Utley’s ‘uh-oh!’ could cost him millions

Phillies’ second baseman Chase Utley, in shouting the English language’s most notorious four-letter word over the airwaves during Philadelphia’s recent World Series victory celebration, may have cost himself several millions of dollars.
Although neither fine nor official castigations have as of this writing been levied (nor are any likely to be), it may be just becoming apparent to Utley that his bawdy bellow could cost him more than a couple of future endorsements.
One of baseball’s more stellar—and revered—standouts, Utley was likely to attract attention from marketing professionals who want a high-profile sports celebrity to hawk their products. Especially after his team just won the World Series.
But after his profane—and obviously prepared—declaration, it’s hard to imagine that the vice-president of the Milk Marketing Board would pay good money to have Utley persuade middle American parents to fork over their hard-earned cash to bring their product into the home.
“Milk, it does a bleepin’ body good!”
Maybe milk is too tame. Beer seems to be the beverage of choice marketed to our young people, and if those portrayed in commercials are any indication, brewing companies as an industry don’t exactly pander to the best and brightest of the 19-to-35 year-old group.
“Miller Lite: tastes bleepin’ great; less bleepin’ filling!”
Since so many adolescents were at the parade honoring the Phillies, it’s a safe bet that an even younger age group could be targeted.
“My bologna has a first name it’s bleepin’ O-S-C-A-R.
My bologna has a second name, it’s bleepin’ M-E-Y-E-R.”
The word in question is not new to our language; it’s just that for more than four centuries (It is believed to date from 16th century Dutch), responsible adults have used it (predominantly) with discretion, and most notably demurred when in mixed company or in the presence of children.
Responsibility must have been far from Utley’s mind, since the crowd on hand appeared predominantly composed of children.
Ed. note: Utley and his wife have no children; they instead fill their home with dogs and cats, which can’t distinguish an expletive from a prayer.
In a local radio broadcast after the incident, Philadelphia hockey notable Bob Kelly, known for his rough-and-ready style when he played for the Flyers notorious “Broad Street Bullies” back in the 1970s, described Utley’s remark as inappropriate, saying that there, “is a time and place for everything.”
I go a shade further. His remark was low-class and juvenile. I still believe him to be a fine ballplayer, but as a man, he has dropped far in my estimation.
My 12-year-old granddaughter and I watched the incident unfold live. After he said it (euphemistically termed as “dropping the F-bomb”), she turned to me with her jaw dropped, waiting for my reaction.
“I thought he had more class that that,” I said to her. “I thought he was more of a man.”
Utley is a 30-year old boy in a man’s body who has done little else in his life save play baseball. After four years in the military and more than 22 in the Philadelphia Police Department, I’m no stranger to the word—either as listener or speaker—uttered in anger, in fear, in anxiety, in confusion, in jocularity.
But it is always uttered in ignorance. And should never be exclaimed with forethought in front of thousands of admiring children live, and millions more via television.
What a shame that such a ballplayer may ultimately be remembered by baseball-loving generations not for the way he swung a bat, the hard-nosed way he approached the game, or the way he went all-out to win, but for a hackneyed expression that means so little when placed in context next to this team’s wonderful accomplishment.
Hopefully, Chase Utley will soon grow the bleep up.