Earlier today the Arizona Diamondbacks started up a social media campaign where supposedly if one were to tweet a message including a #GoDbacks hash tag, said message would then be displayed on the scoreboard. The irony in the situation occurred when some Philly's fans caught on to the campaign. Immediately the tag was flooded with trolled messages. Withen hours #GodBacks was not only trending in Philadelphia and Phoenix, but nationally as well. All it took were some avid sports writers and bloggers, and a bunch of fans for #GoDbacks to be a nationally recognized campaign.
This trend can tell us alot about not only baseball but America as a whole.
We can relate this to Dellillo's Underworld. In Underworld, Dellillo retells Americas hidden history as a mass amount of interwoven and intersecting story lines each with a version of the story told in a personalized language that stems from a world that is complete unto itself. Very comparable to the #GodBacks campaign, which is enabling fans to input their own story into the continuing narrative the is baseball. Through the Go Dbacks trend, we can see a mass of opinions from both sides, and really all over, that come together to explain a single game, story, or event.
Regardless of weather the messages actually appeared on the scoreboard or not (I'm sure that they were filtered so only true DBacks fans got their tweet shown), this social media campaign helped to spread a story of a game to millions, and it encompasses what baseball truly is: a narrative.
Here are a few of the funnier tweets for your entertainment:
FanSince09 @FanSince09
Attn fan in section 132 row 5 seat 18: You look kind of Mexican. Prepare to show your papers. #GoDbacks
Mike Meech @meechone
I'm only 19 will someone buy me a beer? Meet me at the beer stand in section 104. #GoDbacks
Ramzy Nasrallah @ramzyn
Craig James killed five hookers at SMU. #GoDBacks
