One thing clear: Turner, Newcomb are morons
We can try our best to determine whether Major League Baseball’s Sean Newcomb and Trea Turner are as racist and homophobic as their old tweets that came to light Sunday. But the only thing we know for sure is that they’re morons. Maybe #biggestmoronsinsports. So here we go again, almost two weeks after Brewers pitcher Josh Hader experienced the same humiliation. Not to mention three months after quarter- back Josh Allen experienced similar public embarrassment hours before the NFL draft. And almost four months after Donte Divincenzo squirmed through a similar public backlash the night he led Villanova’s basketball team to the national championship.
And that’s just to name a few.
In all cases, it was clear that tweeting the N-word and a slur for gay men, for example, is not good for one’s public image, at least among evolved human beings. Yet Newcomb, a pitcher for the Braves, and Turner, a shortstop for the Nationals, did not erase the offending tweets. #dumberthanbricks. Now seems a good time to note that 25 years ago Charles Barkley said, “I am not a role model. I’m not paid to be a role model. I’m paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”
Sure, Barkley might have tested the patience of fans who were upset when he was arrested after breaking a man’s nose in 1991 during a fight after a game. Or for throwing a man through a plateglass window in 1997. Or for being arrested on drunken-driving charges in 2008.
But there’s a big difference between bad behavior and the abhorrent beliefs these tweets represent.
There’s also a good chance there will be more regrettable tweets surfacing from the Twitter accounts of other professional athletes.
After predictable, and maybe even heartfelt, apologies, it will be impossible to know whether the athletes are truly racist or homophobic.
But it’s very safe to call them morons.