ATLANTA — Joc Pederson no doubt sent shockwaves of excitement, and maybe caused a grandmother or two to faint, with a playfully profane remark delivered during Friday's World Series celebration at Truist Park.
Pederson, a recent star player for the Braves, who helped lead the team to the World Series, didn't initially want to get traded to Atlanta. However, the peal-donning outfielder recently opened up about a change of heart he's had since becoming part of the team.
Pederson talked about his trade from the Chicago Cubs in "The Players' Tribune," a media platform that publishes sports conversations from athletes.
"Like, I won’t lie — I wasn’t looking to leave Chicago. I enjoyed playing for the Cubs, enjoyed the city, enjoyed Wrigley….. plus I’d already changed teams last offseason. I wasn’t exactly dying to do it twice in a year," he said.
He explained that at the time, Atlanta was under .500, third in the division and had just lost Ronald Acuña Jr. - a key player on the team. However, things turned around for the Braves.
Of course, one of the more...colorful aspects of Pederson's letter was how he chose to wrap it up.
"Because, yeah — we might not be a superteam. We might have only won 88 games. We might have had our share of injuries, and slipped below some people’s radars, and taken an unconventional path to get to this stage.
But we also just might be those [expletive].
And no one’s beat us yet."
During Friday's World Series Celebration, Pederson grabbed hold of the mic in a moment of triumphant spirit, letting loose the final line of that letter.
Unfortunately, the spicy battle cry could mean an FCC fine for local media outlets who carried the celebration live, as it is in violation of federal law to broadcast obscene or profane language on air.