Does your adolescent son witness too few naked women on TV? Does your teenage daughter need to see some more scantily clad models displayed as sex symbols? Are you worried your kids don’t feel drawn to daily, impulsive gambling? Finally, does your prepubescent son need to learn about pubic hair shaving?
If these are your problems, the Major League Baseball playoffs are your solution.
During every pitching change and between every half inning, the playoffs sold sex, gambling, and hairless private parts by means of famous actresses, widely admired professional athletes, and a creepy guy in silk robes.
It was bad enough that complaints about the raunchy ads escaped the baseball-dad group chat and made it to the pages of major newspapers after a retired major leaguer raised a fuss.
“Can we please get the soft porn ads off playoff broadcasts, TBS, Fox, NBC, @MLB?” Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Call posted on Twitter. “My son wants to watch baseball with Dada, but how do I justify that when a half-naked women (sic) could come on screen anytime?? This is America’s Pastime. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about this.”
Call made his comments above a complaint by another dad: “Watching the playoffs tonight with my kids and here’s the rundown: Megan Fox selling ED pills in a red bodysuit; The scariest movie trailer you’ve ever seen; Sydney Sweeney in zero clothes promoting betting on sports.”
These were the ads on during the National League and American League Championship Series. Earlier, during the Division Series, one constant ad presented the idea that a man ought to shave his nether regions as perfectly normal.
MLB playoffs have been family-unfriendly for years. The normal game time is 8 p.m., and sometimes 9 or 10 p.m. Eastern. The ads — regardless of the time of day — have been going all in on sexualization for a while. Even a car commercial might be filled with gratuitous sex.
The message to parents is clear: Your children are like the Los Angeles Angels — the playoffs are not for them.
A sports league disregarding its young fans is like a farmer selling his topsoil at market. It’s selling the future for short-term gains.
BASEBALL SHOULD BE PLAYED OUTDOORS
In the same vein, getting your young adult fans addicted to gambling and making them more porn-brained surely reduces marriage and so further shrinks the future fan base.
MLB and the broadcasters who carry its biggest games ought to be embarrassed. The odds are, they’re not.