thependulumswings

Back in the Stone Age, the word humdinger got a lot more run than it does today.  Have you never heard that word used?

Humdinger defined is a noun used to describe a remarkable or outstanding person or thing of its kind.

Baseball is a sport that some critics think still operates in the Stone Age.  But, give baseball fans, players, managers, and reporters credit for slimming down humdinger into a catchphrase for a home run.  They call them dingers.

In Denver, the air is a “mile high.”  So, dingers were flying towards Aspen with great regularity from the very start of the Colorado Rockies franchise.  In fact, they did so often that the franchise birthed Dinger, the Rockies Mascot, based on a triceratops – an herbivore dinosaur species that lived in the area, as evidenced by the several triceratops fossils found in the region.

Dinger made his debut on April 16, 1994, at Mile High Stadium. Like the legendary San Diego Chicken, Dinger made his official debut by being hatched. At the game, fans were told that an egg was found during the construction of Coors Field, and a grey egg was seen on the field. Two “doctors” were seen attending to the egg when it began to hatch – and thus Dinger was born.

But on Sunday, some 27 years (or roughly 2240 home games later) when a fan sitting not too far from home plate nor too far from the broadcast’s field microphones repeatedly yelled the mascot’s name to get his attention, he got the entire on edge world’s attention.

Miami Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson stepped up to the plate in a game between two very below-average teams.  Brinson is African American.  And for viewers and some Rockies officials, the call for Dinger sounded like the worst racial epithet of all, the n-word.

No Marlins, including Brinson, said after the game that they had heard any of this.  But, one of the Rockies broadcasts did pick the shouting up, and the disgusted Rockies Organization sprung into action as you see below.

Monday Brinson said he had watched the replay “like 50 times in the last 15-16 hours” and believes he does hear the n-word.

And predictably the twitter world, the players union, and the media ran with the story.

Some of the best, or worst follows.

Multiple fans seated in the section stated that the fan was shouting from contacted the Rockies to clear the misunderstanding.  By early Monday morning the Rockies Organization, in cooperation with the broadcast by AT&T Sports and section ushers corroborated the multiple nearby fans’ version.  Dinger it was.  And, the earth could resume spinning on its axis.

The Marlins traveled to San Diego and played the Padres on Monday.   Believe it or not, a resilient Brinson homered in the game.  We doubt that anyone in the stands dared to call it a dinger though.

This brings us to the fate of Dinger, the mascot.  Apparently, the Rockies received calls Monday to dump the name as it’s too close to the hated slur.

This is no joking matter.  And, while we are on that matter, jokes can no longer be called zingers, either.

Roy Rogers’ horse would be in a world of hurt/hate right about now.

Who knew that for 27 years and 2240 or so ball games that the organization and its fans were walking such a tightrope.  Surely someone has yelled out Dinger’s name once or twice before?

No charges will be brought against the fan.  Duh.

And for 48 hours the Cleveland Indians and the Atlanta Braves got a reprieve.

We do indeed have a long way to go!

Inhale, exhale.