Rock the Vote - Vote for Rory

If you have ever wanted to support the underdog, the less fortunate, the grassroots cause, the shared cultural phenomenon, I enjoin you to vote for Rory Fitzpatrick.

Who the $$&^$^& is Rory Fitzpatrick?
Never mind that he is a defenceman that plays for the Vancouver Canucks (owners of the coolest retro jerseys in all of professional sports and shared owners of 1/2 my blog's namesake),   he is also a populist, word of mouth celebrity in the making!

From journeyman defenceman to topping the list of all-star ballot getters in the NHL.  Sure he has scored no points this year and barely even dresses for every other game...that's not the point, 450,000 people want him in the all-star game - that ruefully is more people than a nationally televised game registers in the U.S...  I know I've placed my vote and you should too!

Why? Fitzpatrick and the grassroots initiative around him  represents a vote for the good guys - he is the reluctant peer-to peer "Rudy"' . Let's remember there has been not one cent spent on promotional PR or ads. The campaign is inspired - part eclectic fun, part citizen-generated marketing and part support for a player who albeit short on talent genuinely resonated with a fan.

That one fan was a Buffalo Blogger Steve Schmid who started the whole campaign while posting on some message boards back in November and kick-started a campaign that  has now turned into a Facebook, My Space and YouTube social media tidal wave supported by a site VoteforRory.com.

His numbers slipped this week to 3rd place, you can't let the boring hockey purists win...save your new media souls and visit NHL.com and vote for the ice rink's version of Rocky Balboa.