The Conundrum of Hank the Dog and HankGate

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, then you are well aware of the joke turned wildfire presented by Brew Crew Ball’s Travis Sarandos. A seemingly harmless joke transformed into a post became something more than Sarandos intended. He took an online conspiracy about Hank the Dog and turned it into HankGate.

Sarandos turned HankGate into the news story that Brewer fans deserve, not the one they need.  After all through the rebuilding, countless trades are done by Stearns, and the possibility of finishing second-to-last or even last in the NL Central, what better way to cheer up the masses then focusing attention to the Brewers unofficial mascot Hank the Dog.  To the rescue then came Sarandos, who became our Dark Knight and thus followed Deadspin, the Washington Post, Sporting News and SB Nation. If the fire didn’t already have enough fire to; the Brewers added more themselves.

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First they posted this:

Then they announced an official press conference almost an hour later.

If the fact that it wasn’t spreading like wildfire Brewers beat writers, Adam McCalvy balked with anger at the idea of HankGate.

NBC baseball writer Craig Calcaterra seemingly pointed jokes, as he should have.

Despite Haudricourt’s disdain for the whole matter, if you look at his twitter he raises valid points about what the Brewers should discuss at the Brewers “Hank 1” conference. Namely, those adopting dogs are a real thing. There are plenty of stray dogs that need adopting, ones without homes or families to love them. While the Hank the Dog’s HankGate pokes plenty of funny at a harmless joke, it ultimately raises an important point. Stray dogs (cats too) and ones up for adoption need good homes, far too many end up being put down because no one wants to take them in, only because no one wanted them and in some cases people would rather get a “purebred” rather than bring an abandoned dog into their home. As for this whole HankGate thing, over time with love and care, a disheveled dirty stray dog is going to look entirely different.