This happened Friday, so I'm late on it.
Oh, and the Dodgers lost that night's game, 15 to 0.
It was a 15-0 shellacking Saturday, but what made the Los Angeles Dodgers even bigger losers in most fans' eyes was how they handled Friday's "Pride Night."
At a pitifully attended pre-game ceremony, the team raced to get a controversial award off its hands before people could come in and boo. While thousands protested outside the gates, management made the telling decision to recognize the LGBT group, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, before a virtually empty arena.
As Breitbart's Dylan Gwinn put it, "To say there were more reporters in attendance than fans ... would not be a major exaggeration."
Outside, a sea of people railed against the team's decision to partner with a group that most Americans consider wildly offensive. The Sisters, who get their jollies dressing up like drag nuns and pole dancing on crosses, is apparently the Dodgers' idea of a solid, community-centered "ministry." Despite weeks of ferocious grassroots pushback, the team went forward with the award -- to the outrage of national Catholics.
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On Friday afternoon, those faithful turned out in force, creating an interfaith crowd so massive that it temporarily shut down the park's front entrance. One by one, religious, political, and cultural leaders took the rally stage, urging believers to stand their ground.
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While the Dodgers went forward with their LGBT fawning, the rest of the league is having second thoughts. After quietly killing player Pride gear this past February, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was finally pinned down by reporters at the owners' meeting in New York last Thursday.
Asked whether the league would start "standardizing Pride celebrations" for all franchises, Manfred made it clear that however teams recognize June, they need to leave their players out of it. "We have told teams, in terms of actual uniforms, hats, bases, that we don't think putting logos on them is a good idea just because of the desire to protect players," he told The Washington Post's Chelsea Janes.
At the end of the day, Manfred said, we should not be "putting them in a position of doing something that may make them uncomfortable because of their personal views."
That's a colossal shift from last summer, when players were expected to put up and shut up when it came to the league's LGBT pandering. Now, thanks to the no-Pride tide in the NHL and the consumer backlash upending major brands, other sports are stopping to reconsider their toxic ideology.
On "Varney & Co." Friday, former CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder discussed Anheuser-Busch CEO Brandan Whitworth's tepid message to customers addressing the company's Bud Light controversy, arguing the CEO needs to either be "more definitive" or "get rid of the brand."
ANDY PUZDER: Look, the lesson here is it's twofold. One is, don't offend your target market. Now, I can't believe I have to say that, but apparently I do have to say that at this point in the business climate, don't offend your target market. And if you do offend them, come out quickly, rapidly and definitively and take back whatever you did. You can't offend the people that create the market for your product and expect to do very well. And these half measures are not going to work. They're just not going to work. He needs to be more definitive or he needs to, you know, get rid of the brand and come out with another brand that meets his customers' needs.
Whitworth told customers "we hear you," as sales of the beer giant's Bud Light brand continue to slide following a partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
Oh, you hear us? That's nice. But you also heard the transgender extremists, and then you did what they demanded you do. But while you "hear us," you don't seem to be doing what we're demanding you do.
Why is that, Tranheuser Busch?
I don't know about killing the brand-- Bud Light is still the number two beer brand and, even if people continue to abandon it, it probably will remain top five.
I don't think I'd give up a top five brand.