Credit: SF Giants
By Sam Neumann on

The year is 2025.

Zoom has become part of our everyday lives.

Even though it’s been half a decade since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and it certainly doesn’t feel that way — no one seems to know how to mute themselves properly. We’re not talking about in real life, though that could undoubtedly merit another think piece; we’re talking about Zoom.

By now, reporters should have that down pat, especially during introductory press conferences.

While the age of modern technology has taken away some of the allure and mystique of a player signing with his (or her) new team and the spectacle that comes with it, there’s a convenience factor in asking Justin Verlander questions from your own domicile.

There’s also the elusive mute button, which is far less convenient if you don’t know how to use it.

And Taylor Wirth of NBC Sports Bay Area & California found that out the hard way on Monday.

As San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey talked about the team signing the 41-year-old Verlander to a one-year pact, he was interrupted by a stray voice.

Seemingly forgetting to mute himself — a foul in itself — Wirth quipped about Verlander using his wife, Kate Upton’s Zoom for Monday’s appearance. You can audibly make out Wirth saying, “Look at Justin’s name.”

Verlander probably isn’t doing too many Zoom meetings these days. Monday’s session was likely a rare occurrence, and he logged on using Upton’s name — and probably didn’t put too much thought into it.

That was until Posey was interrupted.

“If you guys can just — all the media on here — if you can just mute yourselves, please,” pleaded Matt Chisholm, the Giants’ VP of media relations.

That sentence is all too familiar to those who have ever graced a Zoom meeting with a couple of dozen others, regardless of whether it was with media members or not. And yet, the mute button proved to be ever elusive, yet again.

To the credit of both Verlander and Wirth, they took it in stride.

“I’ll change it,” Verlander smirked while seemingly unmuting himself. “Alright. I’ll change it.”

He did change it to JUSTIN VERLANDER (Not Kate).

As for Wirth, he played along on social media.

Even in 2025, the mute button continues to reign as one of humanity’s greatest enemies — the archrival of sports media, if you will.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann