The Royals used a tasteless joke to troll Noah Syndergaard
The Kansas City Royals are not exactly off to a smooth start in the PR department this season. After celebrating their World Series win twice in the face of the New York Mets -- the team the Royals beat in the fall classic -- the Royals made another misstep Tuesday when they played "American Women" while Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard was warming up for the first inning.
The move was presumably a way to poke fun at Syndergaard, who wears his hair long, and some fans claimed they heard the song played twice for Syndergaard Tuesday. It is hard to prove whether the song choice was an intentional dig at Syndergaard, and Royals fans say the team plays the song frequently during games. But reporters at Tuesday's game found it significant enough to ask Syndergaard after the game how he felt about the first inning's playlist.
Via the Sporting News:
"I thought it was pretty funny how they were playing it when I was warming up for the first inning," Syndergaard told reporters. "They got me on that one, it's fine. Normally I don't hear that kind of thing but I took notice to that.”
Syndergaard got the last laugh, however. He allowed just three hits over six innings of work and struck out nine in a 2-0 Mets win over Kansas City.
But Kansas City's gesture is not a good look if a league wants to appeal to female fans, and the timing couldn't be worse. The "American Woman" incident happened on the same day that Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons separately went on an ill-worded rant and ended up mocking women's clothing.
After a new sliding rule proved costly for the Blue Jays Tuesday, Gibbons claimed the new rule makes a joke out of the game and had the following suggestion.
"Maybe we'll come out and wear dresses tomorrow," Gibbons told reporters. "Maybe that's what everybody's looking for."
Update: Gibbons refused to apologize for his comments when asked about them before Wednesday's game.
Gibbons: "It was meant as a little humour. My mom, my wife, my daughter found it kind of funny ... (1of2) #BlueJays
— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) April 6, 2016
... They know me. I do think the world needs to lighten up a bit. So, I'll move on from that." #BlueJays (2of2)
— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) April 6, 2016
Those combination of those two incidences -- whether intentionally meant to mock an entire gender or not -- made for a bad day Tuesday for MLB's female fans.
