Random musings of Jeromey Balderrama
With the recent Brandon Marshall fiasco, it’s easy to forget just how classy Broncos receivers can be. Check out this video of Ron Zappolo interviewing Rod Smith & Ed McCaffrey – two of the Broncos greats:
This makes you wish they’d still suit up and play. I don’t know what was more classic: the interview itself; or the fact that Ron Zappolo, who is missed sports staple in Denver, interviewed them.
Quick Reaction: Even though we’ve grown tired of Bill Belicheat’s hoodie (which has also spawned Josh McDaniels taking that tradition to Denver), it seems that another coach has decided to join this exclusive club of fashion-insensitive coaches: Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays coach Joe Maddon (Maddon, not Madden):
Maddon’s hoodie however, has caused much more controversy, since baseball still insists that baseball managers need to wear the same uniform that their batters and pitchers have on. Yes, they may be permitted to wear a team coat if it’s cold, but certainly not a hoodie. All that changed this month when MLB Brass decided that Maddon wearing a hoodie would not ruin the tradition of the game, and reversed their original ruling.
Belicheat, inspired by Maddon’s courage, decided to send him a Patriots hoodie. However the story didn’t specify whether Belicheat chopped off the sleeves before he sent it.
This story reminds me just how ridiculous it is to see these middle-aged & older men wearing these baseball uniforms as if they’re going to step into the batter’s box. This makes as much sense as having Josh McDaniels or Mike Shanahan strap on some shoulder pads, or George Karl putting on some baggy shorts. I’m glad baseball’s loosened the reins a bit for cold weather gear, but they should really relax these rules for all games. Maddon admitted he didn’t want to wear a shirt & tie, but it’d be nice to see these managers in a nice polo or something.
Spring is here, and with the beautiful weather comes the start of the baseball season. The Rockies had their Home Opener today (which they won), and with it I wanted to re-tell a story from 2 & 1/2 years ago and re-iterate my plea for the Rockies to incorporate an important aspect of the game day experience into their game:
Back in 2007, when the Rockies were on their historic hot-streak, we went to the last game of the season. This turned out to be a pivotal game, which required the Rockies to win and the Padres to lose, which led to that 1-game playoff for the Wild Card. The atmosphere was amazing, and being a loyal Broncos fan I turned to my tailgating kit to help us prepare for this game. We brought out our well-used grill to cook some steaks, when we were approached by stadium security (who was an off-duty police officer). I was shocked to find out that Tailgating at Rockies Games are not allowed! The officer was really nice about it, and even made an editorial statement to the effect of “I don’t agree with the rule, but I need to enforce it.” He let us finish grilling our steaks, but made us put our tailgating equipment away. Sure that security had it wrong, I turned to their web site for the definitive word, and sure enough tailgating is not allowed:
Tailgating is not permitted in any Rockies operated parking lot. Persons may not consume alcohol in the parking lots, including inside their vehicles.
There are a lot of high expectations for the Rockies this year. Most analysts say playoffs are a given for the Blake Street Bombers, with the possibility of going deep into October. Rockies Management: do your part to make sure that your talented team have the passionate fans they deserve – allow tailgating for at least some games. It doesn’t have to be all 80 remaining home games, but at least the big ones: holidays, fan-favorite rivals, the inter-league games, and the late September games – that’s all we need.
It’s not like tailgating at baseball games are unheard of. I went by the Padres ballpark a few years ago, and they had a whole parking lot devoted to tailgating – sound familiar Broncos fans? I find it funny that if you do a search for “Rockies Tailgating” you’ll find a ton of product licensed by Major League Baseball, yet you’re not allowed to use it next to their stadium.
Seriously Rockies Front Office, let’s bring Tailgating in some form to Coors Field. If you need to rope up part of the lot and charge a little more, so be it.
Social media tools are changing the way that we communicate and interact. Unfortunately for a much-despised BCS (College Football Bowl Championship Series), it makes it all the more easy of playoff fans to take swipes at their enemy.
If you don’t follow college football, here summary: The BCS is a computer-based system that creates the official college football rankings based on a complex set of stats (# of wins, conference position, strength of schedule, etc). The results are used to determine who will play in the national championship game. The problem with this is that many times teams with 1 losses have been placed in the championship game, while undefeated teams get shut out. This year is especially contentious, as there are 6 undefeated teams, but the BCS has pretty much come out and told TCU, Boise State and Cincinnati that they have no shot for the championship game.
With the success of March Madness in College Basketball, combined with the fact that Division 2 & 3 football have a playoff, it’s puzzling why College Football hasn’t adopted a playoff system. One of the popular playoff alternatives is "the Wetzel plan", which puts together a criteria for a 16-team playoff.
Earlier this week, I saw the story in Deadspin how the BCS has employed a new PR firm, whose first actions was to establish a Twitter and Facebook presence in this Social Web World. This makes enough sense, but they’ve committed two serious errors in judgment: 1) Forgetting that they’re a controversial and much-despised, and would likely have more critics than fans; 2) Actually engaging their critics by baiting them into debate, without fully participating in the conversation.
Hilarity ensues: For the past few days, it’s been a fun game to do a search by the BCS’s username: @InsideTheBCS and see them make a straw man claim, then watch their critics go to town on them without any response. Check it out below:
What’s been great is that the critics have actually been presenting good arguments. There are a few personal attacks here and there, but for the most part the responses have been well-reasoned (for as much as you can be in 140 characters or less). The problem is that @InsideTheBCS doesn’t really respond to any of the valid points, it pretty much continues to make their contentious, canned responses that they’re given phrased differently. They do respond to some users, but mainly when they have the canned answer in their wheelhouse.
Let this be a social media lesson to brands/organizations, especially unpopular ones: Unless you’re willing to engage in an authentic conversation with your critics, then controversial groups should probably stay away from social media. Having your PR Firm running this interference is only hurting you in the court of public opinion. Worse yet, it’s banding your enemies together. While I’ve always hated the BCS, I really didn’t care much about this issue until three days ago – when it became entertaining to have this conversation. Something tells me that the people doing PR for the BCS are having a very lousy week.
I was playing Madden on my X-box the other day (but let’s face it, that’s all I ever do with my X-box from August to Christmas), when after choosing my play I saw the following on my pre-snap screen.
Wow EA, talk about ballsy. Is it not enough that Madden is the most popular sports franchise of all time, and that suckers like me continue to shell out $60 each season for the equivalence of roster updates? Now you’ve resorted to showing me ads on the game that I paid for that obstruct the game experience? Thanks jerks!
Look, I’m fine with you inserting ads into the game where it’s realistically done so. I’ve come to accept the “Sprint Recap”, and the “Snickers Chompion Coin Toss” for two reasons: 1) It doesn’t interfere with my actual game play; 2) Because this is done during regular NFL games and is a sad reflection of the level of sponsorship in the NFL. The league is pretty bad when it comes to in-game ads, but I don’t see ads streaming across the jumbotron before the QB is going to snap the ball.
Seriously EA? I understand you’re not a charity, but there has to be better ways to get revenue than this. Quit killing your golden goose, or before you know it it’ll stop laying eggs.