Time Warner thinks baseball fans are stupid

I attempted to gag myself while listening to the Yankees' epic slaughter yesterday (ed. note: author not pictured). The only good thing to come from the game was another unintentionally hilarious headline: Historic Low for Wang. Apparently all our staff needs is Viagra (but I digress).

During the game, I heard a now-daily ad for Time Warner. The promotion was this: if the Yankees turned a triple play in the game, a lucky fan would win $10,000 and a year of free service.

MLB has averaged a little less than 4 triple plays turned per season amongst all 30 teams over the last decade. Therefore, the odds of the Yankees turning one in any given game is low. At least with the lottery, someone definitely wins, even if the odds of it being you are very low.

Now, one could argue this makes sense for Time Warner, because they get their name out there, the promotion carries very little risk and fans would be happy about this. However, while casual fans might flip back and forth between the TV broadcast, I would think that the radio demographic contains more passionate fans. If you are willing to put on a buzzing AM radio station and hear nothing but a description of the game, you clearly have an interest in it.

Assuming the audience skews towards more passionate/knowledgeable fans, they know that Time Warner is teasing them with this mockery of an offer. Poor move.

This, of course, ignores the often inconsistent and poor quality of Time Warner's service itself. Winning a year of free Time Warner is the rough equivalent of getting a free punch in the face.