Normally, a television broadcast during spring training doesn’t make waves. Fans get to watch their favorite team play in either the Grapefruit League or the Cactus League as they get ready for the regular season.
On Sunday, NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast its first spring training game of the season, as the Philadelphia Phillies hosted the Baltimore Orioles in Clearwater, Fla.
The game came with the usual images of Florida sunshine and fans enjoying the action. It also came with the score bug, the innovation that allows fans watching the game to know what the score at any point in the game. Every network uses them these days, and sometimes they change. NBC Sports Philadelphia changed its score bug for the opener.
The bug used by NBC Sports Philadelphia featured three distinct blocks — one for the Orioles, using the abbreviation BAL in a black box with orange lettering; one for the Phillies, using the abbreviation PHI in a white box with red lettering; and then a black box featuring the diamond, the count and the number of outs in the inning.
Nothing unusual, right? Well, as one social media user pointed out, if that’s the score bug that NBC Sports Philadelphia plans to use during the regular season, it may mean the end of one of baseball’s best score bug memes.
Tim Kelly, the managing editor of social media site @OnPattison, posted an image of last year’s score bug and Sunday’s score bug and pointed out something.
Yep, if that’s going to be the new score bug, it means the end of “POOP.”
The first image is last year’s score bug. In it, there is the Cincinnati Reds’ logo, its traditional block ‘C.’ Then there’s the score, right next to the Phillies’ score, followed by the Phillies’ traditional cursive ‘P’ logo.
It spells out “COOP.” Funny, right?
Now, for those that follow baseball, whenever the Phillies play the Pittsburgh Pirates, well, that’s when the fun starts.
When the two teams played, before either team scored a run the score bug spelled out “POOP.” Once one of the teams scored a run, the fun ended.
It’s possible that NBC Sports Philadelphia has ended the fun for everyone. We’ll see for sure when the regular season begins.
Phillies fans can get their next look at the new NBC Sports Philadelphia score bug when it broadcasts Monday’s game with the Pirates, which will also be played in Clearwater.
