MLB.com Not Taking Down Clip Of Phillies Fans Reacting To Bin Laden's Death

MLB.com will not pull a YouTube clip from last night's ESPN broadcast of the Mets-Phillies game, when fans at Citizens Bank Park learned of the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and began chanting "USA." MLB.com for years has had a policy of keeping game highlight clips only on its site and those of licensed partners, while generally allowing non-game action and events of historical import such as the "USA" chant to stay on third-party sites like YouTube. That policy, though long unchanged, has been the subject of recent criticism on some sports-related sites including Deadspin.com and BleacherReport.com. One "USA" chant clip on YouTube as of this morning had more than 72,000 views, while another, almost identical one had more than 56,000 views. A similar clip also is on MLB.com.