Minor league teams and events are the best. They have a little more flexibility to take chances with promotions and gimmicks, and even if only 1 in 3 truly land, it’s totally worth it.
For example, the Pirates’ AA affiliate, the Altoona Curve, have some great promotions lined up for this season:
On May 20, we'll celebrate Out of this World Night with this Andrew McCutchen Astronaut bobblebody! pic.twitter.com/kKLq3hTSsl
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) February 24, 2016
It's going to be a slobberknocker on August 27 as we host our first-ever Pro Wrestling Night, featuring Mick Foley pic.twitter.com/AFeOh8nsn2
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) February 23, 2016
They’re also doing a ‘Star Wars’ night, which isn’t entirely unique – lots of teams do it – but it’s entirely enjoyable, since it’s pretty hard to miss with ‘Star Wars.’
… unless you do this:
To follow up last year's gorgeous Jabba the Hutt jerseys, here are the jerseys for #StarWars Night 2016. #JarJar pic.twitter.com/jMbUKX3K3m
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) February 23, 2016
What have you done, Altoona Curve. Mee-sa think-a you make a turrrrrrible mistake. (I’m sorry for that.)
There was a time when I thought the grief George Lucas got for foisting Jar Jar Binks upon us in the truly terrible Episode One of ‘Star Wars’ was overdone and unnecessarily harsh. Then, in anticipation of the release of Episode Seven last year, I re-watched all six of the preceding movies. Not only was Episode One even worse than I remember, Jar Jar Binks was a completely irredeemable horror show of a character.
To that end, it’s a risky choice by the Curve going with Binks as their jersey this year. So terrible that it’s actually great? Or just so terrible?
My vote is that it’s actually kinda good, because Jar Jar’s face on the jersey seems to suggest even he knows that his presence is there to troll the observer. A reminder that, yes, he existed, and, yes, we’re all in on the twisted joke.