Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Aug 14, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Brent Bowers, the Edmonton Capitals field manager who lashed out at the openly gay Independent League Baseball umpire Billy Van Raaphorst, has said that the charges against him are true and he regrets his comments. Considering the great media hype that the matter got, Brent Bowers said that he had grown up more in the last few days than he ever did in his life.

In an interview Brent Bowers explained that he said this at the heat of the moment because he felt hurt that Billy Van Raaphorst had hurt him and his team by kicking him out of the game two days in a row. The field manager was immediately suspended for the rest of the season after the reports came out and was also fined $5000. The backlash of the anti gay rant has, however, forced him to resign from his position. The extremely brutal attack at the sexual orientation of Billy Van Raaphorst also contained a number of expletives that has upset the baseball community greatly.

Billy Van Raaphorst had earlier explained that he was trying hard to fight the urge of defending himself against Brent Bowers during the string of insults that he threw at him at the game. The 6′4″ former sportsman weighing 290 pound revealed that he kept telling himself not to hit Brent Bowers. He is known to have hidden the fact that he was gay for a long time from his all American conservative family. His story assumed a special significance in light of the recent gay rights issues in America.