I admit completely not weighing the brevity of the situation before commenting on this blog.
Major League Baseball not only joined the party today, but broke most of the furniture when they arrived.
Prior to the 2019 season, the league threatened to take the All Star Game away from Cleveland if the Indians did not drop the controversial “Chief Wahoo” from their uniform and logo set. The team responded by making the “Block C” the primary logo, and relegating the caricature to the sleeve of their jerseys as an alternate. By 2020, the logo was completely removed from the team’s identity.
As if the ongoing pandemic did not bring morale in this country down enough, you had social and racial injustice fighting for headlines throughout the summer. From George Floyd to Brianna Taylor, Black Lives Matter to white supremacy, with everything else thrown in for good measure.
Then came the 2020 Presidential Election, where Georgia went democratic for the first time since Bill Clinton’s first victory in 1992, only to follow up with both Senate seats going blue for the first time in 20 years (Max Cleland and Zell Miller from 2000-03).
Earlier this week, the Georgia state legislature passed what can only be described as a newer form of “Jim Crow” laws, with regard to voting rights. The state now makes it illegal to offer water or food to anyone standing in line waiting to vote, puts significant restrictions on absentee voting, and greatly reduces the number of drop boxes per county.
All three of these directly affect minorities, who largely wait in long lines to vote on weekends after church, vote absentee when the lines are too long, and overwhelmingly vote democratic.
Congressional Republicans decided that if they could not overturn the results of a free and fair election, they would see to it that roadblocks were put in place to turn the state back red in time for the 2022 round of House and Senate elections.
Several groups have already challenged the law, in addition to filing multiple lawsuits.
This is where Major League Baseball threw their weight around.
Earlier today, the league removed the upcoming 2021 All Star Weekend from Atlanta, choosing instead to hold the event in a yet-to-be-decided new destination. This would have been the first All Star game held at the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park, which opened in 2017. The Braves’ previous home of Turner Field hosted the event in 2000.
This is the second major blow within a year to Atlanta-based professional teams based on racial issues. Last summer, Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler ended up losing ownership of her own WNBA Atlanta Dream franchise in the aftermath of the George Floyd tragedy. Loeffler publicly criticized the BLM movement, while openly kissing the ass of then-President Donald Trump throughout her campaign. This prompted her very own players to wear “Vote Warnock” shirts, referring to Loeffler’s challenger, Reverend Raphael Warnock.
Warnock then became the first black democrat ever to be elected to the United States Senate from the state of Georgia just after the first of this year.
Even though the MLB is hoping to have stadiums at full capacity by the All Star break, we all know 75 percent may be stretching it for this season. Anything is better than playing to piped-in crowd noise and cardboard cutouts a season ago.
There are many, myself included, that do not like to see sports and politics intertwine. However, when circumstances become toxic such as this week as in the Peach State, blurring a few lines is not just welcome, but almost required. What better way to send a message to the state legislature than to rob their largest city of potentially $100 million dollars (or more) in revenue over a two-day period.
We all know that the best way to get a Republican politician’s attention is to make them see even more red. How do you do that? Simple...reduce---or in this case negate--their financial bottom line.
Anyone who thinks this story is going away, just remember that the Braves' primary television network is TBS, which is owned by WarnerMedia. There's also a certain "Cable News Network" that is also a WarnerMedia property if memory serves correct...
-JC24