Thursday, April 10, 2008

Where Are You, Frank McCourt?

With big profits come big PR jobs. (At least I think that's what Spider-Man learned.) A few days ago, T.J. Simers started the Great Autograph Fiasco of '08. Today he continues his crusade, quoting Charles Steinberg, Chief Marketing Officer of the Dodgers:

CALLED THE Dentist, the Dodgers' new PR guy, and he said nothing has changed for the kids, but "we've had vigorous debate today about it. We need more data."

...The Dentist said discussions continue within the organization. "We're hearing two sides and trying to bring it to a resolution," he said. "We're all ears."

Steinberg comes from the Red Sox with an impressive list of accomplishments, but the average Dodger fan doesn't know who he is. Many more fans know who Frank McCourt is, since he and Jamie McCourt have presented themselves as the faces of the Dodger organization. And how does Frank feel about Dodger fans? Last year he met some of the team's most well-informed at "Dodger Thoughts Day." DT commenter "dzzrtRatt" recounts:

Someone in the DT group talked about the monuments outside ATT Park and Yankee Stadium, and wondered if we could have a statue of Koufax, say.

McCourt has a different idea. He wants a statue of the fans. It's his way of saying that the fans are what's important.

Regardless of the misguided nature of McCourt's answer, he's at least saying the fans are important. If he means it, he'll address the fans about the Great Autograph Fiasco of '08. And soon.


P.S.: Couldn't help noticing this wonderful bit from Simers' article:

"Not to sound like a stuck-up snot, but 90% of the time the people swarming field level before the games for autographs are incredibly rude and don't have a problem stepping on you or shoving you out of the way," wrote Susan Lee. "This is not to sound racist, but a majority of Dodger fans appear to be 'gangbanger types.' "

Hey Susan, what's the best way to announce you're a stuck-up racist snot? Claim you're not! Not to sound like someone who's going to tear Susan Lee a new one, but you're a dithering heel. You have a good point about the rudeness of autograph-seeking fans, but undermine yourself by qualifying your statement with an irrelevant aside. And your "gangbanger" quote doesn't sound racist, it is racist. It didn't have to be, but you chose to make it so. You could have argued without inflammatory allusions to class and race, but now you just look like an arrogant bigot.

2 comments:

Steve Sax said...

As a Dodger Gangbanger politely trying to get an autograph, I have found Susan Lee to be extremely rude when shoving me out of the way. This is not to sound racist, but a majority of Dodger field-level ticket holders appear to be "stuck-up snot types."

Orel said...

Touché!