God vs The Miracle
Just in time for the World Series comes this tale of a guerrilla baseball promotion gone wrong. This past August, The Fort Myers Miracle, a class A minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins in Florida, tried to capitalize on the reigning god of college football, Tim Tebow. They just forgot to get the rights to do it.
The promotion was to be the perfect storm of Tebow’s popularity (they call him “The Chosen One” in South Florida), the draw of University of Florida football, and Miracle owner Mike Veeck’s showmanship. In homage to Tebow’s god-like status, promise rings were to be handed out to all fans, coaches would be asked “what would Tim Tebow do?” at critical points of the game, and a local construction worker fortuitously named Timothy Tebo was going to attempt to walk on water.
Then, just before game time, two ominous things happened: The University issued a cease-and desist order, and the heavens unleashed a funnel cloud over the stadium.
The ballclub cancelled the promotion, but gained local media coverage. Not to mention learning, once and for all, that college football truly IS a religious experience.
