In recent years, we have seen Colin Kaepernic lose his job for refusing to celebrate the American national anthem. He took a knee during the national anthem and ultimately cost him his NFL career.
But did you know that celebrating the national anthem too much can also get you kicked out in baseball?
This afternoon, Luke Weaver (Royals) and Robbie Ray (Mariners), two proud Americans, saw their team face off. The national anthem was performed and once it was all over, the two former teammates (in Arizona) had a contest.
The two therefore kept the pose with the cap on their jersey to see who was going to stay in position as long as possible. Robbie Ray won.
In the end, they celebrated the national anthem too much by making a contest with it. It created good content to get baseball talked about.
Even MLB tweeted about it, for those who think it offended the heads of the Manfred Tour.
But those who were offended were the referees.
After asking the guys to stop their little game (and after seeing the guys doing nothing to stop), the refs had enough and sent off both men.
Recall that the guys did not send the referee elsewhere to see if they were there. They literally said nothing to the referees.
Yes, they delayed the game. I understand that reality, but the referees had a completely exaggerated reaction for a gesture that simply made the others around them laugh.
I don’t really know Weaver’s beliefs, but I can say that Ray is a proud American.
I don’t believe he wanted silly the national anthem of his country, he who left the Blue Jays last winter (despite winning a Cy Young) to return home.
Note also that Ray left because he was not vaccinated, however.
It is unfortunate to see that certain situations are badly managed by the referees and that power trips take place in this way. It was very harmless, as a gesture.
Being expelled for so little will not help restore the bond of trust between the referees and the fans. #RefereeRobot
What do you think?
