HOW DUMB IS THIS?

The Red Sox drive me nuts.  This one takes the cake.

NESN has this one.  Sweet Lord...

"The Pawtucket Red Sox will host the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the New York Yankees Triple-A team, at McCoy Stadium in what’s being called “Evil Empire Weekend.” The promotion stems from the Red Sox-Yankees brawl between Joe Kelly and Tyler Austin earlier this month at Fenway Park."

PawSox will host "Evil Empire Weekend" at McCoy Stadium on May 5 and 6. Any fans named Joe or Kelly will be admitted for free to the weekend's games, while any fans self-identifying as Tylers or Austins will be banned from the premises. #RivalryRenewed https://t.co/LQYnGQSzJ6 pic.twitter.com/XtllPNvgYz

— PawSox (@PawSox) April 19, 2018

So let's keep this real. This "promotion" doesn't get more people in the door. It just gets under Yankee fans skin.  And sure, that's what the damn Sox want, but what's the purpose of calling it a "promotion" then?

I find this tactic stupid. It shows immaturity. It shows bad business. After all, this was started because the Red Sox infielder Brock Holt was "offended" because Tyler Austin allegedly broke up a double play and touched his leg with his spike.

By the way... THAT'S PART OF THE GAME.  And in fairness, if you look at that slide, like I did about 100 times since then, there was nothing outrageous about it.

So when that Nancy Joe Kelly threw at Austin, it made perfect sense that Tyler would want to bash his porcelain face in.

Photo: New York Post

Look... baseball is about athletes playing hard.  It's not about being upset or offended by players spiking or getting too close to their opponent. I'm over all of it, and I sure as hell hate this ridiculously, stupid "promotion".

Can't we all just get along?