Earlier today, NBCSPhilly’s Jim Salisbury wrote about a unique Phillies clubhouse wrinkle called “The Sensitive Bus.”

Let’s have a look:

Over on the other side of the room, a bright, yellow toy school bus sits atop Aaron Nola’s locker. It has been dubbed the Sensitive Bus and you don’t want to find yourself riding on it. It all started last season when assistant pitching coach Rick Kranitz showed up one day with a little toy bus. If one of the pitchers got a little sensitive, Kranitz placed the bus in that guy’s locker.

Seems innocent enough, I suppose. Now, take a look at the Twitter replies on this story. I’ll be here waiting.

Gross. Reinforcing toxic masculinity. Bullying.

Bullying and hazing, whether taking verbal or physical forms, are dangerous, pointless and outdated rites of passage. The potential negative consequences stemming from threatening behavior, physical beatings and verbal assaults are well-documented and real, so I don’t need a lecture on it.

The thing about this situation is that it’s, uh, it’s a plastic toy, guys. It’s an innocuous ball-breaking mechanism used by the players that’s meant to lighten the pressure of the season’s grind.

Two of the primary reasons the Phillies hired new manager Gabe Kapler were for his progressive thinking and ability to communicate with a young clubhouse. My guess here, and this this just a guess, is that a fucking toy school bus isn’t going to be a destructive silencer to those with legitimate grievances. I mean, listen to this:

The new bus, adorned with a whining emoji, sits atop Nola’s locker because, as de facto leader of the pitching staff, he is in charge of finding some little figurines, possibly ones that look like some of the pitchers on the team, to give the bus some life.

How savage and barbaric of them!

Does anybody think that a player with a legitimate gripe is going to internalize and flush it for fear of embarrassment from the sensitive bus? Can you foresee Jerad Eickhoff having the following internal dialogue sometime this season? Because I can’t:

“I feel marginalized. Coach Kapler commented on Aaron’s facial stubble. He hasn’t even looked at me. I want to speak out. But I don’t want the bus. Sigh.”

What are we talking about here?

Sports are full of very real and problematic issues. Athletes often say and do bad things that have dangerous byproducts and reveal troubling cultural issues. A plastic bus decorated and passed around by the players isn’t one of them.