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So, as you may or may not have noticed, two things have happened Leafs related on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are many ways you could’ve noticed this fact. For one, you’d see that I was completely invisible on here for more than 24 hours, leading to pandemonium a slight drop in traffic. Secondarily, you’d see that twitter was full of tweets hashtagged #cokezerofansfirst. Or finally, you were in Downtown Toronto on Wednesday and noticed a bunch of people in blue and white running down Yonge Street chasing a pickup truck, with a guy in green behind trying to keep up, clutching onto a handful of wigs.

Yes, this could only mean one thing, that the Coca-Cola Zero Fans First Game is back this year, and that they were ready to go all out yet again to kickoff the contest extravaganza that will ensue until August 31st. To start everything up was a very hush event on Tuesday, where Coke and the Leafs surprised a group of guys who play shinny at the Mastercard Centre for Hockey Excellence on a weekly basis by having Mike Komisarek, Kris Versteeg, and Colby Armstrong practice with them. Plenty of coke to go aorund, and an exciting experience for the players who were there. The second day was the opposite of hush, with the Leafs Mobile Fan Zone hitting up seven locations in the downtown (downtownish for one of them) area, giving fans an opportunity to win a pair at every location. With a bit of luck with the first one, and determination with the second, I managed to get myself quite involved in both events. So, if you have nothing better to do (this article’s going to be a long one), keep reading for my thoughts on both.

Day 1 – The Shinny Surprise

What Was Awesome About It – The Main Event Perspective

Personally, I think that creative attempts like this to both introduce the new players to the kind of thing they should come to expect out of this city, and for Coca-Cola to get their positive marketing in are incredibly smart. For one, you could tell that the guys that they surprised were legitimately grateful for the entire thing and enjoyed it immensely. Anything that can be positive from everybody’s perspective is generally a win at all costs.

What Was Awesome About It – The Social Media Perspective

I generally don’t like blabbering about social media, cause I think the entire concept gets exaggerated by some people, but I’ll put in an exception for this one. Not just sticking to the traditional people and grabbing others off of the internet was a very smart idea by the Leafs and Coke, not only because it could be considered the media equivalent of the on ice stuff, but also because the best way to try to get something viral is to get people who have the ability to spread it get directly involved.

With that aside, let me put my own spin on this.

How Did I End Up Being A Part Of This?

Really, it was one of the flukiest things that has happened to me in a long time, and that may happen for a while. In the middle of Tuesday afternoon, I get a direct message on twitter from @Nock4Six saying something on the lines of “Well, we both follow each other, but I’m not sure you actually know me. Anyway, are you going to something secret thats Leafs related tonight?” Naturally, I have no clue what she’s talking about. As I press further, I find out there’s something that I can’t exactly be told what going on at the Mastercard Centre for Hockey Excellence, that I have to be there at 8:15, and that I can’t bring somebody else (was going to bring @Diabloshadow along), and that she’s not going because she’s sick and I’m taking her place if I want. At first, you sink it in, and it seems sketchy – someone you don’t know saying to go somewhere at a certain time alone, but wont say why. Then I could out that @clickflickca was involved in the planning of all of this, someone who I actually did know, and it made more sense. Sure enough, after dropping into my uncle’s 30th birthday party (that thankfully was brief due to everybody having to be somewhere, including him), I made a beeline for the Mastercard Centre and got there with minutes to spare.

This Facility Is Amazing

Once getting there, I took a few minutes to walk around and check out the facility. Not because I had time, but rather because I had no idea where I was supposed to go so I did the old ‘go everywhere until you find the right place’ tactic. And as expected, what everyone had said about this building was true – that they really did go all out and that it was absolutely amazing and years ahead of its time for an NHL+AHL+General Public facility. Every arena is top notch every section of the building looks flawless, and everything about it just screamed future-proof. A massive kudos to all involved. (As you can tell, it was my first time being there). As proof of me having absolutely no idea what was going on that day other than it being Leafs related, I walked in with a Dr. Pepper in my hands. Needless to say, they weren’t amused and I had to finish it rather quickly.

Spectating The Hysteria

I had already known going in that I wasn’t going to be particularly involved too much in terms of doing interviews and such – a combination of me being rather shy with people I don’t know, and the whole spontaneity of it all. Typically terrible mix. Thankfully, when I showed up, I there were people I actually knew there (@chansler, @KungPowLau, @Steve_Dangle, and @BlogeSalming. @LeafspaceMonika was there too, but this was to be expected considering that LeafsTV would probably want some involvement in something like this), meaning I wouldn’t just be the guy in the corner completely out of place, rather the guy shadowing people in an effort to look only slightly out of place (mostly shadowing Steve, because his using-a-laptop-as-a-camera recording technique made me look me stick out as odd slightly less). For the most part, I sat back, listened to people interviewing the players rather than doing the actual stuff, and recorded/took pictures of completely random stuff. I’ve definitely learned that this isn’t as overwhelming of an experience as I thought it would be, and I have no doubt that if I get another chance to do something like this, I’ll be more prepared and a bit less nervous to actually ask something.

“You think I’M the one out of place? This guy’s using his feaking macbook to record the media scrum”

Challenge 1 – Photobombing

Of course, I’m not one to be very serious 100% of the time. We were asked to take a group photo with all of the social media peole, and that’s when I decided that for the next few days, if I’m asked to pose in a group photo, I’m going to make a mockery of myself with the same ridiculous pose. Here was my attempt for that night.

Huge success. After that, everything was basically done, but time was spent acting silly, then heading home, with me getting in around 1:30 AM, and falling asleep at around 5 (going to bed before that, just couldn’t fall asleep).

Day 2 – Wigstock 2010

Wednesday was the first day of actual ticket giveaways for the Fans First Game, wherein people would be following the Toronto Maple Leafs Mobile Fan Zone to seven different locations in hopes of winning tickets, and other prizes. By other prizes, they meant the “at least you tried” offerings of wigs and flags, with the exception of Yonge and Eglinton (and maybe Maple Leaf Square), where a few 09/10 Leafs Home jerseys were given away. How exactly did you win them? Well, with the exception, yet again, Yonge and Eglinton and possibly Maple Leaf Square, that had a game or two that you could earn tickets with, there was a large Plinko-esque board to drop a puck into and hope that it landed your way.  That said, here’s my experience with the seven stops.

Stop 1 – CP24

Late Nights And Alarm Clocks – Of course, as mentioned above, I fell asleep at 5, and the plan was to take a mere nap, waking up at 6 and heading downtown for the events of the day. Of course, when you’re thinking of a million things at once, things like actually switching the alarm setting to on don’t occur in your head, and you fall asleep without an alarm. Thankfully, the building I’m in gets massive gusts of wind when it gets windy, mostly due to being on the 18th floor. As a result, a very loud bang woke me up just before 8 o’clock. Still too late to get downtown for the first event, but early enough to make it for the second one.

Tickets for All – Pretty much anybody that stuck around for the whole of that event managed to get themselves a pair of tickets, whether you won the minigame or not. I assume, considering it was 7:30 in the morning, that nobody really cared to go, so giving them away was logical.

On Versteeg – The big catch of this location was that Kris Versteeg was going to be there signing stuff, after doing his bit at CP24, which I assume would be speciifically for Breakfast Television, but I’m not certain. The one noticible thing about him being here, was that a lot of people who went had their stuff signed with the jersey number 32 added to the signature, possibly meaning that Kris is going to stick with his number from Chicago. Or, that this is the biggest troll job in the history of Toronto Autographing. We’ll see. Also of note, Versteeg would do an interview with the FAN 590 shortly after he was done here.

Stop 2 – Queen Street West

Relatively Quiet – From my experience, this was by far the lowest crowd that I had seen for any of the stops. Probably because the last one wasn’t entirely far away, and it was still 9:30 in the morning on a Wednesday. Regardless, there was still a relatively fair amount of people that showed up, and it signaled my first attempt to win tickets. The plinko board was, however, not in my favour, giving me a wig. No big deal I thought, I won’t be getting another one of these again today.

Silliest Part Of The Day – Hopping onto a streetcar on the way there because I saw @Sens_Suck in the distance and for some reason wanted to beat him there. Its a good thing I had a day pass, or you could argue that I have severe priority issues and I would agree. Actually, you could probably do that now.

Dear New Era – A side note from everything that only comes up due to the Flagship Store’s proximity to the location. For some reason, I REALLY want to get a Buffalo Sabres cap. And New Era used to have some really nice NHL hats. For some reason, they’ve slowly phased that back into having very basic, standard designs. Like, so basic that they only had the Slug logo for the Sabres, and maybe one or two Leafs designs. Hat World at Yonge and Dundas wasn’t much better. Step up your game, New Era! The current line is bland.

Challenge 2 – Videobombing - On the realization that LeafsTV was going to shoot enough footage during the day to release a feature length film (then cut it into a pair of 3 minute vids for NHL.tv), and the realization that I had unintentionally stood behind a shot here, I made it my mission to get in the background of every single record that I had noticed. This was stop one, of that challenge.

Speaking of Challenges, Photobombing hit part 2 at this stop. Another huge success.

Stop 3 – Yonge And Eglinton

I Think Everybody Woke Up – By the time I got to Yonge and Eglinton, which was about half an hour early, it was already starting to be filled up with people waiting. And I’m talking in the hundreds of people. By the time Colby Armstrong had shown up and the Mobile Fan Zone was ready to open, it was an absolute mess of people. At that point, @Diabloshadow (who will now be referred to as Oz, seeing as this is the second time I’ve mentioned his twitter name and he’s around for the next six hours), shows up from his dentists appointment, ready to win some tickets. Luck, however, continued not be on our side, with him being chosen to play this suit up in equipment speed game, coming in second place and winning a wig, then both of us playing the plinko after waiting an hour and a half in line and…winning two wigs. Yay. @Leaferbyblood, who showed up to this location and this one only, had much better luck, winning one of their equipment speed games for a pair of tickets, followed by a jersey from a trivia game that randomly occured, and finally followed by a cheap pair of sunglasses from the plinko game. After two stops, Oz and I had combined for 4 wigs. Could be worse, right?

Colby And Why I’m Liking This Whole Players On The Web Thing – One thing I noticed, is that Armstrong was definitely more than happy to be a part of all of this. There was a definite legitimate enthusiasm that he had as people came through the fan zone, snapping pics and getting autographs. Heck, he even talked about it on AM640, how awesome seeing such activity from fans was. He also plugged his twitter (@armdog), as he currently has a follower challenge with Mike Komisarek (@mkomisarek). By the way – I legitmately think the entire concept of both of them being on the web, actually, any athlete or well known person who does it, is fantastic. It gives fans the opportunity to interact with them, even if they can’t go to events that would give them such a chance for whatever reason. For those not concerned about that, it gives them an ability to see a human side to a player, and not just something they see on the ice. There’s a certain sense of “hey, they’re a person too” that kicks in for many. Conversely, it gives the players the ability to see what their fans are about.  Plus, we all know that these guys use computers anyway. Case in point, Armstrong told @Sens_Suck as he went through the booth that he recognizes him from the infamous “Playoff March Is Dead” video he released. The fact that that human element is there is great to see, is basically what I’m getting at, and I hope more players continue to join throughout the league.

Challenge 2 Dies - As fun as getting into the back of every shot was, the LeafsTV cameraman eventually came up to me and said something along the lines that I was acting like an imbecile and to stop walking by the camera. The two videos on the Leafs site got plenty of me though, so I obviously did something right over the next few stops to coincidentally get into future shots.

I shall videobomb your very soul, Mr. Cameraman

Stop 4 – Danforth And Pape

This Route Is Terrible – My only real complaint about the entire day that has nothing to do with luck of the draw, is the fact that whoever planned the route was clearly out of their mind. Starting downtown on queen, then moving everyone up to Eglinton? To make it even odder, having people go Southeast to Danforth and Pape afterwards, all to bring them back downtown? It was just spotty.

A Brief Bit On Fake Jerseys – There was one guy who kept coming to every location, wearing a jersey that stood out. Not so much because it was unique, but because it was rather obviously counterfeit. And to top it off, he got Versteeg and Armstrong to sign it. I mean, its bad enough that your jersey looks incredibly fake. Its another to get it signed and wear it to stuff like this. Not to be a snob, but with the deals you can get on jerseys pretty much everywhere, I really don’t get why everyone keeps buying fakes that can be seen as such a block away.

Oh, And Our Results – The best thing we got out of this is that Oz found a good greek place to buy lunch. I got a wig. He got…a wig. Six wigs. And then somebody gave us one just because they knew we kept getting them. At this point, we started giving away our “stash” to random people. At least Gary Leeman was here, which was pretty cool. Moving back downtown.

Stop 5 – Yonge And Dundas

A Rested Oz is a Happy Oz

The Chase – When we first arrived at Yonge and Dundas, everyone assumed, for good reason, we were going to be in the Square. Then the Fan Zone truck drove by. Everyone kinda adjusted their location in the square slightly, but we all assumed that it was surely going to come back. Yeah, no dice. It parked a few blocks away, and once someone figured this out, a giant mob sprinted down Yonge Street to catch up to it. Not the smartest of ideas, but that’s what happened.

The Line – It was pretty damn long. The longest of the entire route other than possibly Maple Leaf Square, spanning about a block.

Results – At this point, the Coke people actually knew who we were, that we weren’t winning and appeared genuinely sorry for us and hopeful that we’d finally win. Sure enough… A wig, and YES! NOT A WIG! Wait, its a flag! *facepalm*

Oh, And Screw You And Your Luck – A group of four people continued their dominance here. At the five stops that we saw them, they got ten pairs of tickets. If they went to the other two, who knows how many they got.

Stop 6 – Queens Quay

Location Question Marks – Queens Quay Terminal was literally about the worst way to describe it, because I know for a fact that we weren’t the only people who got lost by getting off at Queens Quay – Ferry Docks streetcar station with the assumption. Thankfully, we found out later to go to go to Queens Quay and York St, but it wasn’t exactly obvious to start.

The Rain – And to thank us for finding our way to the spot, we get greeted with a storm, and a late Fan Zone. And another chase of a similarly sized crowd. Faaantastic. At least some good came out of it – an enjoyable conversation was had by a bunch of us regarding the offseason, plus I found out that more people read this site than I think most of the time, with quite a few people recognized the name when I mentioned it.

No More Wigs – You know your luck is bad when not only do you have the previous locations hopeful Coke employees on your side, but a No More Wigs chant starts. A minute or two later, we go and take another run at this. Oz gets a wig. I get…..

…the Tickets. Finally. Everyone other than us is ecstatic, we’re just relieved we didn’t go 0 for 10. (The odds were 33% at stops 1-5, then 50% 6 and 7).

Oh, and Bob McGill was there too. Had an urge to pull out his “Wade Gretzky” line from the infamous Sportsnet skit, but avoided it.

Stop 7 – Maple Leaf Square

Credit to @chansler for this pic, since I wasn’t there. Say, isn’t that the camera man in the back? *glare*

We Get There And – Nobody else has shown up, Leaf wise. Just people waiting in line for a concert that was going on that night. We check out RealSports for a few minutes, but then Oz’s mom calls him and gets angry at him, so he has to depart. My battery is running low on my phone, and I can barely walk, so I decide its probably a good idea to head back up with him. Maple Leaf Square is left for others to tackle. (If anyone went to the Square stop, give me some info and I’ll put it here).

I Return Home And… – I’m basically dead. The two days were awesome.

Videos

Here’s some stuff from Tuesday. Its mostly me pointing the camera at Steve’s ridiculous looking Macbook recording scheme, but theres a bit of it involving me in the final few minutes. And a TTC prototype bus.

I’ll update this soon with a video from Wednesday.

Conclusion

The First Event Was Absolutely Genius – The mixture of the actual concept of having the players practice with the shinny group, the way they tied internet people into the media thing, the fact they managed to keep it under wraps, the fact that the coke branding, while obviously there, wasn’t obnoxious, was all brilliant. Anyone who took part at any level no doubt came out enjoying it, and it’s probably the best sponsorship tie-in concept the Leafs have ever come up with.

The Second Event, While Against My Luck, Was Better Than I Expected - While Yonge and Eglinton and Yonge and Dundas were both total messes in terms of crowds, and the location schedule was a bit suspect, it was definitely a better organized event than I thought, with a bunch better, more excited showing of people than one would think for a hockey team in the middle of July, particularly after the season they had. But, that’s Toronto for you.

It May Be A While Before I Have Another Coke Zero – I must’ve had 10 bottles on Wednesday, combined with a few on Tuesday. I’m Zero’d out. Anyone wanna give me some normal Coke or some Sprite? I’ll drink those.

And This Game Is Going To Be Awesome – I can’t wait to go to the game on September 21st. Not only were the tickets free, but we’re facing the Senators? Here’s hoping for something like the 5-0 win last season.

Do You Want In On This?

How You Can Win – Keep following the #CokeZeroFansFirst hashtag on twitter, there have been a bunch of places popping up with giveaways. On top of this, there’s a bunch of other stuff on MapleLeafs.com, ranging from online components to retail store things you can do too. There are still over 15,000 tickets combined to give away, so all hope is not lost.

We’re Trying To Get You Guys Some Too – Unfortunately, we’re not one of those bunch of places (if anyone from Coke or the Leafs is reading this and wants to give us some, my email is jeff@leafshq.com, haha) that are giving them away, but we’re entering every contest we can find. I want to win a pair for my Brother and Dad, but after that, I’m giving away every single pair that I get, if I get more, on here. In fact, that’s why I planned on going to so many locations Wednesday – I just didn’t expect that we’d finish the day winning 8 wigs, 1 flag, and a mere single pair of tickets.

If anyone read to the bottom of this, kudos. We’ll try to get you some ways to win soon.

While I have absolutely no qualms with being a corporate shill, this article is not being written as a requested love-fest for Coke. In fact, if you don’t believe me, I’ll finish this entire article off by saying that while still a decent pop, and much better than its Pepsi equivalent, Coca-Cola Zero is the weakest of their product line by a solid margin. So there. However, I do have a bias towards them, with me favouring the Coke product to the competition in every single matchup except for Sprite vs 7up, which I find equal and dependent on the mood of your taste buds.