2:15
things before. And this is why I think a
2:20
fan can go out to the ballpark and taunt
2:23
Marte about his dead mom. It's because
2:29
regular, so normalized on the internet.
2:35
And it's kind of amazing because normal
2:37
people understand that the people that
2:40
say nasty stuff on the internet would
2:42
never say that to you in person.
2:45
But for that guy at the ballpark, you
2:47
think that's the first time he said
2:50
something that vicious and cruel to an
2:52
athlete. You don't walk up to the
2:54
ballpark and suddenly turn into that
2:56
type of monster. You've done it before.
3:00
And I realize it's really hard to police
3:02
the internet. And I realize that
3:06
I might be shouting into the wind, but
3:10
if we could ever as a society get a hold
3:13
on that type of stuff that's being said
3:17
to people every day on the internet,
3:20
then maybe we could clean up some of the
3:24
behavior. It's because on the internet
3:26
there are no ramifications. And you
3:29
don't think that those still have an
3:32
effect? You're watching Marte in the
3:35
middle of a stadium with cameras on him
3:37
and thousands of people watching his
3:39
teammates break down and cry. My guess
3:42
is if he sees that on the internet, if
3:44
he gets that DM, if he gets that
3:46
message, that same effect might happen
3:50
But we don't see that. And we just
3:52
assume that, well, there's no voice
3:54
behind it. It's all anonymous. And so
3:56
these athletes are used to it. these
3:58
families are used to it, but maybe
4:01
Maybe they're not. And maybe we should
4:03
take that more seriously. And why can't
4:05
we track IP addresses? And why can't we
4:08
track usernames? Why can't we do this as
4:11
Twitter, as Instagram, as Tik Tok, as
4:15
Facebook? Why can't these social media
4:17
platforms begin policing death threats,
4:21
begin policing that cruel and unusual
4:25
verbiage? I'm not saying we need to
4:27
become a society where everything is
4:30
always policed, everything that you say.
4:32
What I am saying is if you can say it in
4:34
person and that gets you banned from the
4:36
stadium for life, why shouldn't you be
4:39
banned for life from the stadium for
4:42
saying it on the internet, police it the
4:44
same way, you'll get the same results.
4:48
It's not okay that we just go by and
4:50
large and say, "Yeah, well, athletes get
4:52
death threats all the time, and it's not
4:53
cool, but there's nothing we can do."
4:55
That's not cool. It's not cool that
4:57
anybody gets death threats, not just
4:58
athletes, but those are in our sports
5:03
It's amazing to me that when you say to
5:06
a ballpark, there's massive
5:08
ramifications. Everybody goes, "No, you
5:09
shouldn't do that." When it's said
5:11
online, we shrug our shoulders and go,
