I’m in an opinionated mood today so I will put this out there and ask for your thoughts/comments..
The Pork Race is getting stale. Even though Hambone won yesterday, we all know it’s fixed… and it’s losing its luster, its excitement and thrill. At least for me it is. We know what’s going to happen..
“HAMBONE IN THE LEAD!”
“OH DIGGITY!! YOU CHEATER!”
“Kris P. Bacon wins!”
“Insert advertising slogan here”
Yeah, I know 4 years is tough to keep up an act and those getups aren’t easy to run in… and to criticize without suggestions for improvement is in poor taste… so here are my suggestions. (Feel free to add your own in the comments)
1. Let them run. They jog now, paying more attention to where they are “supposed” to be and theatrics than they are about running. For example, take a look at the R-Phil’s Veggie Racers. They tear across the park with a competitive drive pushing and shoving the whole way. To them it is about winning, about bragging rights and holding up that vegetable’s good name.
2. Give it more of a story line than Hambone loses and Diggity cheats. Yes, I’ve got an angle on this one. You have to go back a ways or at least pay attention to the Boomerang Network late at night.
Remember the cartoon “Wacky Races”? Penelope Pitstop, Peter Perfect, the Ant Hill Mob, the Army Surplus Special… and who could forget Dastardly and his laughing dog, Muttley!
For those not old enough to remember, Penelope Pitstop drives along honestly and sincere hoping to win while the others fumble around trying to get their jalopies through the entire race. The bad guy of the show, “Dastardly”, comes up with clever but ill fated attempts to sabotage the other racers and always seems to come up short on the win. His dog Muttley always shakes off the self imposed disasters with a hushed laugh.
I love(d) this show! You can still watch it on Boomerang late at night and there are some clips on youtube so check them out.
This is my suggestion to help reinvigorate the Pork Races. Don’t allow a cheating Diggity to win while he cheats.. show the kids in attendance that cheaters don’t always win and have the cheating be the exact reason why Diggity doesn’t win. And let these folks run. The race used to have excitement and thrill.. the promo video is cute, but it really builds up to, well… not much.
That’s my opinion and does not reflect the opinion of all. I encourage you to leave your own in the comments, below.
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Nothing will change in the Pork Race until the person that “controls” it, changes. I do agree the Pork Race has gotten stale.
Give fans are true reason to cheer for the winner !
Indeed. They have a sponsor (a car-dealer conglom, currently), and the sponsor can come up with a prize just like in the other games.
ehh, I still like the pork race. But, since I take the credit/blame for some of the evil diggity thing (or at least I like to think I do) then let me add some stuff. Remember, the pork race is different enough for the people who only go to 9 or less games per year. Once you’re in the 250 range, well… 😉
1. Guest racers: any guest mascot or sponsor mascot or other disguised persons (not including real or fake strippers!) should join the race in some way. They should not win.
2. This can include “super ferrous” who puts on a cape and exacts revenge on diggity for any real or imagined transgressions past or present. As you say, cheating doesn’t pay.
3. For goodness sakes film some alternate intros. At night. Please. It would allow them to set up the nightly story line too. Four interns and a Flip HD cam should be able to accomplish this.
4. Join the race. That’s right. You want a real race, you get some guys from the stands to wear the costumes. All you have to do is make a donation of $175 to IronPigs charities and sign a waiver and promise not to try to steal second base. Hang out in the Biergarten to find potential candidates…
5. Get the players involved in some way: we’ve seen disguised racers in the past, but as a security force or in the story line or something would spice it up if they were willing to pitch in (PS: I just heard a rumor that there’s a player-autograph boycott among the IronPigs players. Any truth to this? If so, I doubt that they’ll be playing with the pork racers for our benefit.)
6. Integration with the theme night. This is done somewhat already, but say tonight is dog night: dogs need to appear in the race. Somehow. Just sayin.
Regarding the Pork Racers, I don’t necessarily think they are stale. Sure to longtime fans who attend many games (congratulations btw on reaching the 250+ milestone) it is routine. But there are still many fans experiencing the Pork Racers for the first time. I look at the Pork Racers more like a running (pardon the pun) shtick. Remember the Peanuts comic, again and again Charlie Brown would attempt to kick the football while Lucy held it in place. We all knew Lucy would pull it away at the last moment causing Charlie Brown to fall flat on his back. The Pork Racers are kind of similar; we all know Hambone will lose even if he starts out ahead. The difference between Hambone and Charlie Brown is that every so often he prevails. I think the fun of the Pork Racers is wondering if on a given night Hambone will indeed be successful. It’s a rare occurrence, but when it happens the crowd roars with delight.
As far as it being “rigged” since it does not claim to be legitimate athletic competition, I would have to say that statement is false. A better description would be staged or scripted since the Pork Race is purely entertainment.
Many things in sporting events are repeated for years. The Phillie Phanatic has been doing basically the same thing over and over again since 1978, but as long as the fans cheer for him he will continue to keep doing his thing. Same for the Pork Racers, when the cheers die down they will likely be retired or change their act.