A string of Facebook posts over the past couple of days from our friends from the Tidewater area presents us a rare opportunity to use this space to help out a fellow Greek-American with ties to the DC area win an internet based voting contest sponsored by a local media outlet from outside the area, as Socrates "Soc" Manuel vies to be the new "Face of Fox 43", the Fox Network affiliate in Hampton Roads, VA.  All it takes is a couple of minutes to watch Soc's Fox 43 Audition Video, a hilarious spot featuring a cameo by Tidewater native and former DC area resident Nico Papafil.  Round 1 voting ends on Sunday, July 18, 2010 at midnight.  There's no limit on how many times a person can vote as votes are automatically counted when Soc's video is watched in its entirety.

Soc Manuel (3rd from left) at Clearwater YAL Memorial Day Weekend in 2007.

If anyone doubts the power of Greek-Americans from all over the country voting for one of their own in an  internet based popularity contest in launching a career, we present Exhibit 1: Kalomoira.  Back in April 2003, Kalomoira was simply Carol Sarantis looking for votes in an American Idol style singing contest sponsored by a radio station on Long Island.  Her cousin posted a letter; on DCGreeks.com looking for the votes from outside the New York area that ultimately led to a second place finish, encouraging Kalomoira to audition for Fame Story on Greek television and ultimately launching her career.  (To this day, we find it hilarious that Kalomoira and DCGreeks.com are linked through stories in the Greek-American media and that we're actually cited as a source in Kalomoira's Wikipedia page.)

For those of you who simply can't see yourselves voting for just any Greek-American without knowing anything about him (which is the right thing to do, by the way), here's a little on Soc.  A graduate of George Mason University and a former intern for both the Washington Wizards and Washington Redskins during his time in DC, Soc is an active member of the Greek community.  Most would recognize Soc as a member of the Sons of Pericles attending AHEPA Supreme Conventions and a host of Sons of Pericles Basketball tournaments up and down the East Coast.  We have bittersweet memories of Soc and his years in Greek League and his tendency to find a way to light us up as a member of perenial Greek League contender Atlas posting an 11.3 pts/game scoring average against DCGreeks.com from 2006 to 2008, nearly double his Greek League career scoring average. 

We wish Soc all the best in making it out of the 1st Round and hope he doesn't forget us when he's famous one day.