People talking about Grand Rapids

[Veloise]

The Pillow Fight was given 30 seconds of the newscast airtime on the local FOX affiliate here in Fort Lauderdale, the anchor stating "...the event bringing good business to the downtown area".

What business would that be? I did not see all kinds of take-out cups in the hands of the participants.

The organizer invited "everyone" to Friday's afterwards. Unless they set up tables in the parking lot...

[jbr12]

Anyone get any pictures of the Pillow Fight?

[Veloise]

Anyone get any pictures of the Pillow Fight?

YouTube has several videos, including mine (the longest). Milive put theirs up as well. Saw GRNow on the scene, didn't see Tony.

[GRDadof3]

Anyone get any pictures of the Pillow Fight?

Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=pil...0N00&m=pool

[Veloise]

I want to be there but not sure there will be space for me; my class ends at 9:15.

Tony, just go.

They don't require tickets; there's a slip to fill out, which they keep (head count). There will be room.

Had a discussion on Saturday about my teenage nieces wanting to stay home and play video games rather than go help make history. I doubt they'd have crossed the street to wait in line in DVP January 2007, let alone wait several hours.

[gvsusean]

I was at the pillow fight.. I was the leader of the white team... a pirate if anyone saw me...

[CK1]

CNN.com has the pillowfight as one of their highlight videos on their main page...have to be quite a few hits on that one!

[Allison Slater]

Watched the crowd and listened to Obama from across the street, couldn't see him though.

[MuskeMI]

The latest issue of GRMag has a small 2-page article about Grand Rapids-centric websites (grnow, etc.) and UP-GR gets a shout-out!

[plee30]

Last weekend started out great. I attended an event at the old Grand Rapids Art Museum, Activesite. The entire time I kept thinking "this is one of the greatest events I've been to in Grand Rapids." It just felt like being at an event in NYC or Chicago, and it's just a matter of time before it makes the national scene. Despite this event being on the same weekend the city falls in love with Pulaski Days, it appeared hugely successful.

The very next day my wife and I are showing her nephew around Grand Rapids. He's a freshman at Grand Valley and has never been to Grand Rapids (he's from Cheboygan). We did the Polish hall circuit, fish ladder, Heritage Hill, etc., and by chance stumbled upon the Fireball Run event.

I'm a little embarassed and borderline peeved there wasn't much attention given to this national event, especially given its altruistic nature. Raising awareness of missing children across the country.

I recall a few articles in MLive earlier this year (May) about this event and its significance in choosing Grand Rapids as the final stop:

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/05/fire...ontinental.html

6 months later there's one article about its stop in Grand Rapids, but that's hardly time to register on the event radar for most people...and it showed with the embarassingly small crowds downtown. As slow as downtown was for the 4th of July Money Mayweather event, this was slower.

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/sports/index...._through_g.html

Yes, it's cool Grand Rapids can get some national exposure with a downtown pillow fight, but how does something with national exposure and a fair amount of media attention barely register on our own radars?

Edited October 7, 2008 by plee30

[suydam]

The latest issue of GRMag has a small 2-page article about Grand Rapids-centric websites (grnow, etc.) and UP-GR gets a shout-out!

GR Mag doesn't count as national exposure.

I'm just sayin....

[radicaljoy]

CNN.com has the pillowfight as one of their highlight videos on their main page...have to be quite a few hits on that one!

Word is that the next Rob Bliss event (Zombie Walk), will be filmed by an outfit out of LA, True Entertainment. The note (got this via Facebook) says "after talks they want to film the Zombie Walk for a

Edited October 8, 2008 by radicaljoy

[Veloise]

Word is that the next Rob Bliss event (Zombie Walk), will be filmed by an outfit out of LA, True Entertainment. The note (got this via Facebook) says "after talks they want to film the Zombie Walk for a

[radicaljoy]

Zombie Walk???

Does this mean everyone will practice the choreography (!!) from "Thriller"?

or better yet, a Bollywood version of "Thriller"

The FB page says:

Zombie Walk: A Massive mob of people dressed as Zombies walking together as a massive horde in downtown Grand Rapids on October 30th at 9PM starting at Rosa Parks Circle in grand celebration of Halloween. "Zombie" Outfits are as basic as you want, white t shirts with some ketchup = perfect.

The organizer is hoping to break a world record of 1098 set in Pittsburgh, where they'll be trying to break that record again.

[Veloise]

TP'ing teen shot by homeowner

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ss...e_shooting.html

[OneSweetWorld]

I think this annual event is typically overlooked as national exposure by many here at UP-GR, but the Pistons are playing the San Antonio Spurs tonight at the Van Andel Arena. The coach of the Spurs told George Blaha (Pistons play-by-play analyst) he had never been to Grand Rapids and said it is nice (was he going to say it sucks?). But it makes me think of all the players, coaches, and media that may be staying in Grand Rapids for the first time. With the new hotels, restaurants, and residents downtown, I hope they leave with a good impression of our city.

Game is on FSN right now.

[fotoman311]

I think this annual event is typically overlooked as national exposure by many here at UP-GR, but the Pistons are playing the San Antonio Spurs tonight at the Van Andel Arena. The coach of the Spurs told George Blaha (Pistons play-by-play analyst) he had never been to Grand Rapids and said it is nice (was he going to say it sucks?). But it makes me think of all the players, coaches, and media that may be staying in Grand Rapids for the first time. With the new hotels, restaurants, and residents downtown, I hope they leave with a good impression of our city.

Game is on FSN right now.

I went to the game. The Pistons lost by 20+ points. But, it wasn't even near sold out. My friend said that it had been sold out the previous two years that he'd been to the game. Perhaps people knew the Pistons were going to be spanked? Or perhaps they just thought the tickets were too expensive. We were in the upper deck and the tickets were $29...for a game where you're lucky if the starters are in for two quarters, and you can certainly tell the players aren't giving it their all at times.

[droonus2000]

David Mayo has a column in the press today about Grand Rapids being ranked the 291st best sports city by the Sporting News. we rank behind cities with little or nothing to offer.

[MJLO]

It's kind of insulting if you think about it, but alot of those cities who have almost nothing to offer are probabally right next door to places like Boston and Phoenix who have events in every major catagory. For GR u gotta drive a couple hours to get to the big stuff. If they would have went by metro area, Grand Rapids would have a much favorable rating. But when you have places like Mesa Az which is the worlds largest suburb. It gets a better ranking by default being a stones throw from world class venues. Suburbs shouldn't count!

[Rhino6885]

Without insulting the Rampage, Griffins, or Whitecaps, I'm going to argue that our minor league/semi-pro teams don't count a whole heck of a lot towards the sports culture of a city (or at least Grand Rapids). Every recent game (of any WM "minor-league" team) that I've gone to lacked enthusiasm by the fans. These weren't bad teams either. I think that it's just hard to get into a game where there is no Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, etc. at the end of the year. Sure, they're great for entertainment, but they are not ideal organizations for an entire city/region to rally behind. Putting professional sports teams aside due to likelihood, I think the only other way for our region to achieve a better sports culture is through GVSU. Even if D1 isn't in the cards right now, I think it's easier for people to get behind college teams than semi-pro/minor league teams. Not sure why exactly, but that seems to be how it is amongst people I have discussed this with.

[tamias6]

Without insulting the Rampage, Griffins, or Whitecaps, I'm going to argue that our minor league/semi-pro teams don't count a whole heck of a lot towards the sports culture of a city (or at least Grand Rapids). Every recent game (of any WM "minor-league" team) that I've gone to lacked enthusiasm by the fans. These weren't bad teams either. I think that it's just hard to get into a game where there is no Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, etc. at the end of the year. Sure, they're great for entertainment, but they are not ideal organizations for an entire city/region to rally behind. Putting professional sports teams aside due to likelihood, I think the only other way for our region to achieve a better sports culture is through GVSU. Even if D1 isn't in the cards right now, I think it's easier for people to get behind college teams than semi-pro/minor league teams. Not sure why exactly, but that seems to be how it is amongst people I have discussed this with.

If you want fan enthusiasm, you might want to attend a Griffins or Rampage game.

[fotoman311]

If you want fan enthusiasm, you might want to attend a Griffins or Rampage game.

I've been to 6 or 8 Griffins games over the past 3 odd years that I've lived here and I've never been impressed at all by the volume of the crowd. The games I went to last year were improved (perhaps it was the $1 beers?) as far as fan involvement, but still not very impressive. One game I went to that had a family promotion, by far the loudest moment of the night was when they played the Spongebob Squarepants theme song and there were a couple thousand+ kids yelling along with it as loud as they could.

Or perhaps you were suggesting that he create his own fan enthusiasm by going to the game and cheering? I'm not really sure.

This year I'm finally going to make sure I go to a Rampage game. I've been meaning to for a couple of years now.

[Rhino6885]

I've definitely tried cheering, but it's contagious and doesn't feel right when you're the only one (unless it's beer induced, in which case it doesn't really matter anymore). At a couple Griffins games last year that I attended, the ONLY cheers came during fights and after scores. Oh, and Spongebob, of course Even the cheers after scoring were not much at all. Contrast that to D1 college games and professional sports and you'll find cheering when the defense has the ball to affect the offense, obnoxious cheering during opponents' free throws, etc. Grand Rapids semi-pro teams seem to lack the 12th Man, and I believe that its due to the perceived importance/level of the competition. That's my take, but just an opinion of course from my observations during numerous GR sporting events.

[highwayguy]

There is an article about green initiatives in Grand Rapids in today's Detroit Free Press:

http://www.freep.com/article/20081019/NEWS...0390/1001/rss01

For the most part it's a decent article, but it has a few issues:

- More than once Grand Rapids is stereotyped as "conservative" and/or "churchy".

- The writer implies that everwhere on the southeast side of Grand Rapids is "gritty".

- The "hip Cherry Street neighborhood" is not north of downtown, it is east of downtown.

[Veloise]

There is an article about green initiatives in Grand Rapids in today's Detroit Free Press:

http://www.freep.com/article/20081019/NEWS...0390/1001/rss01

For the most part it's a decent article, but it has a few issues:

- More than once Grand Rapids is stereotyped as "conservative" and/or "churchy".

- The writer implies that everwhere on the southeast side of Grand Rapids is "gritty".

- The "hip Cherry Street neighborhood" is not north of downtown, it is east of downtown.

Note the article placement, too.

http://media.freep.com/documents/freep10192008/index.htm