Force Spikes and increasing Magic's popularity.

So if you haven't checked out Force Spikes, the new podcast by Milwaukee locals Jon and Greg, you really should. They are fun to listen to, regardless of whether or not you agree with them! Case in point, this last episode I had some things to say about their suggestions for how Wizards should continue to increase Magic's popularity. I put a post in the MTGcast forums explaining my... point of view, but for some reason it never made it past moderation. Hm. I didn't think it was TOO much of a flame. See for yourself below. But first listen to this week's ForceSpikes podcast to draw your own conclusion!

"I think that you may have been a bit off base with your suggestions for how Magic could expand its player base.
First of all, I believe that the biggest factor in Magic's recent growth has been the Xbox Duels of the Planeswalkers game. I feel like this was mentioned somewhere on the mothership, but I don't know where I read it, so I'll call it my opinion since I can't cite my source.
Second, I think this example is indicative of a weakness in your thinking; Magic grows most when CASUAL players are introduced from other CASUAL gaming media, not from other competitive avenues like Poker. You're thinking a little too much like Spikes. Please remember that most of Magic's profit will come from the massive number of less engaged, casual gamers, not the tiny percentage of players who participate in PTQ and higher level tourneys.
Take your collective musings on having a spokesperson from the Magic/Poker community. This seems like an awful idea. First, most Magic players (who recall are casual players) don't know ANYONE who plays Poker or Magic professionally. Wizards would have to convince them to care. Second, and much more of an issue, is that Wizards would have to find some sort of perfect human who is well spoken, photogenic, one of the best gamers alive (i.e. doesn't fall off the train the next year being a paid spokesperson) AND has a reputation squeaky clean enough to be on the payroll of a company owned by Hasbro. I'll guarantee you the last point ain't trivial. Making one or several people the public face of your product is a huge PR liability! Don't you think that Wizards has thought about this before? Even if a guy like maybe Kibler could fit all the criteria at THIS MOMENT, if over the next year his clandestine cake-sitting prostitute fetish, or one of a million far less humiliating "personal interests" comes to light, Hasbro takes it sleazy from every conservative alarmist looking to paint Magic as the next thing for parents to freak out about. It's way too much of a liability. This is fundamentally a kid's game, remember.
So I think that Wizards should keep doing what they're doing- make further inroads into another, far more popular gaming arena than pro Poker: video games. This was also a a medium that was considered geeky a few years ago, but now has mainstream appeal. Magic does well to align itself with such a massively popular, mainstream medium. When Wizards wants to address potential new players they can turn to public shills for hire like the Frag Dolls (for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kQbZUGXad4), who are not employed per se by Wizards and who are still easy on the eyes. Then Wizards can promote it all on Facebook, another medium over which they can exert perfect control.
Sorry for the rant, but that part of the podcast really grated on me. Also, the second part of the show about tourney reports was great, and as is the case so often, things that are already great are much less exciting to write about!"
T