Marketing 101: How Not To, By The A's

So the latest marketing embarrassment by the Oakland A's is the practice of selling "Get Off My Mound!" Dallas Braden T-shirts, and catching the players -- including Braden -- by surprise with a concept that Braden has publicly denounced.

The A's themselves are not inept -- they are 50% inept, 50% ept. The A's marketing department? Utterly clueless. What would good, classy, and effective marketing look like? 2002: Try producing a 20-track CD of the 20-game win streak anchored by the amazing calls from Ken Korach and Bill King. 2005: Try honoring Bill King with a "best of King" CD sharing his most memorable calls.

Real opportunities have been there and ignored, so that the marketing department can, instead, produce cute commercials that won't bring a single new (casual) fan out to the ballpark, and gimmicky shirts that surprise and upset the player they feature.

Yes, folks, there is an A in pAthetic.