I knew that Brandon McCarthy had changed the way he pitched in order to take advantage of the knowledge of statistics that he had. He studied the research the saber community had done which basically said that groundballs were good and fly balls were bad and changed how he pitched in order to get more groundballs. For a stats-inclined person like me that was enough to make me like Brandon. Given that, it's not surprising he plays for the A's, the original Moneyball team who I root for because of that fact.
But now that I've seen this, Brandon is officially my new favorite player:
Not only is the kiss cam and pretty much everything at a sporting event aside from the game itself stupid, but he is completely right that it's also homophobic and should be stopped. So I applaud Brandon for recognizing it and having the courage to speak out against it. I say courage because he plays a game completely dominated by a bunch of guys who likely value masculine tendencies and run in large groups. He could easily be ridiculed and made an outcast by speaking up for gay people in the manner he did. He could probably be ridiculed for exposing himself as a stats guy because baseball is filled with conservative-like people who are greatly offended when confronted with different ideas and the changing of the status quo.
So let's get rid of the kiss cam, the pseudo-patriotic signing of the national anthem, and every other stupid thing sports events do and just play the game. Now, excuse me while I go add Brandon to my fantasy baseball teams.
But now that I've seen this, Brandon is officially my new favorite player:
Oakland A’s righthander Brandon McCarthy has had just about enough of Kiss Cam and the anti-gay overtones he believes it conveys.
He took to Twitter recently after a Kiss Cam session ended with the camera focused on two men. He didn’t see any humor in the gag, and he pointed out that no real attempt is made to include gay and lesbian couples.
McCarthy’s tweet: "They put two guys on the 'Kiss Cam' tonight. What hilarity!! (by hilarity I mean offensive homophobia). Enough with this stupid trend."
Not only is the kiss cam and pretty much everything at a sporting event aside from the game itself stupid, but he is completely right that it's also homophobic and should be stopped. So I applaud Brandon for recognizing it and having the courage to speak out against it. I say courage because he plays a game completely dominated by a bunch of guys who likely value masculine tendencies and run in large groups. He could easily be ridiculed and made an outcast by speaking up for gay people in the manner he did. He could probably be ridiculed for exposing himself as a stats guy because baseball is filled with conservative-like people who are greatly offended when confronted with different ideas and the changing of the status quo.
So let's get rid of the kiss cam, the pseudo-patriotic signing of the national anthem, and every other stupid thing sports events do and just play the game. Now, excuse me while I go add Brandon to my fantasy baseball teams.
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