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Friday, June 24, 2005
GOTC: Get Out The Crab
Posted by Bob BrighamIn San Francisco the past-time is politics, world-class league…enjoyed by spectators, players, fans, and crowds. San Franciscans also like baseball and the intersection of politics and baseball is blossoming online in campaign that shows the breadth to which the netroots can extend influence beyond campaigns and elections, media and legislation. From (the Giants Sports Leader) KNBR’s Morning Show:
(Host) BRIAN MURPHY: I was one of those guys who hated the crab, I just was like, “the crab’s stupid”(Host) TIM LIOTTA: That’s a nice way to introduce our next guest.
BRIAN MURPHY: But now I see the crab for the genius it was and this guy is ahead of the curve.
The guest then began talking about the Giants "nuclear option" and his website, which has been written about by McCovey Chronicles (twice), and the SFist.
(Guest) CHRIS STACEAN: There was nothing about the Crab on the internet, so I decided I must fill that void.MURPHY: It’s a good looking website. Rehab the Crab dot com. Our guest comes under the pseudonym Chris Stacean – which is good for you marine biologists out there. My man, what would be the mission statement of www.RehabtheCrab.com
STACEAN: Oh. No, this is a totally purposeless cause. But I think it would be fair if the Giants, you know maybe, trotted him out once game until we have a team that’s over 500 again…
LIOTTA: Chris, is this what’s we’ve come to? Is this what the Giant’s season is? We’re looking for voodoo and internet and pulling ghosts out of a closet?
STACEAN: Pretty much.
What is this about a grassroots internet voodoo campaign involving the San Francisco Giants and Crazy Crab? From the www.RehabtheCrab.com:
BRING BACK THE CRAZY CRAB!
The website dedicated to the return of baseball's greatest & worst mascot ever.The Crab is DUE! He's ready to break out. […] Its time for the call up.
Back to the KNBR interview (audio available on www.RehabtheCrab.com - click on KNBR logo to download):
MURPHY: You can sign a petition to get this grassroots movement going so we can see him one day back at Pac Bell/SBC.GUEST: That’s right, absolutely grassroots. [...]
LIOTTA: In the spirit of Rehab the Crab, we can’t thank you enough. We’ll check in with you down the road because we want to see how this is going along.
MURPH: If you guys get any kind of movement on the petition, let us know, cause we’ll help out.
GUEST: Well let me do one quick plug, if I may. Also on the website you’ll see that there’s an actual event coming up on July 9th called, "Crustacion Commotion" where we’re going to get a bunch of idiots together at one of my favorite watering holes near Pac Bell Park called The Park Bar and Grill and sometime before first pitch we’ll do a couple laps around the ballpark with protest signs and all, raising essentially the injustice of keeping the Crazy Crab locked up.
Judging from the pics on the "Crustacion Commotion" event page, I'm sure this will be quite a party protest. With support from KNBR's Morning Show and Giants blog McCovey Chronicles, I'm sure this will stay in the limelight and is due for more attention from the local press.
The internet is a great tool for savvy individuals to leverage support and influence control over the things they care about. Sometimes that's politics, sometimes it's baseball, and only in San Francisco would you see a large grassroots campaign supporting a mascot meant to be hated. Loving to hate is a powerful emotion and Giants fans deserve an outlet for the disappointing season. It's time to bring back the crab:
Posted at 02:16 PM in Netroots | Technorati