Communist Mets?

[Lefty Specialist]

Seems that the Mets are either witting or unwitting accompices to the Chinese Communist Party.



‘Chinese Culture' is not Chinese Communism. Somebody tell the New York Mets.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/04/mets-china-baseball/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/04/mets-china-baseball/



Some excerpts for those who can't read the article:



But the “Evening of Chinese Culture” is about more than community outreach. The Mets' partner for the event is the Sino-American Friendship Association, which some China experts have identified as involved in United Front work — a global effort to propagandize on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.



***



The perfect symbol of what's wrong with the Mets' gimmick is the baseball cap giveaway. The underside of the brim features images commemorating the Year of the Tiger. The outside — the most visible part — displays the Mets logo in red and yellow to coordinate with the national flag of the People's Republic of China emblazoned on the cap's left side.



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FY1ykbcXwAAaBK5?format=jpg&name=small>

***



It's tempting to dismiss the Mets' fiasco as merely another instance of Chinese sportswashing. But the timing of this one is especially bad. It's not great optics to be giving away PRC-flag hats the same week the regime menaced the U.S. speaker of the House and launched missiles near its democratic neighbor.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Sportswashing?

[kcmets]

From the Wikithang:

[bLOCKQUOTE]Sportswashing is the practice of an individual, group, corporation, or government using sport to improve their tarnished reputation, through hosting a sporting event, the purchase or sponsorship of sporting teams, or by participation in the sport itself. At the international level, sportswashing has been used to direct attention away from poor human rights records and corruption scandals; at the individual or corporate level, sportswashing may be used to cover up vices, crimes, or scandals. Sportswashing is an example of reputation laundering.[/bLOCKQUOTE]

[MFS62]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Seems that the Mets are either witting or unwitting accomplices to the Chinese Communist Party.

I would guess unwitting.



Later

[Lefty Specialist]

LIV Golf is the classic example of sportswashing, putting a pretty face on an oppressive and corrupt Saudi regime.

[MFS62]

When I saw the definition, that was the first example that came to mind.

And then I remembered China hosting the Olympics.

Later

[Fman99]

Sportswashing is a dumb made up word. Having said that, I dig that red/yellow Mets combo. That shit is cool.

[Lefty Specialist]

=Fman99 post_id=102461 time=1659723456 user_id=86]
Sportswashing is a dumb made up word. Having said that, I dig that red/yellow Mets combo. That shit is cool.

[Frayed Knot]

The word may be made up (aren't all words made up?) but the concept is real.

This new LIV golf tour is backed by Saudi money but the matches (only a handful so far) take place in various locations (none in the mid-east afaik) and doesn't

represent the nation of S.A. in any overt way. The Putin Olympics (Socchi winter '16) -- like Hitler's '36 games -- the two recent ones in Beijing (summer '08,

winter '22), and the upcoming World Cup in Qatar are better examples IMO. All of those made worse in that they were bestowed by international organizations

only too willing to take the cash while ignoring the consequences. But if there are more corrupt and soulless orgs than the IOC and FIFA I don't want to know them.





As far as the NYM hat, I'd be fine with the colors as a one-off community building idea if it didn't also incorporate the flag. You're trying to honor Chinese,

presumably Chinese-American, culture, not the increasingly aggressive and threatening government of China.

[Edgy MD]

That's not a distinction that baseball teams, including the Mets, always do a great job of drawing.



[fimg=600]https://www.si.com/.image/t_share/MTY4MjU5NzM4OTE3NDgwMzQ5/image-placeholder-title.jpg[/fimg]

[Frayed Knot]

Or an entire league: see NBA & China

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

So, I went to China for work in 2015. I have the China team cap from the World Baseball Classic that looks like what the Mets re giving away, but with a C instead of the Mets NY (or the tiger on the under brim.) It has the flag on the side. It's a cool cap.



Is the author saying that just by using the colors of the Chinese flag, the Mets are promoting communism? Was she hoping instead for a blue cap with a panda on it?



Seems like a bit of a stretch.

[ashie62]

There is pink washing and green washing also.





The Mets are not washing anything but their uni





Calling this a Mets fiasco is hyperbole.





Can we all lighten up? Bejeezus.

[ashie62]

As expected from the Washington Post.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: That's not a distinction that baseball teams, including the Mets, always do a great job of drawing.

Or they can fall on their face trying to pander (no pun intended) to a group, and become an embarrassment.

Remember the salute to Mike Jacobs on Jewish Heritage night? Then they found out he isn't Jewish.



Later

[Edgy MD]

I'm pretty sure that wasn't the Mets.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm pretty sure that wasn't the Mets.

http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=392http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=392

They mention the Mets holding the event, then say "right, Florida?" so I'm not sure if the Mets or Florida made the mistake.

Either way, it IS an example of pandering and the team that did it made a mistake.

Later

[Edgy MD]

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take away from that, and I wish you'd understand that we discourage the posting of blind links here. It's considered bad form.



The piece you link to, as badly written as it is, says nothing of the Mets making such an error, and in fact clearly implicates the then-Florida Marlins in the last paragraph.



It was indeed the Marlins who gave away a t-shirt featuring Mike Jacobs on Jewish Heritage Night. There wasn't a salute to him. There just was a tee-shirt giveaway, and it happened to coincide with Jewish Heritage night. They denied there was any effort to present Jacobs as a Jew to celebrate. Jacobs said he didn't know what the big deal was. The shirt didn't picture him wearing a yarmulke or next to a star of David or with his name in Hebrew characters.



And again, it wasn't the Mets.

[MFS62]

I never said it was specifically the Mets in this instance. Responding to your sentence:

That's not a distinction that baseball teams, including the Mets, always do a great job of drawing.

For my future posts, you've mentioned this before, but I'm not sure what "blind link" means.

It wasn't a pass through from ,say, a Yahoo to there. It was the link directly to that site.

What do you consider a "non blind" link?

Later

[Edgy MD]

A blind link is a link to another website with no description or indication where the link goes.



As for "I never said it was specifically the Mets in this instance," that's silly. You of course implied that you were referring to the Mets, in quoting me and posting the link as a retort.



Editing your post after the fact doesn't change that. Do you somehow think I'm so stupid as to not realize that?



Please don't quote me if you don't intend to be honest. Way too much time and space is wasted on disingenuous litigation on this site as it is.

[MFS62]

My edit to the post was to ask the question about a blind link. I also find myself going back into posts because the keys on my new computer's keyboard stick and I later see that letters are omitted or doubled. Very frustrating.

I thought the title of the site, which was visible in my link was sufficient. Does that mean I have to quote some part of the linked article? I'm being serious. I want to play by the rules. How specifically should I do that?



Later

[nymr83]

Edgy MD wrote: That's not a distinction that baseball teams, including the Mets, always do a great job of drawing. [fimg=600]https://www.si.com/.image/t_share/MTY4MjU5NzM4OTE3NDgwMzQ5/image-placeholder-title.jpg[/fimg]

Who is the Blue Jay on the left? his face says "smile harder or they'll kill my family back home"

[seawolf17]

My first thought was "young Carlos Delgado," but now that I look again, maybe not.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I like to think those are all stay-on-the-asshole's-good-side smiles. But he fooled the Mets, so maybe it wasn't clear what a beast the guy was.



I wonder if he had already fixed the 2020 election by that point.



Delgado is from Puerto Rico so I don't think it's him.

[Edgy MD]

Duh, it's Tomorrow's Kwiz Today star Kelvim Escobar.

[seawolf17]

Found him. Kelvim Escobar is Venezuelan.

[Edgy MD]

I got it first! I got it first!



Mom, tell him I got Escobar first!!

[kcmets]

Who is the Blue Jay on the left? his face says "smile harder or they'll kill my family back home"

That's pretty funny! (well, I mean ya know...)

[Frayed Knot]

I think I remember Edgardo from that game saying (later) that he supported the opposition party but appeared with Chavez out of Venezuelan solidarity.

[Ceetar]

New York City is home to the second-largest Taiwanese American population, after the Los Angeles metropolitan area, California, enumerating an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 individuals as of 2020.

Disappointing, but not surprising really. Anything for a buck.



see also: Chick Fil-A ads still there on Pride Night. I know some bristled at the Amway deal for grift/pyramid scheme reasons, though that was the last group. Similar grifty things with selling NFTs of Tom Seaver. The military has been using sports for the same reasons for decades. And these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head and am aware of. I'm sure there are dozens more.







But I guess they're also having a "Taiwan day" later on this month? (Which just suggests it's "anything for a buck" with these things more than a tacit approval of communism and China)

A portion of each ticket sold through this special online offer will benefit Give2Asia, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, supporting Taiwan-based charities.

Though the dropdown for Give2Asias lists it as "China - Taiwan" which doesn't seem to suggest this a particularly separate donation, but they seem like standard "people level" type support at least. I have no idea how reputable Give2Asia is or what portion of sales is actually going there though. That's often part of the "sportswashing" stuff, big publicity that doesn't match the amount actually donated.