Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Steal a Base, Steal a Taco: The Contest


My love for ridiculous food promotions at sporting events knows no bounds. Anyone who has known me personally can testify to how obsessed I was with the original "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion from the 2007 World Series. Jacoby Ellsbury became the King of All Free Tacos that year and America rejoiced and ate their free, barely edible fast food staple.

After a second run at it, with noticeably fewer zany GIFs featuring Jason Bartlett and tacos, this absurd promotion was mothballed and no one spoke of it again... except pretty much every time Ellsbury came to bat for the rest of his career.

With much delight, I heard that "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" is back for the 2012 World Series. And that's where the fun begins. For my loyal readers, the first person who correctly guesses this year's Free Taco King will receive a certified auto/relic/other sort of "hit" card from their team of choice that I will purchase at next month's card show. The prize will be subject to availability, the constraints of my budget and my mood that day.

Feel free to enter until the first base is stolen. I'll check timestamps and such.

If no one correctly guesses the first player to steal a base in this year's World Series, I will instead award the prize to whoever creates the best zany image of this year's Taco King and his worldly achievement. I'll set a deadline of sometime around the conclusion of the World Series if the contest enters this stage. (Please, no cheating. In other words, I should not find your image via a Google image search, like I did for Ellsbury.) Photoshop, Paint, a drawing by hand... anything is fair game. No need for animation, though. Should it come to pass, I'll be judging more on humor/creativity than technical skill.

And if no one steals a base in this World Series, you all owe me tacos. Just kidding. In all seriousness, this is a real possibility. After all, the Tigers only stole 59 bases all season long. 59!

You must leave your guesses in the comment section below.

21 comments :

  1. Marco Scutaro.

    And as the regulars say at the local minor league ballpark when encouraging the opposing batter to strike out so everyone can get a free taco:

    "TACO! TACO! TACO!"

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  2. Omar Infante,
    Don't think there'll be much base running this series!

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  3. Let's go with Hunter Pence, a former Phillie.

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  4. Angel Pagan, the most contradicting name in baseball.

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  5. I'll say Gregor Blanco.

    Thanks for the contest!

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  6. Ryan Theriot, because about 6 guesses I would have made before him are already taken :)

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  7. Avisail Garcia. But only because my first guess was already taken.

    I really hope that Big Panda or Prince do it though just so we get to se a fat guy steal a base.

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  8. Joaquin Arias late in game 1 or 2. thanks

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  9. definitely pablo sandoval

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  10. Slim pickings left. I'll go with Jhonny Peralta.

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  11. Woo! There's still a chance...going with Brandon Crawford just because.

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  12. I got this.

    Definitely Prince.

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  13. Backstop Cards is the winner. The taco has been stolen!

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  14. whoo hoo! something good will come from a World Series where all of the teams that i was rooting for have been eliminated! and to think i almost went w/Brandon Crawford, who stole one tonight!

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  15. ...and of course, by "Brandon Crawford" stole a base tonight, I meant "Hunter Pence".

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Comments are highly encouraged, but then again, so is eating your fruits and vegetables.