The Newark Bears professional baseball team will host “Bird Flu Awareness Night” at their May 26 game. The promotion is mostly tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted and was inspired by a news report that a “mild form of the Avian Flu influenza [was] found in a bird market in Camden County recently.” Any fan that brings a “chicken” related item to the game (such as a rubber chicken or can of chicken soup, etc.) will receive free admission. All fans will receive a surgical air-filter mask upon entering the gates. The mask giveaway is sponsored by the Saint Barnabas Health Care System/Clara Maass Medical Center. In addition, a pre-game chicken wing eating contest will take place on the concourse. (from team media)

Not sure I share the laughs on what could be a pandemic that kills millions globally, but this is sure to catch people’s eye.

The release doesn’t mention it, but I would feel better about this if they were doing something to educate their fans as well.  A one page sheet, player card with medical advice or information or scoreboard announments on what to do in case of an emergency could be considered.

The Toronto Blue Jays did a SARS Awareness Night a couple years ago, that was used to help educate the public after the SARS outbreak in Canada.  the promotion won a Gameops.com Best of Award.

-cudo

Jeb Bush to NFL: Thanks but no thanks
Florida governor ‘flattered,’ but won’t leave office early to be commissioner

I am also flattered to be offered the job, and unlike Jeb I am very willing to leave my office here at the Gameops.com WHQ to take on the responsibility of being NFL commissioner.

Clearly my years spent as the commissioner of the East Stains Fantasy Football League have paid off, and I suppose it was just a matter of time before the NFL called.

I will have to wrap up a couple loose ends here first, but I should be ready to step in on or about May 26th.

My first couple rulings will be:

1.  Anyone suggesting that NFL refs need to be “full-time” will be fined and suspended.  That is just nutz.  If I do allow that, then I will appoint myself a linesman and step down the following Sunday.  Getting paid as a full-timer to work 16 weekends a year is too good to pass up.
2. Reggie Bush can wear number 5.  Actually, anyone can wear any number they want.  Rationing numbers by position was always a tad militaristic and anal retentive for my tastes. In addition, like the XLF, you can have anything you want as your name on the jersey.  “HE HATE ME” is worth millions in jersey sales.
3. End Zone Celebration Rule:  If you don’t dance after a score, it’s only worth 5 points.  Make it funky too.

I also have an open door policy as commish.  Feel free to suggest a new rule via email or as a comment.

-cudo

Calling all lawyers.  The recent lawsuit against the Angels has added a whole new dimension to promotions….protecting yourself from lawsuits.  Mother’s Day giveaways?  Better be handing that to every man and child who enters the turnstiles.  Kid’s Day?  Seniors and adults will certainly claim discrimination.  Just look at the list of teams who are begging to be sued.

The minor league baseball in Ottawa LYNX of celebrated Mother’s Day by hosting a Mother’s Day Brunch Buffet prior to their scheduled game. The buffet cost $13.99 per person and was half-price for kids 12 and under.  In addition, the first 500 moms received a flower upon entering the ballpark for the game, and all moms received a $25 gift certificate to a local spa. (PR)

This team is just asking for it. This violated the rights of every man in Ottawa.

The Boston Red Sox are extending their marketing reach across the country. Backed by a national ad campaign, the team and Major League Baseball are launching an official “Red Sox Nation” club. For $5, fans will get a credit card-sized “citizenship card.” The cards will enable fans to receive discounts on special Red Sox merchandise items. For the Red Sox, it will also enable them to get an idea of how many Red Sox fans are in the country, and where they’re located. (Boston Herald)

With the immigration battle waging, the Red Sox are exposing themselves to a suit brought by undocumented workers and those holding student visas.  Pandering to citizens is a foolish promotion at best, again the Sox are just begging to be sued.

As part of their annual “Girl Scouts Day”, the Miami Dolphins held a cheerleading clinic. 175 Girl Scout members turned out for the event, which was held on the field prior to the game. Overall, the event was credited for the sale of 500 tickets. (TPR)

Boys of central Florida unite!  The class action lawsuit that practically writes itself is right here in Miami.

The Class A Hagerstown Suns are among the minor league teams, mostly in the South, that will bring in Christian entertainers, have players give their testimonies, conduct faith trivia quizzes for prizes and have giveaways that could include biblical bobble-head dolls for “Faith Night” (from USAToday)

Word is that Atheists and Nihilists are uniting together to fight this one.  No one is praying for a happy outcome and half of them don’t believe anything good will become of the legal action.

And finally……an answer to the madness from Altoona PA.

Inspired by a Los Angeles Angels fan who filed a lawsuit against the club because he did not receive a tote bag as part of the team’s Mother’s Day promotion last May, the Altoona Curve of Minor League Baseball will be holding “Salute to Frivolous Lawsuit Night” at their July 2 game. Here is what’s planned: a pink tote bag will be given to the first 137 men ages 18 and over that attend the game; the first 137 women 18 and over will receive lukewarm coffee so they will not burn themselves; the first 137 kids will be given a beach ball with a warning not to ingest it; Angels merchandise and novelty items will be given away throughout the game; some of history’s “most frivolous lawsuits” will be honored; and there will be a grand prize drawing in which one fan will receive a “clue” and their own frivolous lawsuit. (from team PR)

I am assuming that this will die out eventually, since the standard trend is for issues to creep up, come to legal action, be battled in the courts until they are resolved….  however some of these issues can be nipped in the bud if the issues become openly ridiculed and mocked.  Thanks to the staff at the Altoona Curve for cutting directly to powerful mockery, and hopefully putting this to rest.

So I completely and fully endorse the ”Frivilous Lawsuit Appreciation Night”.  Everyone who believes in lawsuits, frivolous or serious, gets a gift bag upon entering the arena, if not a discounted ticket.  At least with this promotion you can feel insulated against those who don’t believe in lawsuits.  They could sue you, but it would be against everything they believe in.   The perfect safety net.

–Cudo

Just a quick hit to explain the new link on our blog (the Bloglines graphic on the right menu).

With the new blog technology, I am learning everyday.  It’s a really powerful tool, especially for those who rely on the web for just about everything (of which, I am guilty).

Thanks to my blog-savvy friend I have embraced Bloglines which is a blog aggregator.

Bloglines is a freeonline service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content.  Bloglines allows you to search for, read and share any updates from your favorite news feed or blog regardless of its authoring technology.

What that means is that it’s a web page that quickly and easily sets you up to read the stuff you want and it tells you when there is new stuff you want available.  I no longer click through my top 10 sites looking for new info….Bloglines tells me when those sites have new info posted, even gives me a summary of the stories so I can decide whether or not to read them.

They don’t have to be just blogs either, in fact Bloglines picks-up the latest news from pretty much any web page (ESPN, news sites like CNN, your favorite news paper columnists, or a majority of professional news and information sites.)

Without sounding like a total shill, you find out quickly that a service like this completely changes how you find news on the web.

You don’t have to attend MIT or be a HTML genius to run this either, just sign up on a service (like Bloglines, ThePort, or Feed Demon) and you can get set up in minutes.  I love the Subscribe feature on Bloglines, you visit the sites you like, just click on the Blogline Address (that you keep in you Favorites) and it adds their feed to your Blogline list.

It’s just great technology.  If you follow this stuff, you know that most people believe this will ultimately replace emails, since it eliminates the possibility of spam….which would be a very welcome elimination.

For those of you scoring at home, this is my second “blog shill”.  The first being my new love for GPS systems.  Perhaps I get really good at shilling and I can change careers, from blogger to corporate shill. 

Stay tuned, any career changes will be announced right here on the Editor’s Blog.

-Cudo

Recently I have been honing my answers (for anyone who’s asking) on what are the best sports promotions.  Last week I wrote about the “White Out” (pros and cons) and this week I wanted to highlight another favorite, the Teddy Bear Toss.

A Teddy bear toss is a popular Christmas season promotion at many minor and junior hockey arenas throughout North America. Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears to the game, and to throw them onto the ice when the home team scores it’s first goal. The toys are then gathered up to be donated as Christmas presents to hospitals and charities. In many cases, the players themselves personally donate some of the bears to children at area hospitals.

Perhaps the most popular example of this promotion is the Calgary Hitmen’s annual toss game, which they bill as “the worlds largest teddy bear toss.” On December 04, 2005, Hitmen fans broke their own CHL record when 13,650 bears were thrown onto the ice after Brodie Dupont scored midway through the first period.

This years event was also a major success in Portland, where Winter Hawk fans threw 10,742 bears onto the ice when Brandon Dubinsky scored the Hawks first goal. Including corporate donations, the Winterhawks sent 21,067 bears to area charities.  from Wikipedia

First of all, you know you have a great promotion when you have a Wikipedia listing.

For the Gameops.com Best of Awards we consider creativity, entertainment value, media exposure, drawing power, and execution of the operations….so if you apply those tests the Toss wouldn’t fair well.

But that doesn’t stop me from thinking it’s a great promotion and one that every team (particularily hockey) teams should consider. 

-cudo

Here is one of the strangest ideas I have heard:

The Lowell Spinners of Minor League Baseball have two official mascots, Canaligator (male) and Allie-Gator (female). The team recently hosted a wedding ceremony for the two mascots.

Nearly 500 people came out to the ballpark for the event, which was a stand-alone activity as the Spinners don’t open their season until June 20. Guests included mascot characters and fans. The wedding cake was made by local school students. The mayor of Lowell presided over the ceremony. The wedding flower bouquet was tossed into the stands for a fan to keep. All fans received Gatorade as they arrived, which was used to toast the mascot couple. (from team PR)

First of all, I was amused that they pointed out that Canaligator and Alliegator were different sexes, particularily in Massachusetts where that really wouldn’t matter.  But it made me wonder….where else can you really do this?  Who else has two suitable ready-to-marry mascots?