Chrissy Teigen's drunk pitch: Time for a new model for kids?
It’s getting harder to convince kids that alcohol is not necessity for having a good time when celebrities make alcohol a main ingredient in their social media feeds. A prime example this week is supermodel and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen whose social media posts provide a map of the flow of alcohol through a sports event and into a series of Tweets on how “drunk” both she and her parents were prior to throwing out the first pitch at Dodgers Stadium Tuesday night.
Many stadiums offer beer, with a request for patrons to "drink responsibly" while Ms. Teigen seemed to take her responsibility to drink more seriously than her ceremonial honors.
In my mind being a responsible drinker includes keeping the focus of the event on the event and not turn it into a celebration of the volume of alcohol consumed there.
In this case Teigen could have tweeted about her hosts, fans, the game, how great it was to be there with her parents, just about anything would have been a better choice for the All-American pastime of baseball than what she put out there on social media.
It’s true that Teigen, age 28 is an adult, drinking legally at a public event where alcohol is commonly sold.
However, she is also a celebrity in a sports venue where younger kids and teens are both in the stands and watching from home. She was also in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition which made her popular among teens.
Following the game it’s not unlikely that kids looked Teigen up online to learn more about someone important enough to be chosen to represent the team by opening the game.
My 10-year-old is a wizard at finding people on Google.
Thanks to the algorithm the search engine runs as a method of retrieving information, something like a flaming hot tweet that’s getting tons of attention in the media rises right to the top of the list of items on which to click.
Teigen seems to have written her tweets with beer goggles on, potentially leading her to think her quippy anecdotes were a lot more funny than embarrassing.
The model posted tweet-by-tweet coverage of the boozy time her family was having before she even threw out the first pitch before L.A. Dodgers game against the Angels.
According to the New York Daily News the wind-up for Teigen was to share a photo of her dad on Instagram: "Dad making birthday margaritas like only dad can!! I love you dad, happy birthday!!!!"
That picture was followed up by the model pitching the double-header tweets: "Crap I'm pretty drunk" and "My mom is bombed.”
The Dodgers organization has not made any mention of the behavior of Teigen, who they selected to put on the mound in front of families in the stands as a representative of the team and its values.
Sadly, looking at this beauty’s Twitter feed, it’s easy to see this is not an anomaly in her character. Teigan’s Twitter feed is riddled with swear words and ugly jibes at just about anyone the model feels like bashing.
My grandmother would probably take this moment to remind me that beauty doesn’t last, but impressions do.
“Pretty is as pretty does,” Grandma said and I have to agree this is a good time to recall that old adage.
As a children’s book author, I was asked to toss out the first pitch for the local AAA baseball team, the Norfolk Tides two years ago.
I shared the honor with a decorated Navy officer. Each of us would take the mound and send out a pitch to open the game. It’s pretty scary stuff standing on the mound even in a minor league stadium full of fans as you hope you won’t bounce the pitch off the ground and upset the fans who believe that’s bad luck.
A nearby fan jokingly offered to get us each a beer to settle our nerves.
The Navy man took this very seriously telling the person, “Having a beer never helped anyone hit a target.”
“That’s not the kind of image I want kids in the stands to see,” he added.
That was a very wise remark from a man who during his career has led many people. I recall thinking that kind of wisdom was a very attractive quality for anyone to have.
