As you may have surmised from reading my ongoing Cardboard Tigers series (see them here!), I’m a baseball fan, and specifically of the Detroit Tigers. Watching them on TV over the past few years has been tough, mostly because they haven’t been very good, but also because nearly all of their games are televised on Fox Sports Detroit.
The games are very well-produced. The announcers are okay (when they aren’t causing their own drama in the broadcast booth), though I wish they’d talk a bit less (it’s on TV, guys, we don’t need wall-to-wall chatter).
No, the problem has been, as everything seems to be these days, political. Fox Sports Detroit was, up until 2019, owned by 21st Century Fox, which sold most of its entertainment assets to The Walt Disney Company. As part of the agreement with the federal government allowing the sale, Disney, which also owns the ESPN-branded sports channels, was forced to sell the regional sports operations like Fox Sports Detroit. They found a buyer in Sinclair Broadcasting, one of the few companies both big enough to make such a deal while also somehow being even more right-wing than Fox. So both before and after the sale, I was unhappy knowing that my viewing was helping to make Fox – and then Sinclair – any money at all.
The point is moot, at least right now and at least for me, because my current streaming platform for local channels, YouTube TV, dropped Fox Sports Detroit when they couldn’t come to an agreement over rights fees with Sinclair. Sinclair will also be re-branding their local sports channels, apparently using the Bally name, sometime this year; they were continuing to use the Fox name under license through 2021. Won’t matter to me, they’re still owned by Sinclair, and frankly, the whole intermingling of sports and gambling is also disappointing. I know it’s a big part of sports and always has been, and I’ve been known to place some casual bets with friends and play fantasy sports, but the direct connection and the expansion of legalized betting in Michigan doesn’t strike me as a positive thing. So Bally Sports Detroit, or whatever they end up calling it, isn’t any more appealing than Fox Sports Detroit.
I’m sure executives at Fox Sports Detroit and Sinclair are shaking in their loafers over my extremely quiet boycott of their channel. But it makes me feel better, and I suppose if enough people did it, it might make a difference.
My other windmill-tilt involves CVS, a company I’ve always had good experiences with. Their Marine City store is clean, seems well-run, has good prices on the things I need, and their pharmacy is convenient. (They send a few too many text reminders, but I could stop those if I really wanted to.) However, the last time I went to pick up a prescription, they had a large display of Mike Lindell’s “MyPillow” next to the counter. Mike Lindell, if you’re unaware, is the entrepreneur behind one of the most successful “As Seen On TV” products of recent years, and is also a vocal supporter, both financially and personally, of Donald Trump and the effort to throw out the results of a legally-held election to keep his boy in office for four more years.
So I wrote the following note to the corporate complaint department:
I’ve been a CVS customer for many years. Our local store is staffed by friendly, knowledgable people, I’ve been happy with the value provided by both the local store and CVS.
I was disappointed yesterday, though, when I stopped to pick up a prescription at the Marine City, MI, store. There was a prominent display of the “MyPillow” product next to the pharmacy counter. The CEO of MyPillow, Mike Lindell, is a supporter of the false claim that the 2020 election was “stolen” from President Trump and was also involved as a financial supporter of the rally on January 6 that resulted in a mob invading the U.S. Capitol.
I recognize that Mr. Lindell has the right to sell his products and that CVS has the similar right to select and market whatever products you deem appropriate. I would prefer, however, not to purchase anything from a company that is aligned with someone who is trying to invalidate my vote and cause insurrection. I will be moving my prescriptions as soon as possible.
Again, I’m sure CVS isn’t going to change their decision to sell a popular product because of my complaint. But it felt good to write that measured, yet, quixotic, note.
Now, if you don’t mind, I have to take up my lance and find me a windmill or two.