Raping the Corpse of the Golden Goose

I recognize marketing or advertising or whatever you call it is a tough racket. I know I can barely get through my 11am meeting without a bracing shot of Wild Turkey. But the good people charged with marketing the Toronto Blue Jays have gone a little overboard.

During tonight's broadcast, I saw promos trumpeting tomorrow's Halladay start as "possibly his last." THE THIRD SUCH START IN TWO WEEKS. Look suits, you got two nice home dates out of this, a shit-tonne of media from outlets that would sooner cover curling rink de-thawings but enough is enough. The latest promo featured shots of a teenaged Roy Halladay slipping on a Blue Jays hat in his Denver-area kitchen. ENOUGH MANIPULATION.

Selling baseball to self-loathing Torontonians is a difficult ask, yes. But could you at least get past the obvious inferiority complex and stop brazenly picking our scabs right in front of us? It somehow makes the entire publicity stunt look cheaper and more contrived, something J.P. is capable of doing all on his own.

Tangentially related image courtesy of Warming Glow