David Price was traded just ahead of yesterday’s MLB deadline in a 3-way deal that sent him to Detroit. The fact Price got traded wasn’t shocking. What was shocking was the pieces they got in return, a so-so lefty in Drew Smyly and some prospects.
But we’re not here to break down the trade, we’re not here to give you the in’s and out’s of MLB shenanigans. No sir. We’re here to talk about memes and why local news stations should steer clear of them.
You see, Tampa Bay’s FOX 13 tried one of those, “Detroit sucks” pics with dilapidated buildings and crack houses and what not. It was the most low hanging fruit of low hanging fruit. This was their tweet.
(I had to screencap their tweet because they deleted. You’ll learn why later)
Anyway, as a Detroiter, I felt I had to respond. I’m not overly sensitive about the city. Their problems are well documented. Their bankruptcy is well documented. Everyone knows about the crime. It ain’t perfect, I get it.
But I’ll be damned if some two-bit local station out-memes me. I’ll be damned if some janky-ass Florida intern thinks he can out-photoshop me. So I dropped this bomb on them. A “POW RIGHT IN THE KISSER” to their empty stadium.
And then I led a pretty nasty Twitter mob against the Tampa Bay FOX station. I’m not proud of myself for it, but whatever, sometimes you gotta get your hands dirty. I never thought it would go beyond that. They took their tweet down, apologized and that was that. I was done with it. I had saved Detroit’s integrity with a meme.
But then FOX 2 Detroit picked it up. So did SI. So did Deadspin. At night, my phone started blowing up because the local news stations in Detroit were covering it. And then my mama called, said she heard my name on the news.
All this for a Goddamn meme.
So what did we learned from all this? Well it’s pretty simple. If you’re a local news station, don’t go with the low hanging fruit and don’t let your Millenial intern dictate what goes on social media. Because, as we all know, teenagers are stupid.
Also, don’t mess with Detroit. Don’t ever mess with Detroit. I’m watching you.
