MASN announcers laugh off offensive Gibbons quote, sound like jerks

During the second inning of tonight's game against the Twins, the MASN broadcast put up a graphic with a quote from John Gibbons made after last night's game. The quote came after the Blue Jays lost a game because Jose Bautista was called out for reaching out and grabbing the Rays player who was attempting to turn a double play. When asked what he thought about the call, Gibbons said, "Maybe we'll come out wearing dresses tomorrow. Maybe that's what everybody's looking for."

What he meant by that was, of course, that the rule that was called against Bautista is contributing to the sissification of the great, manly game of baseball, and if they're going to keep enforcing rules meant to keep the players safe, they might as well let women play the game. It was a sexist, tacky remark that has been broken down other places around the internet.

Today, when the graphic was shown on MASN it seemed to be with the intention of starting the discussion on the play between Mike Bordick and Gary Thorne. Instead of pointing out the offensiveness of the comment or even groaning over it in a way that would be acceptable, Thorne chuckled as he read it and Bordick expressed the same sentiment. They read a quote that was said by a jerk that demeaned women, and laughed at it like it was a funny joke. Bordick then went on to say that Gibbons, along with many players, found the call laughable. I won't go into his opinion on it even if I disagree, because that's not my point here.

It's very disappointing when I sit here as a woman, watching my second Orioles game of the year, knowing that I'll watch over 100 more before the season is gone, and having to listen to my guys laugh off something like that.

I don't know if Bordick and Thorne discussed what they were going to say regarding the play or that quote, or if the MASN producers prepped them for that. But whatever planning they did failed, because Bordick should have known that laughing that quote off was the wrong thing to do. They didn't have to show the quote. They could have discussed their thoughts on the play without using it.

Whoever picked that quote to use should have realized it was offensive, and if they didn't, should have at least done their due diligence to realize that quote had caused a stir on the internet. Instead they participated in a campaign to make women feel like sports isn't meant for them, even if that wasn't their intention.