The Inside Scoop On Tom Cruise Bobblecouch Night

Last week, we told you about the Lake Elinore Storm's giveaway of Tom Cruise Bobblecouches at a game on June 30. Well, a reader, Trevor from Corona, Calif., actually went to the game, and he says there was more to the evening than just a bobblehead. His full report:

At first, it was tough to tell whether or not they were making fun of Tom Cruise & Scientology. The LA Times article was ambiguous (mentioning that there was a booth to provide information on Scientology), and knowing that the secret Scientology headquarters is just 15 miles away in Hemet, it seemed very probable that they were actually promoting Scientology. Glancing around at the crowd, I noticed a fair amount of attendees who seemed out of place for a baseball game. They had lost looks on their faces — Scientologists perhaps? I made it a point to keep an eye on them throughout the game.

In the middle of the 4th inning, the jumbotron cleared up the mystery. All of a sudden, I look up to see the "Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet" South Park episode. They are showing the scene when he firsts goes into the closet in Stan's room. Classic! I quickly glanced at my "Scientology suspects," and there seems to be some level of confusion amongst them. To my chagrin, they muted the sound once Tom entered the closet. Not sure of what just happened, my suspects weren't fazed.

Fast forward to the middle of the 6th. South Park back on, sound on full blast this time. And oh yes — we got the goods. A good 2-3 minutes of Mr. Cruise being persuaded to come out of the closet, including the John Travolta scene. Keep in mind that this is Lake Elsinore, Calif.: a place where people really like to hate gay people. Combine the Jumbotron scene with a crowd full of gay-bashers, and any Scientologists in the crowd would get a bit uncomfortable. Sure enough, I noticed at least five different groups of people grabbing their bobbleheads and leaving the game in disgust. It totally made my night.

Minor league baseball rules.

The Bobble Boy [Deadspin]

(UPDATE: By the way, there has been some discussion of whether or not Mr. Trevor is bashing gay people in this report. We'd like to clear the air and say no, we don't think so. Simply pointing out that the Lake Elsinore crowd tends to be anti-gay does not a gay-basher make. Though it does make we and everyone we know considerably less likely to go to a game in Lake Elsinore.)