2008 Woodie Awards
Marc Ecko on #756: 'The ball is now yours'
Sam Hollingsworth
Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: Opinion
Originally published: 9/20/07 at 10:22 PM EST
Last update: 9/20/07 at 10:21 PM EST
- Page 1 of 1
Anyone who keeps up to date with the sports world has heard about what happened to Barry Bonds' controversial 756th home run ball.
Clothing-designer Marc Ecko purchased the ball for $752,467 last Saturday on an online auction, and what he plans on doing with it is just as outlandish as the ball's price tag.
"I wanted the ball to democratize the ball and to give the ball to the people.. give the ball to America," Ecko said on the Today Show.
Ecko created a site, www.vote756.com, to let sports fans decide what happens to the baseball that tainted baseball records with opinions of steroids and cheating. There are three options.
Choice A, "Bestowing it," as the web site says, would be Ecko forfeiting the ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for proper display.
"Branding it," my personal favorite choice and the choice Ecko himself chose, would consist of burning an asterisk onto the ball with a branding iron, then sending it to Cooperstown (and hope it still gets displayed).
The third option, which is for the true haters, is sending the ball into outer space on a space shuttle, catapulting it into infinity without regret, never to be seen again by humans. "Banishing it," as Ecko's site calls it.
Is this fair?
Probably not, but Ecko is being a realist and is now a vital component in this equation.
He said he knows everyone in America, including himself, has an opinion and believes they should be heard.
In a world where sports have dipped to an all-time low morally, Ecko is giving life to a true democratic system.
The fans make sports successful by being interested and spending their time, money and energy to stay involved, so they should decide - just as Ecko has planned - what happens to such a prized piece of baseball memorabilia.
But does Ecko deserve the power of ball #756's ultimate fate?
Probably not, but at least he's being fair with what he does with it. And he just so happens to be boosting his rhinocerous-bearing designer-clothing companying in the process.
This reminds me of an old coworkers favorite quote: "Money talks and bulls--t walks."
Many baseball fans consider Bonds' record-breaking season to be nothing more than a fabricated contesting of a natural man's record, so Ecko used his power - money - to put the ball where the majority believes it belongs.
The voting, which ends September 25, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. EST, has already generated 1,562,662 votes as of noon Wednesday.
Now, I've got to go place my vote, and if you care even the slightest bit about baseball or the degrading decline in sports ethics in the past decade, I'd suggest you take advantage of democracy and do the same.
Clothing-designer Marc Ecko purchased the ball for $752,467 last Saturday on an online auction, and what he plans on doing with it is just as outlandish as the ball's price tag.
"I wanted the ball to democratize the ball and to give the ball to the people.. give the ball to America," Ecko said on the Today Show.
Ecko created a site, www.vote756.com, to let sports fans decide what happens to the baseball that tainted baseball records with opinions of steroids and cheating. There are three options.
Choice A, "Bestowing it," as the web site says, would be Ecko forfeiting the ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for proper display.
"Branding it," my personal favorite choice and the choice Ecko himself chose, would consist of burning an asterisk onto the ball with a branding iron, then sending it to Cooperstown (and hope it still gets displayed).
The third option, which is for the true haters, is sending the ball into outer space on a space shuttle, catapulting it into infinity without regret, never to be seen again by humans. "Banishing it," as Ecko's site calls it.
Is this fair?
Probably not, but Ecko is being a realist and is now a vital component in this equation.
He said he knows everyone in America, including himself, has an opinion and believes they should be heard.
In a world where sports have dipped to an all-time low morally, Ecko is giving life to a true democratic system.
The fans make sports successful by being interested and spending their time, money and energy to stay involved, so they should decide - just as Ecko has planned - what happens to such a prized piece of baseball memorabilia.
But does Ecko deserve the power of ball #756's ultimate fate?
Probably not, but at least he's being fair with what he does with it. And he just so happens to be boosting his rhinocerous-bearing designer-clothing companying in the process.
This reminds me of an old coworkers favorite quote: "Money talks and bulls--t walks."
Many baseball fans consider Bonds' record-breaking season to be nothing more than a fabricated contesting of a natural man's record, so Ecko used his power - money - to put the ball where the majority believes it belongs.
The voting, which ends September 25, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. EST, has already generated 1,562,662 votes as of noon Wednesday.
Now, I've got to go place my vote, and if you care even the slightest bit about baseball or the degrading decline in sports ethics in the past decade, I'd suggest you take advantage of democracy and do the same.
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