Minnesota Twins: Bert Blyleven’s Joke Was Just That, A Joke
Let’s start with the fact that I am not a huge Bert Blyleven fan. He was a really good pitcher and now as an announcer his shtick has gotten old, tired and downright annoying sometimes. That’s just my opinion and I believe that Bert is entitled to his.
During the never ending rain delay, Blyleven was keeping fans update through Twitter. Low clouds at Comerica Park blocked out the skyscrapers of Detroit which allowed Blyleven to make a pretty old joke about the status of Detroit.
"Maybe they meant 4:45? It is the best I have seen downtown Detroit though! Thank you low clouds!"
Which made the Governor of Michigan respond with this:
I think our view of downtown Detroit looks just great, @BertBlyleven28!
— Rick Snyder (@onetoughnerd) April 9, 2015
Photo via @freep https://t.co/aza9Jg3ITP pic.twitter.com/HsbgLGwjmG
And Bert responded with:
"Guess I ruffled some feathers with my last tweet about download Detroit! Guess all you that responded haven’t seen how ugly your downtown is"
Okay, I have to admit I would be offended if anyone said this about my hometown, which nobody’s ever heard of, so I can see the Detroit side of things. On the other hand, who hasn’t made a Detroit is a ‘flaming pile of old car factories’ joke?
All that anyone knows about Detroit anymore is the cars, the automotive bailout, the sports teams and Eminem. That’s all. It’s an easy target at anybody with a so-so sense of humor is going to take advantage.
Bert circles people on TV for a living and sometimes swears when they are doing live segments, don’t overreact to a stupid joke. I’d advise not even acknowledging what happened because it was so stupid.
But the Twins and Fox Sports North never take my advice.
Twins and FSN "were disappointed w/ Bert Blyleven’s comments on social media re Detroit. His attempt at humor certainly missed the mark..."
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) April 9, 2015
More from Twins on Blyleven: "and in no way is reflective of Twins' and FSN's collective respect for city of Detroit & Tigers organization."
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) April 9, 2015
And they made poor Bert apologize too.
I think we’ve all forgotten how to take a joke. It was a stupid, stupid joke that was aimed at a wide group of people, even if you can consider a joke about downtown metropolitan areas a people.
I can only imagine what would’ve happened if anyone really cared about the Twins.
Thanks 1500ESPN for capturing Bert’s now deleted tweets.