Oakland/Boston Meatball Game: Coffee Fog
From Monkeyball @ Athletics Nation:
sal·vage [sal-vij]: noun, verb, -vaged, -vag·ing.
1. the act of saving a ship or its cargo from perils of the seas.
2. the property so saved.
3. compensation given to those who voluntarily save a ship or its cargo.
4. the act of saving anything from fire, danger, etc.
5. what the Oakland Athletics ballclub must do in the third game of every series in the second half of 2008
Living in San Francisco, I try not to wake up on weekends until after the fog’s burned off, but today’s a morning game and even though I don’t remember the last time we won a series, I need my A’s fix.
I’m eating blackberry waffles at my Boston friend’s house. Even though she’s a Bosox fan, she’s wearing an A’s hat. I can’t decide if I like that or not.
Last night I had a dream that Mark Ellis has been kidnapped and kept in
small dessert ranch. I don’t remember much else about the dream,
except that I’m just remembering it now as Mark gets tagged out in the
first in an attempt at a double.
The Meatball Game:
Comparing the Alexa rankings (the lower the
ranking = the higher the site’s traffic) of the top sites from google
web searches. Whoever has the lowest total ranking wins!
Oakland Athletics Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
1. mlb.com #210
2. mlb.com #210
3. wikipedia.org #8
4. yahoo.com #1
5. sfgate.com #865
6. athleticsnation.com #142,844
7. oaklandfans.com #6,953,227 (it’s good to see this site on the first page of a google search)
8. go.com #70
9. cnn.com #53
10. sportsline.com #591
Total: 7,097,509
Oakland Athletics Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
1. mlb.com #210
2. mlb.com #210
3. wikipedia.org #8
4. boston.com #654
5. mlb.com #210
6. ticketjones.com #977,788
7. go.com #70
8. cnn.com #53
9. mlb.com #210
10. yahoo.com #1
Total: 979,414
Boston wins! It’s pretty boring the the same site (MLB.com) is listed so many times in a google search.
The Bleacher Report
Dear Athletics,
Please read.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/42950-oakland-as-are-the-witness-protection-program-of-mlb
At The Pool – Pretend You’re a Ballplayer
When I’m shooting pool, I’ll come right out and say that I’m trying to think like Jack Cust or I’ll keep it to myself, secretly taking on his persona. I’m usually behind, and that’s where most people start to panic. Not Jack Cust, who’s got easy control, a good eye and doesn’t let striking out bother him too much. Jack’s a great guy to be when you’re playing pool, but right now I feel like Chavez.
I blew my back out – no big deal, but I thought it’d be good to take a water aerobics class at the gym this week instead of watching games in the cardio room with my buddies. There’s a window above the pool that all the people coming in pass. The after work crowd, for the most part are hot and dedicated to their routines. Now, having a pulled back muscle hurts, but being the only person in the pool under 70 years old — and knowing that hot people are watching you is excruciating.
At first, I was blocking it out, focusing on how great it felt to move without my back hurting. I was next to two nice ladies who let me take the deeper end since I’m pretty much taller than everyone over 65. Then we started doing these underwater punches that splashed all over the place; in our eyes, our mouths, getting the ladies next to me excited. They started shouting about how tough they were and how they’re going to kick some ***. “Whooo!” “Whooo!” they echoed in the pool. Others joined in and people walking by the window stopped to see what everyone in the pool was shouting about.
That’s when I started thinking about Eric Chavez being hurt all season and how everyone’s busting his chops about it and how frustrating it must be for him to watch the A’s get swept by the Royals (the Royals? the Kansas City Royals? Really? That happened?). Just like all the people watching the old people and me bouncing around in the pool, everyone’s watching Chavez and no one’s giving him a break. That’s when I decided to become Chavez and play it cool, share some laughs with the ladies, and focus on improvement.
Pretending to be Jack Cust has never really helped my game, but you should see my Cust impression — it’s really good. I walk to an open corner in the bar and say, “Okay, okay, I’m in left field” and then I just look around with the expression of a puppy.
And I’m definitely not ever going to another water aerobics class at my broke *** gym again. But I’m also going to think twice before photoshopping pictures of Chavez in a wheelchair anymore — and that’s all I can do as a down-trodden A’s fan.
I knew it was a trick
I just entered to the most recent MLB contest and was given these
instructions to follow. Who actually goes through all these steps? Promotions shouldn’t make a fan/customer feel taken advantage of — just sayin’.
You’ve just earned an entry into our weekly drawing for a Sharp AQUOS®
32″ Class (31-1/2″ Diagonal) LCD TV and now you’re on deck to see if
you’re a potential instant winner. Please follow the steps below.
- Click PRINT GAME PIECE to print your instant win game piece.
- Locate a participating retailer by entering your zip code into retail
locator. - Bring your printed game piece to a participating retailer provided.
- Once at the participating retailer, hold up the printed game piece to the in-store display to find out if you’re a winner.
Okay, maybe I’m a little tense on trading day. Like an old friend with a cheap warm beer Ray Ratto of the SF Chronicle assuaged my fears by confirming them and telling me that the whole thing would be a big bore for both the A’s and the Giants. It was a surprisingly relaxing blow: don’t bother believing in the A’s or going to any more games this year, the A’s are sunk. They’ll break your heart next year too, but if you hold on, they might be good in 2010.
If Beane were my boyfriend, I would have dumped him a long time ago. I’m sick of hearing, “it’s gonna be better next year” “we’re going to really kick *ss later in the season” or “The A’s are thinking ‘long term’” “Just wait till you see what these prospects can do”. Not that I don’t think Beans an awesome GM. I wouldn’t want anyone else to be our GM in fact, but it’s just hard to put your heart into a team of promises. Promises weaker than the cluttered ad campaigns I see on the BART everyday. Promises without stories. If we’re a rag-tag team, then I want some good stories about it — like the Dodgers. They’re full of great stories about their antics, and it just makes winning all the better.
I realize I’m a little too hard on the A’s. I’m sure
they’ve got some great plans up their sleeves. It’s a sunny day in
the bay, and I’m curious to see what unfolds by tomorrow morning.
6-14, Stomper Steals Show From A’s Game.
(Friday night)
I’m waiting for the train home at the Coliseum’s BART station, 11pm.
The cement seats smell like urine and I haven’t quite come to terms
with being in third place – the playoffs nowhere in sight.
We saw it coming. The Rangers have out played us before. In fact, every time that we’ve played them this year…
But let’s go back to a time when the A’s first landed in Tokyo as spring training’s darlings; looking good in custom suits, ready to take on 2007′s World
Champions, and win the series. When summer had just begun and we were ESPN’s top team. Back when we could have done it, when the fan’s had faith and when Stomper, the A’s mascot, was merely a side
show.
Stomer’s got some hot dance moves. He
and some kid did a little hip hop dance
show that ended with the kid doing a flip over Stomper’s shoulder. It was so sweet.
In fact, it might have been the only sweet aspect to tonights game against the Rangers where the A’s just gave up half way through and started playing like the Giants. Bay Area bottom feeders shoveling dirt over our graves one pitch and missed catch at a time. Who cares about the A’s now?
(Saturday Morning)
Okay, let’s do the numbers.
The Game: Comparing the Alexa rankings (the lower the
ranking = the higher the site’s traffic) of the top sites from google
web searches. Whoever has the lowest total ranking wins!
Oakland Athletics Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
1. mlb.com #208
2. wikipedia.org #8
3. go.com #65
4. cnn.com #53
6. yahoo.com #1
7. athleticsnation.com #143,039 (Click this link! It will take you to an awesome post!!)
8. sfgate.com #863
9. sportsline.com #591
10. shop.mlb.com #208
Total: 146,317
Texas Rangers Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
1. mlb.com #208
2. txdps.state.tx.us #2572 (Dept of Public Safety website)
3. texasranger.org #946,308 (Texas Ranger museum)
4. imdb.com #33
5. cnn.com #53
6. texasrangers.org #5,363,006 (totally awesome site!)
7. go.com #65
8. wikipedia.org #8
9. yahoo.com #1
10. lsjunction.com #451,765
Total: 6,763,939
A’s win! But I’m mad that none of these mentioned that an orange cat had ran across the field in the 4th inning last night.
Other than that, this was fun. I got to learn the history of the actual Texas rangers from this google search. I’m reading Blood Meridian by Cormick McCarthy, so I’m pretty into it — not enough to be a fan, of course.
Last night, I wore my glasses and brought my laptop to the game. At the restaurant in the coliseum, the guys at the table next to me asked if I was a scout. My laptop’s about 7 years old with neon pink duct tape holding the battery in place, but I pretended that I was a scout anyway. I work with the Nationals but lived in San Francisco.
A
ferral cat runs onto the on-deck circle during the Texas Rangers vs.
Oakland Athletics baseball game Friday, July 25, 2008, in Oakland,
Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Manny vs A-Rod: Bid for Drama Crown
Maybe what the A’s need is a drama queen to sell more tickets. My buddy’s up in northern Wisconsin, camping outside of Lambeau Field with posters that read “Keep Favre in Green Bay” while Yankees fans try to determine who controls A-Rod’s mind more: Cynthia’s psychology or Madonna’s Jewish mysticism. Then there’s Manny, who in my opinion is the preferred drama queen of the summer. Not because I think violent temper tantrums against 60-year old men and teammates in the dugout are cool, but because at least his drama is about the game, about winning, about business, respect — Manny’s drama brings us back to the dirty steroid-pock-faced game of baseball while Duchscherer’s just a soft-spoken sweety-pie All Star. Even Beane’s renegade trading can’t compete with Coco Crisp’s fame wh*ring fist fights.
Maybe the A’s should sign on Barry Bonds for more hitting power and a drama queen. I kid — kinda.
In honor of Favre’s camio in There’s Something About Mary back in 1998 (that’s right Favre, you were big 10 years ago, get over it buddy), I’m going to play the Meatball game comparing the press Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez are churning up (just like the true baseball champions they are).
The Game: Comparing the Alexa rankings (the lower the
ranking = the higher the site’s traffic) of the top sites from google
web searches. Whoever has the lowest total ranking wins!
Since these boys are a part of a team, I’m googleing their names and their team names. “Manny Ramirez Red Sox” and “Alex Rodriguez Yankees”, after all, it’s not just about them.
Manny Ramirez Red Sox Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
mannyramirez.com/home.htm #986,747
mannyramirez.com/news.htm #986,747
mlb.com #208
sportingnews.com #5,050
sportsnetwork.com #12,968
courant.com #12,781
shop.mlb.com #208
http://sports.yahoo.com #1
http://sports.espn.go.com #64
bostonherald.com #4,001
theonion.com #1,729 (this one’s a must read!)
http://www.bostondirtdogs.com #43,776
Total: 2,054,280
Alex Rodriguez Yankees Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
nytimes.com #101
mercurynews.com #2,447 (that’s great – the Mercury News doesn’t show up for any A’s google searches, but here it is with a story on A-Rod)
nationalpost.com #7,911
mlb.com #208
wikipedia.org #8
http://sports.espn.go.com #64
http://www.usmagazine.com/ #1,949
mlb.com #208
yahoo.com #1
popcrunch.com #3,990
nydailynews.com/ #1,354
mlb.com #208
Total: 18,449
Hey! A-Rod wins, but don’t expect that to stop Manny from causing more drama through out the season.
Go get ‘em boys.
A’s Get Somewhere
Hey, we got some offense tonight!
I was at work when Hannahan hit the 3-run homer. It was so sweet. I couldn’t wait to go home.
The perfect way to run these reports is while I’m listening to the game on the radio. Being able to watch these top blogs and websites as they put out incredible replays, trading theories and baseball trivia, is such an over stimulated rush! You have the solid and true coverage from the radio announcers up against these off the wall, unknown, basement writers. I love it. Okay, it’s not quite as perfect as drinking beer in the sunshine of an actual game, where everyone’s happy and rowdy and sweet as peas. Little green peas – my A’s fans from the bleachers. Man, I can’t wait for the A’s to come back to town.
Finally: A’s vs Yankees in Marketing
Better late than never…
I thought that the URLs were automatically linking to the pages, but they weren’t so I fixed
them. While the URLs listed are the larger sites, each link will go directly to the page that
lists the A’s. I’m also cutting out the news results this time around because I’m lazy tonight. And I’ll be honest. The As’ slump is a real pill for people, like me, who maybe sorta thought that we’d go to the playoffs or at least rank higher than the Rangers by the end of the season.
God, you know your team’s on a loosing streak when instead of reading the sports pages in the morning, you whimper about Barton’s head staples while photoshopping yourself bleeding green and gold. Yeah, I took the sweep a little hard.
Thank gawwwd for numbers, meatballs.
The Game: Comparing the Alexa rankings (the lower the
ranking = the higher the site’s traffic) of the top sites from google
web searches. Whoever has the lowest total ranking wins!
Oakland Athletics Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
1. mlb.com #205
2. mlb.com #205
3. en.wikipedia.org #8
4. espn.go.com #63
5. insidebayarea.com #22,205 (how did inside the bay area rank above the Chron on google?)
6. sportsillustrated.cnn.com #53
7. yahoo.com #1
8. sfgate.com #868
9. sportsline.com #582
10. athleticsnation.com #147,922 (I don’t know how they do it, but the writers for Athletics Nation are able to write amazing posts moments after a game finishes. I love this site.)
Total: 172,049
*sigh*
Okay, can someone please flick one of Barton’s head staples for good luck before I do the Yankees?
New York Yankees Alexa rankings of top Google Web Search:
1. mlb.com #205
2. mlb.com #205
3. en.wikipedia.org #8
4. sports.espn.go.com #63
5. legendsfieldtampa.com #2,017,615
6. yahoo.com #1
7. sportsline.com #582
8. nypost.com #1,038 (apparently, John McCain was at the Yankees game – and not cheering for the A’s. Dear Mr. McCain, you have lost my vote)
9. mlb.com #205
10.sportsillustrated.cnn.com #53
Total: 2,019,965
Awwww, and here I was procrastinating because I couldn’t stand another loss by the A’s, when the A’s win by a ranking of 1,847,916 — and they owe it all to Legends Field (and wanting to flick Barton in his head staples).
So come on A’s, let’s rally!!!
Sad Weekend for A’s Fans (with Bosox Friends)
Okay, so I missed out on the Yankee’s/A’s meatball marketing game this weekend. It was a little depressing to watch the A’s get swept. Especially since I was so excited watch the A’s get out onto the field after Beane’s trades and kick some high-payrolled Yankee butt. Didn’t happen, and it was freezing in sunny San Francisco. wha wha whaaa.
My friend sent me this ESPN story about All Star uniforms through the years, and it cracked me up. All the different uniforms in 1975 are soo Charlie Finley. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/080715&sportCat=mlb
It’s a new day, and I’m still curious about the A’s vs. the Yanks. But I don’t want to take away from Eveland’s game against Tampa Bay.
So stay tuned and we’ll see where I get today…
Scouped by a Better Meatball
Seth Godin already has Meatball Sundaes, which I’m actually super excited read – but he A’s play the Yankees tonight and what am I going to call my marketing game?
Pat Coyle recently followed up the Meatball Monday blog post with his thought on how it applies to sports stadiums.
Who do I get permission from to create a coupon code for 10% off a customers next ticket purchase from mlb.com? The code would expire Sept 20th, and would be put up on every coupon website there is. With a nice big A’s logo and link directly to the A’s website.
I think I’m going to use the name Meatball for my reports anyway.
villagebicycle
Recent Comments