I guess it's supposed to set up a connection between athleticism and potency, but I was still slightly taken aback last week while watching a broadcast on NHK of a major league baseball game. Behind home plate there was an advertisement for Viagra.

I don't have figures, but I would bet that the space behind home plate is the priciest advertising location in the whole stadium, since the camera spends more time focused on that spot than on any other. Some stadiums put a contraption there that changes the sign periodically so that more advertisers can use it. (It also means that NHK unwittingly shills for Viagra.)

What was even more interesting was that the Viagra sign included the Major League Baseball logo, which would seem to indicate that the big leagues not only approve of pharmaceutical advertisements, but that they endorse this particular one. Aside from the obvious conflict of an organized, professional sport getting behind prescription drugs, how, exactly, would Major League Baseball carry out such an endorsement? Will players start offering personal testimonials for the wonders of the little blue pills, as they do for Wheaties?