Lakewood BlueClaws Praised for Small Repairs to Image of Jersey Shore

The Jersey Shore was a pretty offensive image all on its own, even before the TV show that’s so bad its almost cliche to make a joke about it and the Always Sunny episode that featured two homeless guys fucking each other under the boardwalk.

Therefore, any positive reinforcement the area receives is totally worthy of an award.  One would assume that award would be a limp sea gull, simultaneously choking to death on a six-pack ring but being kept alive by whatever is left in the syringe sticking out of its torso.

But fortunately, the award is a very normal-looking plaque.  And this year, that plaque went to our own Single-A affiliate Lakewood BlueClaws, for doing what they can to make the Jersey Shore a better place.

It is no coincidence that this is merely the second incarnation of the Rising Tide Award.  As previously stated, the area’s dire need of re-imaging has hit a fever pitch recently.  But the committee in charge of discovering the next recipient not only be doing things to help, they must also be newish to the region, so as to prove that not only is the Jersey Shore an all right spot to start a family, but an all right spot to relocate your already established family.

And by attracting upwards of 6,500 fans a game, the BlueClaws are proving once and for all that the Jersey Shore is a place to cautiously watch a baseball game, which is a far superior description than some TV shows provoke.  Why, they even appeared in the movie Bull Durham.  Of course that was long enough ago that its not quite relevant, and in the movie they were a different team, the Fayetteville Generals.

Regardless!  The BlueClaws are attempting to better one of the nation’s most notoriously puke-stained corners, and they’re doing it by playing some pretty quality baseball.  When people say our farm system isn’t comletely barren, the BlueClaws (and Clearwater Threshers) are who they’re talking about.

Some other businesses won awards too but none of them are a baseball team associated with the Philadelphia Phillies so they don’t really matter.