The Baby of the Sports Family

I have a dream. Where jersey colours don’t matter and the blue jerseys can tweet with the red ones.

I have a dream. Where baseball fans and hockey fans can come together over a pint and root for a lacrosse team.

I have a dream. Where sports teams in Toronto come together as one and kick social media ass.

I HAVE A DREAM!

Ok, so maybe it’s not so much a dream as it is a wish, or a hope for the future. Last night I attended #SCTO aka Sports Connect TO where panelists from sports teams and leagues in Toronto discussed social media and what it means for their brand. As the video blogger and in-game “host with the most” for the Toronto Rock, I was ecstatic to see what other teams (who I follow on twitter) thought of integrating social media strategies to be one big fierce social media family. Toronto is already seen as the sports hub for Canada, we have teams in all leagues truly holding it down on the sports scene, so why not show people we care about all of our fans by promoting each other.

Panelists Jaime Stein (@CFL), Rob Jack (@BlueJays) and MLSE’s Jonathan Sinden (@BigThinkerJon) discussed the in’s and out’s of using social media. My favourite recent initiative was discussed, #TweetingTuesdays that the Jays implemented this season. Giving tweeting fans an opportunity to have priceless experiences simply by tweeting their seat location. Even I have been tweeted back by the Blue Jays, something as a 9-year-old picking dandelions in the outfield, I wouldn’t have dreamt of. It is that fan engagement that is taking sport watching to a whole new level. This was also the case for Grey Cup this past year as fans got a behind the scenes look at the week leading up to Grey Cup. Not only could you watch the game, but you could feel like you were there; minus the cold and the expensive beer.

While I may be the baby of the bunch in the social media world, I feel like my role with the Toronto Rock is like the youngest sibling who dominates all her brothers at Nintendo. My team wins, but we have a lot to gain by learning from our older more established siblings.

 Side Note: Thanks to the organizers of #SCTO for bringing sports leaders and enthusiasts together to talk shop. The pizza and beer was icing on the cake.

Rockin’ the Mic: Playoff Edition

The Rock take on the Orlando Titans tonight in a quest for the Championship. The Divisional Finals weren’t a walk in the park to get to, check out the latest Rockin’ the Mic to find out our perspective on Saturday’s game.

A 6-0 defecit. Well, for most teams that would be enough to throw in the towel. The Toronto Rock isn’t like most teams.

For those of you Rockers who weren’t in attendance at our playoff game on May 1st, the ACC was electric! While our Hot Rocks and staff members handed rally towels to the first 10,000 fans entering the ACC, we handed them out to fans patiently waiting in our will call line in order to get everyone ready to cheer on our boys. We even gave some to the Bandits fans, to wipe their tears – after the loss of course. Chants were heard from Union Station all the way to the gates and you could tell we would be in for an epic night.
Everyone was energized, hoots and hollers came from every end of the arena during O’Canada and the game was about to begin. The first promo that Shannon does every game is the “JB Goodhue Big Boot Relay”. There were 4 contestants, 2 Rock fans and 2 Bandits fans and she said, “make sure to start the night off the way we want to finish it, with a Rock victory.” They did just that, with a Rock fan race to the end we named Dave our winner (the Bandits fans had barely begun when our fans crossed the finish line). From there on we kept on a tight schedule with numerous promotions while listening to Buffalo fans applaude their team 6 times before the tables turned.

At the half, Rock owner Jamie Dawick put his money on the line as we played “Rock the Owners Wallet”. Not only did Scott, a season ticket holder, walk away with $500 cash from Jamie’s wallet, but also a jersey signed by all of our Rock players! Congrats again Scott. The Rock emerged from the dressing room, fired up, and we went on to dominate the second half of the game. Goal after goal we jumped up and down in our high heels screaming and high-fiving everyone in sight. Fans were up on their feet as we counted down the remaining seconds of the game 5… 4… 3… 2….. WHHOOAAAA!

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the Toronto Rock, and to all of you for your wonderful compliments about Rockin’ the Mic this year. While our next playoff game will be on the road, we had an amazing home season with each and every one of you. Keep rockin’ and make sure to cheer on our boys from wherever you are next Saturday. Maybe we’ll be cheering from Orlando?! Mission fit in a lacrosse bag starts now!

- S & K

Rockin’ the Mic in Philadelphia

We left on a jet plane to join the Toronto Rock as they took on the Philidelphia Wings, with 3 missions in mind.
#1 – eat the best Philly Cheesesteak in all of Philly.
#2 – have Shannon do the in-flight announcing for Porter Airlines.
#3 – get a Rock victory!

Think we completed our missions? Check it out…