Major League Baseball outlaws offensive hazing

[markedman5]

[jerichoholicninja]

Outlaw all of it or none of it. There's gray area now that will be pushed by the players and then needlessly and ruthlessly scrutinized by the media. Right away I can see the whole pink/girly backpack of candy that rookies take to the bullpen being an issue. It doesn't directly fall into "dressing like a female" but it certainly (no pun intended) skirts it.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Queue up the "if you've never played organized sports, you don't understand" comments.

[502 to Right]

Call the PC Police! Someone's being offensive!

 

Is defensive hazing still allowed?

[NievesNoNO]

Oh, my. Agreed with banning all of it. Who is to decide what's acceptable? What about barn yard animals or clowns? Can they dress as females who identify as male?

 

Yes, I'd guess defensive hazing is still in

[Fear The Chorizo]

Slippery slope - In this day and age, what does "dressing like a woman" even mean without being offensive? There's probably a faction of people who are offended by the assumption of "dressing like a woman" means wearing a dress and heels. What about all the innocent animals killed to make leather gloves? Isn't it bullying to force a player from another country to wear uniforms/hats commemorating military veterans and national independence, particularly if they are from a country who fought the USA during a war? Chief Wahoo, anyone?

 

I guess I was not aware of the anti-costume movement among the general public that demanded this action be taken - sometimes you can do more harm than good trying to appease a perceived faction of people when they either don't exist or aren't acutely concerned about the issue you're attempting to solve.

 

I think there is value in promoting the anti-hazing/bullying narrative, mainly to put a spotlight on lower levels of the game where it's actually dangerous and can get out of hand with kids(collegiate, high school, etc). But, I think there's a better way to promote that narrative than banning what amounts to themed halloween parties among teammates. There needs to be more outreach by MLB than them simply stating they want to get rid of the goofy pics of players in costumes that surface on social media from time to time...

[jerichoholicninja]

Players aren't volunteering to dress in humiliating fashion. They're being forced to. That's different than a Halloween party.

[MadThinker88]

Players aren't volunteering to dress in humiliating fashion. They're being forced to. That's different than a Halloween party.

 

I understand your point and I share it to a degree. Sadly what some (you & I) would call hazing can be called team-building by others.

 

Answer this: if the new ritual included "trust falls" and someone refused to participate, how would that go over?? If you were that person's teammate (that refused) could you fully support him or completely believe he had your back when things go wrong??

[FVBrewerFan]

Players aren't volunteering to dress in humiliating fashion. They're being forced to. That's different than a Halloween party.

 

They're grown men, they're not forced to do anything.

[MrTPlush]

Players aren't volunteering to dress in humiliating fashion. They're being forced to. That's different than a Halloween party.

 

They're grown men, they're not forced to do anything.

 

Right they could not do it and then be harrassed even more.

 

There are things that are mostly acceptable and then there is the flat out wrong. Wear a pink backpack to the bullpen, ok. Making one dress up as a woman....mmmm. Yah idk.

[NievesNoNO]

Players aren't volunteering to dress in humiliating fashion. They're being forced to. That's different than a Halloween party.

 

I understand your point and I share it to a degree. Sadly what some (you & I) would call hazing can be called team-building by others.

 

Answer this: if the new ritual included "trust falls" and someone refused to participate, how would that go over?? If you were that person's teammate (that refused) could you fully support him or completely believe he had your back when things go wrong??

 

.......and this is exactly why you can't just pick and choose what is to be offensive. Even among our small group on this board people wouldn't agree.

 

Just stop the ridiculous practice all together at all levels. Maybe I'm naive but I hadn't really thought about it happening at the MLB level.

 

On a personal level, I find nothing about being blindfolded or trust falls or rope climbing, to be at all worthy of being called team building. I've done them all and it's a nice niche market for these organizations to sell a service but team building they are not.

 

Agreed, grown men cant' be forced to do anything. However, peer pressure is still there even as an adult. If you've finally made in to the Majors and have 15 other guys telling you it's tradition to do something there's pressure there to not disappoint people and try to fit in.

[DuWayne Steurer]

It's not up to any one person or group of individuals to decide what's offensive to another person or group of people. Regardless if someone wants to say someone is being "overly PC" or whatever..... making someone else dress like a woman or wear a tutu, or ostracizing them from a group because they refuse to wear a dress, and then saying "it's not a big deal"...... it's not for anyone to decide if it's offensive for that person to dress like a woman. That's up to that guy alone.

 

That's how you end up with guys like Richie Incognito.

 

I guess the bottom line for me is this. Is my enjoyment of MLB going to go down because some guy didn't have to wear a dress or a cartoon character outfit on a plane ride for a road trip? Nope. Then I'm not bothered by this.

 

If teams (like the Brewers have done in the past) want to get together and do a thing like "hey, let's all dress like Cowboys!". Great! Have fun. Do stuff like that. Hazing is stupid. There doesn't need to be any place for that in a locker room, in the pros, in college, in high school...... in any level of sports. If you can't "trust" your teammates without mentally and/or physically abusing them, there's something psychologically wrong with you on a very basic level.

[FVBrewerFan]

Just say no. This still goes on because almost all rookies have fun going along with the traditions. If you don't want to dress up like a woman, don't do it. More than likely the vets will let it go if they really see a player can't take it, or tease that player in a different way. If they just can't take it, that's the Manager's job to step in. There doesn't need to be some edict from on high to declare what is and is not acceptable. Everyone if there to win, and the Manager and the leaders of the team wouldn't let that get out of control.

 

For example, I know the Packers have really cut down on that stuff. Not because the NFL said so, but because McCarthy said so. And that becomes the culture of what is and is not acceptable.

 

By the way, I think hazing is stupid. It's why I never joined a fraternity in college. No way I'm going to do something gross, stupid, or even dangerous to be a member of a group. Not going to happen. And there needs to be zero tolerance for hazing in HS- zero. But if 20 somethings playing MLB can't either go along with it or just refuse to do it, that's on them.

[Thurston Fluff]

Maybe I'm wrong but I was always under the impression that they take all the clothes away from the rookies so they had no choice but to wear what was there.

[AdvantageSchneider]

You can do still do team bonding stuff like when the Brewers all wore cowboy stuff on the plane. Nothing wrong with that and that seems like a better team bonding experience than making some guy dress in a hooters outfit. I always thought that kind of stuff was stupid. Been on plenty of teams never had to do anything dumb like that.