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Rockies shame Keith Olbermann for tweet about player 'eating' on field

Chris Cwik
Staff writer

The Colorado Rockies Twitter account has been one of the more active team feeds this season. The club will often respond to tweets from fans and analysts — both critical and supportive — with regularity.

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So when GQ’s Keith Olbermann decided to go after Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds for “eating” on the field, the team didn’t hesitate to call Olbermann out.

Here’s the “horrible” food item Reynolds was eating that set Olbermann off:

Yeah, those are sunflower seeds. Not exactly uncommon in baseball.

That’s what the Rockies must have been thinking when they sent out this response:

The Seattle Mariners also defended Reynolds:

And that seems like the appropriate reaction. Anyone who has ever played or watched baseball knows players eat sunflower seeds all the time. It’s a part of the game adopted in Little League.

It’s even more puzzling coming from Olbermann … who hosted freaking “SportsCenter” for years!

Because of that, we have to assume Olbermann simply misidentified the food item above. Perhaps he thought it was a Go-Gurt, or some type of large candy bar. We cannot accept that a person we know has seen multiple baseball games is angry about sunflower seeds.

Every baseball player eats sunflower seeds. (AP Photo)
Every baseball player eats sunflower seeds. (AP Photo)

If Reynolds were standing at first eating a hot dog, or chowing down on a hot pretzel, we could understand Olbermann’s gripe. Heck, we weren’t even mad when Prince Fielder grabbed a nacho from a fan during a game. Now, had he stood at first with a whole plate of them, maybe we would be critical.

So, here’s our official ruling: Players can eat sunflower seeds during a baseball game. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the field or in the dugout. The same applies to bubble gum, even ridiculous amounts of bubble gum, like Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Keon Broxton attempted Tuesday night.

C’mon, Olbermann, admit you thought Reynolds was eating a reheated gas station burrito or something. There’s just no way you’re going to kill a player for munching on sunflower seeds, right?

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

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