Atlanta Radio Host Unloads Ugly Twitter Tantrum on Female ESPN MLB Analyst

If you live in the Atlanta metropolitan area and hear a loud, prolonged steak-fart coming over your radio Wednesday, don't be alarmed.

That's just Mike Bell explaining his tweets.

Bell, a sports-radio personality for CBS-affiliated 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, worked himself into a nice, meaty lather Tuesday night after watching MLB analyst Jessica Mendoza participate in ESPN's AL Wild Card Game broadcast.

Michael Buckner/Getty Images

A two-time softball Olympic medalist, Mendoza has filled in capably for Curt Schilling over the last month as the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst served his suspension for controversial social media posts made in late August.

Mendoza's done well with the opportunity—so well that ESPN brought her on to work Tuesday night's AL Wild Card showdown between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, making her the first woman ever to do analysis for a nationally televised MLB postseason game.

Predictably, however, Mendoza's milestone was received with push-back, and a boorish cross-section of America's downtrodden male population lifted its knuckles from the dirt to shake a fist at the sound of a female voice speaking during a baseball game. 

More surprisingly (or not), one among their number was Bell—ostensibly a media professional employed in 2015.

Seeing Mendoza on the broadcast, Bell rifled off a tweet straight out of 2004. He called Mendoza "Tits McGhee" and wondered aloud what a female Olympian would ever know about the male version of her sport:

Bell has since deleted the tweet, but Twitter is forever, and Boiled Sports (h/t Big League Stew's Mike Oz) grabbed a screenshot of the message.

If you're still in the mood for more strong, Manwich-flavored #takes, Bell still has a bunch of other tweets about Mendoza from Tuesday on his feed for your perusal. There's even a "Curt Schilling is worse than a woman!" joke!

"

Really? A women's softball slugger as guest analyst on MLB Wildcard Game? Once again ESPN too frigging cute for their own good.

— Mike Bell (@mikebell929) October 7, 2015"

"

You guys are telling me there isn't a more qualified Baseball player ESPN can use than a softball player? Gimme a break!

— Mike Bell (@mikebell929) October 7, 2015"

Ah, beautiful stuff. Like cootie-phobic cave paintings drawn with Crisco.

For what it's worth, Bell has since tweeted an apology about his wording. He didn't "@" Mendoza, but he wants his followers to know he's sorry for calling her that name.

"

To those asking about Curt Schilling, yes I would prefer a softball player to him.

— Mike Bell (@mikebell929) October 7, 2015"

Yea. Trending for your remarks about women overstepping in the workplace isn't really a good thing. But hey—it's hard out there for males in sports media!

Got to take the press you can get, right?

Update: 2:21 p.m. ET

The Atlanta Falcons have weighed in on Bell's tweets with disapproval, saying his connection with their flagship station embarrasses them as a franchise:

"

I've been trending for all the wrong reasons tonight. I apologize for calling Jessica Mendoza Tits McGee.

— Mike Bell (@mikebell929) October 7, 2015"

As for Bell's original tweet, it appears he didn't really have a change of heart about his "Tits McGhee" message aimed at Mendoza. He wrote he just deleted it to appease his wife:

It should be noted this isn't the first time Bell's hypersensitivity toward women working in male-dominated sports occupations has reared its head.

As the esteemed Emperor Grunfeld brought to my attention, Bell shared similar sentiments back in April when it was announced that Sarah Thomas—a Conference USA collegiate football referee—would become the first female referee to work an NFL game.

"

@emilypetterson well my wife told me to delete the tweet, I still think I have a right to make an ass out of myself

— Mike Bell (@mikebell929) October 7, 2015"

Yep, it's all part of the #agenda: a global conspiracy to wrest all paying sports jobs away from hardworking men and give them to women. 

I can attest to this as true. We talk about it every week in the Man Meetings. It's probably our highest priority item, next to the Raised Toilet Seat Defense Initiative.

Update: 3:30 p.m. ET

CBS Atlanta has suspended Bell from his radio show for two weeks, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Rodney Ho.

Ho writes that Bell didn't appear for his daily radio show with colleague Carl Dukes on Wednesday afternoon. Ho's wording is a little confusing, but the station played a pretaped apology Bell recorded about coming to grips with the implications of his actions. Dukes added some sentiments as well:

"

Bell read a pre-taped statement on the air on 92.9/The Game apologizing for his actions. He apologized to his colleagues, advertisers, the sports teams that work with the Game and his co-host Carl Dukes. “I didn’t get it,” he said. “I get it now. There is no place for that kind of stuff on my show. I will be more mindful. I hope I can be a better talk show host and better person. This has been an eye-opening experience.” Dukes then added that he didn’t agree with Bell’s opinion but they are still “best friends” and Bell will return. Bell has been suspended for a non-specified period of time though a source told me two weeks.

"

Another curious thing about the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's writeup of the incident was Ho's initial characterization of the incident.

CNN's Rachel Nichols noted that the version of the story that first ran on the website described the backlash to Bell's tweets as his being "attacked by the Twitter PC Police":

"

@DrCarson73 also pic.twitter.com/gp2HonqkWK

— Emperor Grunfeld (@harDCor_barra) October 7, 2015"

Now, portraying people who don't mind women in sports media as a politically correct lynch mob seems like an oversimplification of the matter, and Ho (who has since changed the wording) says he didn't mean it that way.

In a direct message, Ho told me he used the term because of its recurring presence in Bell's responses to the backlash. He says he didn't mean to paint Mendoza's defenders in a negative light:

"

I realize now that I used the PC Police term because it was a phrase Mike Bell used while he was arguing with people last night. I realized only after the fact how loaded a term it was to use in context so I deleted it. My mistake.

"

He's since changed the post to read as Bell "arguing with offended folks on Twitter."

And hopefully that will be the end of the Bell/Mendoza saga. It's just the latest compelling tale of why you should write all of your angry tweets on paper, put them in a bottle and throw them into the ocean.

Dan is on Twitter. He keeps his Twitter fingers unloaded and locked in a safe.