Over the weekend, social media was ablaze with outrage following an incident at the College World Series where two fans were ejected for allegedly heckling University of Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan. The incident occurred during the Gators’ game against Texas A&M, with the two fans, who were wearing Texas A&M shirts, hurling insults related to the tragic deaths of Rex and Brody Reinhart, ages 14 and 11 respectively.
The Omaha Police Officers Association (OPOA) issued a statement condemning the behavior, stating that heckling an opposing baseball team about the death of their batboy was unacceptable. They expressed gratitude that the officers and security at Charles Schwab Field were able to remove the individuals responsible for the inappropriate behavior and called for them to be banned for life from future College World Series events.
The tragic deaths of Rex and Brody Reinhart occurred three years ago at the hands of their father, Paul Otto Reinhart, who then took his own life. Since then, Kevin O’Sullivan and the boys’ mother, Minde O’Sullivan, have married. Texas A&M’s head coach, Jim Schlossnagle, publicly apologized for the incident during his post-game press conference, stating that the behavior of those two fans did not represent what Texas A&M stood for and they should not be allowed back into the ballpark.
The Gainesville Sun has reached out to Texas A&M for further comment on their handling of this situation. It is clear that this behavior displayed by these fans was unacceptable and has generated significant backlash on social media.
