For anyone wondering who came up with Francisco Cervelli’s “That’s Amore” Pirates scoreboard segment, you have Chris Martin to thank. No, not that Chris Martin. This one is a production coordinator for game presentation.
Game presentation manager Matt Zidik challenged his staff of four that included Martin, Paul Denillo, Jon Cofer and Martin Corbett to come up with creative new ideas. This one was the adventure of a lifetime that ended up with the final product titled “That’s Amore” in which Cervelli is introduced by his walk-up music of the same name where he is asked love related questions by Pirates fans.
Cervelli was approached by Zidik about the idea and was on board from the beginning. From there, it was all about making the product into the popular bit fans see once or twice a homestand.
“We sent out a tweet before Spring Training asking questions they would like for Francisco to answer, gathered those, took them down to Spring Training, sat with Francisco for half an hour and just shared his personality,” Zidik said. “He was the star and made them what they are.”
Spring Training is a tough time for the in-game entertainment department. There is so much they want to have done for the season and with players each having major commitments, not much time is allotted.
When you have a specific feature you want done on a player, that time runs out especially quickly, so Zidik had to ask for additional time which he was granted.
“He was a real champ for us and gave us some extra time so we appreciate what he did,” said Zidik. “He went above and beyond for us.”
Pirates in-game host Joe Klimchak was unable to get an advanced look at the final product and saw it with the fans when the first segment was shown on April 6.
“I thought it sounded super creative and knowing Francisco, I really thought it would be a hit,” he said. “Did I think it would be a phenomenon like this? Probably not. I look forward to it as much as anyone else right now.”
Klimchak’s feedback is not the only positive. In fact, the idea has received all kinds of positive feedback from the fans, more than anyone expected.
“It’s special anytime you receive recognition for what you do,” Zidik said. “Every day we try to get a reaction from the fans. When you see something come together like it has and it blows up more than I anticipated, it is really special.”
Klimchak is a fan of the feature just like those in attendance and feels the next step is to get more material from Cervelli.
“It’s taking off more than anyone expected it,” said Klimchak. “I didn’t see it coming, but now we have to do that. Fans would love to see it every game. Now it’s in a rotation, but I think this would be the number one choice. We need to see it as much as we can.”
Zidik had a similar thought. The bit has been played around half a dozen times, once or twice a series. Cervelli was given 20-30 questions with the allotted time in Spring Training and so far less than half have been answered.
He admits, though, that he will need more material.
“I am sure there will be a second group of questions. I’m sure we’ll go to him to get through the season,” Zidik said. “We even talked about doing this again during Spring Training. He asked if we were going to do it again, and he was willing to do so.”
Cervelli enjoyed the back and forth banter and with him, what you saw was what you got. There were no second takes. It was Cervelli being Cervelli.
“It’s all about making people laugh and having fun,” he said. “The game is so long and they just have to see different things.”
If Cervelli is asked to give relationship advice once again, he is prepared to do so. He knows the fans enjoy it and his teammates get a kick out of it as well.
“Yeah, why not,” said Cervelli. “If they like it, I’ll do it. We play and have fun because of the fans. I don’t watch it too much because I am concentrating on the game, but they like it and that’s good.”
You can call it Magic or Paradise, but the Pirates will call Chris Martin’s creation “That’s Amore” and that is fine by them.
“We can’t get enough Amore out of That’s ‘Amore,'” Klimchak said.
