When Baseball and Donuts Collide With Bicycles and Promotions

For a solid decade, the Tampa Bay Rays -- or Devil Rays as they were known before this baseball season -- were consistent losers. In fact, the Rays were the best in the majors at losing. Nine out of ten seasons were last-place finishes and the non-last place finish was a second-to-last-place finish where the manager at the time, Lou Piniella, actually popped champagne bottles.

Not only were the Rays the laughingstock of Major League Baseball for 10 seasons, they did their losing in a rather anonymous mode. Outside of west-central Florida, I'm not sure anyone even knew about the Rays. So not only were they losers, they were inconsequential losers. They functioned as the Washington Generals for the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees to beat up on year after year after year. They played in a sterile domed stadium and the rows of empty seats at Tropicana Field during TV broadcasts were downright embarrassing.

Man, did the Rays stink for a long, long time.

Then 2008 came along and the Rays have enjoyed a turn-around season for the ages. It's historic really. Miracles really do happen. As of today, the Rays have an incredible 79-50 record, 4 1/2 games ahead of the defending World Series champs Red Sox in the American League's Eastern Division. Yes, the Rays have the best record in the American League and the world has spun off its axis. Every game seems like a topsy-turvy soap opera of plays, with the Rays enjoying a happy ending to most ballgames this season.

One of the truly tremendous windfalls of the Rays' miracle season is free donuts -- and lots of them courtesy of Dunkin Donuts.

You see, the Rays and Dunkin Donuts have a tasty promotion deal that allows anyone to walk into any Dunkin Donuts store in the metro Tampa Bay market and get a free donut the day after a Rays victory.

That deal did not go unnoticed to one certain bicyclist -- me.

During daily morning rides, I noticed there was a Dunkin Donut store or two or three along the way. So, they provided a handy pit stop for a energy jolt on the days after Rays wins.

Back in June when the Rays' wins were perceived as more of a novelty than those of a bonafide contender, I went out on the bicycle limb and declared on my bicycle blog at www.alansnel.blogspot.com that if the Rays clinch a playoff berth this season, I would ride 100 miles the next day after the playoff-clinching game and fashion a route that would include as many Dunkin Donut stores along the way.

I also released a batting order of my favorite 9 donuts. Naturally, I put Double Chocolate in the third hole of my line-up, if ya know what I mean.

Well, my Tampa pal Jeff Houck, the local newspaper's food writer and region's superb blogger, wrote about my Dunkin Donuts Tour and it caught the attention of the company's public relations guru -- Toby Srebnik of Tilson Public Relations in Boca Raton. Toby got such a kick out of my 100-mile bicycle pledge to cram in as many Dunkin Donut visits as possible during the century ride and my donut batting order that he contacted me about putting out a press release about the bike ride this summer.

In addition, because I also am the organizer of a big Tampa Bay bicycle festival called the Bicycle Bash by the Bay, I also talked to Toby about Dunkin Donuts serving as a vendor at that event on Oct. 19 in St. Petersburg -- home of the Tampa Bay Rays. This is what synergy is all about. Bicycling, baseball and free donuts coming together in a stomach full of harmonic convergence.

At the time, my food-writing pal Jeff at the Tampa Tribune wrote a hilarious post about the Dunkin bike ride for his Stew blog: http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/life/comments/donuts-and-cycling-and-baseball-oh-my-the-very-small-world-we-live-in

So today was just the right moment to let the public in on our off-beat promotion, and Toby officially sent out the Dunkin Donuts press release about my 100-mile bike ride, which will be pedaled rain or shine the day after the Rays clinch a playoff berth (did I really write Rays and playoff berth in the same sentence?).

There will be 13 Dunkin Donut store stops along the way in the event the Rays clinch a spot in the playoffs -- and the bike route will end at Tropicana Field.

Nobody knows when exactly the bike ride will happen -- but I'm looking forward to a tasty day in September when I can pedal 100 miles fueled by a few bavarian creme and blueberry cake donuts.