Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor have been hyping their Aug. 26 boxing match with a four-day, four-city media tour this past week.
Both Mayweather and McGregor have traded bigoted and misogynistic insults toward each other, and ESPNW.com's Sarah Spain asks if fans are willing to keep validating their trash talk.
"It was clear from day one that the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor would be as much about the foreplay as the main event," Spain wrote. "When the fight itself is a matchup as fair as pitting Apolo Ohno against Evgeni Plushenko in a figure skating competition, you've gotta get all you can outta the lead-up.
"But while we all knew publicity for the matchup would feature over-the-top displays of posturing, self-aggrandizing and hyper-masculine aggression, I don't think we were prepared for how precipitously the trash talk would devolve into slurs and stereotypes.
"Over the course of four pressers in four cities this week, Mayweather and McGregor went from exchanging the standard prefight idiocy to back-and-forth homophobic, misogynistic and racial epithets. McGregor, who has trafficked in ethnic stereotyping in the past, on Tuesday described Rocky III as the movie with the "dancing monkeys in the gym" and told Mayweather 'dance for me, boy.' His sarcastic response to accusations of racism only made things worse."
Fans in the arenas in Los Angeles, Toronto, New York and London for the news conferences cheered, to Spain's disappointment. Spain added that some fans have ignored Mayweather's criminal past because of his car collection and McGregor's ranting has been celebrated because he's become famous in the United States after coming over from Ireland.
"But as their exchanges get uglier and more offensive, it's time to check back in with ourselves," Spain wrote. "Do we want to validate barbarism? Are these the kind of people deserving of our attention, admiration and time? If we give celebs like them a pass on homophobia, misogyny and bigotry, how many others will feel entitled to express their own hate?
"In today's climate, this kind of unhinged circus is certain to sell, but we don't have to buy it."
Home-run glove?
Giancarlo Stanton is accustomed to clearing the wall at Marlins Park. This time his glove went over.
The Miami Marlins right fielder lost his glove over the 8½-foot wall Sunday while trying unsuccessfully to catch a triple by Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor.
When Stanton made a running leap and stretched his left arm above the wall in the fourth inning, his glove came off and fell to the other side.
"I just hit my wrist at the top of the fence, and the glove just popped off," he said.
After Taylor reached third, Stanton hoisted himself above the wall to determine the glove was beyond his reach.
"There's not enough space for me to go down there and get it, but I could see it down there," he said. "Not too many parks have the crevice back there like that."
Stanton waited with a sheepish grin while a batboy brought him a replacement. The glove he lost was later retrieved and returned to him.
The Marlins' All-Star had a rough day at the plate too, going 0 for 4 in a 3-2 loss.
SPORTS QUIZ
Which team did the Marlins defeat in their first game in franchise history?
ANSWER
The Florida Marlins (now Miami Marlins) defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 on April 5, 1993 in Miami.
Sports on 07/17/2017