Shitty P.R. Schemes

Joe McGrath, the general manager of the fictional Charlestown Chiefs, was famous for his shitty PR schemes. Having the players make radio appearances and model at fashion shows to drum up interest was a way of life for cheap ol' Joe McGrath.



The Blues, on the other hand, have had a long history of good PR schemes. Led by former VP of Marketing and Communications Jim Woodcock, the Blues won awards and fans with their PR schemes. "Do You Bleed Blue?" was a solid campaign that generated excitement about the team and focused attention on the die-hard Blues fan.

I remember going to games and seeing people wearing bloody blue bandages as part of their game-day attire. I saw a girl who had an IV bag full of blue fluid attached to her arm. I don't know how she managed that, but the campaign clearly worked for her. And for a lot of other fans. The Blues have spun off of the Blue-Bleeder theme for a few years now and maybe that's why they felt it was time for a change. New team, new management, new fresh motto and ad campaign.

I can buy that.

What I can't buy, however, is the stupid idea they came up with instead. The Blue Revolution concept is fine. Show me an army of rabid Blues fans. Play Twisted Sisters', "We're Not Gonna Take It" if you must (and I assume that you must). Give me some manifesto (or fanifesto, if you insist). I can deal with all of that. Some of the commercials could even be good if executed properly.

What I don't want is the phony supposed-to-be-underground Blue Revolution crap that they went with instead. Commercially produced to look like they are DIY banners flying from City Hall and the "Your Name Here!" Center. The same professionally designed to look primitive banners tied over regular billboards along the major highways. Planned and taped fake interuptions of Blues press conferences.

Please.

Here's why I am fine with the concept but hate the execution: it's condescending.

Not only is it treating fans like idiots, it's treating fans like we're gullible. Did anyone believe that the billboards were acts of Blues fans for even a second? I hope not. The faux-crashing of the press conference was so clearly staged as to be embarassing.

And it's not just that I think it's condescending, I know it's condescending. Confirmation comes straight from the latest post on the Blue Revolution's blog. I'll excerpt it to keep you from wasting time on their website:

So, many of you Sherlock Holmes super-sleuth Blues fans have figured out that the Blues are actually the ones behind TheBlueRevolution.com. Congrats. Gold star for you. I can’t imagine what could’ve tipped you off. Was it the “Copyright © 2006 St. Louis Blues” line at the bottom of every page on the web site? Or, maybe it was the link on stlblues.com. I just don’t know how you did it. Oh well, our Da Vinci Code has been cracked. We’ll have to deal with it.

If that opening paragraph doesn't tell you immediately that these guys are looking down on their audience, then I don't know what else I can do to convince you.

Their blogger then finishes up with this beaut:

So I guess what I’m saying is this. While I was hired to do this, I AM STILL A BLUES FAN. I would have done it for free.

Is that right? Then why didn't you do it last year? The cry of the paid professional whose work isn't being heralded as the Revolution you'd hoped for. I no sooner believe that this guy would have done it for free than I believe this campaign will be winning any awards this year. You know why? Because WE did this for free last year!

And that's what pisses me off about this whole thing. Real fans know when they are talking to real fans. Real fans know when they are being bullshitted. Real fans know when their being 'handled' by a campaign.

My staff missed sleep, spent hours watching a team that precious few people seemed to care about and slaved to bring a voice to the fans of the St. Louis Blues. And we all did it for free. Don't let the stories of all the GT staffers buying matching Lexus luxury sedans sway you. We're all working stiffs who do this paper because we love it and we love our team. So when a paid employee tells me that

1) I'm a genius for knowing a shitty PR scheme when I see it
and
2) He'd do the same thing even if he wasn't getting paid,

don't be surprised when I get a little bent.

And to top it all off, the ad agency has posted a load of crappy 'viral' videos on the site to show how hardcore they are. Trust me, the only thing viral about these is that they might actually make you sick. I mean, for chrissake:



Great. Thanks a lot. Now we have to live this down for, well, forever. If I were Pearl Jam, I'd slap a 'cease and desist' on this hunk of cheese and make him take down our poster.

The Blue Revolution? More like The Blue Revolting.

Want to discuss? Check the GT Messageboard or email me at gallagher@stlouisgametime.com

I Might Just Have To Change Some Things...

Like my header at the top of the page. Because these Blues aren't going to be doormats this year. Last year around this time I predicted a last-place finish for the Note. I didn't expect them to finish dead last in the whole league, but a lottery pick finish, sure. This year, they'll be a playoff contender. Not a guaranteed 8th seed, but probably battling for a spot late into the year. I'll put my predictions out on the line to be nitpicked in the coming weeks, but for now, here are the reasons I see a big change coming.

Keith Tkachuk should have a huge year. There was a time last season when big Walt wasn't injured that you could almost read his mind. And his mind was saying, "How-ly gawd. These little pricks cahn't hit me anymohr!"

He's going to put his big ass in every goalie's face and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do to stop it.



I've seen Tkachuk this summer and he looks ready to go. I expect him to be big, mean, unmoveable and scoring a lot of garbage assed goals down around the net. Barring any bizarro, Pavol Demira-esque injuries, Tkachuk hits 50 goals this year. Book that shit.

Bill Guerin is a calculated risk that will pan out. Bill Guerin is a player of pride. He had a ridiculous, embarrassing season last year, when he scored just 13 goals. He came back this season to show everyone that he is the elite forward who can score 30+ goals in this league. With Tkachuk drawing the top defensive pairing, Guerin should be a menace on the ice down low.

Oh, and what makes me think he's a player of pride? In Stars camp a couple seasons ago a non-roster player played him rough, like he was another non-roster player. Guerin gave the guy an overhead chop with his Easton and sent the kid back to the minors. He's not here to take shit off of anyone.

Brewer May Finally Be Past The Proger Comparisons. Last year he was known as Eric Acquired For Chris Pronger Brewer. Add to that the injuries that he was playing through and he was a total mess in Blue. The guy didn't seem to even enjoy the game anymore. In fact the guy smiled so infrequently that the GT'ers had a running debate about whether he actually had teeth. He'll be better this year for a few reasons:

1. Finally healed. He was reportedly banged up most of the year before he finally had his shoulder destroyed and his most painful year ever ended for him. Combined with being out of the spotlight now, Brewer should become the player he was in Edmonton.
2. He is no longer in the spotlight. This has occurred for a couple reasons. First, Erik Johnson, drafted 1st overall this summer, is the "New Pronger". He's big, mobile, defensively solid and a PP shooter, just like 44. On top of that, it can be argued that the Pronger trade brought Johnson to St. Louis indirectly, as our defensive dropoff led to the first overall selection. Second, Jay McKee is the big nasty defenseman with the big contract that everyone will be looking at now. Brewer will anchor a good second line and will be that much farther out of people's minds. Third, Pronger has caused controversy and been ejected from Edmonton. Now playing with Anaheim, his trade makes him the most hated guy in Oiler country. Somehow, the trade has cleansed the Blues of the trade. I don't know why, but since he has moved on, to the Ducks, no less, the pain of that trade isn't as sharp and doesn't make us think about Brewer so much.
3. No one is going to expect him to fill the offensive void from the blueline anymore. After the trade, Brewer was expected to BE Pronger. But Brewer is a defennsive guy first. After the long, horrible year that was 2005, the Blues have a few things to show for all the suffering. One of them is the blossoming offensive prowess of Dennis Wideman and Christian Backman. With the shooting duties falling to them, Brewer will be expected to help set up the point shot and not necessarily be the guy the PP is geared towards. He can just play defense and leave the O to the other guys.

One Good Back-up + One Good Back-up = One Great Starter, right? OK, I don't buy this one either. Manny Legace has always been a great back-up, and last season became a great starter. But he was playing behind a frontrunner. Being a good goalie behind a good team makes a guy look better than he is (see: Osgood, Chris for more information). I do not believe that manny Legace will steal a lot of games for the Blues this year. But I never thought that Lemont sanford was going to steal a lot of games for the Blues this year, either.

Personally, I was rooting for the Blues to swing the much-rumored trade with Buffalo for Dumont and Marty Biron. I was also hoping for the Blues to swing a trade with San Jose for Evgeni (John) Nabokov. He's just 29 and has shown that he can be completely dominant in net. Plus, at 29, he still has several good/great years ahead of him.

I actually am still holding out hope for a goalie trade as opposed to a Legace/Sanford/Bacashihua trimvirate in net this year.

So, I really don't see this as a reason that the Blues will be better. I'm just hoping that I'm wrong about Legace.



Weight has a playmate finally. GT subscribers and regular readers may remember my early-season story about how I think Doug Weight got a raw deal here. To sum it up, Weight was expected to center the second line and make a couple raw wingers into solid finishers. The problem was that he was never given anyone good enough to make better. His considerable playmaking skills went wasted as he struggled to make guys like Peter Sejna better.

Now that one of his fomer playmates, Guerin has been brought in, as well as Ruchinsky, who had decent chemistry with Weighter, he could finally become the uber-dangerous pivot that we expected to get five years ago.

I doubt that his Cup win this summer has dulled his desire, but he's been given every reason to do well this season and I think we'll see it from him. His best total in St Louis is 67 points. I bet he passes that this year.

Orszagh and Cajanek will become first liners overnight. Shit. Sorry, I can't even believe that one, and I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to this team. I'd love to say that I believe in a "we will rally around Kurt Warner" moment when it comes to these two guys, but I just don't see it happening.

I saw Cajanek take a hit at his first Blues training camp and completely disappear for the rest of the session. How long do you think it took for that trait to get into opposing teams' scouting reports? If a nobady fan at training camp can see it, EVERY team knows it. Playing on the top line with Tkachuk, every team is going to have their Tyson Nash clone barrel into him in the first shift an help put Tkachuk on an island for the rest of the game.

And Orszagh? To steal from Allen Iverson, Orszagh? You wanna talk about Orszagh? I mean, these are professionals. And you want to talk about Orszagh? How is Orszagh going to make his teammates better?



Orszagh? The guy has never scored more than 16 goals. He has never recorded more that 21 assists. He is a second line player on a bad team like the no-offense Predators he played for in his three seasons of full-season play. Expecting him to play on the top line here is a mistake. I expect people to be calling for his trade by November and for him to have a scathing GT nickname by late October.

There's a new attitude here. The Blues were allowed to lose last year. They were expected to lose last year. The old ownership of Bill and Money Laurie let Demitra go and then traded Pronger. They gave the team no money to improve and no authorization to make any trades to improve. The players got the message, as did the fans: This ain't our year.

But this year the Blues are being given some upgrades in McKee and Guerin and Dan Hinote (yes, I consider him an upgrade on the third line, plus he's won the Cup and has leadership) and Weight. And Legace, I suppose. These guys are expected to win. Not a Cup, mind you, but they are intended to be competetive and make a run for the playoffs. And that's a step ahead. Hopefully the goal in Year Three is to run deep in the playoffs. And the goal by Year Five had better be a Cup. Or things will start to get ugly around here.

In Closing.... Some entertainment for you. Here's the 2003 highlight film. Here's hoping that we have a year worth celebrating this season.



And Here's Hoping.... That no one ever decides to write a fucking earbleeder like this monstrosity. If you can get through this whole video you're a masochist or you need some serious musical education. Cringy, hoosiery and gay all at the same time.