David Hookstead
Videos by OutKick
NESN shut down its Twitter comments after Olivia Pichardo blew her opening pitch Wednesday night at Fenway Park.
Pichardo is the first female D1 baseball player in the history of the sport, and has one at bat on the season for Brown. She stepped to the mound Wednesday night prior to the Red Sox/Blue Jays game, and things didn’t go well.
She missed the plate by a stunning distance, and that’s probably why NESN won’t let anyone comment on the video.
As of Friday morning comments remain disabled, and it appears several old comments were disabled.
Why did NESN disable comments on the video of Olivia Pichardo?
There’s really no need to poke fun at Pichardo. Was it a horrific pitch and probably pretty embarrassing for her? Sure. There’s no doubt that’s not what she wanted to happen.
That ball wasn’t even in the same area code as home plate.
The real question is why did NESN feel the need to stop people from weighing in? There are countless terrible first pitch videos on the internet.
Roasting first pitches is a time honored tradition. Below is a video of 50 Cent throwing a stunningly bad first pitch, and as you’d guess, the comments are still very much active.
Does NESN feel the need to protect Pichardo from criticism or jokes? If that’s the case, why does she need to be protected? Aren’t female athletes supposed to be just like men? If we can make fun of Conor McGregor and 50 Cent, why can’t people joke about the first ever female D1 baseball player?
If you mess up, you’re going to get roasted. Who care – as long as the intent isn’t malicious? By disabling comments NESN is saying Pichardo either can’t take criticism (bigotry of low expectations) or shouldn’t have to face them. Neither is an acceptable excuse.
No need to protect an adult from jokes because she threw out a terrible first pitch. In the name of equality and fairness, the comments should be on!
Probably did it to prevent people going after the Red Sox and their fans. There is a history of stuff being said and this was probably to prevent attention coming there way.