HoopDreams said:
Great story
One of my current complaints however is they no longer give teddy bears ... they now give them a gift card???!!?
They should go back to giving a big teddy bear to the winners, and small teddy bears to the others ... how hard is that???
I brought this exact topic up the last time I met with Jimmy "The Squeeze" Knowlton and Markeisha "My Words" Everett. I received a strange incoherent response along the lines of...
1. Both of them have received WAAAAY too much fan response about the GROWL competitions at half time. ME said it had gotten as high as 2 emails per month, which was making it hard for her to keep up with correspondence. JK said his email was at least half of that and was getting in the way of his high paid assistant picking up his latte orders.
2. There was also an immense backlash from a group of moms from Lamorinda who were AGHAST that their daughter (who participated, but did not win) received a bear that was not exactly the same size as the winner. EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD PARTICIPATED JUST AS MUCH!! Both ME and JK didn't know how to respond to this powerful political group and instructed the sponsor to provide bears of the same size (all large).
3. THEN, there was the infamous TRIPPIN' BEAR EVENT. Apparently following a victory, one the kids stumbled over their bear (which was as large as them) in the hallway at Haas. This caused the mother to spill her coffee and get 4th degree burns on her hand. Apparently there was an EXTREMELY unsightly red sheen on the back of her hand that lasted almost 45 minutes and may possibly have distorted her spray tan from two weeks earlier, After spending weeks negotiating a settlement with both parties' attorneys, ME and JK instructed the sponsors to only provide SMALL bears.
4. Most recently, a contingent representing indigenous members of North America has threatened to sue the State of California, Shut down the entire UC system and restrict JK's frequent flyer perks on flights from Colorado. Apparently, the use of a BEAR which is even MORE indigenous to North America than certain humans is the gravest and most insulting form of cultural appropriation possible (other than claiming aliens are grey and not green). As a result, ME and JK instructed the sponsor to replace any reward with a gift card,
5. Still in negotiation are the name, structure and selection criteria for any future half time contest. One of the key points of contention is that a GROWL is not necessarily a purely human sound and may actually represent a political movement. The proposed event is going to be the halftime noise sharing event open to all beings that are willing to sign a waiver of responsibility. No prizes will be awarded and decibel levels will be strictly monitored to protect the sensitive ears of Old Blues.