by Mark

Reflections of a Twisted Mind

I don't know how they do sport promotions in the rest of the English speaking world, but in the States there is the custom of occasionally handing out gifts to fans attending sporting events. On special days, kids-under-eighteen-accompanied-by-an-adult would receive either a cap (on Cap Day), a towel (on Towel Day), a ball (on Ball Day), or some other trinket with the home team's logo (and often a sponsor such as Gatorade) emblazoned. I still have my full size, regulation little league baseball bat the Yankees gave me thirty or so years ago on Bat Day. Has Roy White's (remember him?) signature. Imagine 20,000 young teens running around the south Bronx with baseball bats.

What other giveaways are popular at the ball park? Sometimes at a college football game or the Olympics, they give everyone in a section a group of cards. When revealed in their proper order, various pictures and words appear. These "card stunts" make nifty lo-tech special effects. They are fun for the card flippers and entertaining to the viewer. How wonderful to see such instant results from having such a large group cooperating on a specific task.

What if, instead of bats, towels, or cards, 80,000 mirrors were handed out?

That's right. The Rose Bowl during a sunny southern California afternoon. Wouldn't it be sporting chasing the opposing quarterback with your little beam? How about a little glare in the batter's eye? Or, perhaps put a little fire on the visiting pitcher's fastball. Now which twelve year-old boy who has played with a magnifying glass in the sun, burning his initials in the picnic table, hasn't been tempted to chase an ant around, hoping to focus the bright beam at the right place at the right time. Most of the little buggers get away-until you got a little practice.

With a little practice and cooperation, the crowd could light the Olympic torch.

The concept could also serve a more civic purpose. In biblical times, when capital punishment was called for, stoning was the compromise whereby the condemned could be executed, yet there would be no individual guilty of violating the sixth commandment. The people would be the executor. Very democratic. On Mirror Day (June 21 at noon?), have all the condemned set loose in a football stadium until the concentrated glare from 80,000 suns completes their sentence. Cruel? Perhaps. Inhuman? Depends on how you define human. Fun? You bet-if you still have a little of that twelve year old inside you.