Monday, August 15, 2005

Briefly

Traveling on business today so not a lot of time but Monday highlights include the "elbow-nose breaking incident" aboard Team Shosholoza - a new one for the America's Cup annals - and a great piece from the Annapolis press on Paul Cayard's rational for signing on to shill for Disney in the upcoming 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race. Stay tuned - I'll pick up the slack shortly.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

shill Slang
n.

One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle.


v. shilled, shill·ing, shills
v. intr.

To act as a shill.


v. tr.

1. To act as a shill for (a deceitful enterprise).
2. To lure (a person) into a swindle.



Is this sour grapes or do you really think that all of the media coverage that a Disney boat will generate for the sport of ocean racing is deceitful enterprise?

Zephyr (Sail) said...

Ok - maybe "shill" is a little hyperbolic. But riddle me this - corporate sponsorship is nothing new...but the Disney effort features movie stars as crew, a boat named after a sequel to a movie, a late start to entering the competition...which indicates a lack of seriousness of intent and overall a program that reflects their priorities, namely marketing first and sailing second. The one thing they’ve done somewhat correctly is hire Cayard. But why would such an icon agree to be a part of this joke of a campaign? Initially, the only answer I could come up with was money - hence the use of "shill" But read the article I link to in my post and decide for yourself.