I'm really looking forward to the 4th of July this year. We're taking a trip down to Washington, DC to visit friends and family. I expect we'll come across many 4th of July Giveaways in the nation's capital. Friends have told us about a parade at the National Mall, which I'm sure we'll check out. The fireworks at night will be amazing.

I think the highlight of the trip, however, might be on Saturday. We made plans to check out the Mets vs. Nationals at 7:05pm. Over the weekend, we discovered that the game was moved to 4pm, aka the Fox Game of the Week. Hmmm why would they want to televise this game nationally? Could it be a STRASBURG outing? If so, I'm sure the Baseball Giveaways will be in full effect.

(Disclaimer: I did the math, and it doesn't look like the National Treasure will be pitching. This would be a good thing for the Mets, of course, but it would be cool to see him throw.)

Blogs are not unbiased. They are meant to reveal the author's opinion through whatever the theme may be of that site. So, yes, I am a Mets fan and yes, that may be a reoccuring theme in my blog entrys here. This time however, I have an absolute direct connection to the New York Metropolitans and promotional products. And it is all thanks to the wild personality of one person...

That's right Lady GaGa! (Trust me that's her under there)

Let me explain. Apparantly, Lady GaGa is a big baseball fan, who would of thought that? Certainly not me. So aside from going to a Yankees game and walking into the locker room with her entourage without previous persmission she also recently caused a stir at CitiField, home of the New York Mets. According to the Daily News:

"Gaga rewarded the Mets' invitation to the June 10 game and a high-priced seat with an outrageous display of rudeness. She told Mets officials she "wanted to go incognito" because she didn't want to be photographed, showed up donning a metal-studded bikini, and was incensed that the photographers located near her seat were able to recognize her."

In order to appease her, the Mets then moved her into a suite that was not being used, none other then Jerry Seinfeld's suite actually, her response then was to curse out and give those outside of the suite the middle finger. It caused quite a stir.

Lucky for the Mets this all came around the final stretch of All Star Voting! Tonight at CitiField will be "Go GaGa for Wright Night", the first 20,000 fans in attendance will receive, that's right, a free promotional foam finger! Now, the Mets have made clear the promotional foam fingers will have the index finger extended and none others but the idea is to get people to go online or grab a ballot and get David Wright in as the starting 3B for this years All Star game (which tied for the NL lead in RBIs he deserves).

So remember, if you love promotional products, you love Lady Gaga or you just love the Mets....vote David Wright starting third baseman for the All Star Game!

I'm sure I'm just piling on here, and you've seen this picture everywhere, but tell me this isn't the best picture of 2010:

Here's the story, about a Phillies fan jumping on the field and being taken down by a taser. Very nice. As a Mets fan, I can't say I'm surprised. Fans from Philly are constantly finding ways to top themselves; though getting tasered by a police officer isn't worse than throwing snowballs at Santa. The organizations should know better by now and hand out some sports promo products to distract these fans. Give out eco promo products to remind them of their humanity. Give out custom printed stress balls so that they can take out their frustrations. I don't know exactly what, but they should do something!

We Mets fans would never do something ridiculous to get on the field, right?!?

My Facebook news feed was flooded with similar updates yesterday. "I just finished the last class of my college career!" Some were more personally studded with H*l# $h!t, and can you F^c%ing believe it?!?! We're DONE!!!" while others took a more reflective approach, "Wow...this is it."

I can't remember the particular status update I made on my last day of class last year, but I definitely remember the thoughts I had. "Time for the real world."

As we sprout into the month of May, many high school and college students prepare for graduation. Motivators can supply you with the graduation promotional giveawaysyou need to help celebrate, and I will now attempt to supply the graduating class from St. Joseph's College of Maine with some hope. Look at me, I'm employed. (And I actually accidentally slept through the last class of my college career.)
           

The opportunities are out there, so conquer them! And while you're at it, hit 'em out of the park. That's just what Jesse  LaCasse, a St. Joe's '03 alumni is doing. The St. Joseph's College Magazine featured him in their latest edition and I couldn't pass up a story that included the word, "custom." For you see, promotional, custom, branded, logo and imprinted have become tokens of the marketing language I now speak - a language I first learned at St. Joes.

So what language does Jesse speak? He's currently living in Germany so I'd give that a guess, but since graduating, baseball has been affluent in his life. So where do these two alumni cross paths? On the baseball diamond.
                 
Jesse is a member of my college's Baseball Hall of Fame, but he can do more than just swing a bat, he can create it. Originally just a personal hobby, Jesse now runs a one man custom baseball bat company, LaCasse Bats. He primarily uses white ash and maple wood to get the most strength and flexibility. Even better? He gets all of his supplies locally, making him a one man eco-friendly bat making show. His personal logo can be found on each of his handmade baseball bats and he brands players names into each for teams in Little League all the way up to college.

So if you're having the typical graduation blues..."How can I find a job?" "Where am I going to live?" "What do I have to offer?" Have no fears. Opportunities are out there, so take a swing.

To celebrate 30 years on the air, ESPN has been running a series of 30 documentaries (named, obviously, 30 For 30). Each documentary tells about a different, unique sports story that has happened over the last 30 years.

ESPN was able to recruit so big-named directors for this series, including Peter Berg (King's Ransom - the story of Wayne Gretzky being traded to the Los Angeles Kings) and Barry Levinson (The Band That Wouldn't Die - the story of the Colts leaving Baltimore for Indianapolis). This past week, ESPN ran Silly Little Game, which tells the story of the first Rotisserie Baseball League, or as it's now more commonly known, Fantasy Baseball.

The underlying theme of this documentary was that Fantasy Sports has become a multi-billion dollar industry and none of the founders have made any money off the idea. They did publish a book, which brought in a small amount of revenue. They also tried selling promotional t-shirts at their trade shows. This trade show apparel was another small revenue stream, but it didn't last. There are people who make their living analyzing Fantasy Sports. The man who's idea it was, Daniel Okrent, can only dream about what might have been.

And one last note, to add some salt to the wound: The documentary closed noting that Okrent, the creator of Fantasy Sports, have never won a fantasy league championship. Ouch!

Everyone loves stadium giveaways - unless you're getting hit in the head with them. In the case of a new base ball stadium promotion in El Paso, men who have been struck by the ugly bat will be rewarded with promotional giveaways of their own.
                                
(Yes, their mascot is a giant pepper. A bit less threatening than the Diablo himself.)

The El Paso Diablos are unleashing a string of fun new promotions including the reintroduction of baseball card giveaways and two promotional T-shirts giveaway nights. But the promotional event that caught my eye is the Diablos first ever Men's Makeover in 9 innings.

Director of public relations for the El Paso team, Adriana Ruiz said, "A few months ago, TotalBeauty.com voted the city of El Paso as having the ugliest men in the country." Check out the 8 Cities with the Ugliesy Guys here. Ruiz goes on to explain that the entire stadium would like to make light of the situation and give the men of El Pasa a chance to redeem themselves.
                    
Therefore, sometime in May the first ever El Paso, "Ugliest Man Pageant" will be held during the game. A few men will be selected for their fine attributes - or lack there of. They will be asked to strut their stuff and share a special talent. Then the top participants will move on to receive make-overs. Before the game is over, the man will promenade out on the field and tell that TotalBeauty survey to go foul off.

We all make mistakes. The biggest mistake of all would be to not admit that. We sleep in too long or we stay out too late. We roll through the stop signs and we forget our brother's birthday. Big and small, they happen. But one thing I believe strongly about mistakes is that we learn from them. So hear is to learning my friends. Go out there and make your mistakes.

Just hope that your mistake doesn't end up on a major league base ball player's jersey on national television and in front of a stadium of tens of thousands.

If any of you keep up with the San Francisco Giants, then you may have noticed the big blunder during the 7th inning. No there were no errors made on the field- instead there was a misspelling on an official Giants jersey. Pitcher, Eugenio Velez ran on to the field to relieve his teammate donning a jersey that read, "S-A-N-F-R-A-N-C-I-C-S-O."
                                 
The Dominican born player, Velez said in Spanish, "Incredible!" I say, "Fail!" Actually, I say, "What have we learned?" The official manufactures of all MLB jerseys will be doing lots of learning from this mistake.

Maybe next time the Giants should consider Motivators for their promotional active wear.

I did better research this time, so I know that Adam already wrote about the MLB season approaching, and his fantasy league. But that's what's on my mind, too. No March Madness bracket this year for me. I didn't get any cool Basketball Madness Giveaways. I watched 0 college basketball games this year. I have, however, watched some spring training baseball. I'm gearing up for the season.

I'm sure I'll look back on this in a few months and shake my head, but the Mets are going to make the playoffs this year! Here's what we need: Reyes back soon.. Beltran back in May.. and good seasons from 2 of Pelfrey / Maine / Perez. Three positive things - not too much to ask for! Add those to Santana, Wright, Bay, and Rodriguez, and the Mets should compete. After the last few years, I'll be happy with getting to the playoffs. Once there, anything can happen.

I'm also gearing up for my fantasy league. Last year, I ran away with the regular season title. Nobody came within 10 games of me in the last 2 months of the season. I met a buzz saw in the finals (led by Kung Fu Panda's two triples in the final two weeks.. come on!) and lost the crown.

I really could've used promotional stress relievers on the 2nd to last day of the fantasy playoffs. I was frustrated because, on this day, I saw the owner of 'Lord Helmet' and knew that I had no chance of coming back. Here's what he looked like:

Yes, the owner of 'Lord Helmet' showed up wearing a helmet... TO MY WEDDING! Come on! Who does that? Looking back, it was pretty funny. But I will have my revenge this year!

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)