Macon Bacon isn’t going anywhere.
The Georgia-based collegiate summer league baseball team released a statement Thursday, after being sent a letter from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine stating they need to stop the “glorification of bacon.”
The team made it very clear: “Bacon Yesterday. Bacon Today. Bacon Tomorrow.
“Bacon Forever.”
We have released the following statement regarding the Macon Bacon team name:
Bacon Yesterday. Bacon Today. Bacon Tomorrow.
Bacon Forever.#DripGrease || #StartTheSizzle
— Macon Bacon ? (@GoMaconBacon) June 22, 2023
Never changing? #BaconForever
— Macon Bacon ? (@GoMaconBacon) June 23, 2023
The feud started earlier this month when the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine decided to erect a billboard trying to pursue fans of the team to stop eating bacon and sent a letter to Brandon Raphael, the president of Macon Bacon, according to WMGT-TV.
The letter, written by the nutrition education program manager Anna Herby, stated, “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 letter added the team should “promote plant-based bacon alternatives” and said the team could instead be named “Macon Facon Bacon.”
This may be the new gold standard. Its the Macon Bacon mascot and his name is kevin. pic.twitter.com/VGGAWKiUxK
— Rich Rito (@themoocher828) April 24, 2023
“As role models in the community, Macon Bacon should set a good example for fans and stop promoting bacon.”
At first, Raphael didn’t believe it was real, WMGT reported.
He stated he initially thought “it was a joke” from some fans, “which is a lot of fun.”
“But as I started realizing that this was more of a serious tone,” Raphael said. “I really sat down and had a chance to read it and collect my thoughts a little bit about what this was about.”
The team president added: “Fans voted on the name in 2018, so Macon Bacon is our name, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.”
Raphael eventually doubled down on the community connection as the main reason for not changing the name.
“We just wanted to make it known that we’re not interested in changing our name for anybody because we are the Macon Bacon, and we are the team of the community here,” he said.
The Macon Bacon are in the West Division of the Coastal Plain League, a wood-bat amateur summer league. To participate in the league as a player, you must have played at least one season of college baseball and still have at least one season of college eligibility left.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.