Tampa Bay News: Get ready for your next Twitter apology in 3…2…1…
Social media is a very powerful tool, and when used in an ill-advised manner, it can backfire on a person or organization rather quickly.
This has unfortunately become the norm, especially on Twitter, where we have seen numerous actors and athletes – heck, even an entire airline – have to apologize for one reason or another.
The recent culprit: a local news station in Tampa Bay, Florida, which decided it would poke fun at the city of Detroit, following an MLB Trade Deadline that saw its hometown Rays deal staff ace David Price to the Tigers.
Raymond the Rays mascot couldn’t have been happy about the David Price trade
Fox 13 Tampa Bay covered the story via its Twitter account all day, stating a clear opinion that was highlighted by the hashtag, “#keepdavid“.
Sure, fans of the recently red-hot Rays didn’t want to see Price get moved.
That’s obvious and totally understandable.
But following the Price headline, the local news station made a bad decision, deciding to trash the city of Detroit following the trade news.
The tweet has since been deleted, but hey, social media wouldn’t let it get away, so here’s a screenshot, courtesy of our friends over at Fancred:
What’s really scary is that this isn’t the first time drama has hit the organization in some way. The Rays mascot was torched for holding a sign that poked fun at the late Steve Irwin.
Stay classy, Tampa Bay. But seriously. Yes, we announce that in our best Ron Burgundy voice.
Of course, that is what the Fox station would eventually do, albeit “a day late and a dollar short” – an ironic phrase considering the ongoing state of the organization and its inability to spend big on free agents.
We apologize, #Detroit. We wish David the best of luck no matter where he is! pic.twitter.com/ykhopLHTwX
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@MyFoxTampaBay) July 31, 2014
It just might’ve been the quickest apology in the history of social media.
For those not-so-creative athletes that blame an account hacking, maybe you should take note.
Either that, or the folks in Tampa Bay should have been smarter in the first place.
Speaking of first place, don’t expect the Rays to be there any time soon.
Oh, and the best part of the entire story?
That was the playful return jab from My Fox Detroit, that praised hometown Comerica Park, while pointing out Tampa Bay’s minuscule crowd turnouts.
Fair enough. RT @FOX2News: .@MyFoxTampaBay pic.twitter.com/LUPfsfZ10N
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@MyFoxTampaBay) July 31, 2014
Well played, indeed, just like the move that brought David Price to Detroit.
Detroit now features a rotation that includes Price, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello. This is a major force in the American League.
So, let this be a lesson to you, Twitter:
On Twitter, 140 little characters can lead to a lot of damage. If you’re not careful.
Losing David was a big thing for this town but as I suggested in multiple pieces, it should be something we’re used to by now.
We simply couldn’t afford to keep him. So deal with it and have enough faith in ownership to garner a fair amount back for him… which they did.
Smyly’s been effective so far and the other two prospects, well, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Either way, this team is now back at .500 when they were once 18 games under that mark. They may not make the playoffs, wait, let me rephrase, they won’t make the playoffs but at least this team is giving the town something to be proud of.
Oh, and Price returns to the Trop this Thursday to face his former team. I look forward to the opening inning standing ovation. After that, I’m sure fans’ll hope the Rays tear him apart.
They are in a tough position. I don’t blame fans for not going to that dump of a stadium. That puts the FO in a tough position, because they can get more money to build a new stadium, but can’t seem to get that to go through.
I don’t know if I would go as far to say pathetic. There was a ridiculously nice proposal of a waterfront ballpark, but I’m guessing the city squashed that. They would get more fans if they could get out of that dump that they call the Trop.