(PresidentialWire.com)- This weekend, while covering a baseball game from San Francisco, Fox Sports chose to show footage of NASCAR driver Kurt Busch tossing the ceremonial first pitch rather than Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider.
Before the Giants-Los Angeles Dodgers game on Saturday, Schneider, an Oakland resident who won 40 straight Jeopardy matches and the game’s greatest “female” player, toed the rubber on the mound and threw out the first pitch.
Since Schneider, the first transgender person to win Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions had appeared on Saturday as part of Pride Day at Oracle Park, the mysterious omission gained even more significance.
Fox Sports, which locally broadcast the game, did not show Schneider’s toss. Instead, the broadcaster showed Busch tossing the opening pitch, as he did on Thursday at Oracle Park before the Giants’ game against the Colorado Rockies.
Busch’s ceremonial pitch reminded viewers that Fox would be broadcasting Sunday’s NASCAR race at Sonoma Raceway, which is only 40 miles north of Oracle Park.
However, the positioning of the Busch clip led viewers to believe that he made the throw on Saturday rather than Schneider, even though it happened 48 hours earlier.
Kuiper said he wanted to clarify that Kurt Busch didn’t throw out the first pitch the previous day. He wanted to make sure Schneider received what Schneider deserved.
In place of L.A.’s trademark white and San Francisco’s orange, the Dodgers and Giants laid aside their long-standing rivalry and wore rainbow-colored caps.
According to a statement from a Fox Sports official, the network didn’t mean to overshadow Schneider.
According to a statement, they showed a taped first pitch of renowned NASCAR driver Kurt Busch on Saturday as part of a promotional package for the weekend’s NASCAR event in northern California.
Although it is entirely reasonable not to give Fox the benefit of the doubt in this situation, it appears to be more of a terrible production than a malicious scheme.
Schneider said:
“As a lifelong baseball fan, just getting the chance to walk out on the field, let alone throw out the first pitch, was a dream come true. I also want to state for the record that in my practice session I was getting it over the plate about half the time, so that pitch did not represent the best that I can do!”
