Tigers affiliate to give fans participation trophies for 'Millennial Night'

Brian Manzullo | Detroit Free Press

Is this an effort to honor millennials — or make fun of them?

The West Michigan Whitecaps — the Detroit Tigers' Single-A affiliate in Comstock Park — plan to host a "Millennial Night" on July 26 in which the first 1,000 fans will receive a free participation trophy.

The Whitecaps, who are playing the Lake County Captains that night, plan to host contests for the best beard and best man bun during the game. There also will be selfie stations posted around Fifth Third Ballpark and a petition to "Save the Bees."

But wait. There's more. Here's the full event description, posted to the official Facebook Event page:

Take a break from "Netflix and Chill" and come to the ballpark for Millennial Night. Just for showing up, the first 1,000 fans will receive a FREE participation trophy. Test out your bottle-flipping mad skillz in-between innings with our Bottle Flipping Contest. Keep calm and dab on with our Dab Cam. Or sign the petition to ban the dab because that's what all the cool kids are doing. We'll be playing the Meme Team so be sure to watch the video board for all the memes that we could steal from Reddit. Enjoy free WiFi throughout the ballpark (even though we always offer that). Participate in both the best beard and best manbun contest, bonus points to those that have both! Because the bees are dying at an alarming rate, we'll also have a Save the Bees Station to learn more about how you can help. As if all of that wasn't enough for the generation with the highest expectations, we will also have a moment of silence for Vine (RIP *tears*).

(They do know what "Netflix and Chill" actually means, right?)

The Whitecaps plan to honor the best selfies taken at the stations during the 8th inning and award winners with gift cards to Lululemon, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Oh, and there will be thank-you cards handed out as folks leave the ballpark.

It's worth noting that the Lexington Legends, a Single-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, tried this "Millennial Night" idea earlier this year, with participation ribbons and everything, and it didn't go over so well.

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.

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