MLB Totally Gets What’s Cool These Days
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↵Around this time last season, we were bombarded with MLB’s “There’s Only One October” playoff ad campaign, featuring the least-funny funnyman on earth, Dane Cook. So, why exactly, did MLB go with the insufferable Cook? Because MySpace was the new coolest thing evar in ‘07!:↵↵⇥Last year, M.L.B. chose Mr. Cook because he was “top five in terms of MySpace friends,” Mr. Brosnan [the league’s executive vice president for business] said.↵↵Alright, so MLB chose their pitchman based on the most popular MySpace friends. They were only about four years behind the wave of MySpace’s influence, so what cutting edge technology will they key on for this year’s postseason campaign? Blogging, naturally:
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↵↵⇥Some of the ads show Fox and TBS personalities, like Jeff Foxworthy (the host of “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” on Fox) and Mr. Caliendo (who does double duty on the two networks, as the star of TBS’s “Frank TV” and on “Fox NFL Sunday”). Separately they appear at a desk, tapping away on an Apple laptop, blogging about baseball and October memories. ↵⇥↵⇥Each spot is a juxtaposition of baseball history and new media, with bloggers conjuring up moments like Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World,” Carlton Fisk’s walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series and Kirk Gibson’s hobble around the bases in the 1988 series.↵⇥
↵↵“Blog” was the word of the year in 2004, but hey, better late than never, MLB. Blogging is still so hot right now, though. And there’s nothing my blog-buddies and I enjoy writing about more than historical baseball moments. It really allows us to flex our wit. ↵↵It’s also good to see that MLB cut Cook loose and is going with some of the biggest bloggers in the biz for the new campaign. Along with Caliendo and Foxworthy, the commercials will also feature Randy Jackson, Bill Engvall, someone named Timothy Hutton, and Stewie from “Family Guy,” a show whose least funny episode occurred sometime right before blogging was invented. Were Bart Simpson and Bobby Hill unavailable? ↵
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↵UPDATE: Big League Stew had a preview of one of these new commercials in July. And it was written by my own brother. In my defense, I was in NYC for the All-Star stuff then, so I missed it.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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