Dear MLB, you are like school in summertime...
It's lame that MLB has latched on to the 'Red Sox Nation' thing to try and make another buck.
The product by itself is 'ok'. (Note the lack of enthusiasm). It comes with gameday audio. I had the game day audio last year and it actually was a nice service that I did like. So I guess if you like the gameday audio, this is a way you can save 5 bucks on it. To me, this is the only worthwhile part of the whole thing. If MLB had just marketed the stupid thing as a discount to Game Day audio and thrown in the Sox card and all the other junk, it probably would not have made such a big deal.
It's the insulting way they are marketing it that is pissing everybody off and it would not be surprising to me if they get very few sign ups to their 'membership'.
"Red Sox fans who are basking in the glory of the World Series championship now have the opportunity to be Founding Members [of Red Sox Nation] by registering at redsox.com for official Red Sox Nation membership. Years from now, you still might be telling future generations of Red Sox diehards how you saw the team win the last eight games of the 2004 Major League Baseball season and then became one of the first to make it official with Nation membership."
[RANT]
After all the shit I went through waiting to get to the promised land this year... Guess what MLB I am already a member of Red Sox Nation so FUCK OFF!. As a matter of fact, I've been a member since I was a little kid and I've got the pictures of me heading off to my 1st day of school with my Sox cap on to prove it.
I've already shelled out well over a thousand dollars over the years in tickets to games, hats, t-shirts, sweaters, pennants, etc, etc, etc and that is just the money side. This does not even get into the emotional price I've paid over the years of following this team.
To be a member of our nation (which is not MLB property, wether you like it or not), you don't have to spend a dime. All you have to do is follow the Red Sox. My Grandma used to go to Fenway and watch Ted Williams play. Is she a member of Red Sox Nation? Fuckin A she is. How about my kids? They are 2 years old and love Johnny Damon. They run around the house yelling "GO JOHNNY!" Are they a member of my Nation? Fuckin A they are. This is something that is passed down from generation to generation so keep your slimy money grubbing hands off and take your stupid, lame-ass membership card and your 'RSN citizenship ID number' and shove it very far up your ass.
[/RANT]
Ok, now that I've got that little tirade out of my system, lets take a look at this offer by itself, just as a product. For 10 bucks, my 'membership' (mutters obcenity) comes with the following:
Game Day Audio. Yay.
An 'official' membership card with an RSN ID Number (mutters another obcenity).
Other stuff I can get:
Access to members only offer page: Wooooo. I can log on to MLB.com and have special advertisements tailored just for me so they can try and sell me more shit. SO my 'official membership' in RSN allows me the privelidge of buying more shit from MLB. WOW! What a Deal! Great!
A special message board where 'official' citizens can gather. Holy shit I can hear the outrage over at Sons of Sam Horn now. I guess if they wont let you in over at SOSH, you can always pay to get in here. Ha.
Preferential tickets: HMMM. Sounds dubious. Tickets are already hard enough to get, now you've got to be an 'official member' to get the tickets to high demand games? Or maybe this will be the only way to get Monster Seats or something like that? Sounds a bit fishy to me... I can generally afford 2 games a year (prices just went up again this year by the way...) so will the tickets I can get here even be within my realm of affordability? And, is affordability an actual word? Hmmmm.
If you read all the way down to the bottom of the offer you'll see this:
"You already are a proud member of Red Sox Nation if you are reading this, so you might as well {shell out some cash and} make it official."
Can you say damage control? There was so much outrage after the 1st time they tried this, they decided to throw us a bone to help us feel better. Thanks MLB. I guess I am just being over sensitive. Now I do feel better.
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