I suppose it's a given that any marketing type associated with a club who plays music and have a blubbering PA announcer during the game would be the epitome of lame-itude, but this is even a bit over the top for "America's blandest Team." And manufacturing a nickname for a rival player if it was nothing more than a commodity coming off the assembly line is par for the course from people who refer to the game as "the product." This reeks of "John 'The Juggler' Harkes" which later had to be amended to "John 'The Errant Passer' Harkes." I'd respect it a little more if it was those toothless, cow-humping inbreds they call fans who came up with this, instead of some front office marketing lackey who hadn't seen a live game until he took the job. Tom
First Crew Fan: "I done found mah wahf in baid with another man! Second Crew Fan: Yew bitter? First Crew Fan: Yup, and I bit him too!
That's just classless. I agree with Tom. If a supporter came up with this, it's understandable, but this is unprofessional.
Controversy... radio promo... What's not to understand? Fan clubs are the only ones that can use antagonizing rhetoric? Frankly, I'm not that selfish (but I do look good on radio).
I always thought Kansas City was America's Blandest Team. At the very least, they're the most homogenous - every Wizard looks like every other Wizard. Very creepy.
I don't object to this kind of thing. An opposing team should do whatever it can, within the rules of the game, to unsettle their opponent. BUT...they could do better than 'Shady.' I mean, c'mon. Jay 'Leg breaker' Heaps or Jay 'The Forehead' Heaps or something. But 'Shady?' That's petty AND bad.
It is an Eminem reference, the headline above the picture reading, 'Guess who's back/Back Again.' Not to say that that makes more sense.
#1: the rev's belong in the A-League....and that's being kind. #2: you can't spell tom hill without the letters TOOL.
personally, "shady" jay heaps is better than jay "shady" heaps. but, what the heck is the point of this thing on the website anyway. i assumed that they must have tried to be in sync with the prevailing thoughts of their fan base (given their intra-game entertainment....perhaps that should be n'sync). anyway, so i went over to the crew boards to see how p'd or annoyed people really were with heaps. my findings: started at about 3:00 pm on 18 may. 6 page thread devoted to revs/crew pregame. of that, the first 1 1/2 pages were devoted to beer...largely pbr. next, 1 1/2 pages devoted largely to usmnt stuff. about 3+ days later someone breaks thru the a.d.d. barrier and at about 6 pm on 21 may the phrase "back on topic" appears. generally, they seem to spend the rest of the thread complaining about the deficiencies of their own side (which we all do). now, the most important part....i could be wrong, but the word(s) jay heaps apears not even once to this point. so, if crew fans don't even care about him, what is crew management thinking? these guys certainly aren't doing their image any favors.
I bet they posted it in the Rev locker room. Not that Jay or any of the Revs need any motivation for this match. George
Read the other posts here. Antagonizing is not a restricted art form for BS fans or fan clubs that attend MLS games. A radio station is using small space to make 'what-they-hope' is an impact that captures emotion and steers it to rivalry... at least for one game. But more importantly for the radio station, it's a promotion. That's what they do, and they did it because, even though you don't 'understand' it, YOU'LL REMEMBER IT. This now concludes my version of marketing 101.
Right. I got the reference. It was dumb. Back. Back again. They might as well have called him Jay "Barbra Streisand" Heaps. All Jay has in common with Eminem is that neither of them is missing a limb and neither of them is Chinese.
This is hysterical on so many levels. OK, that does it... I'm going to sign up for a Big Soccer premium membership just so I can use this as a signature line. Thanks, you made my weekend!
The only thing "Shady" was the Oscar-worthy performance of the Crew's Freddy Garcia last season when he dropped faster than Clinton's pants after being head-butted by Heaps. Too bad the joke was on Columbus: Heaps scored the only goal in the Revs away playoff win in that particular match, this prior to being sent off towards the end of the first-half. The Magpie
I decided to go check out the "shady" reference on the site. Didn't see anything but decided to check out the article on the match. Crew Drop Heartbreaker To Revolution Kamler scores twice, Twellman slams winner in the 89th to outmatch Black and Gold Shane Murphy May 24, 2003 http://www.thecrew.com/show.cfm?article=420 From the article: "I don't know if it's we're just being laxadasical or what," said goalkeeper Jon Busch. I assume you mean "lackadaisical." How ironic.
How about "Uriah" for Heeps? He fouls like the Dickens! But then, maybe a literary reference is too much to expect from the folks in Columbus.