The company went on a trip to Waterville Valley yesterday. This wasn't mandatory - only about 30 people went - so it had a pretty intimate vibe.

A few staffers actually found some BzzAgents on the mountain ["we saw Bee stickers on their helmets from the lift, and they were wearing colubmia jackets"] and invited them back to have lunch with us.

Lots of wonderful discussion on the bus, in the lodge, and on the mountain. Two big items kept coming up:

1. The Builder and Sales. Yes, we chose the builder, for those who were wondering per the post below. Lots of chatter about how sales is going to change over the next few months.
2. Rewards. Quite a flurry of activity on 90 Days from a post called Free Stuff, which discussed a staff giveaway of leftover rewards. We checked it out from my blackberry on the bus and read the comments out loud.

Toof's Puppy Dog

BzzAgents From the Mountain

In the Lodge

SnowBunnies

If you've followed the Red Sox this offseason, you'll know that our once universally-beloved Johnny Damon has made a bunch of asinine comments since being signed by the Yankees. Its "Get To Know Me!!" time for Johnny in NY (think John Lovitz skit from SNL). I used to cringe every time this guy had a live interview when he was with the Sox, and now he has been given almost unlimited face time in the big NYC spotlight as the press plays with their new shiny toy. Damon the ballplayer is a phenomenal baseball player and will be missed here in Boston but everyone who has seen his mind in action realizes pretty quickly that he's not the sharpest tool in any shed, whether it resides in New England or New York. Since his departure to NYC on numerous occasions he's disparaged the Red Sox organization and front office, fellow players and ex-teammates, the local fans, waxed poetic about his new ball club and owner, and even rambled on about how Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz would be happier with him in New York. A few weeks ago Damon took out a full page advertisement in the Boston Globe (below) and to me the content and timing is such an obvious ploy of damage control that it totally neutralizes – and even reverses in my mind – the sentiment of the ad itself. Damon did not take out this full page ad after he was signed by NY in December after 4 years with Boston (as is the customary practice with such things), or even in early January when he was starting to take on water in this town after shooting one too many cannonballs into the floor of his listing ship. He put this ad out there only when his personal reputation and (until recently, extremely significant) Boston legacy has been irrevocably soiled by his sour grapes and ill-advised commentary, and with his introduction to Boston fans as a Yankee drawing near enough to taste.

So my question to you is how can anyone in the Damon camp allow this ad to run? Isn't this a horrendous PR move? Who is his PR person and why aren't they unemployed, instead putting PR spin on a sign about how they are sober and need the change for bus fare? I would be especially interested in hearing Joe C's (BzzAgent's marketing and PR guru) take on how someone managing this guy, with any sort of understanding of this town, could have allowed or endorsed this ad to run here at this point in time. My best guess is that it is another one of Johnny's ill advised trains of thought made without counsel, but seeing his entourage come and go with him you cant help but think anything this calculated has other fingerprints on it. Perhaps most people take things like this at face value and my viewpoint is shared only with a minority. To me, this ad is just laughably obvious PR spin and ironically its existence is another damaging blow to a legacy and reputation that used to be up there with the Sox all time greats and now is falling somewhere near Mo Vaughn and barrel-rolling towards Carl Everett....

What do you think? PR disaster or stroke of genius? Am I in the minority seeing this merely as a self-preservation tactic and not a genuine thanks to the fans? Does this really buy Johnny a standing ovation during his first visit to Fenway on May 1 and stave off the boo-birds that were already circling the stadium? Am I just a delirious baseball-starved hyena with exposed ribs and a crazed look scrounging for any small scrap of baseball news to sink my teeth into until my hibernation finally ends when the players start the season on April 3rd?? Am I the only wacko that counts down the days until pitchers and catchers report to training camp just to watch them play catch??? I think perhaps that when George Carlin said that we were all diseased, he just meant Red Sox fans...