Sincerely, Rockies PR Douchebag
“I’m sure Burns was horrified that his opinions could have negatively impacted the foundation he helped set up with the family of his slain friend, but the realization that a sports team’s PR department could sink this low was probably more horrifying to us all.”
This is how it should have gone down:
“Peter, I know we’ve had our differences in the past but we are happy to support the JRG Foundation (@JRGFoundation) with Michael Cuddyer’s participation on your show. Maybe this can be a new start for all of us in supporting a good cause.”
Sincerely,
Rockies PR Douchebag
But it didn’t. And even though the Colorado Rockies never fire anyone, they should start with the complete moron in charge of its PR who saw fit to let a personal grudge get in the way of supporting a good cause. In what can be described as the worst public relations move since Les Nessman threw live turkeys out of a hot air balloon (look it up), the Rockies continue its plunge to its rightful place as Colorado’s most hated sports team.
Dissing charities is never a good move. Just ask anyone who’s dodged the Make A Wish Foundation. But dissing a charity because of a personal beef with a sports radio host is by far one of the lower roads to take. Sports radio hosts are paid to be opinionated, loud and controversial. And it’s no wonder the Rockies weren’t too pleased with Mile High Sports Radio’s Peter Burns with his scathing and often times funny evisceration of the Blake Street Bozos. But shit got real, real quick when the team declined to allow Michael Cuddyer to promote the Jessica Redfield Foundation – a charity that Burns helped found – on his show.
To call it a bush league move is a wild understatement. Greg Schiano and Von Miller’s sack dance found this to be particularly uncouth. To say it was classless to deny Cuddyer the chance to promote his involvement with the charity with the person who helped start it is wrong too: Vile is how you could accurately describe it. And that’s why whoever made the call to drag the Rockies further into the sewer (probably PR guru Jay Alves) should be fired as soon the team returns from its current road trip. And yes, they still are playing. And no, this doesn’t help the team’s already soiled image.
To escalate a media feud at the expense of a charity – one born out of the tragic Aurora theater shooting – was just more evidence that the Rockies have lost all grip with reality. I’m sure Burns was horrified that his opinions could have negatively impacted the foundation he helped set up with the family of his slain friend, but the realization that a sports team’s PR department could sink this low was probably more horrifying to us all.
I’d like to ask Jay Alves and his PR team what the opposite of PR is. I think with Alves and the Rockies it’s PA: Public Antagonizing. And that’s what the team has done with its disgruntled fans and is increasingly prickly media members. The Rockies PR department is throwing a 55 gallon drum of gasoline on the fire that is the negative image of the Colorado Rockies. What they did today was half-way salvaged when Cuddyer was allowed to go on another show instead of Burns’s, but the damage was done. The Rockies, in addition to being an inept sports organization, look like callous bullies. Willing to hold a grudge over doing the right thing. Year of the Fan indeed.
