An organization that has stood for everything right in sports has brought controversy upon itself. It is not the first time it has occurred. This is the team that broke the color barrier in professional sports and that was not a good thing – it was a great thing. This is a team that left its beloved borough and moved across the country to nationalize professional sports. That was not a good thing – it was a great thing. This time though the move they made has tarnished their reputation. The question is for how long?
The Dodgers are having their 10th Pride Night on June 16th. Though there may be a question about some aspects of the celebration, the night has never had much controversy to it. Last year’s celebration righteously honored the first major leaguer to come out as being gay – Glenn Burke. Glenn started his career as a Dodger.
Times have changed. People are not just gay anymore. They are part of an alphabet soup that encourages recognition of community members who often display behavior on the outer edges of society. A great many of us can be a supporter of the Gay community, but apparently that is now not enough. If you don’t support the extreme elements, you are deemed to have a phobia.
Someone at the Dodgers somehow decided an organization that has been centered in San Francisco since 1979 should be recognized. Having something basically San Francisco “centric” should have set off alarmed bells as nearly everything about San Francisco is looked on negatively by Dodger fans. You know — the hated Giants.
The entire idea of Pride Night is to promote the Dodgers. It is not to promote anything else. The Dodgers are a multi-billion-dollar business. Businesses do promotions to enhance their revenue and their bottom line. The Dodgers have a foundation to promote their community work, i.e., charity. The question that occurs to me is whether Pride Night has created a dime of revenue for the organization after 10 years. Has anyone said they want to buy season tickets because of the Dodgers’ commitment to Pride Night? More importantly, has anyone even looked at the continuing rationale for Pride Night from a business point of view? I will put my money on the answer being a firm NO.
When you do things like this the inertia moves toward an aimless extreme. If you are looking for someone or something to honor in the Gay community, God knows there are a multitude of wonderful people and organizations to focus on to accomplish that goal. This year has indeed gone to the extreme edges of the Gay community.
Someone made a suggestion to honor a group. Apparently, no one raised a hand to ponder whether it was a wise move. This is a group whose central core of existence is mocking one of the most followed religions in the world. Not to mention, mocking an aspect of that religion with which virtually no person has ever found fault over centuries – Nuns.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will tell you it was formed to do good for others. They help people with this and that. They are a charity that raises money for good causes. Would people laud a group mocking Jewish Rabbis that raised money for good causes? We know for sure that no one would laud a group that raises money for good causes while mocking Gays. Not even if it were a Gay group doing so with self-deprecating humor.
Did anyone really investigate this organization? One of their front people is Sam Brinton. This is a person who recently was cooling his heels in a Maryland jail on grand larceny charges. The Dodgers missed that issue; so how many others did they miss?
The Dodgers extended the invite, and the damage was done. Once a broad section of the Dodger fan base heard of this travesty they rose up with a mighty backlash. The mockers were disinvited. But that did not last long.
The Dodgers were assaulted in a meeting by members of the alphabet soup community, and officials from the governments of West Hollywood, Los Angeles County, and the California State government. Per the Sisters’ website, the meeting was with Stan Kasten, the CEO of the Dodgers. Stan caved to the rabble. He reinstated the Sisters. One wonders if Stan asked if anyone actually attends Dodger games or if they were there just to defend the mockers. How about this, did Stan ask if anyone at the meeting saw a problem with the organization insulting nuns? I will bet against that one also.
To ‘compensate’ for their raging insensitivity of scheduling these religiously hating mockers the Dodgers rolled out the beloved pitcher Clayton Kershaw to pimp Christian Faith Day on July 30th. Here is a thought for the misguided Dodger leadership — stick to baseball and honoring baseball. Then you will not antagonize a mass of fans.
As a longtime season ticket holder, I can tell you I have been assaulted from all sides and from across the nation. I am sure I am not the only Dodger fan who has had to suffer abuse. Of course, the people supporting this event will say those people are just haters. Not this time. That will not fly. The haters are the Sisters whose raison d’etre is to ridicule some of the finest people on the planet – nuns.
There was no business reason to make this horrible move in the first place. It is virtue signaling. Unfortunately, it is virtue signaling to the wrong people, not their consumers. This is not akin to the good the Dodgers have done in the past. This is an embarrassment of major proportions that their fans will be forced to live with for years. It is not as bad the Houston Astros cheating to steal the 2017 World Series, but it is up there.
