VIDEO: Female Reporters Mocked for Outrage After Braves Sideline Reporter Gets Fan’s Number On Live TV G Fiume/Getty Images

Several female reporters are being criticized for being outraged over a male sports broadcaster’s lighthearted banter with two female fans live on the air during Monday’s Atlanta Braves-Toronto Blue Jays game.

FanDuel reporter Wiley Ballard was reporting live from the Blue Jays rooftop patio at Rogers Centre, where he met two young blond fans watching the game. Ballard engaged in lighthearted chatter with the women, asking how often they attend the games and if they are rooting for the Atlanta Braves.

Ballard’s colleagues in the booth, though, joked with him that he only had five more innings to “get the numbers. ” Ballard then told one of the women that his co-workers in the announcing booth wanted him to get her telephone number, which she seemed happy to supply.

But while the segment seemed to have been in good fun, some female reporters were incensed by Ballard’s efforts to “get the numbers” and blasted the FanDuel reporter for inappropriate behavior.

Arizona Cardinals reporter Danu Sureck was furious over Ballard’s little on-air bit and claimed that there is a double standard in sports reporting.

“Sooooo are we still gonna ask women in sports if they’re only doing their job to date athletes?? We can all agree how inappropriate and nasty this is, not to mention the double standard, right?” she wrote on X.

Not to be outdone, CBS Sports editor Kate Feldman called Ballard’s bit “insanely inappropriate.”

“This is one of the most insanely inappropriate things I’ve ever seen. Like I legitimately cannot believe it’s real,” she exploded.

Teagan Brown, a sports director for a Florida radio station, was also triggered by the bit and wrote, “Here’s the thing, I don’t ever really comment on stuff like this, but glorifying this moment is just not okay.”

She added, “If this were a female reporter… people would call it unprofessional… but it’s a male reporter, which means people will find it funny and tweet about how great this is.”

Many more female reporters were going off on FanDuel’s Ballard, and these outraged women certainly had plenty of comments in support, with some calling Ballard “creepy,” or “a douche.”

However, there were far more scoldings of these female reporters for overreacting:

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, X at WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.

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