Music bench Spitzer Night

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kekemortson
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Music bench Spitzer Night

Post by kekemortson » Sun Mar 23, 2008 6:13 pm

From a moral point of view, I am glad this promotion was cancelled. However, you can not beat the exposure that the Music and the SCL received from this idea. Good try, but they should aim a little "higher".

By Jay Adams - jadams@macon.com
Eliot Spitzer Night? Fuhgetaboutit.

A poll to determine the fate of the unconventional promotion for the Macon Music ended at noon Saturday, and the official results are in: Eliot Spitzer Night has been canceled.

Fans were allowed to vote on the promotion's future after some in the community began to express anger and outrage about the event, which was announced on the heels of the disgraced New York governor's resignation after being named in an FBI investigation of a prostitution ring.

As of noon Saturday, more than 55 percent of fans voted in favor of canceling Eliot Spitzer Night, which was slated to take place June 13 at Luther Williams Field.

"At no point did we ever condone (Spitzer's) actions," South Coast League chief development officer J.D. Hardin said during a phone interview Saturday night. "The attempts of the Macon Music were to come up with a wacky promotion to draw fans in like much of what's been done across the U.S. We wanted the fans' input since so many people wrote in and supported it or didn't support it. We wanted to at least leave it up to them."

Voting began Sunday with more than 5,000 people visiting the team's Web site to cast their vote. The final numbers: 3,014 people voted against the promotion and 2,516 voted for it.

The Music made national headlines March 13 when the team announced the plans for the promotion, which was meant to poke fun at the circumstances surrounding Spitzer's involvement with a prostitute.

Elements of the promotion included an invitation extended to Spitzer to throw out the first pitch and several giveaways, including a trip to New York.

Several attempts to contact SCL CEO Jamie Toole on Saturday by phone and through e-mail were unsuccessful. Toole told The Telegraph last week that the Music had received a lot of feedback about the event and that he had heard just about everything from people in support of and against the promotion.

He even heard from people out of town who had never even heard of Macon who said they were planning on coming to the city just for the promotion.

"There is certainly that side of the coin where there's a lot of interest in that night," Toole said last week.

Apparently, there wasn't enough interest to keep Eliot Spitzer Night on the calendar. Less than 44 percent of those who voted in the poll wanted the Music to keep the promotion on as planned.

Throughout the week, the poll rarely fluctuated as those in favor of canceling the promotion held a steady lead. Those voting to keep the promotion went ahead by about one-percent Thursday, but the lead did not last long.

"Gov. Spitzer now has two resignations in a couple weeks," Hardin said jokingly.

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kekemortson
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Macon Calls For Spitzer Night Resignation

Post by kekemortson » Sun Mar 23, 2008 6:45 pm

From the Music homepage:

March 22, 2008 - (Macon, GA) The Macon Music announced today that they will not proceed with their planned “Eliot Spitzer Night”.

The polls are closed and many fans weighed in on the scheduled June 13th promotion.

The team’s website poll results show that 55% of fans voting were in favor of canceling the event. Another poll featured on the Macon Telegraph’s website had similar results.

The Music team wanted to give its fans the chance to voice their opinion on a promotion that has caused quite a stir. The local fans support is very important and with that in mind, the team respectfully has canceled the event.

The team will be releasing its full promotional schedule in the next few days. Fans can expect the same excitement as last year with some new events added to the line-up.

The Music open up the season on Thursday, May 15th, against their in-state rival, the South Georgia Peanuts.

For more information on teams, players, schedules, tickets, photos, and all other news and information related to the 2008 season, visit the Macon Music website at http://www.maconbaseball.com or the South Coast League website at http://www.southcoastleague.com.

http://www.maconbaseball.com/news/?id=839

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