'Media Hypocrisy: Trea Turner Ovation Shows Transparent Bias'

Controversial blog post criticizes the Trea Turner ovation, calling it artificial and questioning its impact on mental health.

What an incredible night it was! Did everyone have a blast? I know I certainly did. It felt like I was Jon Snow from Game of Thrones before the epic Battle of the Bastards, with everyone who had "WIP" in their Twitter bio charging towards me.

For those of you who are new here, this is the original blog post that stirred up a frenzy on Friday. I have to say, I think the Trea Turner ovation was not all it was cracked up to be. Honestly, when I first wrote about it, I expected people to be mad at me for calling them insecure and fake. Little did I know it would turn into a debate about mental health. I thought I made my point clear, and after witnessing the ovation last night, I still believe it was overhyped and will continue to be when they do it again today. It's just a contrived moment, with people trying to manufacture something special. By the fourth at-bat, I'm sure people in the stadium were thinking, "Here we go again." Does the positive reinforcement hurt? Definitely not. But mark my words, this ovation will soon be forgotten, just like the ovations for Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz. If Turner doesn't turn things around in the next week, the ovations will fade away, replaced by boos.

Now, let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture, beyond what the cameras captured. Sure, what they showed was cool, especially the guys on the dugout rail and Castellanos waving the towel. They added some Hollywood flair to it. But let's zoom out and look at the second level, where we don't have close-up shots in 4K resolution to tell the full story.

What a moment it was! Most of the people sitting there half-heartedly clapping, only getting up when they felt obligated to do so. It felt like NBC pumped in some artificial crowd noise to enhance this manufactured moment, if you ask me.

Minutes later, WIP hosts from morning till night were patting themselves on the back, taking credit for the "moment" they believed they had created. Jack Fritz can go crazy about it; he's been talking about it. The Philly Captain was the first person to bring it to my attention. But this fraud Joe Giglio? Please, take a seat. In June, Joe wanted to get rid of Turner just 60 days into his 10-year deal. Then he even suggested trading him to San Diego for Juan Soto, right after the Padres had invested $200 million in a shortstop during the offseason. Did Joe not care about Turner's mental health back then?

This kind of behavior is fraudulent, and I despise frauds. That's why I went all out with my criticism. And when these guys slide into your DMs, as some did, and try to tell you how uncool you're being, it's just another example of the insecurity among sports media members in this town. It's a big farce. Joe's quick change of stance is reminiscent of a sleazy snake oil salesman. And when you call them out on it, all they say is, "You give us too much credit." But they know exactly what they're doing. It's the playbook that Spike Eskin drilled into their heads when he was there. It's fraudulent behavior, and I can't stand it. The lasting effect it has on this city is that it keeps sports fans continually angry and ignorant, just like their predecessor Angelo did for over 30 years.

In response, I came up with the Turbo Bird, because as anyone who follows me knows, I've been supporting Turner long before it became trendy.

If you had told 12-year-old Kyle, who was watching the Hugh vs. TO locker room brawl unfold on ESPN, that one day he might find himself in a similar situation, I would have thought my WWE career was going pretty well.

The weirdest part of the whole night was Hugh tweeting during the ovation. Seriously, is that really you, Hugh?

I guess all those hits to the head are starting to take their toll.

The only positive thing I can take away from last night was that Trea actually took the first pitch. He never does that! Did he swing at the same exact pitch out of the strike zone on the very next pitch? Of course he did. But it's the little things that add up and eventually lead to bigger things. And I truly believe that will happen here. Because, at the end of the day, I'm a Trea Turner supporter.

P.S. My favorite part of the entire night was watching the Gordon Ramsay meme come to life right before my eyes.