Confession: I watch The Bachelor. I don’t really talk about it that much because let’s face it, I’m not proud. But sometimes I want to treat myself to mindless trainwreck television and The Bachelor provides just that. But I am a sports fan first and foremost. For that reason, I didn’t watch Monday night’s The Bachelor season premiere live because it was opposite the BCS Championship game on the East Coast — talk about counterprogramming! Imagine my surprise when I watched it this evening and noticed a cameo by a few members of the Miami Marlins, including NL Rookie of the Year Jose Fernandez. What?
It turns out that this season’s Bachelor, Juan Pablo Galavis, a hunky former soccer pro who first stole the hearts of women everywhere on the 2013 season of The Bachelorette, works in Miami doing “consulting for sports and entertainment.” He gets to “travel all over the United States talking to all the players in Major League Baseball.” I’m not sure exactly what he does in this capacity besides hang out on the field and do fist bumps, bro-hugs and high fives with the players, but that seems to be a key part of the job.
During the “getting to know the Bachelor” portion of the season premiere, Galavis was filmed at Marlins Park where he chatted up Miami players including Adeiny Hechavarria, Juan Pierre and, much to my surprise and delight, budding ace Jose Fernandez. Fernandez approached Galavis in the dugout and gave him a warm handshake. Notably, it seems that Fernandez knew that Galavis was going to be The Bachelor, asking him in Spanish, “Are you going to marry or not?” I want to believe that the pitching stud watches the show every Monday night with his buddies. How excellent would Jose Fernandez’s Bachelor viewing parties be?
I’ll keep you posted in the event we have any more baseball/Bachelor crossovers this season.
