Lighten up!

 It's summer.  The world's an awful place in so many ways -- why make it worse?

Recent years have seen a renaming of sports teams to make them not so racist -- the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Commanders being welcome, if unimaginative, replacements.  Not to step into the anti-woke camp, but it's possible to carry this kind of thing too far.  Exhibit A:  The minor league Macon Bacon baseball team.  It's mildly suggestive and is far superior, in my opinion, to the Savannah Bananas.  (Formerly the Sand Gnats, believe it or not.)  Now a fun-free group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine wants it changed because bacon, the best thing ever to happen to pork, is bad for you.  They would prefer the Macon Facon Bacon, which is not only unwieldy but requires an explanatory footnote (Fakin' Bacon, vegetarian bacon substitute, get it?).  Give Macon a break.  Go after a bigger target, doctors.  How about the Green Bay (Meat) Packers?  Or the Dallas (Cattle-Drivin') Cowboys?  

Yeesh.

Speaking of baseball, the superfluous quote of the day comes from LA Angels manager Phil Nevin.  "We were aggressive," said Nevin, by way of explaining the 25-1 victory over Colorado last night in Denver.  Someone doubtless has an elaborate explanation for all the home runs based on the thin air at Coors Field.  With all the new speed-up features introduced this season, why is there none to allow one team to say, "We're not getting anywhere, let's shower and go home early"?

Christian Roberto Lopez Rodriguez of Spain has taken the Guinness Book record for running 100 meters in 12.82 seconds while wearing 2.76-inch stiletto heels.  Now do it backwards.  (Ginger Rogers reference.)

We've been following (with a certain amount of fear) the exploits of the boat-threatening orcas off the Spanish coast.  Enjoy video of an orca nudging one competitor's rudder during a yacht race.  They're smarter than half the Congress.

While the world tries to figure out what just happened in Russia, I can't get over the fact that Yevgeny Prigozhin used to be Putin's caterer.  Apparently he started with a hot dog stand (remember the KGB man in Moscow on the Hudson?), opened a restaurant, then another, and at some point decided that he really wanted to be in the mercenary business.  Only Zelenskyy's transition from sitcom star portraying a president to actual president is more startling.  

As Tony Blinken tries to sort it all out, here he is with Skunk Baxter and Coalition of the Willing performing "Hoochie Coochie Man."  Many roads lead to power.