An online prank to write-in the Rick Astley song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ as a sing-along tune in Shea Stadium may be undone by the Mets.
The New York Mets wisely built an out into their online poll for fans to pick an 8th inning song. Cubs fans had Harry Caray leading the chorus of ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ for years, while the Orioles’ choice of ‘Thank God I’m A Country Boy’ is a lot more fun than you might imagine.
For the Mets, the poll’s suggested choices also included a write-in option. That was far too tempting for the legions of giggling pranksters at Fark, where someone suggested the poll needed a dose of Rickroll.
If you’ve ever clicked a link touted as one thing, only to have it pop up a video of Astley’s 80’s era hit song, you’ve been Rickrolled. It’s an Internet thing.
However, Omar Minaya didn’t work hard at bringing Johan Santana to Flushing just to have his star lefty, or the rest of the team, suffer through a Rickrolling at every home game. The New York Daily News said there will be a runoff of all the songs during the first six games of a homestand.
Whichever of the selections receives the largest crowd response will be the 8th inning sing-along song. “Mets officials suggested the initial results didn’t necessarily force the runoff, saying the rules stipulated Internet voters would “help decide” the outcome,” the report said.
After last September’s epic collapse where the Mets dropped out of the playoff race, upper management ought to hope the fans never want to give them up. If the fans pick Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’ as the song, I may have to switch to rooting for the Yankees.
