Baseball Team Apologizes After Mocking Tim Tebow for His Expressions of Faith on the Field
A baseball team has learned a lesson that attacking a person for his Christian beliefs, even in the guise of a joke, is bound to boomerang on the attacker.
The Charleston RiverDogs were swamped with criticism after they systematically mocked former NFL star and current minor league baseball player Tim Tebow for his well-known expressions of his Christian faith, The Post and Courier reported.
The RiverDogs played Tebow's team, the Columbia Fireflies, the New York Mets' Class A affiliate, on June 16 as part of a three-game series. Tebow's celebrity status drew the fans, filling up Charleston's Riley Park in all three games of the series.
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The mocking of Tebow started with the RiverDogs' mascot, Charlie, showing up with an eye black with "John 3:16" scrawled in white, something that Tebow used to put on his face when he was still a football player, according to Newsday.
The mascot also did the "Tebowing" act, which is bending on one knee and praying on the football field.
The team also played the "Hallelujah Chorus" every time Tebow came up to bat during the game.
Each time a player from Tebow's team came up to bat, a photo of Tebow would reportedly emerge showing the Christian athlete crying—a reminder of what Tebow did when his college team lost the 2009 SEC Championship game.
When Tebow came up to bat, the announcer called for a strikeout and encouraged applause when a strike was called against him. Tebow, 29, is hitting .224 in his first 60 games of full-season minor league baseball.
The RiverDogs defended the antics, saying they were just having good fun.
But the public were not amused, voicing their criticism of the RiverDogs' antics on social media, ESPN, and other media outlets.
"I guess classless things like mocking someone's religion is something that gets @MiLB teams publicity nowadays, huh?" one person wrote on Twitter.
Another tweeted, "This is the most classless thing I've ever seen by a sports organization. Not a big Tebow fan but this is ridiculous."
Dave Echols, president and general manager for the RiverDogs, subsequently issued an apology.
"While we believe that our promotions were poking fun at Mr. Tebow's celebrity status rather than his religion or baseball career, our intent was not to offend anyone, and for the fact that we did offend, we are sorry," he wrote in a statement to The Post and Courier.
