As sports continues to look for ways to connect to the everyman and grab the casual fan with unique opportunities, hockey may be missing out on one that could be fun…his name is Don Parsons and he is about to break one of the ultimate blue collar records…the alltime minor league goal scoring record. Parsons, who plays now for the IHL's Bloomington (Ill.) Prairie Thunder, has all the pieces that the casual fan would love…never made it to the NHL, has played in every backwater town just miles from the big city, has crossed paths with a host of future stars, was mentored by journeymen who got to “The show” and he is an American undermarketed in a sport that lives online and is always looking for innovative ways to get casual exposure. Plus, in the little online stuff that comes up, he seems to be well spoken, fit and good looking. Now many will remember the Hollywood success that the fictional Crash Davis, played by Kevin Costner, had in Bull Durham or the legendary status Reg Dunlap (played by Paul Newman) had in Slap Shot.If he were chasing the baseball minor league homer record, the bet is some of the savy minor league baseball marketing people, much with the support of mlb.com, could make this into a win-win for all. Whether it happens for Parsons and hockey will remain to be seen. Regardless, Don Parsons pursuit of a major “minor” record, hopefully will be captured and celebrated as a solid achievement when we are looking for great stories of the everyman in sports these days.?
Some other good weekend reads…with the next version of the Winter Classic coming up, nhl.com has a good backstory on how John McDonough finally closed the deal for Chicago…the New York Times’ Bill Pennington this week did a series on the value of sports at the club level in college, including one on the rebirth of Vermont football…worth a read to see how grassroots sports at the college level can do well….with the MLB Network launching January 1, a host of media got their first look inside the studio, including USA Today…and with baseball's winter meetings getting started, si.com's Jon Heyman has a look at what fans can expect to see and hear, even in a down economy.
