So Stephen A Smith went on First Take with everyone’s least favorite blow hard, Max Kellerman. They got to talking about the MLB All-Star game and how the main attraction is going to Shohei Ohtani. And more specifically if that was a bad thing for baseball….and well……just listen.
I mean, this is a super bad take. If the question at the center of this rant is, does baseball have a marketing problem? The answer is big time yes. They have no idea how to market their sport. They put their draft on during an NBA Finals game, knowing the very next day there isn’t a single sport happening besides the home run derby. It’s insane how bad they are at attracting a younger audience. But to think that Ohtani being a non-english speaking person is a problem for the MLB you’re the biggest idiot in the world. The All-Star is normally a snoozefest. Maybe drop in for an inning or two or if I have the over just to check out my bet. But that’s it. This year though I’m tuning in for no other reason but Ohtani.
Because I live on the east-coast I don’t get the opportunity to see many Angels games. And once again, because the MLB doesn’t market a team that has basically Babe Ruth and Mike Trout on it, I have to go searching for highlights. They should be blasting me in the face around the clock like my name was Brandi Love. The guy has 33 dingers so far this year, he’s the favorite to win the derby AND he’s the starting pitcher for the All-Star game. You bet your sweet ass he is the main attraction this year. No one on the planet is doing what he is doing. Dominating both sides of the game. So yeah, I’d say that’s good for the MLB. You know what’s not good for the MLB? The fact that most casual baseball fans have zero clue who majority of the rest of the roster is. That’s MLB’s problem. Not that a once in a life time player happens to not speak English too well.
So is it racist? Ehhhhh, I don’t know. Is it dumb and tone deaf? Yeah, 100000%.No one can or should argue that. This is simply though one of those, ‘come on man. We are really looking for a take so bad here that this is what we come up with?’ Tuesday night is going to be Showtime with Ohtani, and I can’t wait.