#michellebeadle

**Photo grabbed from http://underscoopfire.com/joke-professional-wrestling/

Before I spotted Bridgeport’s Michelle Beadle Appreciation Night on the team schedule, I’ll be honest, I couldn’t have put a face to the name. I only follow baseball, so I had no clue the extent of Beadle’s notoriety. I’ll narrow down her background for you--she’s been pretty much on every sports and/or entertainment show on a variety of networks. What’s relevant now is that she is the co-host of SportsNation on ESPN2 and from all the twitter posts it seems like she’s either hated or adored. Those two factors most likely played a part in the Bluefish decision for a Michelle Beadle Day.

Let me bring you up to speed on the Bridgeport Bluefish. They are a minor league team and have a history of crazy, out-of-the-box promotions, as do most minor league teams. They also have a history of poor attendance. This is the team that started “Nipple-gate” just for the heck of it and brought Pete Rose back to baseball. They know what they’re doing; just with those two controversial incidents, the Bridgeport Bluefish were the topic of conversation across the country. Even if it was just 15 minutes of fame, exposure meant an incalculable number of  people were hearing about this professional ball club in Bridgeport, CT, and potentially more folks filling seats at The Ballpark at HarborYard.

Until yesterday, there really hadn’t been much chatter about the promotion. There wasn’t much coming from the organization in terms of whether Beadle was going to make an appearance or not. This was not something Beadle was involved in planning. It took one article and one retweet from Beadle for the event to catch some steam on social media. 

There have been a mix of reactions, most notably her disbelief. My guess is that this is all working exactly how General Manager Jamie Toole imagined it would. I asked the GM what went into the decision for the promotion and he commented, “We are big fans of Michelle Beadle and are looking forward to showing our appreciation for her with Michelle Beadle Appreciation Night.” If I had asked him in person that might have been accompanied by a wink and a smirk.