The New York Times reports that, just prior to the World Series, Major League Baseball issued a memo to teams, telling them to limit the amount of champagne provided for victory celebrations, to offer non-alcoholic beverages for spritzing purposes, banning beer and other types of alcoholic drinks from the showers and telling teams are not allowed to bring the drinks on the field.
My opposition to the showers is less about the alcohol itself than the fact that these things have become so rote and scripted and common, but hey, if any of these new guidelines discourage the practice, more power to them.
One question I do have is about banning beer from the showers. Aren’t there sponsorships involved here? Doesn’t Budweiser or whoever provide the plastic that covers the lockers, slapping their logo on them? Could this be one instance in which an actual, principled decision takes precedence over a marketing interest? If so, someone get me a fainting couch, because I can’t believe it.