I have held back commenting on this story, because I wanted to have all the facts before doing so. Ultimately, this appears to be a big nothing that has been blown out of proportions by all sides. The moral police immediately assumed the worst by thinking some 22 year old drunk kid was legit evil and ripping into Marte over his mom being dead despite it being unlikely he even knew of her passing. And now you have the free speech police all worked up because the kid received a lifetime ban from all Major League teams when it turned out he was only making some generic “yo mama” jokes.
The amount of attention this story has gotten and all the corresponding responses are the perfect depiction of just how fucked up this country is right now. The need for many to immediately serve as judge, jury, and executioner on social media is a massive problem for a country built around due process. At the same time, this idea that people can say and do dumb s%*# under the guise of “free speech” and should just receive a slap on the wrist is just as problematic.
The reality here is we have a dumb, drunk 22 year old riding a player to be cool and/or impress the girl he was with. The comments were random and not built to personally strike a nerve with Marte, but unfortunately by happenstance they did. The coaches then yelled at the fan and told him that he had gone too far given the circumstance and it sounds like the kid didn’t lay off. IMO, if that last point is true, then the kid is probably a pretty big douchebag and should be held accountable for his actions. Whether that should be lifetime bans, I don’t know and candidly I don’t care. This is a private fucking business and if they don’t want this douche around then this is their choice. I get many of us have done stupid and hurtful things in our youth, myself included, but an important part of growth is actually facing some consequences. The kid certainly shouldn’t have been doxxed, but if MLB wants to tell him to f*** off forever then hopefully he and others learn from this and think a little bit before they act in the future.