No Thanks, I'm Already a Member
This ruse on the Nation has also hit the newspapers. Naturally they don't mention they are "thanking you" by making you pay $10 a year for the privilege of being "counted."
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(MLB ad in today's Boston Herald) |
Make a False Impression
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(MLB.com Photo) |
The Red Sox are now selling World Series rings to player wannabees. You will no longer be able to tell players from fans and the value of players' WS rings just dropped 90%. If you are a man who wears rings, and still wear your high school keepsake, this latest effort to drive MLB revenue is for you.
Update: Yankee Fans Are Joining Red Sox Nation "By the Thousands"
Boston Dirt Dogs Exclusive: Apparently there has been such an exodus from Yankee Country after the 2004 ALCS, that MLB has now set up a special online form for Yankee fans who would like to convert and become "official" members of RSN as well. If you are a Yankee fan and would like to convert immediately, please register for your official card, ID number, and forehead tattoo here.
My Grandfather Just Turned Over in His Grave
Shame on the Boston Red Sox
You're Not My Daddy!
"I am a Red Sox fan. I will not be numbered
like a slave to Selig." -- Doug, The Soxaholix
"Red Sox fans who are basking in the glory of the World Series championship now have the chance to be Founding Members (of Red Sox Nation) by registering for official Red Sox Nation membership (for $9.95... per year)."
How dare MLB grab onto the nickname for Red Sox fans coined a long, long time ago (by Dan Shaughnessy) and charge you $10 a year for the privilege. This is a cheap San Diego Padres marketing stunt with a Red Sox logo slapped on it. Major League Baseball does not own Red Sox Nation. It's not theirs to sell. Period. Call it an MLB discount card (like the free loyalty marketing card you have for CVS or Stop & Shop) and sell it if you need to, but leave Red Sox Nation out of it.
If you are reading this now, if you ever went to a Red Sox game with your dad, bought a Sox t-shirt, subscribe to NESN, listened to a game on the radio with your grandfather, etc., you are already a proud, "official" member of "Red Sox Nation."
But MLB tells you: "Years from now, you still might be telling future generations of Red Sox diehards how you saw the team win the last eight games of the 2004 Major League Baseball season and then became one of the first to make it official with Nation membership... the front of the card features your own RSN citizenship ID number." I cannot wait to tell my father, who was bringing neighborhood kids to Fenway since 1972, who doesn't have a computer, that he has never been an official member of Red Sox Nation because he hasn't coughed up $10 to get his "ID number."
Remember how we got this godawful idea to sell the name of the proud fanbase put on hold a month ago? You thought they might scrap it due to the embarrassment? How they told you it was to determine the (cough) "size of the fan base outside New England?" "The citizenship cards are a way of gauging how many fans there are beyond the Sox hotbed of New England, team spokesman Charles Steinberg said." Well now they've come back a month later after many brainstorming sessions, and the result is they jacked the price of membership from $5 to $10 a year, and threw in a few more perks of membership. And once all the sales are tallied, that will be the official count of Red Sox Nation. If you don't buy a card and get your ID number, well, I guess you are a phony fan on the outside looking in, no matter how long your family has given their heart, soul, and wallet to this team.
Although the ads and banners would lead you to think otherwise, don't buy these Big Brother scam marketing spyware cards for Christmas, even as a joke, because MLB just added, in very small type, "citizenship cards will ship in 6-8 weeks" to the page.
Angry Nation Plans to Boycott ID Cards on MLB's Own Fan Site
"I am seriously offended by it. It's offensive that I have been a member of RSN for over 40 years and now they are going to charge me to have some special perks? I've supported this team for all these years and now they want to make another buck off of me so that I can still not get tickets because there are millions and millions of Red Sox Nation members (don't get me wrong, that is a good thing, but they act like this little plastic card will help)? Oh, btw folks, this freakin' ridiculous idea was $5 a couple of months ago. Now it is $10 and they will knock $5 off of a service that hardly anyone will use. That's special. I am so ticked off with the people who insisted (apparently) that they wanted this. How utterly stupid. I am sorry if I offend anyone but how STUPID! Think about it!!!" -- Too far away from Boston
"Isn't the term "Red Sox Nation" one that was coined by the fans, for the fans? How can MLB market something that they didn't concieve? I say we try and get a petition going. If they want to market "Red Sox Fan Cards" or "Red Sox Discount Cards" so be it. But I'm a member of Red Sox Nation, Dammit! Theres no way they can take that away from me." -- marcmase
"The very concept of this is incredibly vulgar. Rather than send Bud Selig $10 to use for his Peter Angelos appeasement, I sent $10 for each of my five family members to the cancer center at Johns Hopkins University, where an Armenian miracle worker zapped my mother's breast cancer. So, there's one good thing to come of this--I probably wouldn't have thought to make the donation had they not come up with this hair-brained scheme." -- RSN Diaspora
"They'll make a lot more than $10 from that card. They will direct market DVDs, t-shirts, and other items to that captive group of people who they know are already willing to pay $10 for a simple card." -- Len Berkowitz, Boston sports media guru
"When I was 7 my Dad took me to Fenway for the first time. The Sox lost to the Washington Senators on a Frank Howard home run. Despite that I was hooked. I returned every summer with my Dad for at least one game every Summer until he passed away in 1997. As far as I'm concerned I became a member of Red Sox Nation that July Saturday when my Dad passed the torch to his 7 year old son. I WILL NEVER PAY FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING A FAN OF THE GREATEST TEAM IN SPORTS! If there is any thought of a petition sign me up." -- Sincerely,
Joe Morley
Cranston, RI
"...how silly for us to think we really were fans all this time. Apparently, until you've plunked down your $10, you're just a punk who thinks you're a fan. Anyway, as always, the Big Dog is voicing the Nation's sentiments just fine, thanks. We second what he says." -- Surviving Grady
"In keeping with New England's long tradition of civil disobedience and rabble-rousing, why not have a public burning of the RSN cards on the Common? You'd have no problem getting local TV coverage. Maybe then the geniuses who thought of this would get the message." -- Matt, longtime official member of Red Sox Nation
Red Sox Nation: Root Free or Die
Get a free RSN membership card here, and give the money to Dana-Farber Cancer Research
"Is MLB out of their collective freakin' minds? Paying for citizenship?? The Nation needs to revolt- they relented with those rude Yanks shirts when the Nation revolted. I'm taking the $10 and donating it to the Jimmy Fund with a note that I'm paying for citizenship to Red Sox Nation. Please urge readers to do the same- let's turn the sick greed of MLB to do some good for kids! Thanks!"
-- Nora, Haverhill, MA
The Damn Yankees Did it Right
Better Deal, Not Insulting Their Fans' Intelligence or Stealing Their Nickname
And you get to watch (cough) State of the RedSox.com Nation host Casey Stern ask
"Why is New York the best baseball city in America?"
Again, when someone can figure out if the MLB sites are homepages for the teams, or an independent media covering the teams, let me know. It can't be both.
Where’s Pavano?
Carlapalooza Driving Fans Crazy
12.9.04: The Carl Pavano victory tour just rolls on. The 28 year-old Southington, Connecticut native had the luck and pluck to toss 18 wins this season
for the former (sounds good) World Champion Marlins. He even smacked two homers
this season for the Marlins. Wouldn’t a few swings at Fenway be more fun than BP
in spacious Comerica Park?
Pavano has indeed won 57 games in 7 major league seasons, and with just two more
victories will eclipse the .500 mark for his career. I mean even Sandy Koufax
wasn’t an overnight success. It took him into his seventh season to permanently go
over .500. Look it up.
The Sox had a claim on the New Englander with a 13th round selection in the 1994
draft, but flipped him to the Expos for Pedro Martinez, who ironically can’t
seem to get enough love from the Sox these days.
Pavano sightings are more frequent than Elvis appearances. Boston, New York,
Baltimore, Detroit, and Seattle are just a few of the destinations on his
whistle stop tour. Really, if John Kerry had gone to as many cities as Pavano,
he might be president-elect. Although his agent intends to talk to Anaheim, Carl
passed on a trip to Disneyland. After all, after a tour with the Marlins, and
the superior Disney World, what would Carl want out there? Plus, if you’re a New
Englander, used to the seasons, rain, snow, pot holes, taxes, and endless road
construction, who needs California and its boring weather and even higher taxes.
There’s no need to get into one of those Boston versus Podunk columns so routine
for Dan Shaughnessy; New England clam chowder versus Manhattan clam chowder and
so on. October 27, 2004 ushered in the new age of Athenian baseball superior
over our traditional Spartan rivals. Other than money, glamour, smog, and lower
homicide and car theft rates, how can you compare Boston to our principal rival?
Let’s review the major reasons why Pavano should choose the Boston Red Sox.
First, John Henry will promise to invest your money. We’re not talking about
bringing chump change to Foxwoods, Carl. We’re talking about a guy who is as
close to a modern Midas as they come. Second, we really want to solidify Fenway
as the destination of choice for residents of the Nutmeg State. Third, we
acknowledge Connecticut as the college hoop capital of the universe, and want
Boston to be known as the Baseball Hub of the universe in this century, the one
that counts. Fourth, we’re talking mega run support. With any luck, you could be
getting seven runs a start. Ask Derek Lowe. Maybe not. Fifth, we know what you
really crave isn’t money or respect, but professional development. With the
tutelage of Monsieur Schilling and maybe Pedro Martinez, you can take your game
to the next level, drug free. Besides, if you won’t come here, we know some
unnamed guys who’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
-- Ron Sen, Boston Dirt Dogs
