Embarassing Moments in Athletic Department Promotions Part 1

So I started doing this on facebook but quickly realized there are just too many incidents to handle.  Sometimes athletic departments need to energize the fanbase, and they produce a video they think will get everyone excited to identify themselves with the brand the AD is selling.  And sometimes they fail, and sometimes in stupendous hindenberg fashion.  It is those moments when an athletic department falls on its' face so hard that the concrete breaks that I would like to celebrate today.  So here it is, the first installment of the most embarassing moments in athletic department promotions:


We Are ND: Notre Dame
Notre Dame had a good thing going for it with the "Here Come the Irish" video.  Now they give us this; a confusing, disturbing, and frankly mind boggling video.  Not only does this not showcase the traditions and mystique of Notre Dame well, but it does it to a soundtrack which is probably being playing in hell 24/7.  ridiculous outfits, awkward cameos, this video is a perfect example of how not to promote your athletic department.  This one hit the internet and the reaction was like throwing a house cat into a bath tub.  It was roundly mocked and several Notre Dame fans disowned is as something the athletic department should never have let see the light of day. 


Crank Dat Gopherboy: Minnesota
This video, clearly a response to Wisconsin's awesome "Teach me how to Bucky" piece, is one of the most confusing.  Minnesota doesn't have much in terms of athletics to go on in the first place, and that includes basketball where they didn't even make the tournament this year.  If you are going to promoe something, make sure the product doesn't suck.  Aside from the song being wildly innapropriate for the Minnesota fanbase (imagine an older alum trying to listen to this song...yeah) the lyrics are also poor.  To Dinkytown we go?  No thank you.  I have been to Dinkytown, it sucks.  Check our wide defensive stance?  What does that even mean?  Somehow the makers of this video decided to focus on a bunch of mediocre aspects of Minnesota life instead of the good things about gopher athletics.  The scene at the begining where the man asks who the gopher boy is sets the awkward tone for what is video evidence of the fact that Minnesota can't seem to do much of anything right.


The Willie Chant: Kansas State
This one is slightly older but it deserves mentioning.  Really?  Clearly nobody at the athletic department actually asked whether or not they would do this cheer at the stadium.  Nobody would.  Further the constant power towell thing is ridiculous.  If your tradition includes a towell, and you are not the Pittsburgh Steelers, you should reevaluate your program.  Having them is one thing, but acting like they are sacred is ridiculous.  Finally, the editors of this video that since their "cheer" clearly sounded like something out of the 80's, their video quality should look like it too.  I have seen Slade music videos with better video quality.



Jersey Cribs: KansasJayrock is the annual KU variety show featuring athletes from virtually every varsity sport at KU doing skits.  This one is from the women's soccer team.  My question isn't so much why the athletes did this, they have creative liscence so why not, but why did the athletic department put this on youtube?  Someone needs to tell them that letting your athletes embarass themselves is fine, but letting them do it for an internet video is an easy way to make yourself look ridiculous.  Hard to create an image as and AD when your athletes are on tape acting like characters from Jersey Shore.



The Smoke: Iowa StateLet's face it, having your players enter through a fog of smoke is pretty dated.  So what was Jamie Pollard's idea for making the entrance more unique?  How about so much smoke that the football players can't see where they are going.




I Love My Ducks: OregonNot terrible, but someone needs to stop and ask the obvious question: "Could the phrase 'I Love My Ducks' potentially mean something other than the message we are conveying?".  Here is the deal, you may love your team and I respect that, but constantly repeating your love for a farm animal does raise some questions that you need to address.  This video would have been fine without the underlying plot about beastiality.