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| PHOTO CREDIT: Gema Tarango / FOX Sports San Diego |
On top of that, I attended USF's opening of their new baseball stadium (please find time to go to a game there, it's beautiful) and their opponent, the New Mexico Lobos wore a gray camo jersey combo that once again, isn't honoring anyone and looked terrible.
The New Mexico uniform is just downright embarrassing, a bad looking jersey and who is that really honoring? Way to make Oregon's jerseys look good.
Look, we all support the troops, just like everyone is anti-cancer, or anti-death these are not radical positions like they seem to be with how many demonstrate for these positions.
The San Diego Padres are a different animal. First off, their annual re-branding of their jerseys while continuing to field a pitiful team is downright disrespectable to their fans, while they keep coming up with new ways to wear war pajamas. The Padres say they're honoring San Diego and its military background, and apparently the Navy receives a portion of the sales from their new blue camo jerseys (seen above) but in reality, it's another abomination. We all know that the US Navy doesn't need any more money, contrary to what some politicians say about the defense budget. So what is this really?
These jerseys really make Oregon's jerseys look great, it's so true.
Again, what's really happening here? More money to print ugly jerseys and "pretend" to care about the military. Meanwhile, our veterans who come back from active duty continue to go through well-documented issues of PTSD, unemployment, and even suicide.
I've got a better idea, instead of printing disgraceful jerseys, how about we use the money it took to make these jerseys and announce that MLB's using this money to provide programs to get veterans jobs in baseball? To MLB's credit, they're sending the proceeds for this year's Memorial Day jerseys and hats to the charity, Welcome Back, Veterans. Which deals with Veterans and their families in the fight against PTSD. That's great and all, and brings me back to what Section 148 and Sean Doolittle did with Freedom Alliance in the winter of 2014, where they raised $1800. However, MLB has the power to do a lot more than just make camo jerseys, they have the power to truly make baseball the national past time again.
And one can make the argument that it isn't MLB's job to do that, I disagree while there's been some talk about giving vets employment from Barack Obama and others, big time organizations haven't exactly made a point to make that happen. And baseball's a huge industry, it's not just the 30 MLB teams themselves, it's the minor league clubs around the country, as well as independent teams, there's a massive opportunity there to offer veterans jobs in baseball.
Using recent history as an indicator, this trend will likely continue for several more Memorial Days to come. For those vets who are reading this post, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments on this issue. As for everyone else, the next time you see your favorite team wearing a military inspired jersey, just ask yourself, are they really honoring anyone?
----Wes @WesMillsRadio
