Of Sports and Censorship

In 2023, telling the whole story might get you cancelled.

Last night, I fired up the MLB.TV app on my streaming box to watch the New York Mets host the Chicago Cubs. During the pre-game show, Mets play-by-play voice Gary Cohen mentioned that two weeks ago the Mets and the Cubs had the same record and that now, the Cubs were challenging for the lead in the NL Central while the Mets were essentially counting the days till the end of the season.

Which is when my wife piped up and said, “You can’t say that on MASN!”

For those of you who live outside the greater Washington-Baltimore combined statistical area (yes that is a thing), MASN is the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, the regional sports network majority-owned by the Baltimore Orioles. In the midst of the best season the Orioles have enjoyed in years, the team has suspended Kevin Brown, its play-by-play voice for reasons that are inexplicable. Here’s the audio from MASN, where Brown reported that the Orioles had historically had trouble in Tampa Bay.

In journalism, this is reporting. The same facts were included in the game notes the Orioles PR staff distributed to the press at the start of the series with the Tampa Bay Rays. It even appeared in an on screen graphic! But that’s not all. The Athletic has reported that MASN has banned on-air talent from wearing team gear when they’re not covering games while also discouraging them from mentioning players that the Orioles have traded away. This in a world where if I had a dollar for every time Al Michaels mentioned that a key play included an “ex-Jet”, I might be a billionaire.

We shouldn’t be surprised that the franchise that chased Hall of Fame broadcaster Jon Miller out of town would engage in such petty behavior. If anything, all this proves is just how disconnected from reality the owners of the team, the Angelos family, really are. Only peasants should have to deal with facts and opinions that upset them. The Angleos clan, from a different class of people, can’t suffer such inconvenience.

The criticism from around MLB is coming in hot and heavy — including from SNY’s Cohen — but all I really feel the need to add is this. Bring Kevin back.

And sell the team.