Does anybody know why they were giving away surrender hankies at the game tonight?

[AdvantageSchneider]

Were they too cheap to slap on a 10 cent logo or something? Nothing like seeing 40K brewer fans waving white flags the night we were eliminated.

 

Just another sign the brewers don't get it I guess.

[Mr QL]

I don't understand why we waited to the third to last game for them. Seriously, how much are a small piece of cloth and a stamp?

[jlau20]

I found it kind of laughable that they chose plain white flags basically.

 

Oh well, better than those stupid Raise the Roof signs.

[razzzorsharp]

There was no stamp. Also, they more than likely had to order them a while ago and they probably were thinking tonight wasn't elimination night.

[TooLiveBrew]

then, well, oops.

[trwi7]

LOL they didn't even put anything on it? I got a white towel to wave at an Admirals game, I'm looking at it right now and they filled it with as much as they could. Across the top it says GO ADMIRALS! in red in the middle it says Milwaukee Admirals with the logo below Admirals and on the bottom left it has Time Warner Cable the power of you with their logo, the logo for Milwaukee Electric Tool and on the bottom right it says U.S. Cellular We Connect with You with their logo.

 

They seriously couldn't put one little bit of print on it like GO BREWERS! or something?

[windiv07]

We received four (one for each full-season seat). I have instructed my wife to launder them with the colors which will tint them pink. When they come out of the dryer, I intend to insert them into the FedEx envelope I received my post-season and World Series tickets in along with a the following note, all adrressed to Mark Attanasio's personal attention:

 

Dear Mark,

 

Enclosed you will find the blank white surrender flags your organization issued to your loyal fans prior to the elimination night game Friday, September 28, 2007. I have tinted them pink to match the slips I recommend you issue to the following employyees of the Milwaukee Brewers along with these color coordinated crying towels:

 

1. The person who came up with this ridiculous idea to humiliate everyone cheering for the Brewers in the stands by waving the universal world-wide signal for giving up.

2. The scoreboard operator who for an hour and fifteen minutes after the Cubs / Reds game was over left the score at 6-0 with 0 outs and a man on first in the bottom on the 9th in Cincinnatti while we waved these stupid things. I noticed you left your seat during this time for an extended period and returned just before the final score was posted.

3. The electronic marquee operator who chose 4 times when the crowd had already began to chant spontaneously, loudly, and in unison (LET'S GO BREWERS) to interrupt and prompt the waving of these surrender flags, thereby silencing the groundswell for the sake of waving these stupid things making our fans look like a disorganized rabble of idiots.

4. To Ned Yost for singlehandedly demotivating this highly talented team and mismanging it from a juggernaut back to a .500 record in the span of 2 1/2 short months.

 

The inappropriateness of 1 through 4 is undeniable. I urge you to take swift and decisive action.

 

Sincerely,

 

windiv07 (soon to change my screen name)

 

Edits in blue to correct syntax & accuracy...sorry, it was late last night. Paste away.

[windiv07]

And I recommend anyone else who was at the game and got one of these to do exactly the same. Please feel free to copy and paste.

[hawing]

I remain kind of stunned that these giveaways were completely unadorned - particularly if they were ordered a while ago, but really, either way. While I am no expert on promotional products, I find it hard to believe they couldn't identify even a modest screen print design and find a sponsor willing to kick in for it.

 

Plus, white flag? Widely recognized symbol of surrendering? This had to be a last minute idea. It just had to.

[sheethead]

Our section to start chanting "Wave Your Towel" as instructed by the marquee in the bottom of the 9th. Shameful, embarrassing, and pathetic is what it felt like, but we laughed. We turned it around and made it funny. The whole Brewer marketing team needs to be evaluated, and heads need to roll. For this and the annual "celebrate the '82 World Series losers" campaign. Make it stop!! Is this region really lacking marketing talent that badly?

[MoneyballMan]

We received four (one for each full-season seat). I have instructed my wife to launder them with the colors which will tint them pink. When they come out of the dryer, I intend to insert them into the FedEx envelope I received my post-season and World Series tickets in along with a the following note, all adrressed to Mark Attanasio's personal attention:

 

Dear Mark,

 

Enclosed you will find the blank white surrender flags your organization issued to your loyal fans prior to the elimination night game Friday, September 28, 2007. I have tinted them pink to match the slips I recommend you issue to the following employyees of the Milwaukee Brewers along with these color coordinated crying towels:

 

1. The person who came up with this ridiculous idea to humiliate everyone cheering for the Brewers in the stands by waving the universal world-wide signal for giving up.

2. The scoreboard operator who for an hour and fifteen minutes after the Cubs / Reds game was over left the score at 4-0 with 0 outs and a man on first in the bottom on the 9th in Cincinnatti while we waved these stupid things. I noticed you left your seat during this time for an extended period and returned just before the final score was posted.

3. The electronic marquee operator who chose 4 times when the crowd had already began to chant spontaneously, loudly, and in unison (LET'S GO BREWERS) to interrupt and prompt the waving of these surrender flags, thereby silencing the groundswell for the sake of waving these stupid things making our fans look like a disorganized rabble of idiots.

4. To Ned Yost for singlehandedly demotivating this highly talented team and mismanging it from a juggernaut back to a .500 record in the span of 2 1/2 short months.

 

The inappropriateness of 1 through 4 is undeniable. I urge you to take swift and decisive action.

 

Sincerely,

 

windiv07 (soon to change my screen name)

Ok, this was pretty funny. I can't wait to hear if you get any response!!

[pretendastronaut]

I think it was just poor timing mostly and probably a last minute idea. There was a thread on here last week were a bunch of people thought it would be great to have towels to wave at the final homestand, and several people thought they should be white.

 

I do think it would have been better to have something printed on them, but I think they'd have a hard time finding a screenprinter who could pump out 40,000+ towels in a matter of days, especially on extremely short notice.

[windiv07]

Our section to start chanting "Wave Your Towel" as instructed by the marquee in the bottom of the 9th. Shameful, embarrassing, and pathetic is what it felt like, but we laughed. We turned it around and made it funny. The whole Brewer marketing team needs to be evaluated, and heads need to roll. For this and the annual "celebrate the '82 World Series losers" campaign. Make it stop!! Is this region really lacking marketing talent that badly?

A promotional death wish is what it looks like to me. They could write a long and sordid book on similar promotions or lack thereof entitled: "How to Alienate Your Fan Base".

 

Ever tried to clap while twirling a white towel? Give it a try. It is physically impossible...

 

LET'S GO BREWERS!

 

poof-poof

poof-poof-poof

[hawing]

I didn't catch this last night, but according to the S.O., Brian and Bill said that Mark A. came up with the towel idea overnight. If that's so, I'll give him an A for effort, and, well, lower grades for timing and overall implementation. (Mark needs to have someone monitoring this site for ideas, though, as towels were mentioned here with enough time to put things together a little better.)

 

If I'd been at the game, and experienced the kind of charming section mates that windiv described in the chat last night, I would probably be more angry.

[stoops17]

That's what we thought, had to be a last minute effort to get the towels out. But the question is, do the towels not come in a blue perhaps?

[windiv07]

...Mark A. came up with the towel idea overnight. ...

 

...(Mark needs to have someone monitoring this site for ideas...)

 

If I'd been at the game, and experienced the kind of charming section mates that windiv described in the chat last night, I would probably be more angry.

1) This from an owner who, at the focal point of an exclusive television special about himself (that has run several times on FSN now) says he 'does not like to lose'? Sorry hawing, but in light of such a proclamation, that much lack of foresight for the consequences of issuing 40,000 white flags is just plain stunning.

 

2) Trust me, the Brewers organization monitors this site.

 

3) And yes, there were some pretty obnoxious Cubs fans in our section last night adding to the frustration of our fans there. Several were escorted out when it was discovered they sneaked down from the upper deck, but (and this is unusual for a Friday night) there were only 2 ushers for the entire area in front of the pressbox (maybe the rest were pulling double-duty handing out surrender towels downstairs) and not very many police on the loge at all last night for some reason. I suppose the cops were busy upstairs. Otherwise, more overgrown Cubs fans would have been asked to leave for their treatment of Tony Gwynn, Sr. in the ESPN broadcast booth during the 6th inning. I generally spectate quietly when these things happen, but when they become confrontational and there are no police around, there is not much anyone can do. My approach was to ask first if they were Padres fans in Cub regalia, then to ask if they were Cubs fans, then to congratrulate them, then to ask why they were not in Cincinatti celebrating with their team? An XXL jersey fits me tight, so it pretty much simmered down after that, but it should not be expected of us Brewers fans to police our own stands when people from out of town make it unpleasant for sportscasters and regular season ticket fans.

 

Have fun at the game today, hawing. I hope you see some good baseball and that you (and we) are lucky enough to see Prince eclipse his father's record.

[bigredrobbo]

Look on the bright side. It could have been "disco sucks" night!

[windiv07]

That's tonight, isn't it?

[JumpinMacFlash]

Is the only issue with these things the color and content of them? Sure it would have been nice if they were blue or had something screen printed on them, but I was at the game last night and I thought it looked really neat when everyone was waving them.

 

My only beef is it seems that the crowd is always completely dependent on the marquees to show any kind of emotion. No one waves the towel unless they're told, and no one makes any noise unless they're told. That was my problem with last night.

[AJAY]

Seeing the fans wave the rally towels looked really cool and added some excitement. How often as a Brewers fan do you get to experience that "big game" feeling of being on national television and fighting for the postseason? Kudos to the ownership for doing the little things.

 

The Phillies had them in their park too.

 

Who cares if there was no logo or advertising on the towels. The effect in the ballpark was really neat. Baseball Tonight on ESPN showed clips of it and they were talking about our great fan support this season. It made for good TV at least.

[JumpinMacFlash]

Seeing the fans wave the rally towels looked really cool and added some excitement.

 

Exactly! The entire game felt like a playoff game and the rally towels added to that.

[jason21nl]

this is what the phillies towel looked like. I haven't seen the Brewers one but I bet the Phillies put a little more effort into theirs.

 

 

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/jason21nl/philliestowel.jpg

 

 

 

 

[brewcrewkid14]

Yeah, I thought they looked cool on television. Especially if it was just an overnight idea.

[windiv07]

Here is what Brewers fans were issued (both sides). Please compare to the Phillies' handouts:

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/2d0258eac797e0853f1be0b2e83201708b81044.pjpg

I wonder if there is a subliminal message in the choice of vendors or the verbage on this tag...

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/7aa250eab49d30f1384b757c53f94fbac009a11.pjpg

Phiilipines: circa 1942 perhaps?

[dadofandrew]

If they would have had a sponsor, the same ones would be saying they "sold out". That's the way they are, happy only if they are unhappy.