Tag: marketing

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MLB General

Odds and Ends: Britney Spears Baby Safety Night



Ron Mexico strikes again

Ahhh those crazy minor league baseball teams and their attempts to get people to their ballparks. Tonight, the Newark Bears are hosting Britney Spears Baby Safety Night where information about baby safety will be handed out as fans dressed as babies, bringing baby toys or an actual baby will get in for free. In the spirit of Britney’s white trash hitting it big story, lottery tickets will be given out to the first 2000 fans.

No word on when ‘How-not-to-be-a-disgusting-ho-with- herpes-by-the-time-you’re-15 Jamie Lynn Spears Night’ is.

In other news…

[ESPN]:NFL debuts ref’s ugly new uniforms

[MSNBC]: Dateline’s Stone Phillips investigates how Terrell Owens could be the silent killer of your children!

[Pittsburgh Post Gazette]: Big Ben’s comeback is right on track

[NY Post]: Bill Laimbeer says he could have done a better job than Larry Brown

[NBC4]: San Jose football player arrested for robbing people via craigslist

[The Oregonian]: Akili Smith is waiting for a call

[Phillyville]: Could the Phils end up with the NL Wild Card?

Categories
Miami Heat

Shaq to promote Li-Ning shoes

Sina.com is reporting that Shaq has signed with Chinese shoe company Li-Ning to promote their shoes. Shaq follows in the footsteps of former teammate Damon Jones, the first NBA player to sport Li-Ning. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

We find this highly ironic since a couple of years ago, Shaq directed a racial taunt at Yao Ming via a reporter:


Tell Yao Ming, `ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.’

Here’s what we have learned about sports marketers in the past year: 81 points erases a rape charge and infidelity; another championship ring erases racial remarks and being a dumbass. If Fuzzy Zoeler won another PGA event, KFC might come calling with some sponsorship dollars.

Links:
[China Daily]: Shaq to promote LiNing sneakers

Categories
New York Yankees

Johnny Damon’s agent can suck it

You’d think Johnny Damon would have more things to worry about than a woman selling “Damon Sucks” bibs on ebay. (Like what the hell is going on inside A-Rod’s head.) But recently his agency, Scott Boras Corp, (currently neck and neck with Drew Rosenhaus for biggest asshole agent) decided to file a complaint against a woman selling Damon Sucks bibs on ebay.

The woman selling the bibs, Ann Sylvia, fought back with the argument that he couldn’t prove that she didn’t mean other players like Damon Hollins. Boras Corp attorney Lubner made a compromise — she couldn’t use “Johnny”, “Boston”, Red Sox”, “New York” or “Yankees” in the listing.

So the long and short of it is that Damon’s agents are a bunch of jackasses and this woman now gets a lot of free publicity for her ebay items. Good work, Lubner. Your christmas bonus this year will be a bib.

Links:

[Fox Sports]: Internet baby gear hits nerve with Damon

Categories
New York Mets

Crazy ass religions and sports shouldn’t mix

By now we’ve all gotten used to the prayer circles after the game and thanking God after every play, good or bad. But when David Wright is doing a commercial for a faith healer in the middle of the season, that’s going a little too far.

Hi, I’m David Wright. I invite you to the ‘Salvation Miracles Revival Crusade’ with Dr. Jaerock Lee, at Madison Square Garden, July 27, 28 and 29.

It’s hard to imagine athletes, who work hard in rehab to recover from injuries (and they’re usually the fastest healers on the planet) would believe in something as ridiculous as faith healing. We can’t gather any more information about the event because all the websites devoted to it are in Spanish and Korean. What we do know is that all three nights of the event have been sold out. Either there are a lot of foolish believers out there or David Wright is a hell of a pitch man.

Oh and if you’re a nutjob who believes in this stuff, save your hate emails. We have a mail filter for crazy.

Links:

[NY Post]: YA GOTTA BELIEVE

Categories
MLB General

July 12 in Sports History: Disco Sucks!

In 1976: Owner Ted Turner of the Atlanta Braves offers perhaps one of the goofiest promotions of all time to fans attending the game versus the Mets. First, 34 couples were married in a ceremony at home plate. Then, Turner held a card for his fledgling Championship Wrestling league on the field; thus the (I guess) appropriately named “Headlocks and Wedlocks” promotion.

In 1979: As strange as Turner’s promotion might have been, it doesn’t hold a candle (or should I say blowtorch?) to a charter member of the Sick Promotions Hall of Fame: Disco Demolition Night at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. The White Sox were playing a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers, and White Sox owner Bill Veeck encouraged fans to exchange their unwanted disco records for a dollar admission to the game. Fans also brought records into the game and were tossing them like Frisbees. It quickly got ugly, as Chicago DJ Steve Dahl blew up a box of disco records in center field (and tearing a hole in the field). Fans quickly rushed the field, started their own fires, and police in riot gear had to clear the field. The White Sox forfeited the second game of the doubleheader.

Categories
San Diego Padres

Padres minor league team has Tom Cruise night

Hey folks, it’s Tom Cruise night at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore! That means bring your ridiculously hot brainwashed girlfriend and leave your boyfriend at home! (zing!)

The Lake Elsinore Storm (class A affiliate of the Padres) are giving away bobble-couches to the first 1,500 fans. In addition there will be a couch jumping contest and a “silent inning” to commemorate ridicule the recent silent birth of TomKat’s daughter. God bless those minor league teams and their promotions. Remember the Minnesota team that gave out the Vikings Love Boat collectible?

Links:

[SignOnSanDiego]: Couch potato, get out there tonight

Categories
Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee Bucks get a newer meaner logo

In addition to drafting David Noel and getting Damir Makota last night, the Milwaukee Bucks unveiled their new logo and color scheme. It’s not much different from the logo they adopted in 1993 but gone is the purple and replaced by “striking” red. Can’t you imagine a bunch of suits sitting in a conference room going, “yeah yeah.. we’ll go red… red is fierce!… red means we’re gonna be a force to be reckoned with!” Then they proceeded to spent countless man hours and thousands of dollars with creative consultants to do a simple color replace that anyone with photoshop skills could’ve done in 2 minutes. Frankly, we kinda liked the original Bucks logo. Now that was fierce.

The new uniforms won’t be unveiled until September. And if history is any guide, it’s the uniforms that will create the most shock and disgust. Remember the Sixers uniform from the early nineties? Barkley hated them so much he said it looked like his 5 year old daughter drew them with crayon.

Links:
[Bucks.com]: Bucks Unveil Updated Logo, New Color Scheme

Categories
Soccer

Odds and Ends (06.28.06) – Betting on the World Cup is better than sex



Not better than gambling

England’s Loughborough University is studying the effects of placing a bet on a soccer match on fans’ heart rates.


The heart rates that we have recorded throughout the first stage of the study are in line with those experienced by an individual reaching sexual climax, and in some cases greater than that. When you combine supporting your team with backing them financially, the level of excitement gets even greater.

We learned a long time ago never to place a bet on our team. Maybe that’s why we still prefer sex… although betting on football is a close second.

In other news…

[NBA.com]: NBA introduces new game ball that provides better grip.

[CBS News]: Budweiser paid $40M for the beer rights to the WC. Germans refuse to drink the piss.

[EurWeb]: Michael Strahan isn’t gay… or has a great beard.

[SignOnSanDiego]: An actual uplifting baseball story. (via Rangersfans.com)

[MetsBlog]: Sox Fans Forgive Buckner

Categories
Soccer

Gee, why would anyone be offended by Jesus Christ-pose and blood paint

It’s not exactly the “hand of God” but the “pose of Rooney” is drawing a lot of criticism in England from politicians and religious leaders. Nike, which usually has inventive and celebrated commercials, really took a misstep on this one. Or several missteps as Rev Rod Thomas of Church of England evangelical group Reform contends.


It’s quite a disturbing image and because the paint is wet, it really looks like blood.

It’s offensive on several different levels.

It therefore brings to mind the crucifixion to many people, and why Nike would want to do that, I haven’t a clue, unless it is simply as a publicity stunt.

The trivialisation of Christ’s suffering is highly offensive to Christians and to God. This will cause real hurt to people.

The other aspect of it is the aggression contained in it, bound up with the flag of St George, which you might see as a throwback to the Crusades, which is hardly going to go down well with Muslim countries. It’s offensive on several different levels.

Nike has issued a statement that the pose has nothing to do with the crucifixion at all and issued the standard ‘apologize to anyone who might have been offended’ non-apology.

Links:

[Daily Mail UK]: Nike attacked over Rooney ‘warrior’ picture
[Sports marketing Bulletin]: Rooney’s bloody red cross for Nike causes uproar

Categories
General Sports

Apple and Nike take over the world

We spend most of our time camped out on the couch watching sports but once in a while, we’ll actually lace up the old asics and go for a run. But if Apple and Nike have their way, no run would be complete without an ipod nano and a pair of Nike+ shoes.

The two companies (along with spokesman Lance Armstrong) announced the Nike+Apple Sport Kit today at a news conference in New York. The $29 kit includes a sensor that fits into custom Nike+ shoes (The $100 Nike+ Air Zoom Moire will be the first Sport Kit compatible shoes released.) and a wireless receiver that plugs into the bottom of the nano. The nano displays and stores a bunch of data during your run and when you’re done, will automatically upload your data to nikeplus.com.

The iPod will also have a “Power Song” feature that plays your designated song when you need that extra boost at the end. Is there any question it should be David Hasselhoff’s Looking for Freedom?

Links:
[Business Week]: Nike, Apple team up on iPod running gear

[Apple.com]: Nike+Apple Sport Kit product page