BlogsPM: Deadspin
Deadspin.com has apparently taken notice of the St. Paul Saints, specifically their unique promotional style. Check out the article by clicking here –> Deadspin.com
…two inaccuracies here: first, sean aronson is not the director of promotions; he’s the director of broadcasting and media relations. i’m pretty sure his head would spin if he was the director of promotions too. scott riley is actually the director of promotions, and does a phenomenal job at that. i’ve watched him in action, and he’s an extremely creative guy to say the least….
…second, sean aronson was quoted as saying the following in the article…
“People have come to expect that kind of thing from us, so the pressure is on every season to try and top ourselves,” said Sean Aronson, the Saints’ director of promotions who also doubles as the team’s radio play-by-play broadcaster. “When a news item like the Larry Craig incident breaks, we actually have media people calling us the next day asking what we’re going to do with it.”
…in realty, sean was talking about the michael vick chew toy in this quote, and not the larry craig incident…
…listen, they say any press is good press, and i think this certainly falls under that umbrella. to me, it reads as more of a report than the kind of opinion piece or expose that runs frequently on deadspin. you might remember deadspin from bob costas’ hbo special on sports and the media, in which will leitch, the creator of deadspin, was the person who was apparently responsible for defending all blogs with buzz bissinger barking at him in a town hall style “discussion.” i would personally argue that deadspin, when it puts stress on showing pictures of athletes with women and alcohol, is different than saintsblog, which is basically a way of streamlining information about one team from a person with a unique vantage point and a ton of access. that is not to say that deadspin doesn’t have entertainment value, but when it does things like that, it loses credibility in my eyes. however, when it opens its readers’ eyes to the more interesting and less-well-known items in sports, like the st. paul saints, then deadspin has journalistic value as well, because it provides another means of accessing information. this article does a pretty decent job of letting people know the funnier side of the promotions, but neglects to mention that the saints have a different promotion every night, all of which are a ton of fun, and not all of which poke fun at something in popular culture. and to me, that’s where deadspin missed the point. ya know, a lot of people talk about how the twins new outdoor ballpark will drive fans away from midway stadium. honestly, i just flat out disagree. the draw of the saints is entirely different than the draw of the twins. people go to a twins game to watch major league baseball. people go to saints games for the experience. nobody is paying twins ticket prices to go watch the saints play baseball, but, at the same time, nobody is going to twins games for the family experience, and that’s not gonna change regardless of where the twins are playing and regardless of who the saints are playing. to me, that’s the importance of the saints promotions, and not the fact that the saints choose to poke fun at michael vick and the minnesota vikings love-boat incident, although i do fully support any effort to disparage michael vick. i’d love to hear what you have to say about the deadspin article, the saints promotions, and anything on the topic, so please post any thoughts you have to this comments section of this post…
May 15, 2008 11:19 pm at 11:19 pm
I agree completely - the Saints aren’t just about outdoor baseball. It’s about a fun time in a laid-back atmosphere - a professional version of townball, with a wicked humorous twist. The Twins don’t, and probably can’t, offer that, and so I’m guessing that the Saints will be fine, even after 2010.
Also, I think this is my first comment, so I just wanted to say I’m enjoying the blog immensely.
May 17, 2008 5:05 pm at 5:05 pm
On the flip side of that argument, theres the idea of “tourists” coming to see the Saints just to “Gawk” at the promotions, rather then watch a great team play great ball. A prime example of this is the amazing Game 5 of the 2004 Northern League championship. Any playoff game is sparsely attended because people dont get this is not a staged game (like the Harlem Globetrotters, but real ball. Game 5 drew two thousand people, yet there was no mention of the amazing outcome in the local papers, and at the beginning of that next season, I remember the Star Tribune saying something like the games are always sold out. Always was the word that stuck out to lots of people and sure if you have great players, or interesting ones, it will sell out, but it’s a sub culture to me, Section F is the zen master section of baseball (besides AABfan who sits in section H, and the Mayor in section A, with some season ticket holders at his side). The rest is just gawkers, or people that come to a couple games a season. so why don’t we have more people coming to the playoffs? Something the public relations staff should look into, because if a baseball team is just known for their promotions and excellent service, then there wont be any point in watching the team, which is critical.
May 17, 2008 5:30 pm at 5:30 pm
[...] Promotions, Capital Letters 1. In response to “BlogsPM: Deadspin,” Aaron wrote: On the flip side of that argument, theres the idea of “tourists” coming to [...]