Best Mascot, Game Promotion, On-Field Promotion
November starts is the final push for the annual Best of Awards. For the eighth year in a row we will present the Best of Gameops.com Awards, this year in eight categories. We have highlighted the categories in the blog for the last few weeks, encouraging you to nominate your favorites or your own promotions, operations, performers or introductions. You can do that by commenting here on the blog or emailing us.
Nominations close on November 15th, providing our panel time to review and discuss the nominations and outstanding elements. Our awards are presented the first week of December.
The final three categories to highlight are:
Best Mascot:
The mascot whose work in was creative and enthusiastic, serving as a valuable tool for their team and in their community. All sports team characters and college mascots are eligible.Best Game Promotion:
What game night promotion was most effective and creative. An example would be President’s Night Game where a team builds an game day promotion around a theme like “Presidents”, perhaps handing out US flags, and having namesakes like “George Washington, Richard Nixon, and George Bush” dropping the puck for a game held on President’s Day. Consider creativity, entertainment value, media exposure, drawing power, and execution of the operations.Best Contest or On-field Promotion:
What promotion or contest is the most entertaining. For example, a “Chuck-a-puck” contest. This is a repeatable on-field promotion that is held in-game. Consider entertainment value, creativity, local connections, sponsorship possibilities, cost, and repeatability.
We have fully updated the last seven years of awards, including more video of several winners. We also added a Best of Awards Home Page, with the categories, history, and introduction of our trophy The Golden Steagle.
Thanks for your submissions, we look forward to honoring the best in the industry again next month.
–Cudo
This one is too easy. The dude that got it last year, from Fresno, has been raising his game all year since then. They had a video up on that team website of an Evolution of Dance that was insane, and I think there are two or three of them.
I’d rank them, 1) Parker from the Fresno Grizzlies, 2) Lucky from the Boston Celtics, 3) Youppi from the Montreal Expos (score one for nostalgia!)
I nominate Parker as the mascot of the year. He is with the Fresno Grizzlies and is magnificent.
I nominate Parker for Best Mascot of the year because he entertains the fans both on the field, in the stands and in the off season as a great ambassador for baseball, Fresno, and the Grizzlies.
Parker for Mascot of the Year 2008
Parker from the Fresno Grizzlies minor league baseball team is “by far” the BEST mascot in the world !! Please check him out on youtube !! Sincerely, season ticket holders, Tom, Adrianna, Arie and Erik Heath
Go Grizzlies !!!
I’d like to nominate Parker for Best Mascot.
He is not only the title holder from last year, he’s proven his worth with a year of stunts, skits and accolades that rivals any mascot in the world!
He lived on the roof of a building for a week.
Named Honorary Mayor of Fresno.
Went toe to toe with the Phillie Phanatic.
Won Promotion of the Year in Minor League Baseball.
Traveled to Tampa Bay and San Francisco for MLB Mascot B-Day Parties.
Named the star of his own off-season mini-series, I Hate the OffSeason.
Devoted reader of GameOps.com
If there is one incumbent who has not suffered this election year, it’s Parker- mascot extraordinaire of the Fresno Grizzlies and reigning GameOps.com Mascot of the Year.
Call him the chief merrymaker, the resident prankster, or the ultimate goofball, but most importantly Parker can be called the face of the Grizzlies franchise and an ambassador for the team around the community and country. The Grizzlies put Parker, all 7 feet of yellow fur of him, at the forefront of most team endeavors. Parker is the consummate performer and the focal point of entertainment of Chukchansi Park. He is the most ubiquitous face in the Central Valley of California. He is the team’s star and beloved by children and adults alike. Not just another pretty face, Parker boasts a strong resume to the table in his case to repeat as Best Mascot in 2008!
Community Relations:
Parker has his own reading program called “Wild About Reading”, that has it’s own sponsor, Huntington Learning Center. Every year from January through March, Parker and Grizzlies staff member visit Central Valley Schools encouraging kids to read with a fun, interactive assembly. The focus of the assembly is reading and fun, as a staff member even reads Parker’s own Book, “Parker Goes To School”.
In 2008, Parker visited 91 schools, performed in 159 assemblies, had 52,190 kids participate in the program where if they each read 10 books, wrote their progress on a bookmark and turned the bookmark in, they were rewarded with 2 tickets to a Sunday Grizzlies Game. This resulted in 4 Sunday games in April and May packed to the brim with Wild About Reading Students.
Public Relations:
For a preseason stunt, Parker left Chukchansi Park and moved to the top of the Security Bank Building in Downtown Fresno and refused to come down until the fans sold out Opening Night. After a week atop the tallest building in Fresno, the home opener sold out and Parker was able to come down for the big game. Along the way to Opening Night festivities, Parker was named Honorary Mayor by Fresno’s Mayor Alan Autry. It was a huge story for the local media, building excitement and awareness for the start of the baseball season.
Parker’s big Promotion for the 2008 season was to take on the Phillie Phanatic in a “Mascot Showdown.” Pitting the best mascot in Major League Baseball against the best mascot in Minor League Baseball, the event was a season highlight that took home MiLB’s 2008 Promotion of the Year Award. Not only was the promotion a great draw for fans, it elevated Parker’s status as one of the most complete mascot performers in the entire country.
He starred in the Grizzlies “Fun. Guaranteed” television campaign and he currently appears in the Grizzlies’ weekly off-season internet mini-series entitled, “I Hate the OffSeason.” Parker is truly visible year round, allowing the Grizzlies to stay top of mind even when most baseball teams drop from public consciousness.
Revenue Generator:
Parker also provides a number of key sponsorship opportunities for the Grizzlies, here are a few:
Parker’s Pickup – Presented by Nissan of Clovis- a tricked out Nissan Titan wrapped in Grizzlies colors and featuring Parker’s larger than life photo; used at Grizzlies games and driven to all Parker appearances in the community.
Parker’s Playhouse – Presented by First 5 of Fresno County – A clubhouse on the main concourse of the ballpark where Parker signs free autographs and takes photos with fans after each and every Grizzlies home game.
Holiday Pools Squirt Buggy – A Buggy used by Parker to squirt and cool down kids on hot summer nights.
San Joaquin Valley Farms Nut of the Game – An on-field promo highlighting Parker’s antics with a fan.
Check out http://www.youtube.com/fresnogrizzlies for videos that show why Parker deserves to repeat as Best Mascot!
I vote for Parker from the Fresno Grizzlies (AAA Baseball) as mascot of the year!
Parker from the Fresno Grizzlies!
Best Mascot:
The returning champion, Parker has to repeat! He has not gotten a big head (still has a big belly) from winning the award last year. In fact he worked harder than ever this past season. Parker entertains the crowd in Fresno even under extreme heat during the summer time. He even out performed the famous Phillie Phanatic in various mascot performances in August. Parker is the best hands down!!
Best Game Promotion:
Total Rad 80’s Night by the Fresno Grizzlies has already gained national attention and a 1st place award from another industry publication. This unique idea drove ticket sales, gained local & national media attention, and provided a one of a kind experience for the fans. I got Johnny Lawrence’s autograph!! Cobra Kai Never Die
Stanley C. Panther for 2008 Mascot of the Year!!!
I vote Parker of the Fresno Grizzlies for the Best Mascot of the Year.
Nomination: Parker with the AAA Fresno Grizzlies Baseball Team.
As a season ticket holder I know how hard he works and what joy he brings to not only the kids who attend but the adults as well. He’s a great ambassador and very talented!
The best game promotion of the year was the Fresno Grizzlies Totally Rad 80’s Night featuring Billy Zabka.
They turned the visiting team’s headshots into Garbage Pail Kids, re-staged the famous fight scene from Karate Kid with their mascot Parker and Zabka took pictures all night with fans.
It was a Totally Rad night in Fresno!
The Fresno Grizzlies Parker is awesome. My kids love to watch his “I Hate the Offseason” internet video series. This way we can enjoy him even from Phoenix. The Grizzlies organization has hit a home-run with him.
This is obviously ballot stuffing!
There is only one mascot of the year for 2008 and that’s Raymond of the Tampa Bay Rays. Thanks to his enthusiastic mascot work, the Rays rocketed from worst to first and made their first ever World Series appearance. Recognize!