Vote Hernandez and "No, Play for Mr. Grey!"

by Editoratlegendofcecilioguante

Originally published on my blog, The Legend of Cecilio Guante,  here.

Herein lies the dilemma of a working man trying to make a go at this blogging thing. There are too many good stories out there. And oftentimes by the time you find the truly great ones, they are old news. The folks at Deadspin and many others have been all over this story for a week. I don't care. I'm going to pretend nobody's touched it. Because it's that good.

Just over a week ago, an organization decicated to "protecting the rights of, and fighting discrimination against, mustached Americans, by promoting the growth, care and culture of the mustache" did something great.

The American Mustache Institute officially announced a vote for the " Best Sports Mustache of All Time." In a word, phenomenal. As a marketer in "real life," the tactic (online poll) is rather pedestrian, yes. But in terms of tapping into the power of digital media, spurring consumer conversations and elevating awareness of your brand - simply brilliant. I honestly believe this could influence certain youngsters to foster ill-fated thoughts of rocking a little lip blanket in the spirit of honoring some of these legends.

Let's delve a bit deeper into this, shall we. Now, as I mentioned, the concept and its execution is not without flaws. The number of candidates originally proposed is paltry when one considers the magnitude of the debate. And aside from the nod to Adam Morrison, it risks alienating a whole younger generation of sports fans who have strong feelings about mustaches they've seen burst onto the scene in recent years, such as that of Redskins' QB Jason Campbell. Kudos to the folks at Hogs Haven for pushing "their guy" despite the overly oppressive stipulations of the AMI. By the way, Adam Morrison has always bothered me and I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't the crying or the psuedo-stache. It really annoyed me. But now it's come to me. Who he reminds me of... Richard Ramirez. Einhorn is Finckle. Finckle is Einhorn. Ok, that's neither here nor there.

As a self-proclaimed Gen-Xer, I've got to get behind #17 on this one. Whereas his Just for Men sidekick gets front-page billing (despite clear violation of the chin hair clause, I'd add), Keith " Women Don't Belong in the Dugout " Hernandez is not on the original ballot. This is an atrocity. Luckily, fellow Met fans have taken up the cause in support of Keith as a "write-in" and others are apparently coming around. Much like the MLB All-Star game, it's a popularity contest and the sheer number of New Yorkers is swinging the tide. It's good to see.