Are you sure you had that one right? Please try again.

Most traditional sports fans seek out the appropriate environment where fandom is meant to be on full display. 

Sure, some of it is amusing and we choose to mock it as we see fit, but its understood that when you take up a spot within an 50,000 seat stadium featuring a sporting event as the attraction, the majority of patrons sitting alongside also share a passion for one of the teams taking part, a passion that results in generally losing any modesty they may maintain in real life situations.  Just part of being a sports fan. 

On the outer fringe, however, exists a small group viewed as "super fans" who take things to a more terrifying level. 

They're not just people looking to demonstrate their loyalty while watching or attending a game.  They are those who seek out the most prominent public forum and use it to proclaim that they are a superior fan. Their number one priority is not to enjoy following the team of choice, rather to let the world know that their obsession is greater than anyone elses.  

When the stage is as grand as Times Square during the Today Show on NBC, said "super fan" is in their prime element and has to deliver.  They have to look like a moron who is completely overdressed in team apparel at a non-team function.  Someone attempting to make everyone watching on TV realize they are a bigger fan than anyone else and perhaps make themself look like a mentally handicapped circus clown in the process.

 Let's just say that one old female super fan from Texas does what's necessary...

Cue Sarah McLaughlin song...

Will you be an angel for a potentially jobless Major League veteran?

Every September, innocent below-average veteran players are benched by teams competing for the postseason or released by teams giving their young players a shot at the big leagues. These older guys are crying out for roster spots.

It's Tony LaRussa's goal to give players a chance to prove their mediocrity at the expense of young talent. Randy Winn, Aaron Miles, Jeff Suppan, Mike MacDougal, Pedro Feliz...so long as you have seen down years and multiple teams during your career, Tony will find you a place to call home.

Please, if you're a veteran, call the St. Louis Cardinals front office and make them understand that you fit perfectly with their plan to fill every roster spot they can with valueless veteran scrubs.

Call and join by today and you'll get a welcome spot on the roster, a brand new uniform and a fading view of a pennant race.

Most importantly, you'll receive the love and support of Tony LaRussa...

Sure, the Cardinals absolutely stink right now....but the headline below is probably a little harsh coming from the Cardinals official website, no?



Accidental headline profanity is flat out awesome. Plain and simple.

It's like stumbling across Sasquatch while on a camping trip. He's there for a brief moment in time, and then disappears - leaving behind a cloud of doubt if what you saw actually happened.

Fortunately, we caught it in the nick of time to share with the world.

Although, we shouldn't take too much credit...since the Cardinals website (@stlcardinals) auto-tweeted the above headline to their ~7,000 followers. That's like Sasquatch tweeting out his exact GPS location. Of course he's going to get snatched up.

UPDATE: The Cardinals have since removed the headline and deleted the above tweet. Sasquatch has slipped back into the digital ether. We'll find him again. Hopefully.

On September 18th, the Cardinals will hold "Social Media Night" at Busch Stadium.

As someone who lives and breathes local and national social media, I'm extremely encouraged that the Cardinals have taken initiative to host an event of this caliber at Busch Stadium. That said, I challenge their motives and question whether this night will advance or inhibit the growth and awareness of the local social platform.

The night is backed by a panel of experts that will provide their experiences in social media. Except, every one of their featured media guests is from the institutional sports media. Given the Cardinals' unwillingness to allow bloggers in the press box, this should come as no surprise. However, this night is supposed to highlight social media - you know, the one that contains no encumbrances or exclusivity. This night highlights the opinions of a select few that are directly affiliated with the operational business of the Cardinals.

Is this a problem for anyone else?

The featured guests: Cardinals GM John Mozeliak, Matthew Leach from MLB.com, Derrick Goold from the Post-Dispatch, McGraw Millhaven from 550 KTRS.

Let me be clear. I'm not challenging the merit of the aforementioned personnel. Derrick Goold and Matthew Leach are two of the finest and hardest-working writers in the industry and my exchanges with McGraw have always been pleasant. Specifically, Leach and Goold work long hours, take their craft seriously, conduct open dialog with fans and are extremely honest - with themselves, with their peers and with the team they're covering. These traits are rare in the industry and they should be lauded because of it.

However, as I'm sure they would attest, social media has transformed the way sports fans consume information about their team. Fans want to be entertained, enlightened or both. Throw journalism degrees, credentialed access and corporate affiliations aside. This new, democratized information comes from anyone, from anywhere. It is constant. And fast. And like the evolving blogosphere, social media is a meritocracy.

Most of all, it is non-exclusive.

The transparency of social media intimidates the Cardinals. As a franchise on pace to surpass 3,000,000 paid attendance for the seventh straight season, they need no promotional assistance. And like most businesses, they would prefer to control their message and underlying image. Thus, we're presented with their version of "Social Media Night" - which highlights a few media members that work for the establishment.

What have we gained? What will we learn? Think paying audience members will hear about the social backlash of the Cardinals decision to alter their (then first-place) lineup by trading Ryan Ludwick to the San Diego Padres - who happens to be back in town that night?

Doubtful.

Don't get me wrong, Cardinals fans deserve to hear from Matthew Leach (@MatthewHLeach) and Derrick Goold (@DGoold). They've embraced an evolving industry and they're helping shape how one of the nation's largest fan bases receives information about their home team. But that's one end of the spectrum. The Cardinals are short-changing their audience and the industry to pass off this subset as the de facto experts of the platform. They're part of it, but hardly represent a majority of the intrigue.

An honest discussion about the trials and tribulations of how content is delivered to the fan-base from both ends of the spectrum (namely, mainstream media and independent journalists/bloggers) would be truly energizing - especially coming from the Cardinals. Not to fight; to advance the industry by discussing the trials and tribulations of social media.

This city is ripe with homegrown, talented individuals who have contributed and dominated social media for years. They're not hard to find.

Allow me to name a few…

Will Leitch (@WilliamFLeitch) - Although he's rooted in mainstream territory these days as a contributing editor for New York Magazine, the Matoon, IL native was the founding editor of Deadspin.com and is a massive Cardinals fan.

Josh Bacott (@JBacott) - Am I slightly biased? Of course. Nevertheless, Bacott founded JoeSportsFan.com, a sports humor website, in '05 and has turned it into a national presence, collecting over 1.2 million readers in '09.

Matt Sebek (@MattSebek) - Self-indulgent? Definitely. Deserving of a mention? Eh, why not? Daily contributions and supervision of JoeSportsFan (with Josh Bacott), as well as technical insight to video and podcasting production, has spawned invitations to national sports media conferences over the past three years as a featured speaker/moderator, including Blog World Expo in '09.

Tim McKernan (@TMcKernan) - On paper, McKernan is local mainstream, serving as an sports anchor for KMOV and radio host for 590 KFNS in the past decade. However, he's used social means (e.g., personal website, discussion forums, organized meet-ups, etc.) to build a valuable web-property from the ground-up at insideSTL.com.

Aaron Schafer - Featured columnist for the Riverfront Times and headlining contributor to VivaElBirdos.com, the most-trafficked Cardinals website on the internet. Schafer's "open game threads" on VivaElBirdos.com leverages the active community to help tell a story during Cardinals games and are an absolute must-read.

Matt Philip (@Fungoes) - Founder of Fungoes.net; one of the first local baseball bloggers (est. 2004) and one of the most respected for his candor and unique, sabermetric perspective of the Cardinals. His insight led to a partnership with ESPN.com's Rob Neyer last summer.

Daniel Shoptaw (@C70) - Founder and proprietor of the "United Cardinals Bloggers" - which features collaborative writing and podcasting projects from a contingent of 25+ local Cardinals writers, bloggers and mainstream journalists. Shoptaw also founded the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, which has now reached 216 blogs across baseball in its year plus of existence.

Erik Manning (@erik_manning) - Founder of FutureRedbirds.net, a website dedicated to consistent information about the Cardinals' farm teams, an arena that doesn't get the amount of mainstream attention as their Major League counterpart.

Robert Littal (@BlkSportsOnline) - The founder and CEO of BlackSportsOnline.com, the nation's largest minority-owned independent sports website. Littal hails from St. Louis and is a frequent contributor to TMZSports as well as the Washington Post.

-----

"Social Media Night" at Busch Stadium has tremendous potential, especially spear-headed by an organization as large and influential as the Cardinals. Let's hope that this is the first iteration and the Cardinals will take our advice by being more inclusive next time around.

We would all benefit from it.

Landmark airports across the country are typically populated with decor and artifacts that offer tourists a representation of the city itself.

Sports memorabilia usually ranks pretty high in airport accessories and in St. Louis, visitors would expect to see gear from the city's premier talents at Lambert Airport.  Sam Bradford and Steven Jackson come to mind, but since this is the self-proclaimed Baseball Capitol of the World, travel-goers might anticipate a heavy portrayal of Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday or Chris Carpenter.  Heck, maybe even some vintage promotion for Stan Musial, Bob Gibson or Ozzie Smith.

Guess again.



Best fans in baseball, baby.

Best fans in baseball.