Credit where it is due, Fox News beat me to the panties-in-a-twist headline, but how can one resist with a story like this? Via Fox:

When two burly men walked into a Missouri women’s underwear store Tuesday, the owners didn’t think much of it — until the pair flashed their Homeland Security badges and confiscated several dozen panties bearing the initials “KC” in honor of the Kansas City Royals.
Danielle Meister, co-owner of Birdies Panties shop, said the undercover agents seized the lingerie, claiming the store violated copyright laws by selling underwear with “Take the Crown” and “KC” printed across the rear. Meister and her business partner, Peregrine Honig, said they wanted to celebrate the success of their hometown team — which on Wednesday night beat the San Francisco Giants to tie the World Series at one game apiece — by designing the panties.

The offending apparel can be seen here.

There are two points to be made here. First, it is probably true that “counterfeit merchandise is a serious problem,” in the words of Major League Baseball spokesman Matt Bourne. And the Department of Homeland Security regularly makes confiscatory visits around major sporting events not because we regard knock-off athletics gear as a national security threat but because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is housed under DHS. Meister and Honig were in violation of the law, so the visit was warranted. But there remains something a touch cringeworthy about brawny federal agents seizing ladies’ delicates from two hometown fans. “[The agents] did not seem to want to carry out their appointed task that day,” said Meister, recounting the two men professionally required “to stand there and count the panties.” This situation — somewhat like police visits to lemonade stands — is a reminder that the law is always brushing up against concerns about community and the array of human relations that is, in principle, not justiciable.

The second point is more of a suggestion: Several outlets have noted that the current World Series is experiencing record-low television viewership. If the executives at Major League Baseball were truly canny, they would not clamp down on Meister and Honig. They would encourage the gals to sell, sell, sell, and then invite some of their comely customers to advertise their purchase at the games. That would probably increase viewership. At least, among a certain demographic.