The Houston Astros apologized Thursday for stealing signs during the 2017 World Series, but all it did was remind people of a scene from “The Office.”
Although the purpose of the press conference was supposedly to express regret, many observers noted that no one on the team really seemed that sorry.
At one point, team owner Jim Crane even suggested the cheating didn’t really matter.
“Our opinion is that this didn’t impact the game. We had a good team. We won the World Series. And we’ll leave it at that,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
However, he backtracked moments later, saying, “It’s hard to determine how it impacted the game, if it impacted the game.”
ESPN journalist Marly Rivera did pin down Crane with the last question of the press conference by asking him what he was apologizing for if he didn’t think the sign-stealing affected the game.
Crane’s response: “We’re apologizing because we broke the rules.” But he would only admit that sign-stealing “could possibly” have provided an advantage to the team.
As the sports website For The Win noted, many people noticed that the team’s so-called apology seemed like a lot like the terrible one made by “Office” character Dwight Schrute after he started a fire to teach co-workers about safety.
Sorry if you already know this, but a proper apology requires a person to have genuine remorse, say exactly what they are sorry for, and seek ways for improvement.
Nothing said by the Astros reflected any of this. Instead, team members and coaches basically said they planned to move forward.
Also, the Astros incorrectly apologized to fans and not to the other teams that were affected by their actions.
Many sports journalists took the team to task for its lame apologies.
But one person managed to distill the entire press conference into 12 little words.
Calling all HuffPost superfans!
Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost’s next chapter