[外電] 季後賽開打了，問題出現了--紅毛巾夠用嗎

看板MLB作者pneumo (超☆冒險蓋)時間6年前 (2017/10/05 11:04)推噓28(28推 0噓 10→)

留言38則, 31人參與討論串1/2 (看更多)

來源：The New York Times 網址：http://tinyurl.com/ya4zqalm As Baseball Playoffs Begin, a Question Looms: Are There Enough Red Towels? 季後賽開打了，問題出現了--紅毛巾夠用嗎？ WOODINVILLE, Wash. — In early September, when the Washington Nationals were soaring, the Arizona Diamondbacks were streaking and the Cleveland Indians never lost, Kerrie Ingham started getting nervous. She walked into a second-floor office here at the headquarters of Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, the sports merchandising agency in charge of promotions for the Major League Baseball playoffs, and, in her words, freaked out. 九月上旬，當國民的戰績狂飆，響尾蛇連勝不止，笑臉人不知輸球為何物的時候，Kerrie Ingham開始緊張了。她走進BDA二樓總部(BDA是負責行銷MLB季後運動商品的公司)，按照她的說法，「我崩潰了！」 “Oh my god, they keep winning,” said Ingham, BDA’s senior director of activation. “We need to get more red towels.” 「我的老天鵝啊！他們一直贏~~」BDA的資深活動主管Ingham說。「我們需要更多的紅毛巾！」 She was not worried about the early stages of the playoffs, which began Tuesday night with the American League wild-card game at Yankee Stadium, but later rounds seemed unnerving. Anticipating deep runs by Washington and Cleveland, both division champions, Ingham placed another order. 她並不擔心前面部分的季後賽，首先是由AL的外卡戰拉開星期二開打的季後賽序幕，她擔心的是後面的季後賽賽程。一般預期國民跟笑臉人兩支分區冠軍會打到後面，所以Ingham 又下單了。 Now there should be plenty of red towels: 1.3 million. 現在她應該有足夠的紅毛巾了：130萬條。 That staggering quantity applies to only one color. For the last eight months, Ingham and her colleagues have been preparing for this hectic juncture of the sporting calendar. They have revisited strategies, monitored standings, adjusted projections and coordinated logistics to ensure that frothing fans will have enough towels to twirl in red — or royal blue, orange, navy, gray, purple, gold or black — upon entering the stadium for each game. 那個驚人的數量就只有一種顏色！過去八個月來，Ingham跟同事們就為了這個時刻做準備。他們不停的修正策略，觀察戰績排名，調整預測量跟協調物流，確保每個進場的球迷可以有足夠的紅毛巾可以揮舞--或者藍色，橘色，灰色，紫色，金色或黑色。 Standing in that same office last week, Ingham seemed far more placid than she was last month. 比起一個月前，在同樣的辦公室，上週的Ingham比較平靜了些。 A computer screen showed the latest standings and playoff seedings, and she yelped in excitement when Jason Fleming, a national account manager, walked in carrying updated brackets. Most of the playoff teams had been determined, diminishing the potential for late order-placing mayhem, though BDA was still communicating multiple times a day with the Minnesota Twins, who did not clinch a wild card until Wednesday, and with outsiders like the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers to establish contingency plans. 電腦螢幕上顯示著最新的排名跟季後賽隊伍，Ingham高興的大叫，而她的球隊經理拿著最新的報表進來給她。大部分季後賽隊伍名單已經確定，雖然BDA仍然一天電話數次與雙城聯絡，最後到星期三才確定外卡的席次；也要跟幾個有可能的隊伍聯絡，像是紅雀跟釀酒人，以確保意外發生而有應變的計畫。 To Ingham’s right, a whiteboard listed what the company has come to call a matrix. Updated frequently, it helps BDA determine how many towels, and in what color, must be provided — and from where those shipments will be coming. 在Ingham的右邊有個白板列著所有BDA要處理的事項，經常得要更新，因為那幫助BDA決定要多少毛巾，甚麼顏色，都會列在上面--甚至東西要從哪裡運等。 The blank 15-by-18-inch terry velour cloth towels sit in warehouses in Las Vegas, Chicago and South Carolina, until teams consent to have them decorated with the approved artwork and sponsor logos. Some teams, like Cleveland and Washington, authorized their designs as early as last week. By now, teams know not to put dates or timely slogans on towels, so they can be used in another season. 沒有印上任何圖案的毛巾，15x18英吋大，存放在拉斯維加斯，芝加哥，跟南卡的倉庫，等著球隊要讓BDA幫他們印上圖案，文字跟贊助商的名稱。一些球隊，像是笑臉人跟國民，在上一周就已經授權他們想要印的設計圖案給BDA。現在球隊都知道，不要在設計圖案裡面加上時間或是有時間內容的口號在毛巾上，這樣才能確保以後還可以用得上。 In a 10-team postseason, there are 45 possible matchups, and BDA must prepare for all of them. 十隊進入季後賽，45種可能的對戰組合，BDA都要準備好。 “You say, 50,000 of a thing must be printed and delivered to a stadium in a 48- or 72-hour period, most people would go, ‘Not possible,’” said Rob Martin, the chief operating officer at BDA. “But you figure out ways to make that work.” 「這樣說吧，有大概5萬份的東西得要在兩天或三天的時間印好，送到球場，大部分的人會說，『不可能~~』」BDA的營運長Rob Martin說。「但是我們就會想辦法做得到。」 One way, new for this postseason, is placing GPS units in every truck. That allows a shipment to be tracked down to the second it is delivered, but also deters any shenanigans from sinking BDA, and the team, as they nearly did in the 1992 N.B.A. finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trail Blazers. 今年他們在季後賽新採用了一個措施，就是在每台卡車上裝GPS。這樣確保每個貨櫃可以被追蹤，直到送到球場，另外也可以確保不會有想要惡搞BDA跟球團的行為發生；就像在 1992年NBA決賽公牛跟拓荒者的比賽差點就毀了。 Light-up buttons, the scheduled Game 4 promotion in Portland, were coming from a supplier in the Chicago area, but they mysteriously disappeared in the airport there before their scheduled flight to Oregon. Averting a crisis, Jay Deutsch, the agency’s co-founder, arranged for the speedy printing of 15,000 white rally towels with the Blazers’ logo and rented a Learjet to fly them up from California. They arrived a few hours before tipoff. 總決賽第四戰在波特蘭打，球團所要的貨品從芝加哥出發，但是卡車卻神奇地消失，沒有到達芝加哥機場，飛機準備要飛到奧勒岡。為了避免危機發生，BDA的共同創辦人Jay Deutsch下令快速重印1萬5000份有拓荒者球隊標誌的白毛巾，趕緊租了飛機從加州出發把貨品在開打前幾小時送達。 “We don’t miss,” Deutsch said. “We can’t miss.” 「我們不會錯過比賽時間，」Deutsch說。「我們也不可以錯過比賽時間。」 To that end, every truck — a 53-footer can hold up to 50,000 towels — has two drivers. They drive straight through, swapping the wheel after a certain number of hours, to shorten transit time. Twenty-four hours are allotted for delivery from the time of pickup, though trips never take that long. 每台卡車--53尺長，可以載5萬條毛巾--配備兩個司機，一路開到目的地，中間每隔一定時間換手，以減少運送時間。他們一般是預計24H內送到，雖然從未需要到那麼長的時間。 To ease tension in October, BDA starts planning in January, evaluating how it handled the previous postseason. After accommodating the Texas Rangers’ switch to red towels from blue — to avoid a potential clash with their opponent, the Toronto Blue Jays — the company now encourages teams to stick with one color for the entire playoffs. 為了避免10月份的緊張，BDA從一月份就開始規劃，先評估前一年季後賽他們處理是否得當。去年為了配合遊騎兵把藍毛巾換紅毛巾--避免跟他們的對手藍鳥撞色--現在BDA都建議球隊在季後就固定一個顏色。 As early as May, BDA checks the standings and starts projecting the inventory it must secure from Asia, where the towels are produced and dyed. That number is refined about three more times — in July, and twice in September. Even if there winds up being a surplus in a particular shade — as there was with orange last postseason when Baltimore, Houston and San Francisco reached the playoffs but did not advance to the championship series — those towels can be used in other leagues. 五月的時候，BDA就開始看戰績排名，開始預測可能需要的庫存，跟他們製造跟染色的亞洲供應商確保無虞。所需要的量會在7月的時候修正3次，9月會再修正兩次。即使最後可能會有一些特別的顏色可能會過剩--像是去年有一堆的橘色毛巾，那時金鶯，太空人跟巨人都打季後賽，但是都沒打到冠軍賽--那些多訂的毛巾還是可以在其他球類/球隊用的上。 On Aug. 31, BDA sent a memo outlining the postseason production schedule to contending teams — about 18 in all — to notify them of ordering deadlines for every potential game. The Royals at the time lingered four-and-a-half games behind the second wild-card spot, but there could be no excuses if they squeaked into the playoffs and rampaged to the World Series, as they did in 2014. 在8/31，BDA會把季後賽的生產日期寄給所有可能打季後賽的球隊--大概會有18隊--通知他們要對可能的對戰組合在期限前下訂。像皇家隊那時還落後第二外卡席次有4.5場差距，但是他們還是得要下訂，若是他們今年又像2014年擠進季後賽然後打進世界大賽的話。 That year, Kansas City fans waved white towels. Had their team qualified this season, they would have had fewer options. Major League Baseball no longer permits giveaway towels in the Royals’ standbys of white and powder blue, banning all pale colors so as not to impede players’ ability to track the ball. 那一年，皇家粉是揮舞著白色毛巾。若今年有打進季後的話，他們就沒有甚麼選擇可以選了。MLB下令禁止球場贈送給球迷的毛巾是白色或是藍色，因為那會影響球員接球時追蹤球的動向。 The decision to outlaw white did not surprise teams, but it had ramifications on their budgets. Instead of paying BDA less than a dollar for each white towel, they now spend about $1.30 per colored model. 禁止選用白色的禁令並不會讓球隊意外，但是卻對球團的預算產生影響。原本球團付給 BDA，若是白色的，一條不到1鎂，若是有顏色的毛巾，則要一條1.3鎂。 Catering to each team’s philosophies, and wishes, requires flexibility. Preserving tradition, the Yankees abstain from rally towels. Not to be outdone, the rival Red Sox will, too — for their division series against Houston, at least, a spokesman said. 配合每一個球隊的比賽哲學跟期待，BDA需要有一些彈性。為了保留傳統，洋基是沒有給毛巾的。為了不被超越，紅襪也沒有--至少在分區賽跟太空人打的時候，紅襪的發言人說。 But when the Astros host Boston for Game 1 on Thursday, Minute Maid Park will be roiling in orange, with 42,000 towels available for each home game. The Nationals committed to passing out cheer cards Friday against the Chicago Cubs but will hand out towels for Game 2. 但是星期四太空人主場迎戰紅襪的時候，球場將會被橘色給淹沒，每次主場賽都會發送 42000毛巾給球迷。國民在星期五首戰對戰小熊的時候會發送打氣卡，但是在第二戰的時候就會發送毛巾給球迷。 Kristin Massoth, a national account manager for BDA, who communicates with the Nationals, displayed a sample of that towel — red with gray script — in her office last week. She also held out a mock-up with navy script that the Nationals are interested in using if they reach the National League Championship Series. Kristin Massoth，BDA的球隊經理，負責與國民聯絡人，展示了國民的毛巾--紅色底，灰色的字樣。她同時也展示了海軍藍字樣的範本，國民的球團表示若是球隊打到國聯冠軍戰的話，有興趣用海軍藍的樣式。 The real challenge might come if, as Ingham projected, the Nationals and the Indians meet in the World Series. Internally, BDA employees have grappled with the potential for an all-red World Series, and whether either of those teams would switch to a secondary color. 若是如Ingham的預測，國民跟笑臉將會在世界大戰碰頭，真正的挑戰才要來臨。BDA員工正在內部演練若是世界大賽時兩隊都用紅色的狀況，還有若是其中一隊改用備用顏色的狀況。 “Both teams would do red,” Massoth said. 「兩隊一定都會用紅色的啦！」BDA負責跟國民聯絡的經理Massoth說。 “Teams are really superstitious,” Ingham said. “Once they get started on a color, they don’t want to change.” 「球隊都很迷信的，」Ingham說。「當他們選定了一個顏色，他們不會換的。」 “Oh, they definitely won’t,” Massoth said. 「兩隊一定不會換的，」Massoth說。 And that is why they have 1.3 million red towels. 所以這就是他們現在有130萬條紅毛巾的原因。 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 140.136.8.86 ※ 文章網址: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/MLB/M.1507172675.A.59A.html

推

ChrisDavis

10/05 11:08, 6年前 , 1^F

10/05 11:08, 1^F

※ 編輯: pneumo (140.136.8.86), 10/05/2017 11:11:58

推

bluesai

10/05 11:12, 6年前 , 2^F

10/05 11:12, 2^F

推

iambiaggi

10/05 11:17, 6年前 , 3^F