Sorry, “dog on trampoline” videos or “child returns home from war to mash-up the NBA and ‘Game Of Thrones’,” today’s Internet belongs to the NFL replacement refs. Earlier today we chronicled Twitter’s, uh, abrasive response to TOUCHDOWNERCEPTION-Gate, and now the hate for that gaggle of Foot Locker employees jus’ doin’ th’best they can has gone promotional.

Mid-States Football League semi-pro team the Racine Raiders are having “Replacement Referee Night” at their next home game on Saturday, September 29, with costume contests, poor officiating prizes and proceeds going to absolutely nobody who can properly call a f**king football game.

The details:

The team will give anyone who comes dressed as a football official free admission into the game. The team encourages fans to be creative and family-friendly with their outfits. Any outfits deemed to be vulgar will not qualify for free admission. A few replacement referees will be selected to go on the field for a “Worst Call of the Night” contest.

“Fans are frustrated with the state of professional football right now,” said Raiders president Matthew Snyder. “We want to give them a creative and fun outlet for their frustration.”

The Raiders are also offering free admission to college students with a valid college identification card and youth football players wearing their team uniform that are accompanied by a paying adult. (via RacineRadiers.com)

I love that you can still wear a vulgar referee costume to the game, you just can’t get the free admission. That’s probably code for “hey local teens, I know you’ve got a slutty referee costume you want to wear and we want to see it, we just have to pretend like you’re doing something wrong,” followed by a “come on, get in here” shuffling-in gesture. And God bless the Raiders for setting this up … I know that if I was a Green Bay Packers fan, an afternoon in Racine spent making wanking motions at replacement referees would make me feel totally okay with how Monday Night Football ended.

My favorite part of the press release is how it turns into a “sorry we’re not the NFL” thing.

“The Raiders have been offering quality, affordable, family-friendly entertainment at the minor league level for 60 years now,” Snyder says. “We don’t have the big names of the professional leagues but we have a quality product.”

SO COME ON DOWN TO RACINE’S USED FOOTBALL LOT FOR THE BEST SELECTION AND LOWEST PRICES

If anybody goes to this, bring your camera and send over a few pictures. I’m anxious to see if the pretend worst calls are any worse than the real ones.

[h/t to Fark]

This may be the first time we’ve ever tipped our hats to Subspace Communique, but here goes — the Los Angeles Dodgers are hoping to follow in the footsteps of successful ‘Star Wars Days’ in San Francisco and Tampa with their inaugural ‘Star Trek Day’ on August 3rd. If you go, you get two special gifts: a Spock shirsey and the chance to watch an 81-year old spaceship captain throw out the first pitch.

This ticket package includes a seat in the Coca-Cola All-You-Can-Eat-Pavilion and a limited edition Dodger and Star Trek themed t-shirt. You certainly won’t want to be “beamed up” once you are here. You’ll certainly won’t want to be “beamed up” once you are here. LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

Star Trek legend William Shatner will be at Dodger Stadium for pre-game festivities and to throw the first pitch!

I was hoping they’d wheel out Captain Pike and let him push the ball to home plate with his brainwave chair. I was also hoping they’d get my favorite captain (Ben Sisko) to throw out the first pitch, but we all know he reps the Giants.

If you live in the area (or are enough of a Trekker, literally) and make it out to the game, snap as many photos as you can of dudes in pointy ears and Clayton Kershaw jerseys, send them over to us at withleather-tips@uproxx.com and we’ll share them with the world. Just don’t wear red to the game, it won’t end well for you.

[via Fark Sports]

All things considered, the New York Mets haven’t had too terrible of a season. Sure, they haven’t seen Johan Santana pitch in what feels like a decade, Jose Reyes has had his MVP-type season derailed by annoying little injuries, and David Wright has been more like David Wrong *rim shot, slide whistle, sad trombone*. But at least they’re only 3 games below .500 in a division that was won in April, and they didn’t freak out and trade Reyes or Wright, so as to maintain a little promise for the future.

But in a very strange attempt to lure fans to the ballpark this Friday, the Mets are offering the first 100 fans at Citi Field free tickets if they hug actor/DJ/MC/fake husband Nick Cannon. No word yet if they’re offering Burberry cologne removal.

Cannon, who is also the host of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” is planning to hug more than 1,800 people to break the existing record of hugs given out in an hour.

The first 100 fans to line up to hug Cannon will receive Mets tickets for that night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers at 7:10 p.m. Everyone who hugs Cannon to help him break the record will receive a commemorative t-shirt. (Via The New York Mets)

And I just so happen to have a sneak preview of that free t-shirt after the jump.

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Over the weekend, the world’s top-ranked tennis player and Tiger Beat Man of the Year, Rafael Nadal, defeated his bitter rival Roger Federer to win the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition, marking the beginning of the 2011 ATP season and the end of days for football. The practice tournament featured Nadal, Federer, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis. Maybe next year, terrible American tennis players!

Since 2009, the Mubadala tournament has served as a PR launch for the ATP, as it shows the world how exciting the sport of tennis can be by having its top two stars defeat young up-and-comers, while everyone plays at a level somewhere between “Meh, there might be girls watching” and “Strictly half-assed.” But the real promotional fun doesn’t take place on the actual court, as much as a fake court that is placed in a unique location to give citizens of Doha, Qatar (the WTC exhibition was played in Nermal’s least favorite city, Abu Dahbi) a chance to witness the playful nature of tennis’ top rivalry.

For this weekend’s tournament, Nadal and Federer boarded a floating court in open water and they proceeded to smack the crap out of the ball. Or they lightly slapped it back and forth with the fear that they could drown with one poor step. Either way, I’m sold. Go tennis!

This year’s promotional effort after the jump, as well as the 2008 and 2009 excitement…

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Despite routinely getting a good crowd at home games, the San Francisco Giants have relied on a steady diet of promotional nights to bring in fans. The team’s management must really know their city well, because all of the Dead Heads in the San Francisco area will head on down to AT&T Park Monday for Jerry Garcia Night. Well, not all of the Dead Heads. That’s what we in the medical profession call an epidemic. The promotion is honoring the 15th anniversary of the guitarist’s death, and is guaranteed to be the highest concentration of hippies in baseball history.

All living members of the Grateful Dead will be involved in the day.

The National Anthem will be sung by Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Jeff Pehrson, while the seventh inning stretch will be played by Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. As an added bonus, NBA Hall of Famer and notorious “Deadhead” Bill Walton will be in attendance.

Grateful Dead fans paid in between $20 and $50 to sit in a special section of the ballpark. The first 9,000 who bought tickets to the promotion got a Garcia bobblehead, sponsored by Ben & Jerry’s, which of course makes the ice cream flavor Cherry Garcia. –MSNBC

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