A small thing happened this past week. A part of me feels like I'm making a big deal out of it. The actual size of the thing is probably somewhere in between.
Two nights ago, a couple of cast members from the local production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child took part in the pregame ceremonies at the Blue Jays game. One of them threw the first pitch and the other sang the national anthems.
Full disclosure: I bought tickets for this play for my son's birthday. He is a big Harry Potter fan and has been waiting to see this play since it was announced for Toronto three years ago. I've decided that this is the last thing I'm willing to spend money on that goes directly into the author's pockets, and I'm planning to talk to my kids about how somebody can be simultaneously a creative genius and a bad person. (Of course, in adulthood, we come to learn this is true way more often than we ever could imagine.)
At the surface, this kind of cross-promotion isn’t unusual. It makes good business sense in the most normal of times, but especially so with the theatre scene finally kicking back into gear. But the thing that jumped out at me immediately was: we're in the middle of Pride month, which the Blue Jays are ostensibly celebrating, and they're promoting a play written by J.K. Rowling, who is probably the world's richest and most famous transphobe. Maybe this isn't a very obviously tone-deaf move; there are many layers between point A and point B, to be sure. But if I can make this connection, so can many others, including people who are directly harmed by Rowling's comments on transgender people.
It raises some questions for me, and I'll be honest, I don't have answers. How did nobody catch this? Or did they, and shrug it off as no big deal? To what extent do partnerships like this need to be vetted? What does celebrating Pride look like, beyond flying the flags? And who exactly does this heavily corporatized version of Pride celebrate/include/serve?
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about my LGBTQ+ softball league. The league is very diverse now, but when I first joined twenty years ago, the demographic skewed heavily toward gay men who lived/hung out in the Village. Truth be told, it wasn't the friendliest place for the few trans people to exist; there was a presence of transphobia and lack of allyship even from within the community (this has improved significantly over the years). To me, this is what today's version of Pride — when presented by large organizations — is like. It purports to celebrate everybody but the spotlight is mainly on the narrow segment of the LGBTQ+ population that is comfortable/palatable for those organizations.
This could be a stretch, so-called mental gymnastics. This may be an unfair or inaccurate assessment of the situation. But it's how it looks as an outside observer and it raises doubts about what being an ally really means. All I know from this is that the club is an ally of the theatre company, and by (very indirect) extension, a very prominent person who has some really problematic views on the people they claim allyship with.
— JY
#ronnierquinterobang
The all-time hits leader among players born in Nebraska and the only Major Leaguer born on June 15 to reach 3,000 hits, what player, to the best of our knowledge, is the only pro baseballer to appear on all three of Good Mythical Morning, Psych, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?
The all-time receiving yards leader among NFL players born on June 15, what player is the only wide receiver to receive an MVP vote since Randy Moss in 1998?
Among players who finished this past NBA regular season in the top 20 in total assists, only five have won championships. Of those five players, only two have played for more than one NBA team. Name them both.
Born on this day in 1969, what former NHLer (who scored only 107 points) has been awarded the Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, the Alberta Order of Excellence, the Order of Hockey in Canada, and honorary doctorates from the University of Calgary and the University of Fraser Valley due to his post-career activism and advocacy?
Answers from last week’s issue
Only three NBA players born in 1968 are in the Hall of Fame. One is American and the other two are Europeans whose countries share 241 km of common border and are basketball rivals. The American and one of the Europeans were first round picks, the other European was a second-rounder. All three were traded for players who were first round picks and who are also now in the Hall of Fame. The European who was a second-rounder is the only one of the three who won a championship. One of the two Europeans was the first player not born or trained in America to play 1,000 games in the NBA. Name all three players.
The three Hall of Famers are Gary Payton (traded for Ray Allen), Vlade Divac (Kobe Bryant), and Toni Kukoč (Dikembe Mutombo). Unfortunately, we somehow forgot that Gary Payton won a championship (Miami, 2006), which renders the question flawed and faulty and incorrect and bad and wrong. Oddball regrets the error.
Jaromír Jágr wore his famous #68 over the course of 1,733 regular season NHL games with nine different teams. How many time zones are represented by the cities those nine teams play their home games in?
Jágr played in three time zones: Mountain (Flames), Central (Stars), and Eastern (many).
What Major League baseball team has on its roster two players who have worn #68 in at least four different seasons?
Only six players have worn #68 for 4+ MLB seasons, and two of them currently play for the Toronto Blue Jays. Jordan Romano has worn the number for four seasons, and prior to being traded to the Blue Jays, Ross Stripling wore it for five seasons with the Dodgers.
There are two active NFL wide receivers with exactly 68 TD receptions. They were born in the same state, and were both first round selections. They are both on their second team, and neither has a jersey number in the 80s. Name them.
South Carolina natives and Arizona Cardinals teammates A.J. Green and DeAndre Hopkins are tied for sixth among active players in receiving TDs.
#postscript
RIP Cowboys legend Don Perkins.
Many thanks to Ronnier Quintero for being named his name and to you for being named your name, unless your name is Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global TV, because Squid Game was meant to be a (very obvious) commentary on capitalism, wealth disparity, class divide, and personal debt crises (specifically in South Korea), and not the motivation for an actual game show.
Until next week, be the Ezequiel Carrera you wish to see in the world.
— DJ/JY