I received an email today from the Vancouver Canadians front office. It was a general media release, the kind of which I’ve seen many times previously, but this one (at first) had me thinking, "How odd."

VANCOUVER CANADIANS CONGRATULATE GIANTS
ON MEMORIAL CUP VICTORY
Giants win over Medicine
Hat a treat to watch for all local sports teams

Nat Bailey Stadium ( Vancouver ) – The Vancouver Canadians
Baseball Club was thrilled to watch and enjoy the Giants march to this year’s
Memorial Cup Championship.  Over the past six years, the Giants have
become a template for what  team’s should strive for when they map
out success.  Sunday’s win on national television was also enjoyed
by most of the C’s front office.

Canadians
Vice President Delany Dunn spent the
first few seasons with the Giants as their public address announcer, and
remembers those times fondly.  “I remember how passionate the fans
were about this team and the direction they were heading in.  No doubt
there were growing pains in the early days, but it’s nice to see it all
pay off the way it did Sunday”.

Canadians
President Aileen McManamon [pictured above with co-owners Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney] on the
Giants run to the Cup:  “The effort on the ice is to be commended,
as well as what Ron Toigo and his staff achieved off of the ice as well. 
The 2007 Memorial Cup was the talk of the town for the past few weeks, and
deservedly so, it was a treat to enjoy’.

The Canadians
tip their cap to the Giants and encourage them to take it all in as a
championship is a special moment in any team’s journey.

Now, the reason I thought it odd was I’ve never seen a release from the Canadians about something that didn’t involve them first hand. That is, I’ve never seen ‘official comments’ about a non-baseball story released to the press like this before by the C’s.

I like it. It’s smart marketing – get radio stations and newspapers used to having you associated with any sporting success and maybe they’ll start seeing you on the same level as the Giants, or the Whitecaps, or even softball (which gets more ink in the Province than baseball, for some unknown reason).

By why this is REALLY worth noting is what came with the release:

MP3 Soundbite from Delany Dunn, VP Fan Experience
MP3 Soundbite from Aileen McManamon, President

Outstanding stuff – the C’s have finally caught on to the power of the Content Release.

Last year (and for three years prior), I regularly moaned that the C’s needed to create their own highlights packages and get them to the press after each game so they could be included in that night’s sports package, and the reason why is because if you make it as easy as ‘cutting and pasting’ for a sports editor, they’ll actually use your stuff.

On the other hand, ask them to send out a camera crew, do their own editing, and then put together a report on last night’s game by midnight that night, and they’ll likely find something easier to do with their time.

I don’t know if any Vancouver radio stations used these clips in today’s sports round-ups, but I LOVE the fact that we’re seeing this level of forward thinking from the team leading up to season 2007. If they actually take the step of putting together a video editing bay for preparing highlights packages, I think I may well just lose it with glee.

And hey, congrats to the Giants. They really do run a solid outfit out there, and their Memorial Cup success has been a long time building.

OTHER NOTES:
Rob Fai’s new position as media relations manager and broadcaster was mentioned in the On The Move column in today’s Vancouver Province, in which companies list their high profile executive hirings and promotions. I guess that’s one way to get mentioned in the Prov…

Former Vancouver Canadians team doctor, Dr Mike Wilkinson, has been named Chief Medical Officer for the Canadian team in the upcoming Pan Pacific Games by the Canadian Olympic Commitee:

As Canada’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Wilkinson will be responsible for managing and supervising a multi-disciplinary health care team as well as all the health care support services that will be provided to the entire Canadian team. A physician with extensive experience in sports medicine, Dr. Wilkinson previously served as a member of Canada’s medical services team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Throughout his 20-year career, Dr. Wilkinson has served as a team physician for a variety of National Sport Federations and professional sport organizations including Rowing Canada Aviron, Rugby Canada, the Vancouver Canucks and the Vancouver Canadians (Class A) baseball team. In May 2006, Dr. Wilkinson was named the Director of Medical Services for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). In his role as Director of Medical Services, Dr. Wilkinson is responsible for the planning and implementation of all medical services for the Games.

Never met him. Don’t know him. But I figured it was worth mentioning, in case others associated with the team do.