Major League Baseball

Buzz: Astros botch Ladies Night

Published Sep. 25, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

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Sam Gardner

You would think the Houston Astros had already done enough to alienate their fanbase by trotting out a minor league-caliber team that’s going to finish with one of the worst records in recent baseball history (a list that includes last year’s Astros team as well).

I mean, it’s gotten to the point where no one — and I mean no one — is even watching them on TV.

But then on Monday, they went ahead and did this, just in case there were a few people who still wanted to watch them play:

According to the link in the tweet: "Astros Ladies Night, presented by State Farm, is a women-only event that allows our female fans to get the inside scoop on the Astros and meet some of the staff and players. The event starts at 4:00 pm with a 'Baseball 101' talk, followed by a happy hour event themed 'Diamond, Bling and Glittery Things' with music, specialty drinks, exclusive Ladies Night gift courtesy of State Farm, group photos with Astros players, and complimentary beauty treatments. Package includes a View Deck II ticket to watch the Astros take on the New York Yankees following the cocktail hour."

The response went about like you’d expect it to:

There are more tweets out there, but I think you get the idea.

It’s not so much that there’s something inherently wrong with advertising a ladies night at a sporting event. Teams do it all the time. There’s also nothing wrong with an event that promotes educating new fans about the game.

But hosting an event that promotes the idea that women know nothing about sports — and implying that only women might find themselves in need of a baseball 101 course — is definitely the wrong way to go about it.

"It's not their intent to alienate women, but it's a symptom of the fact that there are a lot of men who work in sports," Austin-based writer Jessica Luther told Texas Monthly. "I don't think they considered what that would look like to women who already care about baseball."

So yeah, the promotion? A bad idea. The execution? Even worse.

This likely isn’t the way a struggling team limping through the last few days of another 100-loss season wanted to close things out. (Fortunately, they’ll have Roger Clemens in attendance on Sunday to lift everyone’s spirits.) But at the end of the day, at least they’re still making lots of money.

Now, for some links:

• Here’s a Porsche crashing into a wall and flipping into a creek:

• I’m not sure what Mark Richt is trying to say here, but it sounds dirty:

• According to one report, Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings got punched in the face by rapper The Game at a nightclub.

• Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, Rajon Rondo may be out until December as he recovers from his knee injury.

• Because you’ve watched every other Blurred Lines parody, you might as well check out the Braves’, too:

• The University of Miami has a “What Does the Fox Say” remix:

• John Fox says Broncos running backs did not play rock, paper, scissors for a touchdown run.

• What is a Wisconsin game like on acid? Ask this guy.

• Reminder, this is from an NHL preseason game:

• Speaking of blows to the head, scary stuff from Terrelle Pryor, who had this to say after this hit:

• Clemson wide receiver Martavis Bryant will see his playing time reduced on account of a post-touchdown throat slash celebration.

• UCF will be down a starting linebacker against South Carolina because of a DUI.

• If you’re gonna celebrate a long foul ball, you might as well do it right:

• New Sacramento Kings part-owner Shaquille O’Neal lifts the first lady of California over his head to celebrate:

• Amir Johnson was so excited about Drake’s new album, he bought every copy available at two different stores:

• There are some pretty bad seats in Barclays Center's hockey configuration. Might want to get that addressed before the Isles move in permanently.

• A Yankees "superfan" lost his job to keep up his streak of attending every Yankees home game.

• The Bucks have an interesting new court design:

• Bored Braves fan got a little handsy with his lady friend at Tuesday night’s game:

• Lawrence Taylor seems to have dusted off his feud with Boomer Esiason.

• Joe Posnanski asks: Does pride keep sluggers from bunting against the shift?

• The Arizona Cardinals designed an awesome foam finger in honor of Rashad Johnson:

• The Jacksonville Jaguars mascot danced around in a thong after losing a bet. I’m sure this kind of thing happens a lot:

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