I’m worried that sometime in the near future, comedy and jokes will just be outlawed.
It has become clear in the past decade, or possibly even going back further, that the amount of people that can “take a joke” are becoming more and more rare. It’s a shame, and it’s also the reason why you haven’t rushed to a movie theatre to see a comedy since 2010 (think about it!).
What ever happened to having a little fun, right? This minor league baseball team in Minnesota, the creatively named St. Paul Saints, is just trying to have a good time. That’s kind of minor league baseball’s thing.
So to spice things up for the people that attend their games, they trot out a freshly named “ball pig” every season, whose job is to deliver the game ball to the home plate umpire. They have a “Name the Pig” contest to choose the title of their mascot each year, and this year’s winning name has caused quite the controversy.
OzemPig.
On their team’s website, they told the story of how the pig’s name came to be, with the St. Paul Saints eventually deciding to hop on board with the “weight-loss drug” that everyone has been talking about lately: Ozempic.
“The competition was fierce as celebrities, award-winning films, and big-time athletes made a run at being crowned the winner. One pig, however, stood out above all the rest promising to change the way pigs are viewed by the rest of the world.
He promises to spend the first half of the season in the best shape possible, curb the five to seven pounds of food he eats in a day, and bring a positive light to his name as the Saints unveil their 2024 ball pig…OzemPig.”
The story of OzemPig was supposed to somewhat inspirational as the swine, or at least the story along with it, was supposed to be aiming to lose weight during the season. However, many people online quickly called out the minor league team and accused them of fat-shaming.
When really, all they were doing was nicknaming their mascot with a funny, topical title fit for a pig. They clearly don’t take the process all that serious, considering some of the past names of their ball pigs:
-Squealon Musk
-867530Swine
-Chop Gun: MaveRib
-Space Ham
-Porknite
-Pablo Pigasso
-Slumhog Millionaire
-Notorious P.I.G.
-Kevin Bacon
Despite the backlash, the St. Paul Saints are moving forward with OzemPig for the season. Like the drug itself, naming the pig OzemPig came with some not-so-pleasant side effects, but the minor league team is choosing to power through it.
