When did the dancers or the DJ become the Sport?

With a shameful 15-67 season, the Miami Heat were faced with a horrible year. From low attendance, to lack of renewing season tickets, the fans did not show any encouragement to the team. Why would they? This is Miami! People here don’t come to watch the Heat for the love of basketball, they come to watch the team winning. And since the Heat were on a loosing streak, attendance was very poor. But, there were always those few people who never missed a game. Why? I got to ask them that question and those are some of their answers. “Well, we do have the #1 dance team in the NBA”, “The Xtreme team, that’s why I come here, they’re so cool, they do the craziest things”, “DJ Irie is a nationally known DJ and is the #1 in the NBA, why wouldn’t I come watch him live, spinning right next to me?”, “The dance team with the old people in it, they’re so cute! I love watching them, but they did not perform during this game!”. Only one person responded “I just love basketball, and we have a professional NBA team here in our city, I think we’re lucky enough to have that! Why wouldn’t I want to watch Dwyane Wade play? Even if the team sucks!”. The Miami Heat are marketing their games without even knowing. The dance team, DJ Irie, and the Xtreme team, are the reasons people still attend games even when the team is loosing bad. Now, since most season ticket holders are not renewing their tickets, the Heat came up with the “Ten gets you in!” marketing strategy. The “Ten gets you in!” season ticket package basically consists of $10 tickets for every game in the uptown level (400 level). Will that get the attention of season ticket holders, or will the dancers? I think the Miami Heat should focus their marketing strategies on the dancers, the DJ and Dwyane Wade. After all, that is why people are attending the games!

Marketing Miami Basketball

Coming off a stunning 23-11 season and trip to the Round of 32, the Hurricanes basketball program has much to look forward to: the signing of one of the country’s top swingmen, DeQuan Jones, the building of the new practice facility, and most importantly, the recent announcement that the McDonald’s All-American High School  will be hosted at the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center on April 1, 2009.

 

A game that will be televised nationally by ESPN will draw much attention to the often overlooked basketball program, which has been showing signs of growth and great future potential. The UM basketball squad has already been ranked in the top 25 in many preseason polls. 

 

Manny Navarro, the Miami Herald  beat writer for the ‘Canes reminds us, “ Let’s not forget where this program was when Perry Clark left it. Basically, the bandwagon emptied and the team was back in obscurity. Haith picked it up, put it back into the NCAA Tournament and now has a vision to not only take Miami where it once was — the Sweet 16, but a long-term vision of turning Miami’s men’s basketball program into a national title contender. He’s the type of guy who doesn’t just dream of the Final Four — but has a plan to get there.”

 

This game is vital in helping out the recruiting process for Haith and his program. When asked by Manny about his feelings on the McDonald’s game, he said, “It is a huge deal. It is the premier basketball event in the country. It’s only been on campus one other time I think and that was at Duke. It is a huge, huge, huge deal. Hopefully, we’ll have a player in it. It is a tremendous deal for the University of Miami to have here. This has been worked on for a couple years. They get these things and start to work on it years prior. I was involved in some things early on. Katie [Meier] and Paul Dee. We’re very fortunate to have it here. The President was very supportive of it. So, it’s a huge deal for us. Obviously, the practice facility having that too and practice time. It’s going to be an unbelievable deal to have it on your campus because its the premier event. And what Ronald McDonald stands for. The Ronald McDonald event is huge for charity, so its a big event especially here in South Florida when were trying to improve awareness of college basketball.”

 

I agree completely with his statement. As successful as the Canes were this season, basketball still does not receive the same attention as the football and baseball programs (granted they have a rich tradition of national championships). Holding this All-American High School game should help draw in more attention to college basketball in South Florida, and more importantly, may even entice future recruits to come play basketball for the “U”. 

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/colleges/um/story/506281.html

 

http://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/

                                                        

http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,2593-1;61363-3,00.html

 

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/

 

Falcons Get Their Fix

What a year it has been for the Atlanta Falcons- and obviously not a good one.  First they lost their star quarterback to twenty three months in federal prison for illegal dog fighting.  With that their organization experienced a major downfall to their reputation and PR that is still in the desperate need of repair.  Next their coach hopped on a train to Arkansas as he waved goodbye to his players.  Then to top it all off, they finished their season less than .500 with a disappointing record of 4-12.  It would be an understatement to claim that the Falcons are in a serious need of a turnaround this upcoming season.  So now with the third overall pick of the good-looking Matt Ryan, are their problems solved? 

Matt Ryan, the star quarterback from Boston College was chosen Saturday afternoon to be the Atlanta Falcons new quarterback.  Possibly even their new poster boy if you look at it from a marketing point of view.  Ryan was the ACC Player of the Year last season and an early Heisman Trophy favorite. He left BC with a 25-7 record as a starter and was widely regarded as the best quarterback available in this year’s draft.  To add to his stats, Ryan was also a two-time team captain at BC, showing his potential as a great leader.  He carried the nickname “Matty Ice” during his college career because of the smooth, calm way he approached the game and led numerous comebacks.

So is Matt Ryan exactly what the Falcons need at this point in their franchise?  He comes from a respected school, he’s handsome, he has good leadership qualities, he has a good arm, and he seems like a nice guy who has stayed away from trouble up to this point.  ESPN says, “For the moment, Ryan brings hope to what was a hopeless situation. No other player in this draft could create as much optimism as Ryan. He is, after all, a quarterback, and quarterbacks are the first players people think of when they think of a football team.”  Within minutes of Roger Goodell’s announcing the Falcon’s first selection, Matt Ryan’s #8 jersey was selling online like hotcakes.  So I think this is a brilliant move for the Falcons.  Instead of automatically associating the word “Falcon” with Michael Vick’s criminal charges, soon it might be associated with the poster boy name Matt Ryan.  Now all he has to worry about is if he can prove the all the cynicals wrong and show that he has exactly what it takes to make it in the NFL.  September awaits us.    

 

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/News/Articles/2008/04/NFL_Draft/Falcons_select_quarterback_Matt_Ryan.aspx

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=472506

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/News/Articles/2008/04/NFL_Draft/Falcons_select_quarterback_Matt_Ryan.aspx

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft08/columns/story?columnist=yasinskas_pat&id=3369310

 

Everybody loves … celebrity sports gossip

Celebrity gossip. Definitely a topic we hate to love. It’s true. Our society loves to gossip. Be it a rumor about a celebrity or a scandal in sports, we love to bandy about the embarrassments of others. From Tom Brady’s baby mama drama, to the Beckhams moving to the U.S., to Michael Vick beating and killing dogs for his own personal pleasure to Jessica Simpson dating Tony Romo. It’s pretty pathetic how people who don’t follow sports will start to pay attention to athletes when they are involved in celebrity gossip. Who cares about how many home runs, tackles or points scored in a game? Nowadays, what’s more interesting is who was seen with who, who’s violating what law, and most importantly, who is sleeping with who. I

t’s funny how when athletes are linked with a celebrity they automatically become more popular. Even more funny is when they obtain a criminal record their popularity also goes up. Perfect example of this one is Jose Canseco. When he was accused of using steroids and was later casted on the reality hit show on VH1’s Surreal Life. Is this a joke? Seriously, this is getting more and more pathetic. Of course, you’re going to have your loyal sports fans who put the b-s aside and watch sports for the love of sports and not TMZ or The Soup on E! just so see the most up-to-date celebrity sports gossip.

For the past couple of years the gossip has been pretty ridiculous. We’ve basically heard it all from Kobe Bryant’s rape accusation charges to the most recent Alex Rodriguez being seen with a lovely lady whose name is not Cynthia Rodriguez (his wife) and just so happens to be a stripper.

Classy, Rodriguez, real classy. The media loves to put a damper on these athletes’ lives and as the viewing public, we love to watch their misery and mistakes. Why is that? Who knows. 

This is definitely a topic that is most likely never going to get dull. Unfortunately for both parties, there is always going to be drama in the lives of celebrity athletes and we are always going to be the ones wasting our time watching, when there are bigger issues in the world like the problem we have in Darfur and how there are still homeless people feeling the consequences of Hurricane Katrina. Yet, we’re over here being interested in A-Rod having dinner with a stripper friend from Iowa. C’mon, seriously, where is the world coming to?

 

Recruit Shatters Florida National Championship trophy

There was a sense of shock in the room….no one spoke for about 30 seconds. Tampa Plant High School Tight End prospect Orson Charles had just accidentally knocked the University of Florida national championship trophy onto the ground during an unofficial visit. The trophy shattered and time stood still.

Nobody talked for a while. And when Charles returned home and told his personal advisor he assumed it was a joke. Charles took a picture of a crystal fragments as proof. Just as any Cane fan would, Charles’ advisor called his Gator-rooting friends and family to make sure they knew all about it. I guess Charles is somewhat obligated to sign with Florida now. For his part, Charles says the accident will have no bearing on his future school.

“I wish it never happened,” Charles said.” Many national TV shows requested an interview with Charles about the incident, however he declined. Charles mentioned that he would partake in interviews only if they were football related.

Charles said he got an email from UF coaches recently stating that the trophy has been replaced. No harm done. The Miami Hurricanes are number one on his long list of scholarship offers with Florida close behind. How fitting it would be if Charles, “the recruit who shattered the Gators national championship trophy”, eventually were to sign with the ‘Canes.

 

http://miami.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=800103

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080415/SPORTS/804150340/1002/SPORTS

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/16/sp-bull-china-shop-broken-trophy/?sports-colleges-gators

Gatorade Tiger?!?!

This April Gatorade introduced its newest product line, no I’m not talking about the Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra sponsored G2, but rather a product that is literally self explanatory and self promoted, ladies and gentleman I give you “Gatorade Tiger.”  That is correct Tiger Woods has his own set of three gatorade flavors named completely after him.  Man not even MJ got this treatment from gatorade back in his prime.

 

This PGA season began with all of the talk around the golf world about Tiger Woods and whether or not he would be able to win the coveted grand slam in one season by winning all four majors in a season.  I believe Gatorade saw how much publicity Tiger was receiving for this and said you know what if he does win this grand slam we will have hit the marketing jackpot.  Gatorade put all of their marketing and advertising value into Tiger Woods with this product line by naming it after him.  It is one thing for a company like Nike and Gillette to sponsor Tiger and put him in their commercials, but Gatorade brought endorsement to a whole new level when they slapped Tiger on the label. 

I wonder now honestly if Gatorade will drop the current product line considering the fact that Tiger lost his first major of the season (the Masters) and is now having arthroscopic knee surgery.  Gotta give it to Gatorade though, this is by far the most creative and bold marketing campaign by any sports drink ever.  Literally Gatorade is putting this entire product line into the name of Tiger Woods. What the hell happened to the days of just having a professional athlete endorsing your product that you must now have to name an entire product line after him.  Im a big fan of Tiger Woods, I think he is a class act and a hell of an athlete, but for Gatorade’s sake I hope to hell that Mr. Woods has the worse season of his career and Gatorade Tiger is a complete flop!

The New York Knicks – What can we expect

For the last few years, the New York Knicks have been the laughing stock of the National Basketball Association.  With Don Walsh the new president of operations, eager fans can expect changes.

Ever since Isiah Tohams took over the Knicks, he created an image of youth and potential just waiting to blossom.  Fans were excited about Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee.  Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford were two “valuable” pieces aquired in trades.  We were told the future was bright.  There was even a series of commercials running based drooling all over the three rookies, depicting a changes to come.

What we didn’t know, was that it was one big trap.  Oh how times of changed.  Thomas’s throne in NY is done.  Now he is just trying to save face. For the Knicks to move on, he needs to be gone completely.  Don’t let him in the state of New York again.  And honestly, they need to dismantle that team too.  Get rid of all Isiah’s projects (Marbury, Richardson, Jeffries, and especially Jerome James).

Ideally, the Knicks could start over with the likes of Michael Beasly, but their chances of winning the lottery are slim.  What is important is that they choose someone that could easily be marketed to the fans.  Not only do we need talent, but we need character. 

Knicks 2010

After another terrible season the New York Knicks have finally parted ways with Isiah Thomas… somewhat. He is, for some reason unknown, still a part of the Knicks franchise, although probably not for long. With all his transactions he has managed to bring a great franchise into its lowest point.

The Knicks are now way over the cap and do not really have a legit shot until 2010 when they get under the cap and can make some moves. Nobody wants their players; Zach Randolph is a team cancer, Eddy Curry can’t rebound (When asked what Eddy Curry could do to rebound better, former Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles replied “Jump”), and Stephone Marbury has created problems everywhere he has been.

Side note: Two very funny things… well one kind of sad and the other hysterical. When this article came out

we all actually had hope. The knicks had a new coach h=who had a lot of promise, and a new point guard who was full of talent… that worked out real well.

The second thing is what might be the most entertaining interview I’ve ever seen. Stephon Marbury is on Mike’d up, a show that airs in the New York metropolitan area. If you have not seen this, it is a classic.

Back to the topic, the Knicks finally have a first round pick this year which will hopefully land in the top five. They also need a new coach, the frontrunner being Marc Jackson, a hard nose New York guy. Although he does not have any coaching experience, he will have a 2 year on the job free training pass. His real test will come in 2010 when he does whatever he has to do to get Lebron James to sing with the Knicks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isiah_Thomas

http://espn.go.com/dickvitale/080423markjackson.html

Got Ten Bucks to Spare?

After coming off a disastrous season, the Miami HEAT tied their franchise’s season record for losses, finishing 15-67. With attendance extremely low and fans deciding not to renew their season tickets, the HEAT’s marketing and sales department has worked to put together the “Ten Gets You In” promotion for the 2008-2009 season. Tickets will be $10 per game, per seat; they are located in the 400 level called Uptown. These tickets are only available for purchase online.

Because many season ticket holders did not renew by the March 21st deadline, the HEAT must resort to coming up with new incentives. Why is now so important? 1) selling tickets for HEAT games is extremely difficult after the season they just had 2) it is perfect timing before the NBA draft lottery–it will give these fans the chance to secure their seats in advance of the additional season ticket holders. This will give them a secured spot in line to upgrade or relocate their seats if they want to.

With  hundreds of lower bowl seats opening up, this offer is a great idea to try to obtain new season ticket holders. This is one of the most difficult times this franchise has ever had trying to sell tickets. After the Championship, HEAT games started to become the “hottest thing”. But this season it got so bad this year that fans couldn’t even seem to watch the product on the floor. Fans instead attended the games this season because they had already spent the money on the tickets or because they wanted to come watch the Heat Dancers  (voted NBA’s most favorite dance team for the third year in a row), catch a glimpse of D Wade, or get a laugh at the Golden Oldies.

It really all comes down to the fact that South Florida is not a basketball city. No matter how bad the Dolphins may be, their stadium is always jammed back for every game. Unless the HEAT are able to create a solid team, ticket sales and attendance at the games will still be much lower than hoped for. If the HEAT gets “hot”…the fans will come. Whether the seats are $50 or $10, it doesn’t matter; if they want to come, they will…It’s Miami.

Chad Johnson: Shut Up and Play!

We all know who and what Chad Johnson is and stands for.  he is a great football player, a loud mouth and a clown on and off of the field.  Chad has the ability to be one of the all time greatest wide recievers.  It seems like Chad will never reach this title though.  Chad puts in more time planning his celebrations and worrying about his off the field self marketing than actually working on his football game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP7Cse5ab_U    <—-(Chad Johnson Phone Interview)

The most recent development in the Chad Johnson saga has been his refusal to play this season if he does not get traded.  Chad Johnson just recently signed a huge contract extension.  Over the next 4 years Chad is scheduled to make nearly 19 million dollars in just base salary.  Total value of his contract could reach up to 35 million dollars.  Now if the Bengals don’t trade him and keep him on the roster, Chad will essentially be making this money by sitting home.

Chad Johnson, if you want to prove how good you really are, you should go out and play, lead your team to the Playoffs.  Chad you are a football player, not an actor, not a comedian.  You are paid to play football.  you are on the Cincinatti Bengals and not any other team.  you are a member of the Cincinatti community.  Why have you recently refused to do interviews with local media, but will go on national media?  It really seems like Chad that all you care about is yourself.  Prove to me, prove to Cincinatti that you can be a good teammate, that you will honor your contract, and then maybe just maybe people will respect you and listen to you when you talk.  But until you can learn that important life lesson, just shut up and play football.

 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5483

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/specials/draft/2008/04/22/johnson.lewis.ap/index.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2415464

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010721845

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/rumors/post/Bengals-prepared-to-move-on-without-Chad-Johnson?urn=nfl,74740