Keith Olbermann just had to go with the grandmothers.
Olbermann, a self-proclaimed Mets fanwas devastated by the excruciating knee injury suffered by Edwin Diaz during the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday night, which will likely cost the star closer to his season.
The former ESPN and MSNBC broadcaster lashed out at the “meaningless” World Baseball Tournament and got vulgar about seniors in the process.
“First Freddie Freeman, now Edwin Diaz,” Olbermann tweeted.
“The WBC is a series of meaningless exhibitions designed to: trick YOU into buying another uniform, to hell with the real season, and divide teammates based on where their grandmothers slept. Cancel it. NOW.”
Olbermann was reprimanded by a number of speakers, including Wall Street Journal baseball reporter Lindsey Adler.
Adler tweeted: “Really shocking to see this end with a line about players representing the country ‘where their grandmothers slept’. Edwin Diaz grew up in Puerto Rico and Freddie Freeman plays for Canada in memory of his late mother. Raw.”
Olbermann posted a partial throwback.
“Okay, that reads sexist and for that I apologize. Do it ‘where their ancestors lay’ he replied to Adler.
“This blunt description of the artificiality of team assignments is also trivial and I apologize for that. But WBC has always been a threat to what really matters: the season. Kill him.”
In order for there to be teams beyond the United States, Japan, and Latin America fielding professional baseball players, the rules are somewhat relaxed about who can play for which country.
For example, Cam Opp, a relief pitcher in the Mets system, plays for Great Britain.
Opp lived outside London for six years after his father took a job as an accountant in the area.
“Funnily enough, I’m probably the most British of them,” Opp joked of his teammates in the squad.
