You’ve probably heard that Tony Bruno of KNBR 1050 AM radio referred to pitcher Ramon Ramirez as an “illegal alien” and Giants manager Bruce Bochy as a “coward” in a Twitter post following Friday night’s brawl between the Phillies and Giants.
Ramirez was on the mound for San Francisco when he hit Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino in the back during the sixth inning of the Phillies’ 9-2 victory.
After the game, Bruno took to his Twitter account and posted a somewhat unintelligible tweet:
Bruno deleted the tweet within minutes and apologized, but then posted a response to the backlash he was receiving on his Facebook page by trying to justify what he wrote.
Putting aside the insensitive nature of the tweet, his half-assed apology and the feeble attempt to rationalize his remarks, Bruno did at least acknowledge his stupidity, but for the wrong reasons.
Ramirez, who is from the Dominican Republic, wouldn’t be allowed to play for the Giants unless he were in the United States legally.
In fact, every foreign player for every team in professional sports has to be in the U.S. legally or they wouldn’t be allowed to play.
Considering there are upwards of 15 million people in the U.S. illegally, Bruno should know that professional sports teams – unlike the federal government – ensure foreign players take the necessary steps to enter the country the right way.
I can appreciate Bruno getting worked up about the incident that led to the brawl and he clearly allowed his emotions get the best of him. But like many public figures, Bruno fell prey to the potential pitfalls of social media.
And you’d think someone who works in the media would know better than to spout off when millions are going to immediately have access to the information.
Bruno may genuinely be sorry for his comments, but what he’s really sorry about is hitting the send button before he gave his remarks any thought.
And he’s really, really sorry he got caught.
