Evidently, not everyone was happy about the Mo’ne Davis story being made into a Disney Channel movie.
But there are certainly better ways to express disagreement over that choice than how a baseball player at Bloomsburg University did so over Twitter. Actually, we should now refer to him as a former baseball player at Bloomsburg, since he was dismissed from the team following his offensive tweet, which was screen-capped by SI.com.
It likely doesn’t take much imagination to guess what word was used in that tweet, but if you prefer to see it, Philly.com has a different screen-cap of the post. “@BigCass24” has since been deactivated.
Joey Casselberry (no relation, which I’ve actually been asked about) was a junior first baseman for the Huskies, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it since his name has now been erased from both the 2014 and 2015 rosters at the program’s website. For what it’s worth (which isn’t much), Casselberry was batting .389/.522/.778 in six games and 18 at-bats this season. But if and when his college baseball career resumes, it will be someplace else.
The Bloomsburg athletic department addressed the matter on its Twitter account, announcing that Casselberry (who wasn’t named) had indeed been dismissed from the team.
Bloomsburg Univ is deeply saddened by what was written about #MoneDavis by one of our student-athletes. His words do not represent us.
— BU Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) March 21, 2015
We take matter very seriously; addressed the issue with the student-athlete (who has been dismissed from team), coach, and the team.
— BU Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) March 21, 2015
As reported by Philly.com’s Rob Tornoe, Casselberry did apologize for his remark before his account was deactivated, saying that “one stupid tweet can ruin someone’s life,” he “couldn’t be more sorry” about what he said, he’s “in no way shape or form a sexist” and “a huge fan of Mo’ne.” Casselberry certainly has a strange way of expressing such sentiments, if he’s to be believed.
Here we have yet another cautionary tale/teachable moment regarding how one should behave on social media. Being careful about what you say in a public forum is especially important when you’re representing an athletic program and university and your comments reflect poorly upon that institution. Many of us likely didn’t know about the Bloomsburg University baseball program until now, and this is hardly how the school envisioned drawing publicity. Additionally, this is something that Casselberry will be associated with for quite some time.
TMZ Sports reports that Davis and her Little League coach Alex Rice have actually contacted Bloomsburg president David L. Soltz to ask that the school reconsider Casselberry’s dismissal. (Davis appeared on SportsCenter Monday morning to explain her thinking.) However, the university says it’s “standing firm” on the decision, despite Davis’ request and maturity about the entire situation.
[SI.com]