It has not been a great season for either the Oakland Athletics or Chicago White Sox. On Saturday night, those two world collided.
Now, you may be looking at MLB’s schedule and thinking, “Wait a minute, the A’s and White Sox didn’t even play. How did their worlds collide?” It was in a graphic aired on NBC Sports California during Oakland’s loss to the Texas Rangers.”
The graphic was meant to show that the Rangers have the American League’s worst bullpen ERA since Aug. 16. That’s exactly what it did. The Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers were four of the other teams in the bottom five. The other team shown on the graphic was the White Sox. Or, in this case, the Shite Sox.
Chicago Shite Sox? That's cold, @NBCSAuthentic. pic.twitter.com/hGrHWckLZJ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 10, 2023
The year has been awful for the A’s on the field and hasn’t been much better in the broadcast booth. Longtime play-by-play man Glen Kuiper was fired. In a July game, Kuiper’s replacement, Johnny Doskow and color commentator Dallas Braden were both identified as “FIRSTNAME LASTNAME” on an NBC Sports California chyron.
"FIRSTNAME LASTNAME" pulling double duty for the A's tonight on NBC Sports California.
(H/T @Razzball) pic.twitter.com/EwpxRIhRaW
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 21, 2023
So, it hasn’t been a great year for that team.
On the other hand, while we’re not going to assume that the A’s graphics team meant to call them the “Shite Sox,” it is quite accurate. It’s been a miserable season for the White Sox. Their front office, players and fans are all quite aware of this. Heck, Chicago’s former play-by-play guy and No. 1 White Sox homer, Hawk Harrelson, even couldn’t hide his contempt for the team.
So, the “Shite Sox” label wasn’t met with much opposition.
Nahhhhh this is cold blooded, everyone dunking on the @whitesox pic.twitter.com/JRQ4Bg2Ckc https://t.co/BzmEEp0BgU
— SELL THE WHITE SOX (@HashTagWhiteSox) September 10, 2023
@whitesox getting roasted by the entire league is hilarious https://t.co/2GEdg1935c
— Michael (@MikeEMT12) September 10, 2023
That’s accurate. https://t.co/ccOxZxOhyj
— Tommy Lang (@tommylang1630) September 10, 2023
Show me the lie https://t.co/F51LanXZpA
— Casey Toner (@ctoner) September 10, 2023
We’ll go ahead and call this a Freudian slip.
[Photo Credit: NBC Sports California]