*By Conor White*
As the Short-Season Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, it isn't often the Staten Island Yankees make headlines.
That may be why the namesake team announced it would temporarily change its public image, trading in the rich tradition of baseball's most successful team for the street cache of a newly famous New Yorker: Pizza Rat ー [the hungry rodent that just wanted a slice to itself.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXUG8q4jKU)
"It's an aggressive name, I think it's probably a little edgy, a little different," said Staten Island Yankees president Will Smith. "But I think everybody needs to remember that it's a promotion."
Still, the Staten Island Borough president James Oddo called the idea "dopey" in a statement.
The promotion will run for each of the Staten Island Yankees' five Saturday night home games this season, and fans in attendance will see a fully rebranded team, complete with uniforms. In an interview Thursday on Cheddar, Smith said the gear has been flying off the shelves.
"We've pretty much blown through all of our merchandise that we have," said Smith. "We're trying to place re-orders, I was actually trying to do that this morning, trying to order another thousand T-shirts, because we just didn't order enough, and you just don't know, but we're actually tracking way, way, way ahead of our entire online sales last year, and so far, so good."
The Pizza Rats name was first floated back in 2016, when it was the overwhelming favorite in an online poll to rename the team. Now, thanks to the promotion's immediate success, fans are wondering: Could the name change become permanent?
"Anything's possible," teased Smith. "I've always said until there's a new name, there's no new name."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/every-pizza-rat-has-its-day).
MARLOWE., the men's skincare and grooming brand, has announced 23-year-old professional boxer Ryan Garcia as "Chief Marlowe Officer" and co-owner of the brand. In this role, Ryan will help boost brand awareness, oversee product design, and strategize digital marketing content for his signature products. Ryan joined Cheddar to discuss the partnership and his boxing career.
A packed Thursday pod: Carlo and Baker cover the latest developments in the Ghislaine Maxwell, Jussie Smollett and Elizabeth Holmes trials. Plus, Dems are losing the Hispanic vote, Boris Johnson in trouble again, and is it possible that Adele has peaked?
Laine Higgins, college sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell where she discusses the college football coaching carousel and says Lincoln Riley, Brian Kelly, and Mario Cristobal leaving for new schools this quickly is not normal.
The leading gaming organization and lifestyle brand 100 Thieves just raised $60 million in new funding closing its Series C. This new round of funding has raised the valuation of the organization to about $460 million. John Robinson, president and COO of 100 Thieves, joins Cheddar News to talk about what's next for the company.
Heather Smith, Founder and Chief Strategist at theHAUTEbar, discusses how the ski and resort industry is bouncing back after the pandemic; Mark Ellwood, Host of "Travel Genius" Podcast, breaks down the best travel destinations for winter sports before the 2022 Winter Olympics kick off; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Jeremy Jones' Higher.'
Joan Greve, a politics reporter at The Guardian US, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the implications of the Biden administration announcing a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing games in response to allegations of human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims. She noted the significance of the move, assessing the already frayed relationship between the U.S. and China. "The Chinese have said that a boycott would be politically manipulative, and now they are actually threatening countermeasures," she said. "And that will certainly have an impact on the spirit of the games at the very least."
The U.S. announced it will not send any official representation to the upcoming Beijing winter Olympics. Cheddar's Hena Doba speaks with East Asia expert Michael Swaine about the reasons behind the diplomatic move.
