2 days Ago By Amber Duke
America was treated to a sweet on-air moment at Monday night’s Atlanta Braves game when a sports broadcaster asked a female fan for her phone number, only for online woke scolds to immediately ruin it for everyone. Wiley Ballard, a reporter for FanDuel ‘s Braves network, was interviewing two female fans at the Braves’ Corona Rooftop when his colleagues needled him to get the women’s phone numbers before the game was over. “Come on,” Ballard said incredulously before whipping out his phone and telling one of the women, “Alright, so they want me to get your number.
” The woman teases Ballard a bit before giving him her number. “I should’ve thought of this years ago,” Ballard jokes. “I am speechless.
I got the number. We’re good.” Shoutout to my guy @wileyballard_ setting the standard for sports reporters getting a phone number out in the wild.
10/10 work :movie_camera: @fanduelsnbraves pic.twitter.com/RFEyd605Lb — Miles Garrett (@MilesGarrettTV) April 15, 2025 Awwww, right? Wrong, apparently.
The innocent meet-cute quickly became a battleground in the online culture war as online woke scolds all but accused Ballard of being a sexual predator. (RELATED: ROOKE: If Reporters Ignore Reality, Of Course We Can’t Trust Them To Report On It) “This is gross,” wrote Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim. CBS Sports MLB editor Kate Feldman cried , “This is one of the most insanely inappropriate things I’ve ever seen.
Like I legitimately cannot believe it’s real.” Similar responses poured in across social media. NFL reporter Ralph Vacchiano accused Ballard of engaging in “harassment.
” DC-based influencer “Tony P in DC” dubbed it “creepy and disrespectful.” People often wonder why young people are not dating and getting married at similar rates as prior generations — well, look no further. The fun police have made it a criminal offense to flirt.
45% of men aged 18-25 had never approached a woman in person for a date, according to a data set from a behavioral neuroscientist. Who could blame them when approaching a woman in the “wrong” way can get you branded a “creep” by online weirdos? Some sad sack critics claimed Ballard put the woman in an uncomfortable position because the flirtation-ship happened on air. Liberals, you see, are obsessed with “power dynamics” in dating.
If any member of the relationship can be perceived as having less “power” than the other, then the coupling is a no-go. ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 23: Bally Sports Reporter Wiley Ballard interviews Michael Harris II #23 of Atlanta Braves after the game against the Washington Nationals at Truist Park on August 23, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Matthew Grimes Jr.
/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) Of course it’s not good practice for a boss to ask out a subordinate or for a professor to ask out a student, but I fail to see what the problem is here. How exactly would Ballard retaliate against this woman for saying “no”? Bonk her on the head with his microphone? We used to be a proper country where it was totally normal to meet people on the job. Between the late 1970s to 1990s, nearly one in five couples reported having met in the workplace.
Seems pretty common sense — when you spend a lot of time around members of the opposite sex, you might fool around and fall in love. Now, only 10% of couples meet at work because mistaking a coworker’s office niceties for an invitation to dinner can get you marched straight to HR. (RELATED: Tiger Woods Reportedly Dating Vanessa Trump) A smattering of female sports journalists responded to Ballard putting on the moves by insisting there was a “double standard” for women covering sports.
“Imagine if a female reporter did anything like this. Career over. Pretty brutal to see it glorified by the broadcast,” Washington Post baseball reporter Chelsea Janes asserted .
Nationals reporter Savannah McCann said , “No female reporter would risk her career like that. We fight to get in the room — and get questioned the moment we do. The double standard is LOUD.
” I can only speak for myself, but I would have no problem with a woman shooting her shot with a friendly fan. Though, I’d like to take a moment to point out a different double standard in the sports broadcasting industry. Men are required to wear suits or a modest chinos-and-a-polo combo on air, yet we routinely see female sports reporters dressed up for a night of bottle service at the club.
Maybe that’s why people don’t take them seriously? Anyway, Ballard is treating this entire saga with the attitude it deserves. In response to all of the hot takes, he posted a scene from the movie “Good Will Hunting,” where the main character declares to a romantic rival, “I got her number. How do you like them apples?” The woke losers can cry all they want, but America declared in November that bragging about getting a cute girl’s number is cool again.
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