Their stadium has barely begun construction. They won't play their first game for another 10 months. And just the same, the Montgomery Biscuits - the future Double-A minor-league affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays - are a hot item this week with the unveiling of the team name and logo and an online home at biscuitsbaseball.com.
"It's been unbelievable, more than we ever could have expected," said Marla Terranova, the team's business development coordinator, who reported more than 700,000 hits in the site's first week.
Minor-league baseball is ultimately a local product, but with wild mascots like the Batavia (N.Y.) Muckdogs and the Hickory (N.C.) Crawdads, merchandising can be a national boom. That explains why fans from California to Connecticut already have placed online orders for hats and T-shirts featuring Biscuits mascot Monty. In an industry where being different can be a recipe for success, having a mascot whose tongue is a pat of butter might be a good thing.
"It's really spanning the nation," said Terranova, who said the site has gotten about 400 e-mails a day since its launch, including many joining a waiting list for tickets. The initial local reaction to the decidedly flaky name was lukewarm, but Terranova said fans who visit the site and see an animated biscuit twirling a pennant and hopping around are enjoying the fun.
"The site really helps with the national exposure," Terranova said. "A lot of people were a little unsure when the name was announced, but people don't know minor-league baseball. They expect something traditional like Wings (Montgomery's minor-league hockey team) or Generals or Capitals. People are e-mailing us saying they didn't like the name at first, but once they saw the site, they fell in love with it."
The local newspaper, online at montgomeryadvertiser.com, welcomed the new team with a headline of "Butter Up!" and wasted no time in getting some of the, well, cheesiest headline jokes out of the way. Rest assured, these Biscuits will be on a roll, will crumble in late innings or perhaps get out of ninth-inning jams. One suggested headline, in the event that the team be doomed by a clubwide drug scandal: "Pills bury Biscuits."
WATCH IT LIVE: The WNBA proudly touts the "first-ever live video webcast of a game in women's professional sports history," with Saturday's 7:30 p.m. game between the Detroit Shock and Charlotte Sting streamed at no charge from WNBA.com.
The NBA was the first pro league to broadcast a live game online, when fans in 87 countries tuned in to see a Mavericks-Kings game in April 2001.
TID-BYTES: The Rays are likely to take either second baseman Rickie Weeks or outfielder Delmon Young with the first pick in Tuesday's baseball draft, but a poll at devilrays.com has another option more popular with fans. Andrew Miller, a high school pitcher from Gainesville, drew 38 percent of the ballots Thursday, more than Weeks (26 percent), Young (24) or Dunedin's Ryan Harvey (12). ... Fans can vote for winners in 17 categories for this summer's ESPY Awards. Online voting takes place at ESPN.com from June 13-27, with winners announced during the July 16 broadcast.
- If you have a question or comment about the Internet or a site to suggest, e-mail staff writer Greg Auman at auman@sptimes.com
