Featherheads YouTube - Are You Ready?

[klewis]

Contributed by Florida Featherheads
Saturday, 20 September 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2008



Are You Ready?
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The screen fades from black to an aerial view of an elegant cruise ship traversing through the deep, blue Atlantic Ocean. In the distance, a heavenly sunset turns the vibrant sky into a colorful palette of glowing orange, golden yellow, and burning amber.

Slowly zooming closer onto the cruise ship's deck, ant-like specks transform into humanly figures. Lounge chairs are filled with people relaxing and sun-bathing in the remaining moments of the day's sun. Incomprehensible chatter and laughter reverberate throughout the swimming pools and deckside bar.

*CRACK*

*WHOOOOOOSH*

The scene pans around a full 180 degrees to show a man in a baseball uniform holding a baseball bat. In a pigeon-crouch stance, the man focuses in a trance-like state. The backside of his uniform jersey reveals the nameplate "Richardson." It is none other than Florida Featherheadssecond baseman Mark "Ice Cold" Richardson.


*CRACK*

Another baseball explodes from the Richardson's bat and flies into the distance of the Atlantic Ocean. The scene fades again.

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Are You Ready?

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Fading to black, the screen transitions to show Cinderella's Castle of Walt Disney's Magical Kingdom. Standing before Cinderella's Castle is young pitching sensation Chris Saunders. Hunched over with mitt in hand, Saunders peers through underneath the brow of his baseball cap. Across from him is Mickey Mouse sitting in the catcher's position. The Disney icon places his index finger between his legs. In deep concentration, Saunders winds up and delivers a blazing fastball.



*POP*

Magical Disney pixie dust burst from Mickey's catcher's mitt.

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Are You Ready?

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From a luxurious cruise liner to the fantasy of Walt Disney, the scene shifts again to show the paradise that is Key West, Florida. On a beautiful beach resort, an unidentifiable man is relaxing in a beach chair. Next to him is a small table stand. A piña colada drink and pair of dice sits atop the table stand.

Wearing a Hawaiian-inspired button down shirt, this peculiar man sports a bluish tie with the Florida Featherheads emblem plastered all over his tie. Dark sunglasses cover up the upper half of his face. In his hand is a deck of cards that he shuffles vigorously. He cuts the deck and pulls out the card from the top of the deck to reveal......

JOKER!

"Argh, who left this joker in here?! Let's try this again..."

Once again, he shuffles the deck hastily and pulls out the top card:

Ace of Hearts.

He pulls put another card:

Ace of Diamonds.

Then again, he pulls out two more cards to reveal:

4 aces!

His 4 aces are preceded with a cunning laughter.

"Heh, heh."

With a quick fling, he tosses the deck of cards into the wind and removes his sunglasses.

"Are YOU ready?"

He pauses and smiles.

"Are you ready for a new era of baseball?"

Once again, another pause and smile.

"Are you ready for a new brand of Florida baseball?

He pauses yet again to take a sip of his piña colada.

"Are you ready for Featherheads baseball?

"The rumors are true! The Featherheads have been bought by.... well, by yours truly! Who am I you may ask? I am Drew Streets! Now Featherheads fans may ask, ‘Who the heck is Drew Streets?’ That's a good question, I have to think about that."

He stops to seemingly ponder the question. Before answering the question, he takes another sip of his piña colada.

"I am a man who loves money and winning. And this is what I intend to bring to the Florida Featherheads. I'm here to win and make a lot of money. Growing up in Las Vegas, I was exposed to glitz and glamour of the Las Vegas strip. I grew up seeing the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and The Mirage. Rather than compete with Las Vegas, I did something better. I have brought Las Vegas to the rest of the world!

"Instead of building hotels, casinos or entertainment attractions in Las Vegas, I took my show on the road.... or rather to the ocean! You see that over there?"

Drew Streets points into the distance. Over in the calm waters, a majestic cruise ship can be seen.

"Right there is Las Vegas on a ship! Now you may ask, ‘What does Las Vegas, cruise ships and baseball have to do with anything with one another?’ Well, I guess nothing. But the way I look at it, they are very similar.

"People from all over the world come to Las Vegas. They come in for a weekend and leave everything else out the door. They forget about the pressures of work and stresses of life. For 48 hours, they are free to live.

"I'm here to do the same with baseball. Baseball is America's pastime. Baseball is as American as apple pie. Baseball should be a place where families can come for an evening and just enjoy life. For those 3 hours, people can forget everything and just focus on the moment.

"For such a long time, cruises were pigeonholed as a thing for old people. Only old people took cruises. When I entered the cruise business, I aimed to change that. I made cruises more accessible to all walks of life. Nowadays cruises are for everyone. You see families going on cruises. You even see people get married and have honeymoons on cruises.

"The same thing can be said about baseball. I'm here to change baseball. Not only is baseball America's pastime, but I see baseball being a metaphor for life. Just like baseball, in life sometimes you are up; other times you are down. One game you may be up by 3 runs. Others games you're down by 3. Just like blackjack, baseball is a game of luck and skill. Life is no different. In life, sometimes Lady Luck blesses you with fortune. Other times you make your own luck with your skill.

"As the new owner of the Florida Featherheads, I aim to change the culture of Featherheads baseball and baseball itself. This is a new brand of baseball!"

"In the upcoming weeks, you will see changes with the Featherheads. Using what I have learned in the cruise business, I plan to do the same with baseball. So please tune in for more breaking announcements soon! And with that said, I leave you with the question...

"Are you ready?"

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The scene fades and block lettering pops up:

Are you ready... for Florida Featherheads baseball?

Coming in 2009...

[John]

This is an absolutely fabulous introductory article, one of my favorites yet. What great imagery! I can seriously picture this ad campaign in all it's cheesy glory, with Richardson smashing balls off cruise ships and Saunders playing catch with everybody's favorite cartoon rodent. The introduction of new owner Drew Streets is priceless.

Just in case there's any confusion, the actual man behind the team is Kevin Lewis. Kevin will be wearing the title of Florida GM, while the fictional Mr. Streets will be playing the role of Featherheads owner/cruise ship tycoon. I'm confident Kevin is going to be a great addition to our group and I'm really looking forward to him joining us full-time on October 9th when we make the transition to OOTP 9.

Until Oct. 9 I will be tending to the Featherheads with an assist from the LPs. If you have any trade proposals for Florida, please mail them to me. The LPs and I will review them and get back to you ASAP. Understand that we will by necessity be very conservative with any trade offers. I wouldn't recommend sending any blockbusters. Your best bet is to examine both the strengths and needs of the franchise and see where you can fill a gap for Florida while simultaneously helping yourself.

Welcome aboard, Kevin! If this article is any indication, you're going to fit in just fine here.

[klewis]

Thanks for the welcome John. Hello to everyone else! I previously posted under the name "Pineapple." I'm excited to meet all of you and have fun this upcoming season!

I'm taking over the Florida Featherheads with the fictional owner, Drew Streets. He owns a cruise line business in the ports of Florida. His cruise ships are inspired by his Las Vegas roots. Similarly, Streets will aim to put a similar stamp on his newly acquired baseball team.

Also to avoid confusion, I will also introduce Kevin Lewis in an upcoming article. He will be the GM of the Featherheads. So that way there is no confusion when looking for the names in game.

I will also introduce some other characters round out the Featherhead staff but those names are confidential for now

[Denny]

Welcome and congratulations on taking over your own team!

I will add that, if nothing else, Florida has in my opinion the coolest logo and uniforms in PEBA. So you've got that going for ya!

[Duane]

How many of you are there?
Does your shrink know?

Just kidding ... please remember the basics
IL RULES!!!

[klewis]

I hope cool will equate to many wins. Nope my shrink does not know. I have not told him about it yet. Maybe I will the next time I visit him at the asylum.