Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's very silly. This is what I always tell my queer friends. Sports are not that serious, okay?
[00:00:05] Speaker B: It's.
[00:00:05] Speaker A: You're watching a bunch of millionaires running around throwing balls at each other. What are we doing? That's nothing to get too upset about. Happy people don't hate. Haters don't have fun impact.
If you have a question, I love.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: You.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: You can simply.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Hello.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Welcome to season two of Dear Queer. We are coming to you on a Monday for a very special opening season episode because, well, the Blue Jays are in the World Series, and apparently that's a big deal. This week, Marco tries to convince us that, yes, the Blue Jays are in fact, queer culture. And we do need to pay attention.
And yeah, we're excited for a really fun season. We will have episodes coming out every other Thursday for the next three months. And we can't wait to be coming to your ears, Dear Queer.
So today on Dear Queer, we have our pal Marco on the podcast.
Welcome, Marco.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: So this is a real special episode too, because the Jays have not been in the World Series for a long time.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: A couple seconds, yeah.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Is it 22 years? 20 something?
[00:01:48] Speaker B: 1993.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: Don't make me do math.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Don't make me do Jay's history.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: I mean, after our back to back. Yeah. It's been. It's been a bit a rough road, let's just say.
[00:01:57] Speaker C: Yeah. And then. And so when the J's started, once I knew they were in the World Series, I messaged Lauren. I was like, we gotta do sports. And then the first person that Lauren thought of about the Jays was you.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: You're being kind, though.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: You had. You were resistant.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: You messaged me and you're like, I want to talk about the Blue Jays. And I was like, no, I said sports.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: I said sports.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: You said, oh, man.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: I said sports. And you said, because of the Blue Jays. Oh. And then I probably said, yeah.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:02:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Either way, full, full disclosure, we're here. We're in Toronto.
Unless you're living in Iraq, you know that the Blue Jays are in the world.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: You might have heard some whisperings about that.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: You might have heard.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Now, I'm not one to bandwagon.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Okay. That's fine.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: I mean, I love. I love my Toronto Raptors. I'm really excited for the tempo.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: I was gonna say, let's let everyone know. I.
We wanted to represent. Yeah.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: But I'm like, what does this heteronormative team have for us queers? And so we thought, who better to Convince us why the Blue Jays is queer culture than you.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Oh, thank you. What an honor. What an absolute. Thank you for that intro. Holy cow. That's amazing. Well, first of all, I'm so glad to be here. This is. I get to talk about something I really, really love with people who I also really love. So this is a cakewalk. Okay. Whether you'll be convinced.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: We'll see.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: I guess we'll see. But I do want to say that I am very excited for the World Series. The Fall Classic is here, where on day of recording, it is game one.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: So I'm decked out. I'm ready to go. And the funny thing about baseball, too. So speaking of, you know, queerness. And I have a lot of queer friends who are really into, you know, astrology and numerology. So this is a good. This is a good place to start because guess what? Everything I'm wearing now, you ask me about my shoes, my hat, whatever.
I wore this the last game.
[00:03:54] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: And not only did I put on the same clothes, didn't wash them or anything, I put them on in the same order.
Okay.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: I mean, superstition and sport. Go ahead.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: Superstition and sports, especially in baseball.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Really heavily into that. So if you're an astrology, queer numerology, superstitions, like, you know, Mercury in retrograde.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: This is probably something adjacent to that. And I think you'd really appreciate the commitment that some of the. It's not even superstition, it's law. Like, you have to do it because if they lose, it's your fault.
[00:04:24] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: See us. And you don't want it to be your fault.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: And you know what queers are really good at? Shame.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: There's. As a Catholic, I've heard about shame. Yeah. This is one of those things that's.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Also kind of sounding like drag. A bit.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: A little bit, yeah. Yeah.
[00:04:39] Speaker C: And there's.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: There's some drag elements which I think we'll get into later.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Sorry if I'm spoiling your points.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: No, it's fine. Because that's a big part of it is drag. I mean, you know, someone said some famous person said, you're born naked. The rest is drag. Baseball loves drag.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: But I think what we should start off with is what baseball like, how. What's an entry point for people to, like, be able to get into baseball without having to know the stats, RBIs and all of these things. No one really wants to do that right now because the games today, I can only Google so much and we're not asking AI, because we don't. You don't do that.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: The water, the water.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: We gotta think about the water and the forest, you guys, please. So dude, I want to talk about like what easy thing, what entry point do we have to baseball? Okay, so first of all, baseball is not that long of a sport. It's only really two and a half hours. I mean it's gotten faster too because.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: I mean it's felt very long at times growing. I feel like I've been to four hour games before at least.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: You know what, I have been too. And the thing is recently they've introduced the pitch clock. As you know, it's 18 seconds. It's just to speed the game up.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: We, we don't know.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: Oh, you don't?
[00:05:47] Speaker C: No, we don't know. And I agree that you need to do this because this is one thing that has deterred me from watching baseball over the years because I'm like, this is taking too long. Yeah, I don't have time for this.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: No, I understand. And it's nine innings and you know, it could, it could run from two and a half hours to much longer depending on the game.
So if you like a long game, I mean you really do have a lot of time in between to kind of just, you know, sit with your friends, chit chat.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: It's true.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Get a hot dog, get a. Yeah.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: You'Re not really paying attention to. Something happens. You're chatting to each other and then something happens. And then you're all paying attention to the game.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: Exactly. Especially when you get to the tail end of the game. That's what's really exciting because you know, you're, you've only got an inning and a half left or something to really catch up. So. But before that there's a lot of downtime. You don't have to be locked in. Like, dude, you can go out and like get a beer, get a hot dog.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: If we're, if we're not at the game and we're, you know, say someone's watching from a sports bar or something. Am I getting in trouble if I'm talking?
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Absolutely not. No. Part of, part of I can. Yeah, part of that is talking. I mean you're, you're chirping the players, you know, you're talking about their.
[00:06:50] Speaker C: That is fun. That is fun.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: That kind of sounds how we watch reality tv.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: I was just going to say baseball is. But I mean sports is the original reality tv.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: Really.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: That's true in a way. Anything happens, it's not scripted. You don't know how it's going to go. And in the same way I can have reality TV on my television and go get a. Make a tea in my kitchen, do this, get on my computer for a bit. I could have the baseball game on in the background in the same way that I would have a reality television show on.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: It's not demanding of you.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: No, no, it's. It's really something that you could have on in the background. Just kind of like. It's a, you know, like white noise almost. You just have to. Yeah, it's like. It's like whale sounds. It's like. Like a water crashing on, you know.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: A beach that you have to know the schedule of in order to opt into.
[00:07:32] Speaker C: I feel like talking when you're saying chirping the players. I literally just had a flashback to childhood that I totally forgot. My uncle used to take me and my sisters or some combination of us to games most summers. And I remember heckling the opposing team like first baseman or wherever we were sitting. And it was fun.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: It was like a little heckle.
[00:07:53] Speaker C: It was fun.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
At the Jakes games, you get to sit right by the.
The bullpen where they warm up. The opposing team will warm up.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: They have the candidate to try bleachers where you can yell at them.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: They're right there in front of you.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: And they do. And they do. And it's all in good fun. Right? No one ever says anything too off color.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: Wait, is that why we are called the Blue Jays? Because of the chirping?
[00:08:17] Speaker A: You know, I don't know if it's exclusive to the Blue Jays, but it does play into it.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: You're gonna be our historian now because this is how little I am.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Have you ever heard of Blue Jay before?
[00:08:27] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: Because it sounds like they're gonna win the World Series.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: We walked into that.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: No, but we were talking about that. I was always some friends about what? Because I have never heard of Blue Jay. I don't think I have. Anyway, so we looked it up. It's exactly. Because apparently Blue Jays are very aggressive and it's like a high shrill sound. So just as a fun little fact. I mean, Blue Jays are aggressive in there. That's kind of how we play. And this is part of the fun of it, is that seeing these men just running around in a diamond is easy because again, you don't have to pay attention. The score will come up. It's already there. You just have to. You just have to look, glance every once in a while.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: I mean, we all know enough about like. Yeah, it's a. If you get to the home plate, that's good. You get a point.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Yeah, it's very easy.
[00:09:10] Speaker C: It's very simple.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: There's not a lot of infractions, you know, not like, like football. Oh my God. Every player.
[00:09:14] Speaker C: Oh, God.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: You get a yellow, you know, a flag thrown in. It could be anything. It could be one of a million.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: I mean, in baseball, the basis has become an analogy for sexual experience as well. What base you're getting to.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: I mean, we borrow a lot from baseball culture.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: There's tops and bottoms.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Oh, right.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: You know, bats and balls. Dude, what are we doing?
[00:09:34] Speaker C: Also tight pants.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: Tight pants and knee high socks.
[00:09:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Dude, where are you storing your phone when you' naked party?
[00:09:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: And your socks, brother. I could just walk in there in my baseball socks, stuff my phone in there. You know, we're good to go.
Great butts. Lots of good butts.
[00:09:49] Speaker C: And lots of good butts. Do we know of. Are there openly gay male players that.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: You know, baseball is tough for them?
[00:09:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: I will say there's maybe two I can kind of think of, but without like name, because I don't know for sure. But there's been talks of people being gay but not coming out because it is one of those sports.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: I know there was that player in the 90s, Billy Bean, and I only know about this because of being queer, but basically he had a partner who died of HIV and didn't tell any of his teammates because he was like afraid to come out and all that stuff.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: For sure.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: I think. Yeah, I think that's where it's like history. I mean, queer history across all sports and most things is challenging. Yes, but. And that was 10, 20 maths hard.
That was in the 90s. So we've obviously come a long way. Are there ways that the sport has. I know you've got. You're not actually wearing any of your Jay's pride stuff.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: I can't today, though. I have and I will outside of this particular series, outside of the World Series, I will absolutely wear or wear the fuck out of that hat out of my jersey with the flag on it, dude. My. There's a bum bag that they gave away one of the pride games and it's got a rainbow strap. I will absolutely wear it every opportunity I have.
It is. It's hard because there's not anything that's outwardly queer about baseball, which is what really scares a lot of people away from Me, you know, it's just like, of course, again, that we're talking about, like, terms that we use that we borrow from baseball. And I think that's us reclaiming it, you know, like reclaiming. Giving us an opportunity to be like, you know what? We want to participate in this. How can we do that? Let's borrow some of their terms. Let's use it to our. You know, that relates to us in some way.
I mean, you even mentioned hot dogs. Like, hello, do you find a queer. A more queer food?
Like, dude, I mean, we're also, like, we're sizing. I will take any kind of hot dog, any size you on. Actually, you know what? I was at a wedding this summer.
It was at the Baby G. Oh, and were you?
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: I don't know, maybe you were there too.
[00:12:05] Speaker C: I remember that one.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: And it was Lauren to sweat.
And what did you guys roll out at?
[00:12:11] Speaker B: You know, midnight shout out to sausage party, period.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Exactly, dude. It was hot dogs. So if there's. If you want any proof that any indication that hot dogs are queer culture, there it is.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: I'm convinced on that.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Okay, great.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: So we don't. And you know, I should tell you, in the. In the regular season, they have what they call loony dog night. So not only are you buying hot dogs at a dollar a piece, I.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Mean, the lesbians love a deal.
We're thrifty like that.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: I think I'm a lesbian for that reason.
I'm just saying. I love a deal. A dollar for a hot dog.
[00:12:40] Speaker C: Yeah, that's.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Where are you getting.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: That's unreal.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that's unreal. So, you know, if you're. If you've got time to chit chat with your friends at a game, you can go get a hot dog. It's no problem. So that's one of the things that we definitely can celebrate as queer people is our shared love for hot dogs.
[00:12:54] Speaker C: It's true. Now, one other thing that sort of got me taken a couple steps onto the bandwagon.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Oh, here we go.
[00:13:01] Speaker C: Was hearing in the media, the correspondents and, you know, sports journalists talking about the guys on this particular J squad and how much they love each other and how, like, sweet they are with each other. And, like, you can see Vlad is like an emotional guy. He's not afraid to cry.
And so hearing about that kind of camaraderie was one thing that definitely warmed me. And I was like, okay, I want to see this. Yeah, I want to see this ir, like, not irl, obviously, because the Tickets are so pricey. But I want to see this enacted because, I mean, I used to play competitive sports and I know, like, first. I mean, another sidetrack is the whole comeback thing.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: Any team that comes back from an O2 down. Because when I played competitive sports, there were times when we came back from stuff and there's nothing more thrilling, like, nothing more thrilling in a game, in a series, to come back.
And I mean, on the same end, I know the feeling of a game getting away from you and you thought you were gonna win, suddenly you didn't, and how devastating that is too. So between that thrill, like, I just. It gives me chills thinking about how they must have felt playing those games and then winning the series, having been down and then. And they couldn't have done that without being tight.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:21] Speaker C: And supporting each other. Right.
[00:14:23] Speaker A: I mean, that's. That's kind of when you see these people, these guys, they play and you can really tell that they are a family. And that's, of course, I mean, we want to see them all succeed, but it's so much more fun when you see them all celebrating together and like, getting to really enjoy it as a family. It's. It warms you. And again, we love an underdog story. So everyone counts out the underdog. It's just a hungrier dog.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Back to those dogs.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Back to those dogs.
Are we going back to Glizzies?
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Because.
[00:14:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: How many ways.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: It's just, it's, it's. It's a really nice. Like you said. I'm so glad that you brought it up because there is. I don't. I mean, I've been watching the Blue Jays for a long time, and this is the year I'm really feeling like they're a unit. These people really love each other. They're so, you know, they're so connected.
And I am. I get emotional thinking about it because, you know, it's hard to find. I mean, you're just cherry picking people from anywhere and everywhere. So for them to be able to, like, get along and really celebrate.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: Get the right formula.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Get the right formula.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Yeah, that is. That is, I guess, queer culture because, like, chosen family is something that we really love and prioritize in our community, you know, what you're describing kind of sounds like that.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: And I gotta say, if you're not. If it wasn't moving for you to see that little. Those pictures of little Vlad when he was 3 on the field with his dad in his tiny little expo outfit, uniform, like and then to. To see him there, like, it's no wonder you can see, like, this real dream coming true. Incredible.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I love, I love that aspect of it. Is, like you said, chosen family, such a big deal to.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: To queer people. And I always tell people, if you move to a new city or, you know, I want to build immediate community, follow up a sports team.
[00:16:10] Speaker C: Yeah, true.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: Follow the local sports team. You're flagging with your jersey. Someone who sees you. Like, I also follow the Buffalo Bills and I have a bar that's the Toronto Buffalo Bills bar. And you know, and you see people on the street, they're wearing the Bills jerseys, they go, go, Bills. Or when you're wearing your jerseys, go, Jays, go. It's just an immediate community that you're a part of. You've chosen to go all in on this one thing and you all of a sudden have new friends.
[00:16:35] Speaker C: I mean, that's a good point. Because even if your, like, political beliefs differ or you might be on a different pay scale or whatever differences there might be between you, you're all, at the end of the day, like, cheering for the same team on the same screen. Yeah, yeah.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: I mean, families, listen, you're defending your own family, right? So in this case, and that's a. And you had mentioned housewives. It's so fun. Funny, because the last game we were in Seattle and just before it was game, must have been game five or six. I don't remember. There was an instance where George Springer got hit with a fastball. 96 mile per hour fastball in the kneecap. And can you imagine? That's like getting hit with a bullet. So he, like, gets on the ground, like he's wincing in pain. And of course, Seattle, for some reason started booing, which is really weird because they're assuming that they were booing him for being in pain. Like, oh, you're being too dramatic. I don't know how I would react if I got hit with a fastball, but it would be. It would be close to what he was doing.
And you're tough, though, right? Yeah, yeah.
So going back to family immediately, Toronto's response to that was, it's kind of like, do you remember when Lisa Rinna got into a fight with Kim Richards in Amsterdam? Took the glass off the table, said, you never.
[00:17:45] Speaker C: How can you forget that?
[00:17:46] Speaker A: Touch my husband. That was Toronto. Except instead of our husband, it was instead of Harry Hamlin.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: It was George Springer, our, you know, right fielder, George Springer.
[00:17:54] Speaker C: Great analogy.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: A beloved character in our. In Our lives, George Springer. Very important. And then, of course, which makes that homer in the bottom of the seventh, the last game in game seven. And we got that. That home run.
[00:18:06] Speaker C: All the more satisfying.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Yeah, all the more satisfying because we sent those Seattle Mariners home with their trident, pack it up and back to the West Coast.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: You were bringing out the big guns, bringing in our housewives like this.
[00:18:16] Speaker C: Listen, you knew how to get to us. Not playing fair.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: I'm telling you, there's. There's parallels. I'm. There's a lot of drama and theatrics and arguments.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: Oh, and another one that happened actually in the summertime. There was a big fight, a big fight with. I think it was Pittsburgh and Toronto. They played in August. And there was a.
An instance where Heineman, who was our catcher, standing behind Tommy Tham, who's at the. The Pittsburgh Pirates, up to bat at the time, and they were calling out pitches to Brendan Little, who's the pitcher, you know, because usually the catcher and the pitcher, they have, like a song and dance going. Very queer coded relationship, because they're telling each other, what kind of pitch do you want me to throw?
[00:18:56] Speaker C: That's true.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: So they're kind of laughing. They're joking. Camera pans over to Tommy, who's the batter, and he's not laughing. He thought. I think he thought it was a little unprofessional. It was a little bit, you know, like, you guys are making a joke out of this. I'm trying to, you know, do something. And so on the fourth ball, he walks, he takes the bat, flips it really aggressively in front of Heineman, the catcher, and kind of turns around, gives him a little. You walks away. And of course, Heineman gets up, he comes back, he starts walking back. Now he didn't even make it to first base. He starts. Tommy walks back. The bench is clear. Everyone's on the field at this point. They're fighting.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: Okay. So that's not even the best part.
[00:19:39] Speaker C: I mean, the bat flip is like anyone remembering Bautista.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: It was a big thing. And this was an. If you look it up, it's an aggressive bat flip. It was real. And if you look back at him.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Like, a lot of wrist.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: A lot of wrist, a lot. And the bat flip back. It was crazy.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: And that's not even the best part, because the post interview, the post game interview, when they interviewed Hyneman, they asked him, so, dude, what the hell happened? Like, what. Why did you guys fight? And you know what he said? He said, I Barely know that guy. I don't know him. I don't know why he was being dramatic. I have no idea who he is. He turned into Mariah Carey. He said, I don't know her.
He said he pulled a Kiki Palmer. He said, if I saw this man walking down the street, I wouldn't know a thing. Sorry to this man.
This. That's queer culture. He really said, I don't know her. And I don't know why he's trying to pick a fight with me the.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: Way you are bringing in the gossip and the drama and the reality of it.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Because this is. As a queer person, I can enjoy both. I can enjoy pop culture. I can enjoy a game. And there's parallels between the two.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: As a lover of pop culture, reality tv, I know there is this thing called Wags.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
I mean, yeah, yeah. Very famously. We have some Wags in the crowd, for sure. I mean, baseball a little less so. Because that mean right now, it's all about football. Wags. It's all about, you know, like.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Well, Taylor.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Taylor Swift, of course, is a very famous one. But we have.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: Don't come for me.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: But we have. We have a lot of. We have a lot of really famous women behind these men. So. Which is really nice, but maybe one day we'll get a famous man behind one of the male players. Wouldn't that be nice?
I mean, that would be.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: That would really bring me into the fold.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:18] Speaker C: I think that there is a women's.
Women's teams.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Well, yes. They're starting. Yeah. Did you see that announcement? There are four women's teams that are, like, coming.
I don't know how. How far I. I glanced at it and saw an announcement, but, yeah, there started, like, there's a new women's baseball league.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Oh, incredible. I'm all in immediately. How do I get season tickets?
[00:21:44] Speaker C: I mean, like I said to you before Marco got here, I was like, when. When women play baseball, it's gay. Like that phone.
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: What are we talking about? The greatest baseball movie of all time?
[00:21:55] Speaker C: Totally.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Well, that's why I know anything about baseball.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Incredible. And then the thing about that movie, too, is that, like, a lot of the women in the movie were queer.
Couldn't really talk about it. I mean, this was a time, obviously. But now we look back on it, and it's like, whoa.
[00:22:08] Speaker C: Well, in the show series that first season that I unfortunately got canceled, but with, like, Abby. What's her name? From Broad City.
Yeah, Abby.
You know, and, like, I mean, incredible cast, but that they did a really good job of not hiding the queerness of it. They were very much, you know, like, showing how. How, you know, more masked women were forced to dress in these little baseball dresses and really to hide their identities and how they could only have relationships kind of behind the scene and.
Yeah, and in secrecy. They even depicted, like a raid on a. On a queer bar, which was happening, too, at the time. Like, it was.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Got canceled.
[00:22:48] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, it was a real. It was real.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Real unfortunate. I mean.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: Well, I'd love to hear your take about kind of the Pride Nights. And like, you know, sometimes, you know, we worry about stuff being pink washed, but also at the same time, in these spaces, you know, we want, like. I want to feel welcome. Yeah, of course. And if players are wearing little rainbow flags, I'm probably going to feel more welcome.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it's like. It's like I saw a commercial. I don't know what for, but I remember seeing, like, it's just a commercial about people, like, queer people just being out in the world and seeing something as simple as a little pride flag, you know, something that would indicate that this is an ally, this is a safe space for you to be in.
It's like their demeanor changes. They relax. Here, you, You. You don't have to. Your shoulders aren't hunched up. You know, you're basically walking differently. You're interacting with people differently. And Pride Nights are like that. And while, you know, it's nice, like you said, we don't want to. We don't want to pink wash anything there. I think there's only two Major League baseball teams that don't have a Pride Night.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: And the rest of them do. So we are working on no teams, not having a Pride Night. We want them all to have a Pride night. But what I love about Pride Night, though, is, first of all, there's queer art. One of my favorite DJs, DJ Slater Manzo, just recently was at the ALCS. So not even Pride Night, but it became Pride Night because, you know, queer people's taste in music.
[00:24:09] Speaker C: Amazing.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: So, you know, when you get a queer person in charge of the playlist, you get some bangers, you get some real hits. And then we have drag, you know, factor, I think the queer. The Drag Collective factor. Two of the drag queens that performed at your wedding, Caramel and Destiny, are part of that. They were at the Jays game this year with Van Gogh and Nicky Nastasia. So I'm a big fan. I love. I love drag.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: Anyway, pay those Artists pay the queer.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: Pay the queer artists.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: We want them.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: We want them to be, you know. Exactly. And this is. And that's part of Pride Night is that they forte. The men's chorus gets to perform and they get to sing the national anthems. Love that. So it's. It's a celebration of queer art. And.
And while, yes, it does need work, we would love to have that all year.
There's something about it happening during Pride Month where I get to bring my. Who aren't necessarily baseball fans, but, you know, feeling accepted and welcomed in a space that you don't usually occupy is so special, especially when you're with your chosen family and you get to be, you know, in this place and just having fun, laughing, drinking, eating hot dogs, dude. Like, you can. You're doing all of the things that you would usually do just on a regular game, but now with people who aren't usually there, and then now they get a different perspective and think, maybe I can go to a different game another night and we can do this together. And it's so affordable. Which is another thing about baseball I love.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: True, like, except now.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: Except for now during the regular season. Dude, I've paid like 10 bucks for.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: A ticket, and that's amazing.
[00:25:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's super accessible. And why not encourage people to come out and do something during the summertime that will kind of like, you know, it's not cost prohibitive. Everyone can participate.
So. Yeah, I love. I love Pride Nights. We're working on getting that more than once, I think is really it. But.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Well, I guess, too, in. In a season and a time when a lot of companies and industries are pulling back on spending on things like Pride Nights and just Pride Month in general, that. Yeah, I think any. Any organization that can literally plant that flag is actually a very good thing.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And the Jays have been pretty good about it. Yeah, they will have. I mean, it's been going on for a few years now. I. Ever since I can remember going to them. It's, you know, it's been something that. It's been a bit of a highlight for. For Pride Month, I think, to be able to go to a Jays game.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: And see all of my favorite queer artists and, you know, we're gonna have.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: To join you this year or next year.
[00:26:31] Speaker C: Next season.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Don't threaten me with a great time, brother. We're in. Let's go.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: Are you feeling a little more convinced than when we started, Lauren?
[00:26:41] Speaker B: A little bit, yeah. Okay. I feel like, yeah, I'm gonna have to watch.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: Ask you something really quickly. Do you watch any other, like, sports? Like besides the temple? Do you watch Scepters?
[00:26:54] Speaker B: No, I don't watch the Scepters.
[00:26:55] Speaker A: Okay, well, we're gonna have to change that.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: We'll get you on for another.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: Well, yeah, yeah, because I, I don't know if you're.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: I've watched basketball. Yeah. Actually going to the home opener tonight with the Bucks.
[00:27:06] Speaker A: Tennis. Love tennis.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Love watching tennis. Honestly, any time there is live sports. Yeah, I'm, I'm happy to be there because truly there is something about being in that collective energy and excitement.
I just haven't found it, you know, I haven't spent enough time going to games, I guess, or I've had. You know, I think if I had the. Really. The real thing that's got me convinced is, is the, the drama and the, the background gossip and little nuances, of course, because I'm gonna be watching with different eyes now and I'm open to.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: It with different ears. Because the reason I bring this up is because at Scepters games, you know, they play chapel round, they play Hot to Go. This is their, their song.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: But this year we have my favorite player, a left fielder, David Schneider, said, you know what, let's queer it up a little bit. He's not queer as far as I know. But you know, maybe he is. Who knows? But in any event, he's his walk up song when he's batting.
[00:28:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: Is Pink Pony Club.
[00:28:03] Speaker C: I love that.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: He said, you know what? And that's not it.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: It's a banger.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Let me make this even more queer. He grew a gay mustache.
[00:28:10] Speaker C: Really?
[00:28:10] Speaker A: So. Oh yeah. So he's walking out there, little gay mustache on, you know, and it does make people 25 to 45% more fucking.
[00:28:16] Speaker C: I saw too.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: Was it the, the catcher with his little pink tape on his.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Yeah, there's, there's a lot of accessories in baseball. I mean, Vladimir Daddy, Dadimir Guerrero, he loves to wear pink. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of things that we can really latch onto in terms of accessories. Music, Pink Pony Club. You're going to see a lot of that, especially now during the World Series, I think is a great time to really enjoy the queer nature of baseball.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Oh, look at you.
[00:28:42] Speaker A: I love it. When we won the championship, the divisional and the championship series, they had, they turned the, the locker room into a nightclub. They said, oh, so what. What struck us as hilarious is the nightclub looked exactly like a party that we go to. Called so Good Saturdays at 19 Toronto. And we pulled up two clips of their party and ours. Let me tell you, the lighting was exactly the same.
The shirtless men running around pouring liquids on each other. It was. They say they were all taking selfies. They're glistening. They've got, you know, goggles and hats.
It really felt like.
Yeah. So, you know, it's one of those things where it's like. It's that office meme of Pam holding the two photos, and it's like they're the same photo. Yeah, yeah, it's that. Except the ALCS celebrations and my gay circuit party.
[00:29:34] Speaker C: Amazing.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So that's something that we can look forward to when we win the World Series.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: So for someone who maybe hasn't been to a game, they're just waking up to, you know, they want to get on the bandwagon.
[00:29:48] Speaker C: What are we doing? What do I do?
[00:29:49] Speaker A: What are we doing? A step outside your house or not. Or maybe, you know what, you could just turn your TV on. It will also be there. But I think something about being around other people who are doing the exact same thing as you, that really feels right. It feels. Especially in. In baseball, you know, when people are cheering around you, you're cheering too. You know, it's hard not to participate, hard not to want to get up.
[00:30:09] Speaker C: And celebration really requires someone else as well.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: That's it.
[00:30:13] Speaker C: It's hard to celebrate on your own.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: Shared joy is twice the joy.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: I know you're an East Hengay, but our local LES $3 build. I know they're doing a watch party.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: For some of the games. And is there spots. What about on your end of town?
[00:30:26] Speaker A: I go to my Bills bar, actually does the J. That's where I watched it last. I gotta go back there's again. Superstitious, baby. Superstition is. I. I have to. I have to really. I have to really go back to the same place with the same people who will still be there, drink the same beer, love it. And we're gonna cheer them on. Yeah. But the Garden bar in Bodega at Dundas and Carlis, where I go. So that's my. That's my sports bar. But they'll play at any.
Dude, the drink, which is another. A bar I frequent on Church Street. They're gonna have the game on tonight. And it's just. It's part of. If you're in Toronto, you're gonna see it. You're gonna see the game, you're gonna hear about it. And I think it's they're not going to make it hard for you to participate.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: And it's just, you know what, the thing I will say it's. It's always more fun to, to be in on it than to be a hater.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: It's true. It's true. Happy people don't hate. Haters don't have fun.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: So you wanna, you wanna just. You wanna really just enjoy it and, and it's very silly. This is what I always tell my queer friends. Sports are not that serious.
[00:31:21] Speaker C: Okay?
[00:31:22] Speaker A: You're watching a bunch of millionaires running around throwing balls at each other. What are we doing? That's nothing to get too upset about. It's just that let's just enjoy it while it's here because we don't. We haven't had it in a while and something for the city to be excited about. There's so much to, you know, to really, to really celebrate right now with, with being in Toronto.
[00:31:40] Speaker C: Amazing.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: Yeah, fine. Go Js.
[00:31:43] Speaker A: Go Jays. Go Js. Go James Js. And four, baby. Let's go, brother Js.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: And this has been another episode of Dear Queer. Just a reminder, we are not actually experts. Any advice given should actually come from our experts, who we will bring in from time to time. Music brought to you by Sean Patrick Brennan, produced by myself, Lauren Hogarth, and your host, as always, Elena Papienis.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: I'm getting that.
