It’s not as if the White Sox are strangers to the notion of self-inflicted promotional wounds. Why, the only event that might surpass 1979’s Disco Demolition may well be the Cleveland Indians’ 10 cent beer night. What could possibly go wrong with a dozen beers for a buck twenty?
Of course, both of those brilliant publicity stunts resulted in home team forfeits.
Then there was the ugly 1976 shorts incident where the White Sox players wore cutoffs for an August game and who could possibly forget the annual Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day promotion in which fans wear green and drink as much as the possibly can.
But as far as pure unadulterated and unintended humor goes, last week, the White Sox managed to top them all!
Fearing precipitation might interrupt their July 2nd proceedings against the Angels, the promotional department passed out protective ponchos as people entered the park. And sure enough, when it started to rain, the fans dutifully donned the glossy white wraps and summarily deployed their conical white hoods.
So as you might imagine, the scene quickly shifted from your average night at the ballpark to something a lot more like a massive Ku Klux Klan rally. The only thing missing was the Grand Wizard doing the seventh inning stretch.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did! When fireballer John Danks hit the three strikeout mark, fans dutifully held up the traditional trio of “K” signs which fit right in with the new stadium décor. And the Twittersphere immediately went wild.
C’mon! You can’t tell me that some lowly White Sox intern somewhere in the organization didn’t gaze upon those gleaming white poncho giveaways and have some serious second thoughts.
Perhaps fearing their boss’s wrath or simply not wanting to rock the boat, much like that fairytale Emperor’s attendants, they chose not to say anything and the end result was white supremacy night at U. S. Cellular Field.
I suppose we can take some solace in the fact their team name isn’t the Redskins.
I think several of the Sox people had second thoughts; the problem is I’m sure no one ever opened the package and looked at one before they decided to give them out. Once the fans had them, they were stuck. What could they do, go around taking them back? I’ve never seen these things in white, myself. I’ve always seen them yellow, orange, or clear.