It’s been a rather strange and upsetting day here in the Chicago Cubs community. It began with the club trying to draw as much publicity as possible to the fact that they were aggressively investigating the fan who flashed the white power sign at a broadcaster.
They did find him and they indeed follow through on their promise to ban him from the park for life. Why did they come down so Draconian on one anonymous racist idiot? Why did they want to bring so much public attention to their hard line response against one random white supremacist piece of trash?
Two words- Addison Russell.
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/1126204696761446400
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/1126275989133242368
The Cubs knew there would be a major backlash against their activating (and it turns out starting) Addison Russell tonight against the Miami Marlins, so they did all they could to try to dry attention away from that and towards something, anything else.
Yes, this is a day that we all knew was coming for a very long time, and something that we have had months to mentally process, but we’re still angry nonetheless.
That anger is well deserved. Here below you will see and hear the crowd react to the first plate appearance of Addison Russell. (He struck out by the way)
Addison Russell comes to the plate; a lot of boos to say the least. pic.twitter.com/YYcAx5Zch8
— Rooftop Rundown (@RooftopRundown) May 9, 2019
Now let’s take a look at a collection of some of the more appropriate Twitter responses to today’s development.
Starting out with a nice little plug for the book of course!
Nailed it, @PaulMBanks. pic.twitter.com/uw2RL1KvX2
— Todd Brommelkamp (@ToddBrommelkamp) May 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/1126243361151696896
#TheMoreYouKnow
https://twitter.com/ChrisTweetLLC/status/1126231595650899969
#Truth
https://twitter.com/Cubs_Live/status/1126218969151672320
Preach!
The #Cubs organization: pic.twitter.com/9TMmu7Rfud
— The Tomfoolery of Professor John Frink (@Frustrated_Fan) May 8, 2019
cold-blooded
Bringing Addison up in time for Mothers Day is a bold strategy, Theo.
— JP ??? (@jjhparker) May 8, 2019
yeah, pretty much
https://twitter.com/slwein/status/1126236556233252866
Well, you get the idea- there were plenty more great tweets out there describing Addison Russell in a manner befitting Addison Russell, but we just don’t have time to get to more of them.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.