BUCN Perfect : The #MLB13CUTCH Campaign

First things first: My name is Gretchen, I’m 28 years old, and a lover of everything dealing with sports in Pittsburgh. I’m a Pitt and RMU alumni with passion and dedication to my hometown teams. Secondly: I’m blonde, sassy, tattooed, fun, unique, and smart. If you don’t like a female with opinions who knows her way around the field, court, or ice, you probably won’t like me. Just know that either way, it doesn’t make me or break me.

I was fourth in the voting for the #MLB13CUTCH campaign on Twitter and Facebook. Had my Twitter not been suspended numerous times that week for tweeting too much, I would have voted more. At the close of the campaign, Andrew McCutchen had 108,147 votes, and the next closest player was C.C. Sabathia with 89,054. When asked why this campaign meant so much to me, I had to stop for a minute and think about it. I realized a few things…

We are Pittsburgh, the City of Champions. We are a blue collar city, and we fight to the death in everything we do. We aren’t quitters, whiners, or losers. We battle back when in the face of adversity. Let’s face it, the Buccos haven’t had a winning season since 1992. I was eight years old. I barely have a memory of them being a great ball club. You know what I do remember? Meeting Cutch when the Buccos first drafted him. I was in my second year of college and working for Dick’s Sporting Goods. This campaign was the perfect opportunity to show the world that we may not be number one, but our players are important to us as fans.

I wanted the bragging rights for myself and for the city. Not because I came in fourth, but because I was a part of something bigger, I helped Cutch get on that cover. C.C. and some of the other players leaned on their famous friends to glean votes. P Diddy and LeBron James were both tapped to help. Cutch simply had a loyal following of Bucco fans. Pretty awesome if you ask me. No, I don’t play video games and didn’t buy the game. Why? It wasn’t about the game. It was about putting feelings and differences aside and backing up Cutch, presumably a guy who will be mentioned in Bucco history for years to come.

Like I mentioned, I was fourth in voting, with 921 tweets. I was the ONLY female in the top five voters. My love of sports can be shown by this contest. I’m a girl in the sports world surrounded by mostly men. I catch backlash for it once in awhile. People who are close minded get upset I know more than the average girl. But, the amount of love and support I got during the campaign was astounding. I cheered on everyone who was tweeting Cutch. I got all my Facebook and Twitter followers involved. I met so many Bucco fans from everywhere across the US. It was truly an experience I will never forget.

That campaign changed something in me and it made me realize that I have the ability to inspire people in 140 characters or less. It made me realize how many people support my wit and my sass. It led me to winning tickets to a game with the other bloggers here, and ultimately it has now led me to you. My new audience.
~Gx

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