Nailers Promotion Is a Hit

By Shawn Rine
Nobody expected the Wheeling Nailers’ ‘Shred Rich Rodriguez’ promotion to become this big. Especially not co-Presidents Rob and Jim Brooks.

The story took off locally, but it didn’t take long for it to grow legs on the national scene. It was picked up by outlets like USA Today, ESPN.com and CNNSI.com.

And then word came Thursday morning from Bristol, Conn., that ESPN plans on sending a camera crew to Saturday night’s festivities.

‘‘It started maybe as a joke, but the more we thought about it, we thought it would have some lasting power,’’ Jim said Thursday from the team’s offices in downtown Wheeling. ‘‘Rob and I have gotten e-mails from friends we haven’t heard from in 8-9 years, guys in D.C. or L.A. saying ‘hey, we saw the Nailers in the local paper.’

‘‘It’s really neat. We didn’t anticipate this at all.’’

According to Jim, it all started with a call to Brendan Burke, the Voice of the Nailers and the team’s Director of Broadcasting and Communications.

‘‘Bristol called Brendan in our office and said, ‘we want to bring a camera crew down and set it up,’ ’’ Jim said. ‘‘They are going to be here, so we’re going to be hosting ESPN.

‘‘I don’t know how many organizations in the valley have been on ESPN.’’

For those not familiar with the promotion, it all stems from published reports that Rodriguez, the fiery ex-WVU football coach who left his home state and university for Michigan last month, was seen shredding personnel documents while cleaning out his old offices at West Virginia.

Here’s a rundown of how things will work:

? The Nailers are offering discounted tickets to any fan that brings in a newspaper article or picture of the former coach to contribute to the industrial-sized paper shredder that will be stationed in the concourse.

? Additionally, any fan who wears WVU apparel to the game will receive $2 off their ticket price. Ohio State fans will also receive the discount by wearing their gear to the game to demonstrate their mutual distaste for Michigan.

? Any fan caught wearing University of Michigan apparel will be charged double in order to help Rodriguez pay his $4 million buyout to WVU.

? If your first name is Rich or your last name is Rodriguez, your ticket will be $8.25. If your name happens to be Rich Rodriguez you will get in free. Except, of course, if you actually are Coach Rich Rodriguez, then you will be barred from the building and escorted outside state lines.

‘‘First of all, Rob and I, our family is involved with the Altoona Curve (a minor-league baseball team in Pennsylvania),’’ Jim said. ‘‘These are things we’ve been learning.

‘‘With minor-league sports promotions, you have to be a little bit edgy.’’

Nailers officials say they’ve already sold about 2,500 tickets for the 7:35 p.m. game with the Charlotte Checkers. However, Jim says the team usually gets a large number of its patrons at the box office on game night.

‘‘With this promotion, because it’s something where you bring a photo in to get a discount, I believe it’s going to be the walkup (where the most success will come),’’ he said. ‘‘I wouldn’t be surprised to see a thousand walkups.’’

Depending upon where you’re looking, the reaction to the promotion has been mixed. There are those fanatics out there who don’t understand the life of a minor-league franchise and the struggles they sometimes have to fill their buildings. Obviously, their reaction has been negative.

Except for a few Michigan fans, Jim reports most feedback has been positive.

‘‘We got a couple calls from Michigan faithful that weren’t too happy, telling us we shouldn’t be poking fun at their boy,’’ Jim said. ‘‘People, especially locally, have been saying, ‘hey, what you are doing is great.’

‘‘It just puts, not only the Nailers, but the City of Wheeling on the national radar.’’

That last part is the one nobody could have predicted. Jim reports seeing something about it in the online version of the Detroit Free Press. Not only can you read the paper’s story about the promotion, but now there are links set up to learn more about the City of Wheeling itself.

‘‘The City of Wheeling is the real winner,’’ Jim said. ‘‘Its name is across the whole U.S.

‘‘But we want people to know that this is also to support (new WVU coach Bill Stewart) and the people who are there now.’’

There’s no way of telling, but it’s plausible this could have a lasting affect for the organization. Who’s to say a family who wouldn’t normally go to a game doesn’t show up and enjoy itself so much that it decides to attend future games?

‘‘That’s our hope,’’ Jim said. ‘‘You’re going to be able to express your frustration, but also have a good time.

‘‘Hopefully, they see our games are entertaining every night.’’

Additions and Subtractions

The Nailers, on Thursday, signed forwards Matt Byrnes and Tanner Fogarty. Meanwhile, all-star defenseman Jon D’Aversa was recalled to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Byrnes is a rookie out of Merrimack College where he scored 11 goals and had 31 assists in his four-year career. Fogarty, a Holy Cross College graduate, will be making his professional debut with the Nailers.

In four years he scored seven goals and assisted on 13 others.

Shawn Rine can be reached at R'>Rine@theintelligencer.net'>Rine@theintelligencer.net