Wrapping up the week that was, while we get read for the week to come.

From “Snakes on the Grass“ (it was a slow week around the site) :

• Daniel Hudson got into a twitter fight with a Dodgers fan who – we can only hope - had been drinking heavily during the Super Bowl.
• The second edition of Diamondbacks Minors Monday gathered news from the Dbacks’ organization, highlighted by an installment of “This is Rawhide Baseball“.
• Members of the Dbacks rotation served as Subway Sandwich Artists while getting ready for FanFest.
• We took a look at the finalists for the MLB FanCave.
• And, the day of FanFest brought us a myriad of news. The Dbacks took over twitter, the 2012 promo schedule was released and Buster Olney of ESPN picked the Dbacks to go to the World Series.
• And, of course, we continued with the Official Unofficial Diamondbacks Baseball Countdown!

Best of the rest of the web:

» Continue reading “Diamondbacks Sunday Quick Shots – February 5-11, 2012″

Today was Dbacks FanFest.

There was a great turn out at Chase Field, and for those who were there (and also those that couldn’t be), there was also a lot of action on the official Diamondbacks twitter account (@Dbacks), with various Diamondbacks taking over the account and interacting with fans throughout the day.

In summary:

• Barry Enright wants to play video games with you. Gamer tag: BarryE. Look him up. He gave his permission.
• Barry Enright is scared of Buster Posey, but David Hernandez thinks Matt Kemp is scarier. And, opposing managers will probably feed Daniel Hudson an entire line-up of pesky left-handed lead-off hitters.
• Ryan Roberts added to his tattoo collection this off-season.
• Daniel Hudson brought number 41 with him from the White Sox.
• Ian Kennedy is, reportedly, the best dancer on the team.
• And, it seems like #DefendTheWest might be the newest hashtag that you’ll need to know.

Other Diamondback news released today included the 2012 Promotion Schedule (HERE). Highlights: Moms are getting earrings on Mother’s day, Ryan Roberts tattoo sleeves, the return of the fan vote bobblehead, and a very intriguing-sounding “shirts off of our Dbacks” promotion.

And, thirdly, ESPN Buster Olney found himself trending in Phoenix (on twitter) this evening because of a tweet that went a little something like this:

I’ve got my picks. But, that seems like a pretty good place to start, Mr. Olney, sir.

Who y’all got?

(ps: Are you ready to catch up with the Yakima Bears tomorrow? We’re almost there countdowners!)

So, the MLB Fan Cave selection comittee has narrowed the field down to the 50 finalists.

The field will eventually be narrowed down to 30, based on the results of fan voting. It’s a new format and the success of it remains to be seen.

The whole process seems a little bit like spring training.

You do your best (make an audition video) and hope they pick you to come to spring training (be one of the 50 to make it to the round of online voting). THEN you have to make it out of camp (the final 30).

The final 30 will then make the roster where they are going to compete against each other (in what the Fan Cave promo material is calling their version of ”Spring Training”)  for a chance to make the post-season roster (ie: be invited to participate in the reality to show to see who survives to the end of the season).

MLB hasn’t decided how many of the final 30 will be invited onto the show, but it is our turn to vote to see who will get the opportunity to stay in the competition.

Of the 50 finalists, 11 are women (leaving 39 guys) and there – at least at first glance – seems to be a relatively broad representation of fans – though, by no means does it cover everyone.

By “favorite team”:

Angels (5); Yankees (5); Cardinals (4); Tigers (4); Giants (3); Mets (3); Athletics (2); Blue Jays (2); Braves (2); Brewers (2); Dodgers (2); Phillies (2); Cubs (1); Diamondbacks (1); Indians (1); Mariners (1); Orioles (1); Padres (1); Pirates (1); Rays (1); Twins (1); Rangers (1); Red Sox (1); Reds (1); Rockies (1);  and one smart guy who just couldn’t choose a favorite team and elected to have the MLB logo next to his profile and name-dropped pretty much everyone in MLB. 

Noticeably absent: Astros, Nationals,  Marlins, Royals and White Sox.

However, on closer inspection, these categories are almost arbitrary and, if you plan to spend any time in/around or tuning into the Fan Cave this season, all of the videos warrant a closer look.

» Continue reading “The MLB FanCave Has Finalists. Or: The Other Spring Training.”

 If you are hungry, bored, or you’ve always wanted to have your lunch made by a major league baseball player, head to Subway today.

And, if you are not in the area, consider buying your lunch at Subway today and supporting the company that is making FanFest free this weekend.

FanFest is coming! Baseball is near. Make sure you’re keeping up with the countdown calendar!

For those of you who are doing the countdown to spring training, Snakes on the Grass has come to provide you with a calendar to help you count down the days. It will hopefully keep you busy and, by the time the season rolls around, you will be so prepared for 2012, that you could probably jump in and cover third base if they asked!

All comments, questions, suggestions and updates on your progress are welcome!

Have fun!

And, while Snakes on the Grass is new to the aeryssports.com family, I would like to wish the site a happy first birthday.

Last night was the Diamondbacks “Most Valuable Partner” awards. It was the first year of this event and was designed to recognize the partners (ie: sponsors. ie: people who give money) and to recognize outstanding contributions in brand integration and community involvement.

Dbacks such as Ryan Roberts (and his wife), Chris Young, Ian Kennedy and Paul Goldschmidt showed up to walk the red carpet and to give out awards.

The night started with Derrick Hall (ie: possibly the coolest CEO in baseball) channeling his inner Billy Crystal and singing and dancing to open the show. We can only hope that video of this makes its way onto the interwebs at some point.

Go here to read all about the winners and the events of the night.

While his teammates were walking down the read carpet, Daniel Hudson went to the movies. According to him, he wasn’t invited to the awards show (pretty sure someone’s going to rectify that for next year!).

At least he enjoyed his movie and the world got to learn all about his mancrush on Ryan Reynolds.  This morning, the fun continues, as Daniel Hudson is now taking to twitter to share the secret to being one of the crew of Dbacks #PitchersWhoRake.

In lieu of baseball news (because there is none at the moment), “Snakes on the Grass” would like to offer you a cornucopia of links:

» Continue reading “Dbacks News And Notes. Or: Random Linkage, Ahoy!”

Via the official website, the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that they have scheduled their annual fanfest for Saturday February 11th.

Or, as the press release succinctly put it:

Eighth annual Subway D-backs FanFest takes place one month from today!!

(Exclamation points are mine.)

It looks like it is going to be a fun filled, social media-driven afternoon.

It also looks like every Dback player, coach, broadcaster and their mother is showing up for the event, so it looks to be a busy and fun time. If you find yourself in the greater Phoenix area on February 11th, you should make time to go check it out.

The event is free, autographs are free for kids under 12, and big kids can get autographs for a $5 donation to the Diamondbacks’ charitable foundation. Which is so exactly the type of awesomeness that we expect from the Diamondbacks’ front office.

A partial list of other things set to happen that afternoon include:

• D-backs home clubhouse tours
• Question and answer sessions with D-backs players, coaches, broadcasters and alumni
• Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation Yard Sale
• D-backs Training Centers Wiffle ball fields and clinics featuring D-backs players and coaches
• FOX Sports Arizona KidKaster auditions
• Sign ups to audition to sing the national anthem or be a Rally-back, Golden Glover or D-backs Legends Race participant

Check out the official press release for the full list of activities and expected attendees.

If you’re dying to get back to the ballpark, this might be your chance. And, seriously, its free.

In honor of the good people at subway who are keeping the afternoon free (and, evidently, giving away gift-cards with money on them), I’ve plastered a subway logo at the top of this post.  And, I might have to go and get myself a sandwich for dinner.

I mean, a girl’s gotta eat, I might as well support the people who support baseball.