Girlfriend Throws Curve Ball By Saying NO To Ballpark Proposal [Archive]

Teh One Who Knocks

08-07-2013, 05:38 PM

By DAVID OWENS - The Hartford Courant

NEW BRITAIN — A YouTube video of a failed marriage proposal at a New Britain Rock Cats minor league baseball game that went viral and was the subject of days of water cooler speculation was a marketing ploy, the minor league baseball team admitted this week.

The video of a young man proposing to a woman in front of the home dugout, and covered breathlessly by the ballpark's master of ceremonies, was shot at a game last week.

The man drops to a knee, asks the woman to marry him, she says no and runs off. The seemingly broken-hearted suitor then runs off too.

The team said the video, titled "Girl Says No to Marriage Proposal at Rock Cats Baseball Game" has been viewed nearly 600,000 times on YouTube and has been covered by network TV news, ESPN, and others.

The team's promotions department said it dreamt up the phony proposal to entertain fans, and hoped it would also garner wide attention online.

"After watching a public proposal, we talked about what would happen if the answer were NO, and how that might affect a crowd, and those viewing it after on video," Mike Abramson, Vice President of Marketing for the team, said in a statement posted on the team's website. "We worked with two of our employees on the skit and executed a digital strategy to set the video on a viral path; we could not be more pleased with the outcome".

"If anyone was offended by the promotion in any way we sincerely apologize; this endeavor was intended to entertain and remind fans you never know what you're going to see at a Rock Cats game," he said.