The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made news in the sports world today by demanding that Major League Baseball change the name of the pitcher’s bullpen.
In a statement, PETA pointed out that a traditional “bullpen” is where bulls are held before they are slaughtered. They believe that a more appropriate word for the pitchers’ warmup area would be “arm barn”. The organization has even changed their Twitter nickname to Arm Barn to spread the word.
As with many tweets that PETA puts out these days, it was ratio’d like crazy. But not all of the comments were negative.
While many people have rolled their eyes at PETA’s demand, a lot of people are actually loving it. Some believe that it’s a pretty cool nickname and maybe even an improvement over what they have now:
Keep it as bullpen but arm barn is a fire nickname https://t.co/rUXDgcCdlA
— Starting 9 (@Starting9) October 28, 2021
“now warming up in the arm barn”
“who is that warming up in the arm barn?”please name it this!!! 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/h4OOcCkBzB
— Clint Frazier (@clintfrazier) October 28, 2021
Here’s the thing – while this is overly sensitive bullshit (excuse me, animal shit?) from PETA just to get exposure, they have presented a much better alternative. Arm Barn is 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/TbsiKyRpFb
— KFC (@KFCBarstool) October 28, 2021
Some people have already pledged to start calling the bullpen “the arm barn” regardless of whether the MLB changes it:
Even if MLB doesn’t change the name I’m forever calling it Arm Barn now https://t.co/J6fn1pPMg6
— Harrison Spohn (@harrisonspohn_) October 28, 2021
Arm Barn? Arm Barn. pic.twitter.com/nTdjEOMQv5
— Las Vegas Aviators (@AviatorsLV) October 28, 2021
The term “bullpen” has been used to describe the pitchers’ area in baseball as far back as the 1870s. But its etymology can be traced back all the way to the Civil War.
Most usages of the word throughout history have had overwhelmingly negative connotations.
There’s certainly a case to be made for re-examining the word down the road.
But while arm barn seems to have some support behind it, it’s hard to imagine the MLB acquiescing to PETA’s demand.
That said, maybe we’ll see some teams pick it up on their own accord.
The post Sports World Reacts To PETA’s Baseball Suggestion appeared first on The Spun.