The Sports Page: Actober Picks

As the World Series draws nearer, all eyes are on baseball. This year, MLB’s Actober offered fans an opportunity to show off their skills by mashing up classic moments in baseball history for a chance to win a trip to next season’s opening day.

MLB also made Dane Cook its spokesman, offering SNL one of the best opportunities for a skit in recent memory. If the contest had been creating spoof Dane Cook promos, they might have really had something.

Above: SNL’s Dane Cook ALCS Promo 

While the Actober videos ranged from sorta bad to really bad, the motivation behind the contest was a good one, and the ability to watch and embed fan videos with league sanctioned highlight footage is an unprecedented step. ###

On the really bad side there was James Caan (above) blabbering about the ’51 playoffs and memorable Yankee moments in a Yankees jersey holding a baseball bat.

Above: Cursed by an A-Rod

On the slightly bad, no one took up my request for a video of Aaron Boone’s 2003 ALCS homerun ending in an out, but the video above shows what might have happened that night.

Most of the videos leave something to be desired but they do show the benefit of taking an open stance with content. If you allow fans to use footage in a creative way,l it will be rewarded and, though most baseball fans might benefit from editing skills, the project proved successful by engaging some of those who love the game most. Vote for the finalists on Actober.com now and check back next week for the winner.

Ben Homer is a contributing writer from Online Video Watch.