When it comes to publicly defending the validity of science, a baseball reporter might not seem like the most obvious champion of the truth. ESPN MLB analyst Keith Law recently responded to tweets sent out by his colleague Curt Schilling, who questioned certain aspects of evolution. The points presented by Schilling, a three time World Series champion, were common—yet fundamentally flawed—misconceptions about evolution, so Law interjected with some reason:
@gehrig38 @zoowithroy There are hundreds of transitional fossils on record, Curt. http://t.co/cmTiqzhtC5
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 13, 2014
Law also went on to try and explain that there aren’t transition fossils between species that did not descend from one another. For example, since men didn’t descend from monkeys, there obviously would not be any transition fossils between the two.
Seriously, if someone says evolution is wrong because there aren't fossils between monkeys and men, find a monkey and hit him with it.
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 13, 2014
Law’s comments were not well received by everyone on Twitter, though he remained steadfast in the face of criticism:
No, I won't. Science is infinitely more important. “@toddhampton: @keithlaw Getting into science now huh? Stick to baseball.”
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 13, 2014
Unfortunately, it appears as though ESPN felt the same way as Law’s opposition. As a result, Law was suspended from Twitter over the debacle, though Schilling was not. Deadspin contacted ESPN for a statement regarding the suspension, though ESPN unsatisfactorily responded, “Keith's Twitter suspension had absolutely nothing to do with his opinions on the subject.”
However, ESPN never offered up a good reason as to why Law was suspended or why Schilling, who had started the evolution discussion, was not reprimanded. Schilling also seemed surprised that his comments went unpunished. He took to Facebook to add his thoughts,
“Keith Law got suspended from Twitter for publicly arguing the point I think, it certainly wasn't for his opposing view. I like Keith, just thought it odd he'd want to publicly pick that fight, though I had zero problems with it ESPN took action. I actually thought they would suspend me as well, was expecting it.” (In his comment section, he continued to make statements that illustrate that he has virtually no understanding of middle school level biology or chemistry. Don’t take the bait, Keith!)
Following the conclusion of his suspension, Law sent out this tweet:
Eppur si muove.
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 24, 2014
Translation: “And yet it moves.” If you’re not familiar, this line is attributed to Galileo, allegedly said shortly after he had been sentenced to house arrest and forced to recant his statements about Earth not being at the center of the solar system. Essentially, the line means that the truth exists, regardless of any attempts to conceal it or say otherwise. Just like Galileo, Keith Law was essentially saying “sorry not sorry” for siding with scientific evidence.
Well done, Keith.
