IrishTex
06-04-2010, 12:12 PM
From The Sporting Blog (http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/67951/i_can_haz_cheezburger_night_at_safeco_field,_2010_ addition)
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/24/cheezburgerbobble.jpg
The Seattle Mariners average 24,696 fans per home game this season, ranking the team 17th out of the 30 MLB clubs. Most importantly, Safeco Field sits just 51.7 percent full on home dates (ranking 21st), so to borrow an overused phrase, there are plenty of good seats still available.
Thursday night was I Can Haz Cheezburger night at Safeco Field, and for the second year in a row, fans of LOLcats and other stock photos with randomly misspelled words that habitually include the letter Z where an S should be, traveled far and wide to be part of putting a face – or hundreds of faces – to an internet meme.
How do you get more fans to the stadium if you're a struggling team that people had high expectations but seems to be completely underachieving this season? Invite the internet dwellers, of course. Okay, I'm not exactly sure how much the internet dwellers were invited to Safeco Field and how much they just descended upon the stadium and were begrudgingly let in. But they were there, again, Thursday night.
Fine, that's not entirely fair, as they did have a separate promotion just for this group, offering discounted tickets and giving away a cute little Mariners bobblecat (while supplies last). There was, however, no listing for Cheezburger Night on the official promotional schedule, but do you know what last night was on the Mariners' promotional schedule? Girls Night Out. You cannot make that up. Hey girls, want to have a night out with your friends? Nothing says ladies night like a free tote bag and the chance of getting hit on by one of the LOLcat nerds. Me-ow!
Look, I'm usually not a fan of any internet meme – I just found out about this XZibit thing like two weeks ago – so I never jumped on the Cheezburger train. I do, however, find KSK's LOLNFL post funny every week, so maybe there's hope for me yet. I'm still incredibly surprised that an internet meme has so much power that it can, one, last this long and, two, get people to actually fly to Seattle to get together and watch a baseball game. So good on you, BurgerBrainz or whatever you call yourselves.
SB Nation posted the handout for the LOLcat Seventh Inning Stretch, which tried to re-write the words of Take Me Out To The Ballgame with extra Zs and kthanksbai's and other "funneh" sayings. Some of my own internet sleuthing came up with this video to accompany that handout (note: at 4:30 a.m. this had 1 view – FIRST! – but by the time you're reading this post the video could be an internet phenomenon already).
Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sj1nu4FRa8&feature=player_embedded)
Oh, and Thursday's announced attendance: 21,291. Looks like Girls Night and Cheezburger Night and King Felix throwing an absolute gem didn't bring out the mid-week crowd to Safeco. Maybe everyone was saving up to go tonight. It's Felix Hernandez Train Night for the first 20,000 fans. This is the 11th year of the Mariners train giveaway. I suppose the I Can Haz Trainz promotion will have to wait until next year.
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/24/cheezburgerbobble.jpg
The Seattle Mariners average 24,696 fans per home game this season, ranking the team 17th out of the 30 MLB clubs. Most importantly, Safeco Field sits just 51.7 percent full on home dates (ranking 21st), so to borrow an overused phrase, there are plenty of good seats still available.
Thursday night was I Can Haz Cheezburger night at Safeco Field, and for the second year in a row, fans of LOLcats and other stock photos with randomly misspelled words that habitually include the letter Z where an S should be, traveled far and wide to be part of putting a face – or hundreds of faces – to an internet meme.
How do you get more fans to the stadium if you're a struggling team that people had high expectations but seems to be completely underachieving this season? Invite the internet dwellers, of course. Okay, I'm not exactly sure how much the internet dwellers were invited to Safeco Field and how much they just descended upon the stadium and were begrudgingly let in. But they were there, again, Thursday night.
Fine, that's not entirely fair, as they did have a separate promotion just for this group, offering discounted tickets and giving away a cute little Mariners bobblecat (while supplies last). There was, however, no listing for Cheezburger Night on the official promotional schedule, but do you know what last night was on the Mariners' promotional schedule? Girls Night Out. You cannot make that up. Hey girls, want to have a night out with your friends? Nothing says ladies night like a free tote bag and the chance of getting hit on by one of the LOLcat nerds. Me-ow!
Look, I'm usually not a fan of any internet meme – I just found out about this XZibit thing like two weeks ago – so I never jumped on the Cheezburger train. I do, however, find KSK's LOLNFL post funny every week, so maybe there's hope for me yet. I'm still incredibly surprised that an internet meme has so much power that it can, one, last this long and, two, get people to actually fly to Seattle to get together and watch a baseball game. So good on you, BurgerBrainz or whatever you call yourselves.
SB Nation posted the handout for the LOLcat Seventh Inning Stretch, which tried to re-write the words of Take Me Out To The Ballgame with extra Zs and kthanksbai's and other "funneh" sayings. Some of my own internet sleuthing came up with this video to accompany that handout (note: at 4:30 a.m. this had 1 view – FIRST! – but by the time you're reading this post the video could be an internet phenomenon already).
Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sj1nu4FRa8&feature=player_embedded)
Oh, and Thursday's announced attendance: 21,291. Looks like Girls Night and Cheezburger Night and King Felix throwing an absolute gem didn't bring out the mid-week crowd to Safeco. Maybe everyone was saving up to go tonight. It's Felix Hernandez Train Night for the first 20,000 fans. This is the 11th year of the Mariners train giveaway. I suppose the I Can Haz Trainz promotion will have to wait until next year.