Before San Francisco became synonymous with exorbitant real estate prices and tech bros, it was known as a beacon of acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community. While that distinction hasn’t gone anywhere — the San Francisco Pride parade is one of the largest gatherings of LGBTQ+ people annually, and it’s expected to get back to the 1 million-plus attendance mark in late June after a couple of COVID-affected iterations — Fox Sports isn’t here for inclusion.
Saturday was Pride Day at Oracle Park, and the home team dubbed Amy Schneider, a transgender contestant on Jeopardy! who won in 40 straight appearances, to throw out the first pitch. And she did a damn good job.
The reason you watched that via a spectator’s cellphone video is because Fox Sports didn’t show her pitch. Instead, it opted to re-air Thursday’s first pitch from Kurt Busch in an effort to promote some fucking NASCAR race.
The edit was beyond egregious as not only was it presented in a misleading fashion in an attempt to make it seem like Busch was the honorary ball tosser, but the race wasn’t until Sunday and also, again, it’s a fucking NASCAR race. Twitter isn’t composed of Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner around a mesa — even if some of them do bring a whole lot of ACME tech to the table — and users voiced their displeasure.
Also showing disdain for the ploy was former ballplayer and Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper, who made sure to give Schneider her flowers during Sunday’s game.
“Want to make a correction from what I watched yesterday on the Fox broadcast. The broadcast implied that Kurt Busch threw out the first pitch yesterday, which was not true,” Kuiper said.
“Kurt Busch threw out the first pitch on Thursday. It was Amy Schneider from Jeopardy! fame who threw out the first pitch on Pride Day yesterday. I just wanted to make sure she got her due.”
Schneider herself even added a little dig while still remaining the bigger person.
This thing is, she and fellow transgender people shouldn’t have to continually be the adults in the room, and pool, and ballpark. The reason the acronym keeps growing is because as more people are allowed to express themselves, more communities feel comfortable showing their own vibrant colors, as well.
Schneider is an exceptional hue, and should be allowed to shine every day, including, and most notably, on Pride Day.