Rockies fight back against trolls who made sexist comments about Jenny Cavnar

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer
3 min read
0

On Monday night, Jenny Cavnar became of the few women to provide play-by-play during a baseball game. Cavnar, who is normally an on-field reporter during Colorado Rockies broadcasts, got a shot to hop in the booth, and added her name to the baseball history books.

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While many found the event to be a momentous occasion, there were some trolls who predictably decided to lob vile and sexist comments in Cavnar’s direction. The Rockies were not about the let that happen.

The team’s Twitter account took on a number of nasty commenters during and after Monday’s game.

The Rockies will allow criticism, but not inappropriate comments about their broadcasters. (Screenshot via Twitter)
The Rockies will allow criticism, but not inappropriate comments about their broadcasters. (Screenshot via Twitter)

And finally:

You’ll make note of a few things above. In the first tweet, the Rockies make it clear people are allowed to be critical, but it must be done respectfully. The team drew a line when that Twitter user used inappropriate language, which we’ve blocked out.

You may also notice that some of the tweets the team responded to have been deleted. The Rockies confronted a few of these keyboard warriors, and that was all it took for them to scurry off with their tails between their legs.

Jessica Mendoza has faced similar comments during ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcasts. Anything she says or does gets picked apart by a certain contingent of fans. It becomes tough to figure out how much of that is legitimate criticism and how much is simply due to Mendoza being a woman.

Whether or not Cavnar was perfect Monday doesn’t matter. It was her first game, and doing play-by-play is not an easy job. There were going to be gripes no matter what, but those were magnified by Cavnar’s gender. When a man gets hired as a baseball broadcaster, people don’t tune in to his first game looking to pick apart his style. There’s an understanding that perfecting play-by-play takes time, and people should give that same courtesy to Cavnar.

The response to Cavnar calling the game was generally positive. Her partner, Ryan Spilborghs, sent out a supportive message prior to the game. Mendoza and plenty of other women who love and enjoy baseball did the same.

Many recognized that Cavnar doing play-by-play was an important moment, and it’s great that the Rockies drowned out the small contingent of trolls who tried to ruin it.

Jenny Cavnar will call play-by-play for the Rockies on Monday night. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Jenny Cavnar will call play-by-play for the Rockies on Monday night. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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