Chick-Phil-A

Ahhhh Minor League Baseball promotions/games/gimicks - love em.

Mr. ChickPhilA and I had full season tickets for the New York Islanders the year after the NHL lockout.  They were close by (we lived in NYC metro), they were his most favorite team in the league, and they were practically giving tickets away trying to get fans to come back out after the lockout.

We always joked that going to an Islanders game was like going to see a minor league baseball game - it was in a small, old arena, the players were all kids/prospects, and they did more goofy giveaways/promotions than any professional sports team than I could possibly remember.

Good to see that even though most of the minor league stadiums I have been to have been at least updated some, the goofy promotions remain, and there were plenty of them at the Trenton Thunder game last Friday night.

1)  It was a bobblehead night (Andy Pettitte home uniform)

2)  They had a dog to come out at the end of the first few innings to take the bat back to the dugout.  Like, instead of a bat boy...

 3) There was an extensive commercial playing for some laser tag type game that you could buy and/or play in the fun zone.  At the same time, the two Trenton mascots engaged in a laser tag battle in front of the 1st base dugout.  Striker was taking it realllllly seriously.

4)  There was a game that involved putting on a lemon costume, holding a bucket over your head, as someone else tossed lemons into the bucket.  All for the chance to win a glass of lemonade.

5)  There was the R.B.Ice Cream player of the game.  If the chosen player got an RBI during the game, everyone won a free ice cream cone from a place in Bucks County.

6) Oh, and it was Scout Night at the park - tons of cub scouts/boy scouts there who were all sleeping over at the stadium after the game.

They really do pack a lot of stuff into the game.  Not bad for your 12$ or less admission price....

Project Runway, Phillies style.

At work today, a co-worker came up to me to ask if I had heard about a Design A Ballgirl Uniform contest that the Phillies were running.  As she could tell by the blank expression on my face, the answer was no.

She had seen one of the video boards outside CBP on her way to work thismorning mention something about it, and figured if anyone knew about it, I would -  I am probably one of the biggest Phillies fan in our office (which is at an apparel/fashion company).  I immediately went to phillies.com to see what this was all about.

It seems as though the Phillies are teaming up with Macy's in Center City (Wanamaker's, RIP) in some sort of Project Runway type fashion competition:

The NL East Champion Phillies and Macy's are teaming up to discover the next MVP of fashion design with the announcement of the "Macy's Phillies Ballgirls Uniform Design Challenge."

The unique challenge invites all aspiring fashion designers to submit a completed application by Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Among the entrants, 15 designers will be chosen to showcase their creation during a live fashion runway show at the Macy's Center City store, on Thursday, March 31. At the runway event, Phillies Ballgirls will model the uniforms and celebrity judges (TBA) will select a winner based on the uniform's creativity, functionality, quality and style. The winning uniform design will be worn by the Phillies Ballgirls at select off-field community appearances during the 2011 season.

So, basically, if you sew/design and can get your stuff together and in the mail by Saturday, you could compete for the chance to design an off-field outfit/uniform that the ballgirls may wear at some appearances this summer. (full details of the contest can be found on Phillies.com here)

I think I am going to try and throw some things together for the application before I leave for Clearwater on Friday.  I can't imagine they will have THAT many entries - I'm not sure how well publicized the contest is (unless they have gone out to the Fashion programs at Drexel, Philadelphia University, Moore, etc... and promoted it...then there could be a lot...) I figured I might as well take a chance, it should produce some blog fodder if nothing else...

Regardless if I make it or not as a finalist, I may have to mosey on over to Macy's and check out the runway show on March 31 as they are judged by "celebrity" judges (who have yet to be named).   

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So on the latest ESPN Baseball Today podcast that came out today, Seth Everett announced that he would no longer be part of the podcast or ESPN due to his other, shall we say, activities.  He already does pre/halftime/post game stuff for the New Jersey Nets, and of course he is a regular contributor on WIP's morning show every week, but now it seems that he will be doing something a bit more permanently that has to do with the Phillies, from what I can tell.  It's kinda vague at the end of the podcast, but he does say he will be doing something for/with the Phillies and will be at Citizen's Bank Park for opening day.  We shall see...

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Supermarket Grocery Bagging Competition Campion update - Krystal will be on Letterman tomorrow, Wednesday Feb 16.  Set your DVR's.

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one last update

On Monday, Zoo With Roy started a twitter hashtag about Spring Training 1994 and it was good fun.  It also reminded me of the time I wrote a Phillies preview for my high school newspaper in 1994 (which I had come across when finally going through boxes of stuff I took from my parent's house last year).  I sent it off to him for a laugh, and he asked if he could bolg it, so I figured why not.  You can read the whole thing over at his site.