September 18, 2007
What Should Marc Ecko Do with #756?
Isn't the Internet wonderful? It lets baseball fans vote in an All-Star game player and now it lets people around the world decide what to do with a historic ball. After purchasing the ball that Barry Bonds hit to break baseball's all-time home run record, fashion designer Marc Ecko has decided to give the public a vote on what to do with the ball. On the website Vote756.com, Ecko gives voters three choices, "Bestow it. Brand it. Banish it." That's bestow it to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk and then send it to Cooperstown, and banish it to space via rocket.
Ecko, who's no stranger to publicity stunts, was on the Today show yesterday discussing his idea, telling Matt Lauer and Ann Curry that he wanted "to democratize the ball and to give the ball to the people, give the ball to America." Democracy is expensive! Ecko paid $752,467 for the ball last week and was willing to pay whatever he had to in order to get it. As a "collector [and lover] of popular culture," Ecko wanted us all to have a moment together. For the record, Ecko voted to brand the ball with an asterisk.
Voting started yesterday and runs through 11:59 PM next Tuesday. Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record on August 7th in San Francisco, where Queens resident Matt Murphy caught the ball and decided to sell it because he was unable to pay the taxes to keep the ball. What does Murphy think of the voting? "This either makes him a lunatic or a genius, one of those two. I'm leaning toward genius." We're going with marketing lunatic. Murphy said he plans to bestow it.
Photo of Marc Ecko with Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball by AP/Mary Altaffer
|
why not truly turn this into a democratic event, and let the public vote on whether or not to send marc ecko into space instead.
Before Bonds even hit the homerun the Wall Street Journal ran a piece about the tax implications of catching the ball. The conclusion was that technically the ball is taxable but there was almost no probability of the IRS coming after the person until they sold it. How would the IRS assess the value until it was sold?
Marc Ecko bites his fingernails.
He should shove it up his ass so his boyfriend can play with it.
Jam it down B*nd's throat
I would love to see it destroyed in public, but since that isn't an option given, I voted to launch it into space. The ball has no place in the Hall of Fame branded or unbranded.
Stain it with several asterisks on it (so its viewable on all sides), then give it to the hall of fame.
why does baseball bring out all the nerds?
capital gains tax accessed every year.
a branded asterisk ball in the hall of fame is quite a slap to the face of bonds. I say stamp the shit out of that steroid cheating bastard.
I hate marc ecko's clothes, it's like made for black people or something
brand the fucker - and there is NO WAY it is a taxable asset until it has been monetized - period!
personally i don't care for ecko's clothes - but the kid is my hero!
In the spring of 2003 the American public thought we were justified to invade Iraq. The general public is... generally stupid.
Too bad Ecko doesn't have any attachment to an object he just paid 3/4 million dollars for.
3/4 million $s is chump change for ecko
the money and notoriety he just got from the voting on the website is more than a million if he gets over ten million hits.
It's "or," not "and." For the love of god has anyone who writes for this blog taken college level English?
Drewo, not every subject in the world needs you to bring up Iraq.
He should put it on public display for all to gaze upon.
And then I hope that some Graffitti "artists" start spray painting it because they need to express themselves.
Then let him go batshit angry and then have Phil Donahue come out and say hmmmm, don't like your property being defaced do ya now?? And then Mark says ahhhhh thats why graffitti artists get a bad rap. Everyone hugs each other because all sides now understand one another.
and then finally and suddenly the
Harlem Boys Choir steps out of the shadows to sing Ecko the Interloper
over and over again to his horror.
shoot it to outer space or blow it up that would be awesome if u blew it up i say blow it up.
Drewo, not every subject in the world needs you to bring up Iraq.
Right, and I hope I don't.
I'm trying to suggest perspective.
Maybe a better baseball analogy might be Roger Maris's single-season HR record in 1961. Most so-called baseball fans wanted an asterisk next to Maris's name in the record books - and those fans would probably have voted online in 1961 to destroy the record-setting ball. Decades later, baseball fans had a different persepective on that HR record, and a deeper appreciation of Maris's achievements.
A real baseball fan would know to hang onto that ball and let history write the story on Barry Bonds. Ecko's not a real baseball fan.
Brand it!
This is stupid