Sports Marketing 101: Take a marketable entity and a major news story. Then sit back and watch the people flow in.

Hence the reason for the list I have compiled of interesting, creative and plain strange promotional events conducted by sports teams over the years.

Cory Pecker Night

Anaheim's AHL affiliate in Cincinnati ran a promotional event last season that centered on Cory Pecker, one of their prospects.

Promotion:

Any fan with the first name of Richard, Peter or William (among others deemed anatomically appropriate) received a free ticket with any ticket they bought. My guess is this was the single largest collection of dicks since the last nationally held conference for lawyers.

Jay Buhner Buzz Cut Night

This was perhaps one of the most popular promotional events during the 90's. Buhner was a huge fan favourite in Seattle and the fans responded by coming out in droves to get their heads shaved.

Promotion:

Every fan that got their head shaved at the game or who came in bald was given free admission to the game. Those who got their heads shaved would receive free t-shirts with phrases like: "Take me out to the Bald game" or "Bald is Buhnerful". This promotion-idea was spun off to other cities like Houston when the Rockets acquired Charles Barkley.

Guaranteed Fight Night

	With a logo that looks like that promotions are in order to draw fans in.

This promotion was a controversial one and actually never came to fruition because of the backlash received. The president of the AHL canceled the promotion citing: "It was an ill-conceived idea. It is disrespectful to the game itself and it is disrespectful to the players. It suggests that gratuitous violence is a big part of the sport and that's just not the case."

Promotion:

If there was not a single five-minute fighting major given to a player, every fan in attendance would receive a free ticket to the following Houston Aeros home game. Maybe the concept of a guaranteed night should carry over to other events. There could be guaranteed score a run night held by the L.A. Dodgers or how about a guaranteed don't blow a win by the bullpen night held by the Toronto Blue Jays or Boston Red Sox.

Manute Bol Night

Hot off the success of his defeat of the Fridge in Fox's Celebrity Boxing showcase the Central Hockey League's Indianapolis Ice tried to capitalize off the former 7-foot-7 NBA player.

Promotion:

The Indianapolis Ice signed Bol to a one game contract; kind of odd considering Bol had never skated before. The promotion was a disaster from the beginning as the team had trouble finding skates that would fit the big man. Once suited up for the game Bol never left the bench as his arthritic feet started to swell inside his custom made skates. Bol was out of uniform by the end of the first period. Despite all of this I'm sure Bol would still have an outside chance of working himself into the Toronto Maple Leafs top unit of 6 defenseman.

EL Paso Cow Pies

A minor league team out of Texas decided to draw interest to the team by changing their team name for two nights.

Promotion:

The El Paso Buzzards switched their team name to the El Paso Cow Pies for two nights. The name change came complete with uniform changes…you can just imagine what the uniforms looked like. The team switched back to their Buzzards moniker after fans started believing that the name change was a permanent one. It would be nice if other sports teams switched their team monikers during the season especially based on their performance. I mean the Carolina Hurricanes could have been known as the Cow Pies for all 82 games last season.

Alpo Promotion

Dog food maker, Alpo approached the Blackhawks when then head coach Alpo Suhonen was behind the bench.

Promotion:

The dog food maker wanted to set up some kind of promotional deal with the Blackhawks. It never came about as Suhonen didn't last long with the team. It would have been a fitting promotion as the Blackhawks organization has gone to the dogs over the last few years.

$1 Ticket Night

The Toronto Blue Jays offered discounted tickets to fans that were staying away from the park due to concerns about SARS.

Promotion:

	$1 dollar tickets are the only way to get Skydome this full again.

The Toronto Blue Jays offered tickets for a loonie to fans in the midst of concern about the SARS outbreak in Toronto. Fans were staying away from the ballpark, worried that large public outings would be a recipe for the disease to spread. The average price for a ticket is normally $14. 48,027 fans took advantage of the promotion that was run prior to the WHO's removal of Toronto from its list of infectious cities. Apparently saving people 13 dollars is all that's needed to ease fears about the spread of a deadly infectious disease.

Earl Boykins Night

When the diminutive 5'5 point guard was with the Cleveland Cavaliers the team ran a promotion geared towards his smaller fans.

Promotion:

Fans 5'5 and under were treated to $5.50 tickets for a Cavs Game. No word yet on whether the Houston Rockets are planning on having Yao Ming night's for fans 7'5 and over.

Jersey Trade-In Night

The Ottawa Senators held a jersey trade-in promtion last season during two games with rivals Toronto and Montreal.

Promotion:

Any fan that had a Canadiens or Leafs jersey could trade it in and receive money towards buying a Senators Jersey. No confirmation heard yet that Sens fans holding Yashin and Daigle jerseys are eligible to return those.

Barry Melrose Mullet Night

ESPN hockey analyst and former L.A. Kings head coach Barry Melrose was inducted into the fictitious Mullet Hall of Fame by the AHL's Manchester Monarchs.

Promotion:

The first 4,000 adult males received mullet wigs and any males or females sporting their own mullets were offered free trims. NASCAR was also looking at a similar promotional event but feared the thought of filing for bankruptcy if they went through with the promotion.

Sammy Sosa Night

The Fort Myers Miracle, a single A affiliate of the Minnesota twins ran a promotion earlier this year making light of Sammy Sosa's corked bat ordeal.

Promotion:

The first 505 fans received pieces of cork. Free admission was given to anyone whose name included the words Sammy, Sosa or Corky. The team also gave away corked bats to the 21st (Sammy's number), 66th (number of HR's hit in 1998) and 505th (number of career HR's at the time) fans that entered the park.

So that is just the tip of the iceberg on unique promotional events run across the world of professional sports. I'm interested in hearing from you. Write in about any unique or crazy sports promotional events you've attended or heard about.