Without a doubt this is actually my favorite time of the year, its not the holiday season, its not even my birthday month. Its the birth of a new baseball season! Now, it is true I am a Mets fan so there are those that might question why I would be excited about the baseball season starting. I have other teams other than the Mets that I root for, two other teams specifically. Fantasy teams. One of my fantasy baseball teams, The Roleplayers, has been in existance for years. It exists in a 12 team league comprised of good friends, and friends of friends. The league is taken very seriously by all as we don't just play for money, we play for bragging rights. The league is taken so seriously many of us even have our own logos, I for one have my own logo. A few years ago, I provided everyone in my league with custom promotional Sudoku games. Instead of Sudoku inside however, there was a word search with each of the teams names' and owners' names in it. At .99 a piece I was able to show off my team without spending alot. For anyone in a league like this your annual fantasy draft/auction is an event, almost like an annual family reunion. So why not celebrate it with some promotional products? Sure the custom Sudoku games are low cost but we also have plenty of low cost baseball themed promotional products that would fit right into any fantasy baseball draft. Are you the type who does a lot of scribbling and note-taking? Baseball bat pens!  Not comfortable in the draft chairs? Baseball seat cushion! Get frustrated easily? Baseball player stress reliever! So to all those who are with me in this crazy fantasy baseball world, good luck to you and your team! (unless you are in one of my leagues)

 

With the Masters less than a month away, there seems to be one major question in the golf world: Will Angel Cabrera repeat as champion? Wait, it's not? Oh right, the Tiger watch. Will Tiger play? He'd most likely need a tune-up tournament, so he'd have to return to the PGA Tour in 3 weeks. I'm not sure what will happen, but Tiger at Augusta would lead to some pretty big ratings (not necessarily for the right reasons).

Personally, I hope he plays, and plays well. I like watching professional sports because I can see the best athletes in the world competing against each other. Tiger is in our lives because he is a great golfer, not because he is a great person. Most public figures aren't on our radar because of their morals and values, but because of their special talents. Let's separate these things. I don't need him to apologize to me (as a member of "the public"). Apologize to your family and friends, fix your private life (in private), and get out there and golf! Sunday at Augusta is better with Tiger in the hunt.

 

One thing that will definitely come from this episode is a decrease in Tiger Woods-related golf promotional items. Given the choice, people will most likely go for the item without the picture of the philanderer. I'm sure the people at Augusta have come up with many golf giveaways that promote their course and their sport rather than their star.

 

I do not watch hockey often, but the mens Olympics were amazing to watch. Every game was fast paced and skillfully played. Last night's game was for the gold, Canada vs. USA (the USA had already beat Canada in a qualifying round). It was the most exciting game I have ever seen. With less than 10 seconds left in the 3rd quarter team USA scored to tie it up! My family was screaming with excitment sitting on the edge of our seats! At that moment a Hockey Puck Stress Reliever would have been perfect. *Spoiler Alert* Canada won...in overtime. While I was happy for Canada to win gold while hosting the games, I was sad for the US team to come so close to winning (I also just watched the movie Miracle so I had high hopes). Regardless, silver isn't too shabby!

After watching some of the Winter Olympics on TV last night, I could not help but become a fan of Lindsey Vonn. Not only did she win the Gold Medal for Downhill Skiing (Who doesn't like a winner?), being the first American skiier to do so, she (or someone in her entourage) came up with a catchy, bold and NEW title for this years olympics that has lead to a whole line of promotional products! Here at Motivators - WE LOVE IT! Now, some may say it is cheesy, but proclaiming this years Vancouver Olympics the "Vonncouver Olympics" may not be that far off. I first took note of the claim on a promotional Champion Striped Beanie Vonn's mom was sporting to cheer her daughter on. I knew it didn't stop there - this is America. We like things to be excessive, overdone, and over-the top! So while browsing on the internet I came across an entire line of promotional "Vonncouver" Olympics merchandise, all of which are available on our website. From the promotional Ultra Cotton Hooded Sweatshirt to the Egyptian Golf Shirt and the sport Duffle Bag, she will have you covered in promotional products! Do you think it's a "Vonncouver" Olympics? 

When we at Motivators get our own imprinted items, they are usually custom office supplies. We get great items, from promotional pens to promotional tape flag dispensers.

I asked a friend if he uses anything imprinted with his law firm's name. While they, like Motivators, have imprinted pens, he was more excited about his new promotional t-shirt imprinted with the name of his dodgeball league! With a league membership, you get the shirt (and to play, of course!). So the sports league orders the imprinted t-shirts, recoups the money with the membership fee, and the members become living, breathing advertisements for the league.

 

The moral of the story? Once again, if you give people "free" imprinted stuff, your logo will get out there! (To be fair, part of the fee for the league membership goes to charity. Members are more than walking billboards.)

 

Can you feel it in the air? If you are in the Northeast, the answer is probably no. If you are in the Northeast all you can feel is snow. However, if you are in Florida or Arizona, there is something else brewing. That something else is Spring Training. This week pitchers and catchers begin to report to their respective team's baseball camp. Spring training is unlike anything any of the other sports can offer. Sure you can watch your favorite football team train and practice but spring training is an all encompassing experience that is very up close and personal and typically puts you within driving distance of who knows how many other teams in baseball that you may want to follow. I myself have made the trip a few times, the teams do an incredible job of replicating a true major league baseball experience. The stadiums for the most part are beautiful, not as large, but still very nice. Not to mention you can get all the same promotional products at spring training that you would at a real game. There are spring training versions of every teams caps, t-shirts and jerseys. What makes spring training even better is, there are less crowds and more players. This means it is truly your best opportunity for getting your promotional products autographed by the teams. So the countdown begins to get all of your baseball related promotional products ready for Opening Day, April 5th.  47 days and counting!

 

A couple of weeks back, Sarah blogged about how some promo products were being used to help in Haiti. Sarah's blog was mainly about television, so here's some info about how sports and promotional apparel are involved in the relief efforts.

As USA Today reported, the promotional t-shirts of the losing Super Bowl team would be donated to Haitian earthquake victims. Two sets of shirts are printed each year for a variety of reasons. The teams wear the shirts on the field after the game. Fans want to buy the shirts as soon as possible. To make sure this can happen, the shirts are printed in advance.

I think this is a great thing for the NFL to do. I'm sure some people would want to buy the shirts as collector's items or conversation pieces, but there are people in real need. The Colts t-shirts were sent in conjunction with the return of the Manning Face:

 

Some needy folks in Nicaragua were able to receive Patriots t-shirts emblazoned with a 19-0 slogan, back in 2007...

 

Good for the NFL. Hopefully next season, t-shirts of the Giants' Super Bowl opponent will be sent away.

 

Before getting married, I thought about some of the goals that I had. Goals that, if reached, would make me feel like I was being a good husband. Last night, only 3+ months into the marriage, I achieved the most important goal on that list.. the wife accompanied me to a Knicks game, which meant that she had been with me to see each of the four major US sports leagues! Our second date was to a Mets game; we went on a Motivators outing to an Islanders game; we saw the Giants "play" the Panthers in December; we watched the Timberwolves "play" the Knickerbockers.

Working in this industry, we always notice the sports promotional items at these events. The Knicks team store was selling custom water bottles. The fans in a selected section of the crowd were given promotional thundersticks. I never thought about where those items came from before I worked here. Now I pretty much anything can be imprinted.

As far as the game goes, the Knicks destroyed the T-wolves, 132-105. It didn't make up for the embarrassing 50 point loss against the Mavs, but hopefully it gave the guys some confidence. Laurie asked at one point, "What's a Knick?" and after my answer, "A Knickerbocker," wasn't good enough, we looked into it further when we got home. Turns out Father Knickerbocker was the symbol of New York during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Who knew?

 

*Important note: Sarcasm does not always translate through the written word.. Bringing Laurie to sporting events was not a goal I had when thinking about marriage. Nor does it make me a good husband. Making her watch many, many games on TV does!

 

For all you hooligans out there, the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is only 136 days away. The major football, (or for the sake of us Americans) "soccer," event will be hosted in South Africa this year. Like all sporting events, promotional products are extremely important to each and every fan.

Sticking with tradition, a special crafted soccer ball has been created to represent the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Named, "Jabulani," meaning "to celebrate," the state of the art soccer ball incorporated 11 different colors to signify the 11 official languages of South Africa and 11 players on each team. 1,760 of these promotional soccer balls are being created daily with processes of frequency forming, vacuuming and thermal bonding.

The intense process makes for an awesome soccer ball that even the captain of the Chelsea and Germany team's, Michael Ballack said, "does exactly what I want it to do."

South Africa has already incorporated their culture into the innovative soccer balls, but now they've gone a step further. In African tradition, a customized helmet is worn by fans to show support. In Africa, many people actually make a living creating these items named, Makarabas. Like all of our promotional hats, they help to promote any given brand while allowing for a personal touch.
The intricacies included in the creation of each Makaraba makes it impossible to mass produce them. Therefore, special packages have been prepared to leave some customizations up to the recipient. Inserts and stickers are included to allow each owner to customize their Makaraba just how they'd like it. Goodness gracious, they've even created an inflatable Makaraba. My favorite thing about these promotional products is that the web-site you buy them from actually has a section titled, "Pimp your Makaraba." I don't know if, "pimp" is a word used in any of the official 11 languages or South Africa, but I'm happy to know they speak my language.

I haven't blogged about football in a while. Shame on me. It's just that my football season peaked in October. The Giants completely fell apart. My one-time first place fantasy team fell apart. And my other fantasy team? Last place. I didn't get any cool football promotional items. Why would I want to write about football?

That's a poor attitude, though. Our little brothers, the J-E-T-S, are making some noise. Adorable. Are they changing the culture? Or are they setting up their fans for a typical Jets ending? I'm rooting for them. This isn't like Yankees-Mets or Rangers-Islanders.. the Giants and Jets play only once every 4 years. There's no true rivalry... they've never met in the Super Bowl or anything (which is hard to happen when one side hasn't made it there since the '60s). So why not? As long as the Jets fans that I'm friends with don't get too mouthy... go green! Wait, sorry. Go Gang Green!

The fans have been good so far. Following is the assessment of Jets vs. Colts from my good friend (and Jets fan) John: We don't stand a chance!

Ladies and gentlemen, the NY Jets!