The Houston Astros did everything in their power to dig a deeper hole during a weird, wild and utterly absurd press conference Thursday ahead of spring training.
Astros owner Jim Crane opened up the proceedings with some absolutely baffling comments about the sign-stealing scandal. He said players shouldn’t be punished and that the sign-stealing scandal had no impact on the game.
As if that weren’t asinine enough, then Crane backtracked and said he didn’t say it didn’t impact the game.
Yeah, it was a wild scene.
Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman “apologized” afterward, too, in an incredibly short period of time at the podium. This sort-of apology was all the weirder considering their owner had literally said they did not deserve blame or punishment.
If you have seen the crazy evidence dug up showing the players’ involvement in the sign-stealing scheme they utilized during their World Series run, you’d certainly know why they needed to apologize.
Not surprisingly, the sports world had some strong reactions to the press conference.
More must-reads: