I'm not going to read The Wire's obituary again, but if you don't know who David Simon is, he's one-half of the creative duo that breathed life into the best television show of the past decade, The Sopranos (arguably) excepted. He's also been labeled by The Atlantic as "The Angriest Man in Television," a title one imagines Simon is honored by.
Simon is also a baseball fan, and in this conversation with Washington Times writer Thom Loverro, Simon has a few words for Bud Selig and Major League Baseball. Specifically, that they can "kiss [his] pale, white ass,"
But let me say this about the official side of Major League Baseball: They can kiss my pale, white ass. Seriously. Although that sequence reflected in no negative way on baseball itself -- a reporter was making up a story about a handicapped fan for his own benefit -- MLB considered our request to film on stadium property and use MLB logos and then denied the request. Unless our drama pretty much exalts baseball as the greatest game ever played by the greatest bunch of people ever to play a game, MLB will not allow the use of its logos or facilities in any act of storytelling. I find this cowardly and venal and offensive. A game that claims to be the national pastime should be confident enough and respectful enough of independent storytelling to allow itself to be seen within the context of ordinary American life.
Fortunately for the show, the sequence Simon is referring to suffered little for MLB's obstinance. I can understand the league's desire to not be a target in The Wire's dangerously precise purview, but to deny an innocuous request like that one seems really weird. Then again, weird is just another day in Bud Selig's office.
