Yellowknife gets shout outs during baseball broadcast
Business owner doesn't understand why but says she's thankful
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Published Friday, October 17, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Millions of television viewers around the world heard Yellowknife mentioned several times during Tuesday night's broadcast of the Major League Baseball game.
Lynn Huang said she wasn't watching the baseball game Tuesday night when her business The Diner on Range Street was mentioned by name. She said she's not a baseball fan and doesn't really understand why Yellowknife got a shout out. But Huang said she will gladly take all the free publicity she can get. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
The telecast of the Baltimore Orioles-Kansas City Royals American League Championship playoff game was broadcast by MLB International, and Gary Thorne was the play-by-play announcer.
That network broadcasts in every country that carries major league baseball games outside the U.S.
During the game, the territorial capital was brought up at least three or four times.
Mayor Mark Heyck, who described himself as a huge baseball fan, re-tweeted one of the references to the city on his Twitter account.
"I was at a council meeting at the time but I noticed someone had posted to social media that Yellowknife was being mentioned," he said.
"They apparently made mention of polar bears roaming the streets and then later said it was grizzly bears."
They were just poking fun at us but to be mentioned on an international broadcast with millions of viewers is great exposure for us, said the mayor.
"It came out of left field, no pun intended. But it's great publicity for the city. It's fantastic," Heyck said.
One of the comments mentioned The Diner, referring to the restaurant on Range Street.
"My friend called me and said, you are famous and you don't even know it," said Lynn Huang, owner of The Diner.
"I don't watch baseball. I didn't see the game last night," she said.
"I don't really know how or why this happened. I don't really care too much about that.
"But I feel good to get the free publicity. It's a good thing. Maybe it will bring in more customers who saw it," she said.
Huang said she might tune in to Wednesday night's game to see if Yellowknife and her diner were given another shout out.
