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If you follow the Mid-American Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments on social media next month, there will be a catchphrase you can't escape: MACtion.
It's a term that isn't easily defined, but the slogan has become so recognizable that, in the words of MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, it has "taken on a life of its own."
The MAC, like any other mid-major collegiate athletic conference, has tried to separate itself from its competitors by providing something unique. With midweek college football games that are televised on ESPN's family of networks and a catchphrase that its fans, employees and media members use to describe all the action, the Cleveland-based MAC believes it has established a strong brand in a crowded marketplace.
"It's really taken off in the last couple of years," Steinbrecher said of the #MACtion hashtag, which is nearly as much of a part of Northeast Ohio Twitter feeds as Cleveland Browns angst or criticism of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"Maybe a year or two ago in football is when we really noticed it," Steinbrecher continued. "It's something that popped up organically and, kaboom, it caught on."
The birth of MACtion
MACtion seemed to get its start in 2008, when the popular college football blog Every Day Should be Saturday mentioned it briefly in reference to a game between Miami and Bowling Green that was taken off the air in the fourth quarter in favor of an Ohio State-Michigan State matchup.
Two years later, the site's editor, Spencer Hall, mentioned MACtion...