Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Giants Fans May Not Be Racist After All, But Still Don't Care Much For Bananas

The Giants finally wrapped up their banana-throwing surveillance-camera-employed investigation. And it might not be racism after all; the guy that the Giants got to 'fess up to it says he feels bad for grabbing his banana and giving it strong, swift motion:

A San Francisco Giants fan has apologized for throwing a banana during Sunday's game against Baltimore, claiming that it was not a racially motivated insult to Orioles star Adam Jones.

Alexander Poulides told the San Jose Mercury News that he grabbed a banana off a catering cart at AT&T Park and threw it toward the field in frustration near the end of the Orioles' 10-2 victory over the struggling Giants.

The banana evidently was thrown in the vicinity of Jones, who angrily tweeted about the incident following the game. Jones, who is black, also criticized people who apparently defended the incident and hinted that he may no longer participate in social media.

Poulides told the Mercury News that he did not intend to create an uproar and stated that he realized how his actions had been portrayed when he turned on the television to watch the news Monday.

"Oh, my god," Poulides told the newspaper, recounting his realization. "I threw a banana on my way out." [...]

The Giants already had launched an investigation of the incident by the time Poulides contacted the Mercury News. The team told the paper that it has not been able to confirm whether Poulides threw the banana.

Poulides, 42, emphasized on multiple occasions that he did not mean to insult Jones.

"I'm embarrassed and shocked by the outcome," Poulides told the paper. "In hindsight, I wish I didn't do it and I apologize. I'm very sorry."

The Giants released a public statement earlier Monday, also apologizing for the incident.

"We were extremely disappointed to learn about the incident involving Adam Jones at AT&T Park yesterday," the statement said. "The Giants have a zero tolerance policy against this type of behavior, which results in immediate ejection from the ballpark. While we have been investigating the matter since we learned of the situation, unfortunately we have been unable to identify the person responsible.

"We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Adam and the entire Orioles organization for this unfortunate incident. The inappropriate actions of this individual in no way reflect the values of our organization and our fans."

In other news, the Giants have ended whole honeydew melon sales at AT&T Park.

7 comments:

Fred's Brim said...

MLB is pushing another Ace-Off for tonight's game. That's our third Ace I think

Steve Sax said...

I wrote today's GT last night, obliquely alluding to the fact that this game was a legitimate Ace-Off opportunity...

Fred's Brim said...

Well MLB confirms that you are a wise man

Dusty Baker said...

This Gnats lineup has a noticeable lack of starfruit.

Steve Sax said...

No one has commented on the other obvious substitute I could have used in the last sentence...I thought it wise to pass

Fred's Brim said...

Yeah, I thought you were treading on thin Smirnoff Ice there

Unknown said...

Well got a new name for Giants fans. Once it was "battery chuckers", now we can add "banana chuckers"!!!