GROOM THE INFIELD, NOT THE KIDS.

Years ago, the Milwaukee Brewers' ground crew took pride in expeditiously dragging the infield mid-game.  These days, do they drag the infield for a drag show?

Yo, this drag performance was originally planned to take place outdoors in a very public area where fans entering the game could see. Luckily, there was plenty of public backlash and it rained, so the Milwaukee Brewers were forced to hold whatever you'd call this (a drag show?) in a private space for people 21 and older.

Although there is nothing intrinsically homo- or trans- sexual about dressing up in drag, or other manifestations of camp -- perhaps some of the performers in Milwaukee have girlfriends into their own form of kink -- historically pride has been an omnium-gatherum of the sexual underground.

Pride parades began explicitly as a celebration of difference.  If Normals think of the sexual underground as perverse, why not make the most of it?  Thus, community standards might mean delegates of all the alphabet soup in the reviewing stands turning their backs when the pedophile delegation (it has an acronym too) marches up: evidently BDSM is acceptable, but messing about with little boys is not.  Second, making the most of it can mean turning Normals' terminology against them.  "Queer" as an affirming term is a page, hell, it affirms the title, of Dick Gregory's autobiography.

Old post alert! That "pedophile" might yet become "minor-attracted person."  Go to that post for the Culture Wars, today's post riffs on a Jim Bouton observation about organized labor and major league baseball becoming the last bastions (circa 1969) of bourgeois uptightness.

Namely, that the Gods of Baseball might be sending that message.  The night before the, um, celebration of difference, Brewer closer Josh Hader's streaks of consecutive scoreless innings and consecutive save opportunities converted both ended.  "The Brewers got off to their best start ever during the first fifty games and as of this writing are half a game ahead of the Cardinals. It's shaping up to be an interesting summer."  Both Not the Bee and a commenter at Pajamas Media noted that the Phillies won the Drag Show game, and ultimately swept the series.  And the hits keep coming -- for Brewer opponents.  "Milwaukee allowed a season-high 19 hits — including a season-high-tying four home runs — manager Craig Counsell was ejected and what had been a 4½-game lead in the Central Division on May 26 had completely disappeared as the Brewers fell into second place behind the St. Louis Cardinals."

It was the Tampa Bay Rays who swept a series with the Cardinals that kept the Brewers atop the standings that long.  Yes, those Tampa Bay Rays.

On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays held their annual “Pride Night” game. As part of the festivities, players wore a special rainbow patch on their uniforms to support LGBTQ (and whatever new letters they’ve added this week) pride. Well, most players did. A few players decided to take the brave step of not playing along, choosing not to wear the patch on their uniforms.

ESPN reports that “Among players who elected to remove the logos were pitchers Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs, and Ryan Thompson, according to the Tampa Bay Times. According to CBS News, “Adam was elected to speak for the group after the game, saying it was a ‘faith-based decision’ for many of them.”

Adam explained how the players’ Christian faith played into their decision. He told the Tampa Bay Times that “when we put it on our bodies, I think a lot of guys decided that it’s just a lifestyle that maybe — not that they look down on anybody or think differently — it’s just that maybe we don’t want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who’s encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior.”

Mr Adam apparently concentrated on learning his baseball, not the vocabulary of cultural studies.  Isn't the diversity lobby's use of rainbows cultural appropriation?  "The LGBTQ movement has hijacked a symbol of God’s promise, which, if it’s not blasphemy, comes very close to it."

That's too much theology for me.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have been playing good baseball since they fired their manager, and the Rays are staying ahead of them in that division.