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ESPN host and new Monday Night Football sideline reporter Laura Rutledge admitted this week that she used a burner account to defend her husband, former Major League Baseball player Josh Rutledge back when he was playing. Between 2012 and 2017, Josh played all four infield positions for the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox.
Laura Rutledge, who has been married to Josh since 2013, made this admission as part of a lengthy interview with Andrew Marchand of The Athletic on his Marchand Sports Media podcast.
“This is a true story,” Rutledge began with a chuckle. “I actually think this Twitter or X handle might still exist, but when he was with the Angels I made a fake Twitter, which I’m admitting this, okay, I know this was wrong. I’m not doing it ever since but this was a one-time thing. The name was like BillyHalo76 or something. And BillyHalo only tweeted positive things about Josh Rutledge and then the occasional Mike Trout tweet, because I was like, ‘Shoot, someone is going to figure this out.’
“So, if anyone had said anything negative about him, I would find them and then BillyHalo would be like, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know, and back it up with stats or whatever. I don’t think Josh knows this. If he watches this, he’s going to be really mad at me.”
Laura Rutledge went on to explain, with a big laugh, why she went to such lengths. And it’s not hard to understand why she did it.
“I really struggled with it,” she continued. “I couldn’t deal. There were times when he played for the Red Sox and I go to the game and there there were a couple games, I mean, I was very thankful to be there when he had a home run over the Green Monster and, you know, I saw some great moments, but they had him at third base and he hadn’t played third base since like middle school or something. He barely played third base and he’s like at the hot corner, you know?
“They’re in Fenway, he has a couple errors in a game and I’m sitting in the stands and people are booing him and I’m like shut up. I’m like, I don’t know what to do. I can’t, what am I supposed to do? I’m like yelling at people, you know? Um, and actually, I just decided I needed to shrink away into my seat.
“And it’s just I do have a lot, I mean, look, nobody has a sympathy for professional athletes. I get that. But I do think that at times my own experience has influenced the way that I will speak about players and maybe their families. It’s like, just knowing that at the end of the day, for the most part, everyone’s trying their best, and I get why, fans are the best, like they’re fanatics for a reason, but sometimes, you know, it can be painful.”
She’s certainly correct about that. There has been a major spike in fans mistreating players and their families, mostly due to gambling, over the past year or so. Luckily for her and her husband Josh – a career .258 hitter, sports betting apps weren’t nearly as big of a thing when he played.