A Georgia summer baseball team named the Macon Bacon has found itself at the center of a porcine polemic as a group of doctors is urging this outfit to change its name and promote vegetarian “alternatives”.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which promotes plant-based eating, is advocating for the team to be renamed “Macon Facon Bacon”, according to a local CBS affiliate. This medical organization has posted a new billboard urging Macon Bacon fans to “keep bacon off your plate” to prevent cancer, and committee leadership has written to team management requesting a name change.
“Macon Bacon’s glorification of bacon, a processed meat that raises the risk of colorectal cancer and other diseases, sends the wrong message to fans,” the committee nutrition leader Anna Herby reportedly wrote to team president Brandon Raphael. “I urge you to update the team’s name to Macon Facon Bacon and promote plant-based bacon alternatives, such as Facon Bacon or Mushroom Bacon, that will help your fans stay healthy. As for Kevin, Macon Bacon’s mascot, he can reveal that he is actually plant-based bacon.”
At Luther Williams Field, where the Macon Bacon play, concession items include “Bacon Wrapped Bacon, Steak Cut Bacon, Bacon Cheeseburger, Bacon Dog, Bacon Loaded Cheese Fries, Bacon Loaded Mac N Cheese and Bacon Chips,” the CBS affiliate notes.
In a statement to the news station, Raphael expressed disappointment that the group had expressed “disapproval of our branding” and said there was a “plant-based option” on the ballpark’s menu.
“The Macon Bacon do not view ourselves as a glorification of an unhealthy lifestyle; rather, we pride ourselves on being a fun-natured organization focused on bringing families and communities together of middle Georgia and beyond,” Raphael’s statement reportedly said.
“We take great pride in the Macon Bacon naming rights (which our fans voted on in 2018), as we get to witness the smiles and laughter from our fanbase – who have supported our branding since our inception – that stems from the brand’s lighthearted and playful nature. We are a family-friendly organization and we are extremely grateful for our fans.”
Raphael also insisted: “The Macon Bacon will be sizzling forever and will not consider a name change. Ever.”
Raphael expanded on this in an interview with the Guardian on Saturday.
“At first I thought it was joke when I got the letter,” Raphael said, but as he kept reading, he realized it wasn’t a cheeky missive from a fan. “This one had a serious tone to it.”
Raphael had no intention of responding, thinking “good for them”, that they had reached out and taken a stance, even if he vehemently disagreed with the anti-bacon platform.
“When they went after our mascot,” a lifesize strip of bacon named Kevin after Footloose star Kevin Bacon, “That was kind of it.” A plant-based Kevin was out of the question.
“Our mascot is just so well beloved in our community,” Raphael said. “It’s supposed to be fun – we’re here for the right reasons. We represent our community. We represent middle Georgia, we represent our league.”
Raphael added: “We’re disappointed that they think that we are glorifying bacon in the eyes of our fans. By no means was it meant to become a national topic.”
Raphael insists bacon is here to stay. “We’re not going to change our name,” he said. “Why should we?
“We’re just a sports team – we’re just hanging out in Macon, Georgia, doing our thing.”
Dr Neal Barnard, who heads the committee, didn’t see the humor in the team’s name.
“It’s not debatable, bacon causes cancer,” Barnard claimed. Colorectal cancer rates, he said, are rising amount younger persons, including in Georgia.
“Here’s the problem: A guy brings his child to a ballgame, the child is six years old and there’s a mascot, a person in a bacon costume, and they’re selling, I am not making this up – bacon wrapped bacon, steak-cut bacon, bacon-loaded cheese fries, bacon chips,” Barnard said. “The child learns to associate this food with fun, with America’s favorite sport, with his family, and that child grows up with a taste for food that causes intestinal cancer in exactly the same way that cigs cause intestinal cancer.
“You would never call this team the Macon Cigarettes or Team Asbestos because people know that [they] cause cancer.”
The Macon Bacon’s first season was in 2018 after supporters voted for its name. The Coastal Plain League team has gotten support from Kevin Bacon, who according to the Associated Press donned a Macon Bacon cap on an Instagram post. The league is a summer league whose participants play college baseball.
