The Nationals returned to Navy Yard Tuesday, one day after the tragic events down the street. They swept the Braves in a day-night doubleheader in what was obviously an emotional day.
Before each game, Nationals players wore Navy hats in a show of support for those affected by the shootings, but replaced them with their familiar Curly Ws once the games began.
That really stuck in Keith Olbermann's craw, so he shared his thoughts on the matter as only he could during his new ESPN show Tuesday evening.
To summarize, Olbermann was bothered by the fact that Major League Baseball would not allow the Nationals to wear those Navy caps during the game, but also by the fact that the Nationals never intended to wear them during the game either, the latter according to a statement from the team received by Olbermann.
After reading Dan Haren's quote that "we'll still be thinking about it tomorrow," Olbermann continued.
"And that's why the Nationals should have been wearing those Navy caps today, during the games, both games, because under those caps are people. And in those stands are people. And the victims that fell five blocks away were people. And the caps, the irrelevant, no-magic-powers-to-them caps, unify people."
Olbermann later called MLB's bluff, poignantly saying that "baseball will not allow respect or simple human decency when profit is as stake" while simultaneously allowing the sales of jerseys with memorial patches on their official site.
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"Today, with the opportunity literally at their fingertips to truly memorialize the victims of the Navy Yard shooting, literally at their doorstep, the Washington Nationals were too worn down by MLB's profiteering mentality even to ask. Shame on the Nationals, more shame on MLB."
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