Latest / Wicked Radio with Bill Adams / 6-26: How SF Giants Players Pushed Back On PRIDE - And Won
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: You start this one with a question. Happy Friday, by
- 0:06Speaker 1: the way, unless you're watching or listen to this later on,
- 0:08Speaker 1: But has this been as we wrap up, the month
- 0:10Speaker 1: of June almost has been the quietest pride month of
- 0:15Speaker 1: all time. Maybe maybe it's just personal perception. I don't know.
- 0:19Speaker 1: It seems to be that way made. There's been less
- 0:21Speaker 1: of it, less visible display. Maybe I'm just too sheltered.
- 0:24Speaker 1: I don't know. But it's very interesting to keep an
- 0:26Speaker 1: eye on this because if you went back i'll call
- 0:29Speaker 1: it two three years ago, you couldn't escape it. You
- 0:32Speaker 1: might remember that. And the controversy has always been there.
- 0:35Speaker 1: Veterans have said for years, why do veterans get one
- 0:37Speaker 1: official holiday a month, and all of a sudden, we
- 0:39Speaker 1: have a month for pride. It's a valid question. But
- 0:42Speaker 1: when you push back against something like this you happen
- 0:45Speaker 1: to disagree with, like the San Francisco Giants players that
- 0:48Speaker 1: are all over the news now, they've kind of like
- 0:49Speaker 1: jumped from sports media, which is awful media into the
- 0:52Speaker 1: general public perception of this whole thing. When you push
- 0:55Speaker 1: back the right way, you can get a big, big
- 0:58Speaker 1: win in what you what you stand up for. If
- 1:02Speaker 1: you do it the right way and we'll get into it.
- 1:04Speaker 1: Thanks for finding me. I appreciate you. Wicked Radio livestream
- 1:06Speaker 1: and then the podcast replay on x and YouTube and
- 1:09Speaker 1: Facebook audio podcast wherever you like to get them. Apple,
- 1:13Speaker 1: iHeart Spotify, all that good stuff. Whatever they ask you
- 1:16Speaker 1: to do. Now, the controversy popped up about a week
- 1:19Speaker 1: old now, but the pushback and the result of it
- 1:22Speaker 1: has been something. And keep this in mind now, if
- 1:25Speaker 1: you're not familiar with the story, I'll fill you in.
- 1:27Speaker 1: But if you push back against an organization, a sports
- 1:31Speaker 1: league and a whole media like these Giants players have
- 1:36Speaker 1: and doing it the right way, don't discount the size
- 1:39Speaker 1: of that win. It is momentous. So San Francisco Giants
- 1:43Speaker 1: being in that market, obviously, you gotta figure that their
- 1:46Speaker 1: Pride Night celebrations all month long are gonna be pretty intense. Right,
- 1:50Speaker 1: Let's be big boys and girls about this. You know
- 1:52Speaker 1: their market, you know their city, you know what they
- 1:54Speaker 1: stand for, you know what they So keep in mind
- 1:57Speaker 1: San Francisco Giants management what they have to try to
- 2:00Speaker 1: do to appease their fan base. I get that. Also,
- 2:04Speaker 1: Major League Baseball has been a big proponent of Pride
- 2:06Speaker 1: Night and Pride Month and Pride hats and Pride uniforms
- 2:09Speaker 1: and all the other stuff and the rainbow colors for
- 2:11Speaker 1: a long time now for them to change a policy
- 2:16Speaker 1: on anything, or at least to back off a little bit,
- 2:18Speaker 1: which seems to be they're doing and kind of pass
- 2:21Speaker 1: the buck. This was unheard of not too long ago.
- 2:24Speaker 1: Major League Baseball, of all the major sports, it's always
- 2:27Speaker 1: been slow to put very quick to jump on propaganda
- 2:32Speaker 1: to seem like the cool kids, right, but very slow
- 2:35Speaker 1: to change their ways. Want a perfect example of that
- 2:38Speaker 1: the Black Lives Matter imagery signage nights commemorations that lasted
- 2:46Speaker 1: years after the George Floyd incident. Baseball would not change
- 2:49Speaker 1: it until it finally went away, and they don't really
- 2:51Speaker 1: push that anymore. The Pride Night was going back even longer.
- 2:55Speaker 1: So three Giants players didn't refuse to wear pride oriented
- 3:01Speaker 1: uniforms and hats, but they wanted their own personal expression,
- 3:04Speaker 1: and they wrote some Bible verses on them. Three players,
- 3:06Speaker 1: the most prominent one is apparently land and rope Roupe.
- 3:10Speaker 1: I think his name is so he gets booed all
- 3:12Speaker 1: the time in there and is They decided to do
- 3:14Speaker 1: this and then the team kind of admonished them, and
- 3:16Speaker 1: then Baseball came out and they said, we're gonna issue
- 3:19Speaker 1: a warning to them that they need to wear the
- 3:21Speaker 1: uniform or else. Okay, well, the player said, no, we'll
- 3:27Speaker 1: wear the uniform, but we're gonna still have the Bible versus.
- 3:29Speaker 1: So this is all. This is the nontroversy that popped
- 3:31Speaker 1: up all over this. What was the reaction. Let's go
- 3:34Speaker 1: to reaction first from Giants fans and then it'll go
- 3:36Speaker 1: to San Francisco media, San Francisco sports media, which became
- 3:41Speaker 1: a national story. Remember what I always say, sports media
- 3:45Speaker 1: is the worst media. So where's the reaction from some
- 3:47Speaker 1: of the fans. This is my favorite gay.
- 3:49Speaker 2: This is the first time I've ever been embarrassed to
- 3:51Speaker 2: be a Giants fan. I mean it was shocking, you know,
- 3:53Speaker 2: like I never would have expected that from this team,
- 3:55Speaker 2: and once it did happen, I would have expected a reaction,
- 3:59Speaker 2: And the fact that neither of those things are happening,
- 4:02Speaker 2: it's just.
- 4:03Speaker 1: Like, Okay, First of all, I don't believe that he's
- 4:06Speaker 1: been open at opening day for Giants games his whole life,
- 4:10Speaker 1: or has never missed one, or he's been a fan
- 4:12Speaker 1: of his whole life. I don't believe that at all.
- 4:13Speaker 1: And then you got the smattering of protesters with maybe
- 4:16Speaker 1: this reasoning behind it, yellow signs in front of the ballpark,
- 4:18Speaker 1: there's this, there's that. Okay, so that's the reaction from
- 4:21Speaker 1: the fans so far. This is what the team was
- 4:23Speaker 1: afraid of. They thought it was going to be so overwhelming.
- 4:25Speaker 1: And how about the guy's reaction. I just, oh, just shocking,
- 4:29Speaker 1: shocking that these players weren't banned. Keep in mind just
- 4:33Speaker 1: because they disagreed with his ideology. Okay, you got this guy,
- 4:37Speaker 1: he's another organizer of I think it's the same event.
- 4:40Speaker 1: It's not that large of a protest, but listen to
- 4:42Speaker 1: what he says and.
- 4:43Speaker 3: What does coming on here and he's demonstrating means to
- 4:46Speaker 3: you personally, I mean, someone's gonna do it.
- 4:49Speaker 4: You need to stand up.
- 4:50Speaker 3: You need to have vois. Unlike the Giants leadership, We
- 4:53Speaker 3: need to say something.
- 4:55Speaker 1: What what does it mean to you to come out here?
- 4:57Speaker 1: Somebody's got to do it. Yeah, like they don't get support.
- 5:00Speaker 1: We need to have a voice. Really, really, let's be
- 5:03Speaker 1: honest here. Okay, so you're a San Francisco area Bay
- 5:07Speaker 1: Area residents, you don't think you have a voice for
- 5:10Speaker 1: LGBT rights for real, Like they really think this. Well,
- 5:14Speaker 1: here's the answer, Yes they do. There's still this perception
- 5:18Speaker 1: out there that LGBT rights in the gay community and
- 5:21Speaker 1: this and that grip right and Pride Night in Pride Month,
- 5:23Speaker 1: they still don't think it's enough. Keep that in mind.
- 5:27Speaker 1: And most people, the majority of fans, are like, it
- 5:30Speaker 1: doesn't matter. It's a big deal, it's this and that,
- 5:32Speaker 1: it's whatever. But lo and behold, you have three players
- 5:35Speaker 1: that went along with the plan, and they wore their
- 5:38Speaker 1: Pride uniforms and they went along with it, but they
- 5:40Speaker 1: also wanted to express something and they wanted to put
- 5:42Speaker 1: Bible verses on there. And that's the controversy. That's what
- 5:45Speaker 1: caused this spurred on by guess who. Guess who made
- 5:50Speaker 1: this a bigger deal than it really would have been.
- 5:52Speaker 1: Oh yeah, sports media, listen to this line of questioning.
- 5:55Speaker 1: Neil buster Posey was a San Francisco Giants player, a
- 5:58Speaker 1: world champion. He's in their big operations now, he might
- 6:01Speaker 1: be president of Baseball operations. All he said when they
- 6:04Speaker 1: finally got a word from baseball about this. And we'll
- 6:06Speaker 1: get to the win here in a second, was I
- 6:08Speaker 1: just want to answer baseball questions. Let's get back to baseball.
- 6:11Speaker 1: Let's do it. You think the media would let it go.
- 6:13Speaker 1: Oh no, this is a little bit long, but I'm
- 6:15Speaker 1: going to play it. Listen to the long, ponderous, loaded
- 6:19Speaker 1: question from this sports so called reporter journalist when he's
- 6:24Speaker 1: just trying to get out of the controversy and answer questions,
- 6:27Speaker 1: Oh dare you not speak up for the LGBT community.
- 6:30Speaker 1: Let's talk baseball, and they wouldn't let up.
- 6:32Speaker 4: Did you object to those nights when you were a player,
- 6:35Speaker 4: and also did an did you or anyone from the
- 6:38Speaker 4: organization talk to Tony, talk to the players and explain
- 6:44Speaker 4: the importance of this demographic to your business, the importance
- 6:50Speaker 4: of this evening for the fans.
- 6:53Speaker 5: I mentioned that I'm not going to revisit it.
- 6:55Speaker 6: So if every want to ask baseball questions, I'll answer.
- 6:57Speaker 1: Baseball question.
- 7:00Speaker 2: About any of this or not.
- 7:02Speaker 3: And if you want to go to baseball questions, I
- 7:04Speaker 3: made my statement on it.
- 7:05Speaker 5: I'll answer baseball questions.
- 7:06Speaker 2: Because you have no response to the Commissioner's saying inadequate.
- 7:09Speaker 1: It's it's just incredible, you know, I harp on this
- 7:13Speaker 1: all the time. Our problems are caused by the media.
- 7:16Speaker 1: You wouldn't believe how many of our problems are caused
- 7:18Speaker 1: by sports media. They are the worst. It's like of
- 7:20Speaker 1: the worst of the woke stuff in regular news media.
- 7:23Speaker 1: When that cut flushed out a little bit, it went
- 7:25Speaker 1: right over to sports media to divide. It's the cultural thing.
- 7:28Speaker 1: It's always the question. And there's your example right there.
- 7:31Speaker 1: Wants to put it to bed. This is after they
- 7:33Speaker 1: already got a resolution to it. Wants to talk to baseball.
- 7:36Speaker 1: Let's get back to baseball. But don't you want to
- 7:38Speaker 1: respond to the commissioner's decision? No, I want to talk baseball.
- 7:42Speaker 1: Wasn't good enough for them, So let's talk about that,
- 7:44Speaker 1: and it will split this up into two parts. So
- 7:46Speaker 1: here's why I say that these players and those representing
- 7:49Speaker 1: them did this the right way. Didn't get violent. Of course,
- 7:52Speaker 1: they went along with the with the uniform policy. They
- 7:55Speaker 1: wound up wearing their pride hats or whatever the hell
- 7:57Speaker 1: else that the giants wanted them to do. But they
- 8:00Speaker 1: added their Bible verses on top of their The word's
- 8:03Speaker 1: saying you know where anti gay, were homophobe. It didn't
- 8:07Speaker 1: say any of that stuff, none of it. They just
- 8:09Speaker 1: added their own expression to something on this that was
- 8:12Speaker 1: the problem. Apparently, Now what if this is how you
- 8:15Speaker 1: know it's propaganda to force anybody into wearing showing anything
- 8:20Speaker 1: the display and making this part of the uniform. What
- 8:22Speaker 1: if and just play along, ask yourself this question. The
- 8:25Speaker 1: players had put free Palestine on top of the pride ats,
- 8:30Speaker 1: would there be a controversy? What if they had BLM,
- 8:33Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter on there? What if they did that?
- 8:36Speaker 1: Huh anything? Would it be a controversy like this?
- 8:41Speaker 3: Nope?
- 8:42Speaker 1: And that's how you know this is propaganda. But like
- 8:44Speaker 1: I said, now let's get to the good part of
- 8:46Speaker 1: the story. They pushed back. They pushed back the right
- 8:50Speaker 1: way and expressed themselves the right way, respectfully, and they won.
- 8:55Speaker 1: Now the commissioner, you'll hear it here. We'll take it
- 8:57Speaker 1: into two parts. The Major League Baseball Commissioner, Rob Manfred
- 9:00Speaker 1: got ahold of this and he said, well, well, hold
- 9:02Speaker 1: there a statement here. This is the giants fault. See,
- 9:05Speaker 1: we told them, we said we issued a standard oral warning,
- 9:10Speaker 1: and then we said the Giants didn't communicate that to
- 9:14Speaker 1: the players. Here's the first part of it, and they
- 9:16Speaker 1: got involved as well with somebody in the Senate that
- 9:20Speaker 1: would actually stand up for them. Here you go, Giants
- 9:23Speaker 1: for the controversy.
- 9:24Speaker 5: The commissioner telling Senator Josh Holly the Giants players were
- 9:27Speaker 5: allowed to wear the hats with biblical references for the
- 9:31Speaker 5: entire game. After the game concluded, my office issued a
- 9:34Speaker 5: routine oral warning about the uniform policy violation. Unfortunately it
- 9:39Speaker 5: was issued before he became aware of the Giants lapse
- 9:42Speaker 5: in communication. The players were neither fine nor disciplined, nor
- 9:46Speaker 5: will they ever be.
- 9:47Speaker 1: Well, there you have it. There there's the commissioner saying, well,
- 9:49Speaker 1: wait a minute, we told the Giants they could. It
- 9:51Speaker 1: was a verbal warning. See, it's not our fault. That's weasily.
- 9:56Speaker 1: I get it. But first of all, good for them
- 9:58Speaker 1: for seeing the light. And secondly, don't discount the size
- 10:02Speaker 1: of this win. To get Baseball, major League Baseball, of
- 10:05Speaker 1: all the sports, to change any kind of a policy
- 10:07Speaker 1: and not to crack down on the rebels, that is massive.
- 10:11Speaker 1: Here's really what went on behind the scenes, same interview,
- 10:13Speaker 1: same guy that was mentioned. Senator Josh Holly got involved.
- 10:16Speaker 1: Good for him for how he actually got into this.
- 10:18Speaker 1: He put some pressure on Baseball. Would they have made
- 10:21Speaker 1: this change. Would they have supported the players with the
- 10:23Speaker 1: Bible versus if he didn't put some pressure on baseball.
- 10:26Speaker 1: I don't think so.
- 10:28Speaker 5: That Senator, Senator from Missouri, Josh Holly joins me. Now, Senator,
- 10:33Speaker 5: it looks like a passing the buck to the San
- 10:35Speaker 5: Francisco Giants from Major League Baseball.
- 10:37Speaker 6: Well, it looks like they're admitting that they're wrong will,
- 10:40Speaker 6: which is exactly the case. I mean, the commissioner admitted
- 10:42Speaker 6: in that letter that he should not have warned quote
- 10:45Speaker 6: unquote the players that in fact they are entitled to
- 10:48Speaker 6: not wear the uniforms, they are entitled to express their
- 10:51Speaker 6: religious beliefs. And he said, as you just quoted, no
- 10:54Speaker 6: player will ever be disciplined or fined for their religious beliefs.
- 10:58Speaker 6: And I don't frankly care who he blames so long
- 11:00Speaker 6: as he admits that he's wrong, so long as players
- 11:03Speaker 6: religious liberty rights are protected. And you know, I just
- 11:06Speaker 6: have to say, I think that this is a great outcome.
- 11:09Speaker 1: It is a great outcome. Don't discount the size of
- 11:11Speaker 1: this win to get things going on. When you push
- 11:13Speaker 1: back the right way, you can one hundred percent win.
- 11:16Speaker 1: How about this, though, Like, what's the big deal. But
- 11:18Speaker 1: do you really think it's that big deal? And this
- 11:20Speaker 1: is why blame sports media from making this a nontroversy,
- 11:24Speaker 1: because otherwise nobody cared. The average American doesn't care what
- 11:28Speaker 1: you do, what you believe in, until you force everybody
- 11:31Speaker 1: else to believe it. That's all these players were saying.
- 11:33Speaker 1: They didn't refuse to take it off. They just wanted
- 11:36Speaker 1: Bible verses on top of what's supposed to be inclusion. Right, Well,
- 11:40Speaker 1: how come their opinion wasn't included? How come their opinion
- 11:43Speaker 1: was discounted? That's why they pushed the right way. But
- 11:46Speaker 1: who actually cares on the team? What about the teammates perspective? Now,
- 11:52Speaker 1: this is a little guy that's been outspoken and probably
- 11:54Speaker 1: will never get into the Hall of Fame because of it.
- 11:56Speaker 1: Very sadly. Kurt Shilling, major League baseball player. He talks
- 12:00Speaker 1: about his own experience with this thing. Now keep in
- 12:02Speaker 1: mind Shield is very outspoken, so keep that, you know,
- 12:05Speaker 1: bake that into the cake when you hear his comments.
- 12:07Speaker 1: But he puts perfect perspective on this.
- 12:10Speaker 3: Well. To be very clear, I played for twenty two
- 12:13Speaker 3: years professionally. I played with probably I know more than
- 12:17Speaker 3: five and less than twenty teammate two were gay, not openly,
- 12:21Speaker 3: but that was never a thing. No one's cared. And
- 12:27Speaker 3: I think we've gotten to a very dangerous place in
- 12:30Speaker 3: society where the people and I've always said this, the
- 12:33Speaker 3: people who just want to be left alone. Once the
- 12:36Speaker 3: government starts infringing on their rights and their lives, you've
- 12:40Speaker 3: got problems. And you know, I would ask you this congresswoman,
- 12:43Speaker 3: if tomorrow Major League Baseball had a Christian Faith Day
- 12:49Speaker 3: and put crosses on the hats, there would be protests
- 12:52Speaker 3: at every Big League park.
- 12:53Speaker 1: He's right, He's exactly right. And that goes back to it.
- 12:55Speaker 1: What if these players had said on top of their
- 12:57Speaker 1: pride night hats had put free Palestine or BLM or anything.
- 13:02Speaker 1: Would there be a controversy? Nope, They'd be cheered. And
- 13:05Speaker 1: that's the hypocrisy of this thing. That's why they pushed
- 13:08Speaker 1: back and it worked again. I know I'm beating a
- 13:11Speaker 1: dead horse here, but to get Major League Baseball to
- 13:13Speaker 1: back off a little, okay, or at least pass the
- 13:15Speaker 1: buck and say, oh, not our fault. The Giants didn't
- 13:19Speaker 1: tell them that they could. They could, they could put
- 13:21Speaker 1: Bible verses on their hats. For them to even get
- 13:23Speaker 1: that far is a massive win. And they got this
- 13:25Speaker 1: far because they pushed back the right way, got a
- 13:28Speaker 1: hold of somebody that would that would be in their
- 13:29Speaker 1: corner for him. That happened to be Senator Josh Holly.
- 13:32Speaker 1: And did he have to threaten them a little bit
- 13:33Speaker 1: with some of Baseball's you know, Shenanigan's going on in
- 13:37Speaker 1: the finance department. Yep, absolutely he did. It matters, They
- 13:41Speaker 1: will hear you. And it's not like everybody even cared
- 13:44Speaker 1: about this whole thing. Kurt Shillings said it right there.
- 13:47Speaker 1: Majority of players do not care, majority of fans do
- 13:51Speaker 1: not care. Most of us don't give a damn what
- 13:54Speaker 1: you support, what you are, what your lifestyle is, unless
- 13:57Speaker 1: you're hurting somebody else or you're trying to push on
- 14:00Speaker 1: everybody else. That's where they draw the line. This goes
- 14:02Speaker 1: back to the original point in the introduction. Has this
- 14:05Speaker 1: been a little bit quieter for Pride Month? Or is
- 14:08Speaker 1: it just my perception? I think it's because people said,
- 14:11Speaker 1: we get you, but you're pushing a little too far.
- 14:14Speaker 1: I think now we heard from the fans in San Francisco,
- 14:17Speaker 1: of course, that are propped up by the media, and
- 14:19Speaker 1: there is the only ones that'll show you anything there
- 14:21Speaker 1: and said, Okay, the outrage. I can't believe. I can't
- 14:24Speaker 1: believe they allowed their players to do this, you know,
- 14:26Speaker 1: the fake nontroversy. Let's not start to think that all
- 14:29Speaker 1: of their fans are that way. You know that old
- 14:31Speaker 1: expression from the mouths of babes. This kid makes the
- 14:34Speaker 1: best point of all. Let's wrap up with them. So
- 14:36Speaker 1: there's obviously a big Pride Night controversy. You had a
- 14:38Speaker 1: few of the pictures they put Bible verses on their
- 14:40Speaker 1: Pride hats. What do you think about that? I get it,
- 14:44Speaker 1: because I don't mean, I don't know why that should
- 14:46Speaker 1: be in baseball, like Pride Night should not be in baseball.
- 14:49Speaker 4: No, I don't get the point of it.
- 14:51Speaker 1: So you would support the pictures putting the Bible verses
- 14:53Speaker 1: on their hands? Yeah, you think about people that are
- 14:55Speaker 1: mad about it, they're probably gayzed well, probably right about that.
- 15:00Speaker 1: I mean, is the kid wrong? What do you think
- 15:02Speaker 1: about the people protesting? The kid simply says and is
- 15:06Speaker 1: he wrong? Factually? Well, they're probably gay. Nothing's wrong with that.
- 15:09Speaker 1: By the way, Let's not let's not forget about this.
- 15:12Speaker 1: I bet you there are plenty, plenty, but scared to
- 15:14Speaker 1: death speak out. Plenty of gay San Francisco Giants fans
- 15:21Speaker 1: that support the players are doing this too. I would
- 15:23Speaker 1: bet you a bottom dollar that they are. But you
- 15:24Speaker 1: can't speak out against the narrative unless you like these
- 15:27Speaker 1: players and you do it the right way. That's a
- 15:28Speaker 1: massive win, guys. It's massive, massive win. And that's not
- 15:31Speaker 1: a win against gay rights. It's not a win against
- 15:34Speaker 1: lgbtt LGBTQ plus whatever the hell the next you know
- 15:39Speaker 1: letter is in that whole algorithm. But it's a massive
- 15:42Speaker 1: win for personal expression, that your personal feelings about anything
- 15:45Speaker 1: are just as important as anybody else's and you fight
- 15:47Speaker 1: against the hypocrisy. That's that's a big, big deal. It's
- 15:50Speaker 1: amazing how much of this stuff comes from sports. Let's
- 15:52Speaker 1: get out of here, get into your weekend. Thanks you
- 15:54Speaker 1: for hanging out. I appreciate you so much. Thank you.
- 15:56Speaker 1: A very special note to all your audio podcast listeners
- 15:59Speaker 1: a lot of you and your sharing it. Thank you
- 16:00Speaker 1: so much, appreciate it. Wicked Radio live stream is replayed
- 16:03Speaker 1: on x and YouTube and Facebook. But that audio podcast
- 16:06Speaker 1: wherever you like to get them, whatever platform. Who I'm
- 16:09Speaker 1: out of material, let's get into the weekend and make
- 16:10Speaker 1: it a wicked, awesome one. Talk to you later.