The Braves de Fanduel Sports Network reporter Wiley Ballard received a violent reaction for asking a woman for her phone number during a report in the air in a game on Monday night.
But not everyone found that Ballard’s actions were inappropriate, including the veteran lateral reporter Olivia Harlan Dekker.
The daughter of the legendary announcer Kevin Harlan and her wife of the NBA player, Sam Dekker, said the Ballard incident is disproportionate.
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Bally Wiley Ballard reporter, on the left, interview with Ozzie Albies of the Atlanta Braves after a game against the Cleveland Guardians in Truist Park on April 26, 2024, in Atlanta. (Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images)
Some of the critics of Ballard’s actions wondered what would have happened if a female reporter did what Ballard had done.
Harlan Dekker talked about experience.
“People get angry with the journalist of the Braves who ask for the girl’s phone number is madness! Haha, how does that offend you? It was harmless and nice … good television that would say,” said Harlan Dekker’s first post. “Does not subtract value from the game or season. Lamming.
Braves Sideline Reporter’s effort to obtain women’s telephone number causes a contentious online debate
“I have been a team reporter, and the season is long. Producers always look for something different/memorable, ways to involve fans or show something of human interest in the game. Most of those interviews are failures, so good with him for having a sense of humor and shooting with him.
“If someone can show an example of a woman who shoots for something similar, then you have an argument,” he explained. “Until then … you can’t say” a woman would have been fired for this.
Bally Sports reporter Wiley Ballard, on the left, interviews Michael Harris II of the Atlanta Braves after a match against the Texas Rangers in Truist Park on April 20, 2024 in Atlanta. (Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images)
“In the middle of a baseball game at the beginning of the season in the regional/team transmission, its producer told him to get something color in the crowd, his stand is deceiving him, the girl was playing and was not creepy. It is sports television, it is entertainment! This was not a table room oo.”
During his live segment, Ballard said the transmission stand wanted to get two women’s telephone numbers.
“I’m serious, they tell me in my ear at this time,” Ballard said in the air as he talked to both the transmission cabin and women about their phone numbers. “She doesn’t believe me because she thinks you are inventing this. I’m going to use that in the future. Actually, it’s a pretty good movement. I should have thought about this years ago.”
The segment was quickly beaten on social networks, although a heated debate began with people thinking in the same way Harlan Dekker.
An X account said that the segment showed “double standard in sports”, while another deepened more in the counter -argument.
“This is the most silly thing and the most silly outrage. The indignation for the other person when you do not know the complete interaction or how they felt about it. You do not know what was said and it was done before and after the segment,” said the publication.
Olivia Harlan Dekker attends the “unstoppable” projection in Cineworld Leicester Square on November 5, 2024 in London. (Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Video Prime)
The reporter of the Arizona cardinal team, Dani Sureck, also gave her thoughts.
“So, will we still ask women in sports if they are only doing their job to get out of athletes? We can all agree on how inappropriate and unpleasant this is, not to mention the double standard, right?”
Harlan Dekker is a NFL reporter and host for Pak Gazette and Westwood One Sports.
