Sports Communication: What Are We Headed For?

As The Sports Nut, I have noticed incredible changes in sport communication in the quarter century that I have watched(and been sickly obsessed with) sport.  Sports used to be an entity that we were only subjected to if we opened up the sports page or scouted out a game to watch on TV or listen to on the radio.  Now, us sports fans are thankfully able to have our very own sports worlds as a major component of our lives. 

It has been noted that my life is geared towards sports.  In fact, I am watching Illinois State and Southern Illinois on the Comcast Center Channel as they play in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.  As I am doing that, I am keeping close tabs on my ipod touch next to me as to what is going on in the other college games around the country.  In this way, I am able to flip to them during every commercial or for the ends of every close game.  I am also following the battle of Florida(Orlando vs. Miami in the NBA) on my iPad's live game stats and will start flipping to it more as it gets to later in the game.  Just another day in the life of the Sportsnut!  Yet this represents something far greater.  It stands for what us sports fans are able to do when it comes to following sports.  I am sitting here able to watch and follow all of these games and will watch recaps of them later on Sportscenter and read summaries on ESPN.com.  And other people who obsess over sport and have the same lack of balance in their lives are able to do the exact same thing!

Sports are all around us no matter where we go.  We can watch games on 100 different channels, we can check scores or watch games on our blackberries, we can order sports packages on satellite or even order NBA League Pass Mobile on our iPods and IPads(I have it on both and it is amazing).  We can read about our favorite sports, teams, and players in dozens of magazines. We can get text updates on phones or watch every game of the NCAA tournament on our computers when our bosses are not looking...that is if we do not just take 2 personal days and go to a combined 12 first and second round tournament games bouncing back and forth between 2 sites during those first 4 days of  the tournament like one person I know...me (wait, why am I single again???)

Red Sox Nation, are you tired of reading about Alex Rodriguez? You no longer have to.  Just read about your teams.

There are new concepts cropping up, such as NFL Redzone and ESPN Goal Line.  These channels air all day on Sunday and Saturday, respectively, and bounce back and forth between all of the live games.  Therefore the viewer is spoon fed every key play live without having to pick up a remote.  We can purchase game tickets on our phones and will soon be able to have a bar code scanned from our phones in place of having to have any form of ticket on us.  ESPN.com has also created separate websites(ie. ESPN Dallas or ESPN New York) for fans so that they can still get all of the national articles on their teams, but without having to filter through ESPN.com itself.

Pretty impressive how far sport communication has come and how much sport is around us, huh?  And most of this has just happened in the past 25 years.  It would be naive to think that there not will not be many more significant jumps in sport communication over the next 25.

Any sports fans used to seeing their TVs look like this?

I think that sports will be much more accessible to us when we are on the go.  Sure we have satellite radio in our cars, radio, live game stats and some live games to watch on our phones.  However, I think we will soon start to see where every sports network broadcasts all of their programming to the point where we can watch all of it on our phones.  We already have nfl redzone, NBA league pass mobile, and college mobile sports, etc. on our phones, so we are clearly headed in the direction where EVERYTHING sport wise will be available on our phones.

I also foresee many more sponsorships as sport communication becomes more and more lucrative.  We are beginning to see previews for NBA games and movies intertwined in the same commercials!  This will be a lot more prevalent going forward and we will probably experience sponsorship commercials tied into game previews much in the way that movies are beginning to. 

Journalism coverage of sport will be all that more extensive.  There will be more interviews, and juicier details/more stories about the lives of athletes. 

TV viewing will be more enhanced as fans will be able to select interviews or clips right off of the TV screen.  There will be much more interaction with players as chat rooms, social networks, etc. become more prevalent.

These are just a few of the things that I think we can safely say we will see in the next few years, but I am sure that there will be many more innovations in the world of sport communication that we are not now aware are even possible.  As the Sports Nut, I am more than a little excited at what is in store for us fans.  Heck, players might even come out of our TVs and into our living rooms.  Oh wait, turn on ESPN3D...they already are.

Baltimore Maryland: In Desparate Need of a Skatepark!

Baltimore's only current skatepark, located in Carroll Park

Baltimore, Maryland needs another skatepark.  Currently, the city has one 10,000 square foot park to accommodate roughly 30,000 skaters in the city.  Many of the other smaller cities in Maryland have adequate skateparks, but the state's biggest city is lagging behind.  This is why Baltimore Maryland is a very deserving candidate for the Tony Hawk Grant.



 The group that would be most suited to apply for the Tony Hawk Grant would be a group called the Skatepark of Baltimore.  It is a group of over 100 volunteers who are rallying around the need to build a large skating park in Baltimore.  As there are skaters, community activists, and skateboard enthusiasts in the group, the Skatepark of Baltimore is well qualified to submit the grant for the Tony Hawk Grant.

Aside from having about 30,000 skaters, Baltimore is a city with a lot of youths growing up in poverty who would benefit from another skating park.  The median household income in the city of Baltimore is slightly over $30,000.  There are also a large number of at risk youths Baltimore who could use another place to go to do something fun and sociable instead of being put in potentially violent or troublesome situations.

Proposed location for a new skatepark

Currently, the only skating park in Baltimore is located in Carroll Park and is 10,000 sq feet.  The Skatepark of Baltimore is proposing to open a skatepark in Roosevelt Park in Hamden.  The best location for this would be at the intersection of W 36th and Falls Rd.  The new proposed park would be about 5.2 miles from the existing skating park at Carroll Park.  Therefore it would still be in the heart of the city, but would be spread out enough so that there would be a park in relatively close proximity to most of the cities skaters.

The new park would be 11,000 sq feet and should contain a combination of the following: half pipes, quarter pipes, handrails, vertical ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs, and stairsets.

Meeting a Deadline in Sports Journalism

This past Wednesday I attended the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Houston Rockets game at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Oh.  I subsequently wrote a blog on the game and enjoyed the process.  It made me think about how I have read 10s of thousands of recaps on sports games but have never wrote one.  Doing so made me appreciate the process behind all of the recaps I read.

While I had no problem meeting the 11:00 pm deadline, there were some challenges.  The first was that I really had to be be observant of EVERYTHING.  I had to watch the action on the floor, but I also had to constantly check my blackberry for stats, make notes of key plays, and make a point to pay very close attention to injuries.  There were not any injuries during the game, but had there been I would have had to have made sure to check up on the latest injury statuses.  And amidst all of these challenges, I had to ignore the goings on in the arena.  NBA franchises make a point to entertain fans so that they will come back which makes for a lot to block out.

I also had to do my homework going into the game.  I could not just show up at the game 10 minutes before tip with my Nachos and 15 dollar soda.  I had to read up on each team to get background on the players, recent results, and any injuries.  I really had to know what to look for before any of the action even began!
The last problem facing a sports journalist with an early deadline such as I had is competition with online sources.  I was unable to include any quotes in my recap.  Had there been more time, I would have been able to hear press conference quotes.  Fortunately for me, there were not any stoppages in play or overtime.  If either or both of those occurred, I would have had a much harder time meeting my deadline as I would have been afforded less than an hour between the end of the game and my deadline.  Online sources can always add quotes to recaps or hold off putting recaps up until they are ready.  For a journalist for a newspaper, what is in by that deadline is what is printed because the papers have to be delivered so soon after.


I think that this experience gave me a much better perspective as to what sports journalists are facing.  And being the sports nut that I am, there are a lot of articles to be read that will now be appreciated much more by myself!

Cavaliers Begin Second Half With Loss To Rockets.

The Cavaliers first game after the all star break had a very similar theme.  It was a theme that the Cavs came to know all too well during the first half of the season.  Once again, the Cavs saw a winnable game slip from their grasp as they lost 124-119 to the Houston Rockets Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Cavaliers(10-47), who have been playing without injured Andersen Verajao since December, were also without Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson.  Williams was a late scratch due to a sprained ankle while Gibson was kept out to "deal with personal things", said Cavs head coach Byron Scott.  The Cavs got 26 points from Antawn Jamison and 20 points to go with 12 assists from Ramon Sessions.  The Cavs came out strong, showing no rust from the six day layoff.  The wine and gold led by as many as 11 in the 2nd quarter and took a 65-61 halftime lead, but were unable to make it stand up.

Scoring was not the problem for the Cavaliers as they topped 100 points for the 7th time in 9 games.  Defense, however, was an issue.  The 1-2 punch of Kevin Martin and Chase Buddinger was what did the Cavaliers in.  Martin scored 30 points and the second year Buddinger came off the bench to score a career high 30 points as well.  The Cavs especially had problems with Martin and Buddinger down the stretch as the two combined to score Houston's final 24 points of the game.

The Cavs, who were outscored 30-23 in the 3rd quarter, were able to tie the game at 107 with 5:34 in the game.  From there though Buddinger hit 2 runners and martin added 2 layups and Houston (28-31) pushed the lead out to 115-107 and never looked back.

Chuck Hayes pulled down 17 rebounds for a Rockets team that outrebounded the Cavs 57-37.  Hayes 13 offensive rebounds set a Quicken Loans Arena record.

The Cavs, who were looking to build off of a stunning victory over the 2 time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers heading into the break, got 21 points from Manny Harris. Houston won for the second time in as many nights following a 108-100 victory in Detroit Tuesday night. 

This could be the last time that we saw the two teams in their current forms with Thursday's trade deadline looming.  Shane Battier and Courtney Lee are players whose names have been bandied about in several trade discussions over the past several weeks.  Meanwhile, the Cavaliers aim to unload salary and get younger so they are hoping that the noon deadline tomorrow sees them able to land young players and draft picks.

The Rockets were without Yao Ming, Jared Jeffries, and Terrence Williams.

Houston also beat the Cavaliers December 11th in Houston.  The Cavaliers have now lost 38 out of their last 41 games.

Kevin Martin, pictured above, and Chase Buddinger combined to score 60 points on Wednesday night

Houston travels home to host the Nets, fresh off of the acquisition off Derron Williams today, on Saturday night at the Toyota Center.  The Cavs remain home to play Camelo Anthony and the new look Knicks on Friday.

The 2011 NBA All Star Game

Date:   February 20, 2011
Release Date: Immediate

Contact:  Media Information - Joe Schneeberger - email: osunationaltitle@yahoo.com

Subject:  The 2011 NBA All Star Game in Los Angeles

The 2011 NBA All Star Game at Staples Center tonight has many subplots this year because of recent player movements and player storylines.

The NBA's greatest stars will lace them up in the first all star game since "the summer of lebron".

Amar'e Stoudemire is just one of several superstars representing a new team in the 2011 All Star Game

NBA stars Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Amar'e Stoudemire will all be representing new teams in tonight's game.  After what was the most turbulent free agent offseason in league history, James and Bosh ended up in South Beach while Amar'e Stoudemire traded in his Suns jersey to head to the bright lights of New York City. James and Bosh enter the games as villains and will have added pressure on them to play well.  James, in particular, can start winning fans back with a strong performance.
Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggests - at least for the next few hours - is the center of a lot of media attention given the trade rumors that have swirled around him all season long.  He has fielded questions all weekend about a possible move to the Knicks or Nets before this week's trade deadline.  He enters this all star game in a western conference uniform perhaps for the final time.

Kobe Bryant, who will be playing in front of his home crowd on Sunday, is looking for a 4th all star mvp trophy

Kobe Bryant, a 3 time all star MVP, is one short of tying Bob Petit's record of 4.

The game will also feature newcomers Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, and Kevin Love looking to make a splash in their first all star games.  Griffin ends a 13 year drought since a rookie (Tim Duncan in 1998) last appeared in the game.

The game is scheduled to start at 8:30 pm tonight, Sunday, February 20, 2011. It will air on TNT

Pop star Rihanna will perform during halftime.

Questions?  Email Joe Schneeberger at osunationaltitle@yahoo.com

Fundraising and Recruiting in Sports: Parralel Worlds?

In order to win you need talent.  To get that talent you have to recruit it.  This is no great secret among college programs as this has always been the case.  What is also very important is having the necessary funds to run a program.  Without these funds, a program cannot be successful.  For this reason, the majority of coaches and athletic departments must fundraise.  And interestingly enough, the practices used in raising funds are quite often similar to the ones used in recruiting.

In both recruiting and in fundraising, coaches must be able to successfully identify prospects.  With recruiting, the coaches attempt to identify the players who have talent and who can help their teams.  In the way of fundraising, coaches try to find donors who have the means to help their programs.  This ability on the part of coaches to recognize prospects goes a long way in determining the success of their programs...in recruiting AND in fundraising.

Persistence is a key to any successful recruitment of a player.  It is not often that a player is going to sign away 4 years of his life to a coach the first time the two come into contact.  It normally takes many phone calls, letters, in person visits, and a level of comfort to get a player to commit to a program.  The same holds true with fundraising.  A potential donor is not just going to write a check when when first contacted.  A donor must feel comfortable with the coach and the idea of where the money will be going.

Recruiting and Fundraising are both areas where the end goal is a commitment.  In recruiting a coach is looking for a verbal, and subsequently, a written commitment.  Fundraising is an arena where the coach wants to secure a verbal commitment from a donor followed by the donation itself.
I can draw comparisons between my experience with fundraising and the process during which I was recruited by colleges for basketball. I work in the field of school fundraising.  In fact, my dad and I worked for QSP, which is one of the companies advertised in the article.  My dad was able to earn National Sales Rep of the Year for QSP in 2005, while I was working full-time with him to help him in his accounts and selling new programs.  My dad and I then incorporated in 2005, which enabled us to offer new products in addition to the QSP ones that we were already using.  What these new products have allowed for us to do is work with a number of high school teams.  Through these sales, I have been able to observe what a profound effect a coach can have on a team's fundraiser.  When a coach persists in motivating players, letting them know how they will benefit from the funds, and acts enthusiastic about the fundraiser, this usually translates into very successful sales.  When a coach treats a fundraiser as though it is a necessary evil, the sale usually flops  because the players will not rally around something that the coach does not rally around.

When I was being recruited for basketball during my senior year of high school, my final list of schools I was considering consisted of those where the coach was enthusiastic about the process.  The programs that I gravitated towards were all ones where the coaches persisted in calling me a lot, showed up at my games to watch me play, and made me feel as though my coming to those schools was very important to them and that i could help those programs a lot.

In all of my experiences, it is the coaches who show the most passion for both recruiting and fundraising that are successful.  If a coach is able to do this, the skills will transfer...as they are very much the same!

Kobe Bryant: Superstars Sell

Ever since the 1980s and the trend of companies to hire famous athletes to endorse their products and services, we have seen the correlation that a player's on field performance can have on fans willingness to buy products endorsed by that athlete.  I grew up during the 'Be Like Mike Era' as I prefer to call it and was witness to the pull that athletes began to have on consumers.  I always had to have the products endorsed by my favorite NBA players because, after all, it would make me be like them!  This was evidenced by a visit that my family once took to Payless Shoes back in the late 80s.  My parents were about to buy me shoes and my dad suggested this ugly pair of blue suede high tops that cost $1.  My disgust was written all over my face until my dad fibbed a bit and told me that they were the same shoes that Larry Bird wears.  At that point I had to have them!  And a few months later I got that same pair of shoes again!  Never mind that they were the ugliest shoes I'd ever seen because I thought I was being like my hero Larry Bird!  Well the Be Like Mike or Be Like Larry(except not really) Eras gave way to the Be Like Tiger, Lebron, and Kobe eras of today.  The willingness of consumers to buy products promoted by star athletes is stronger then ever.  I mention Kobe Bryant because Kobe provides the strongest example of how this rings true.

Kobe's image was damaged after the 2004 rape allegations

In the early 2000s, Kobe Bryant was an endorsement juggernaut.  He had lucrative deals with Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Upper Deck.  Every youngster seemed to idolize Kobe.  Kobe represented everything  they wanted to be.  He was young(he came into the league at age 17), he was cool, and his style of play was flashy.  This all took a sudden turn though.


In 2004, Kobe Bryant was charged with sexual assault.  This had stemmed from accusations of a young lady that Kobe had forced her to have sex with her in a Colorado hotel room.  All of a sudden, this young star who could do no wrong become someone who did something very wrong.  Kobe was now an adultering rapist in the eyes of the public and to the companies he was endorsing.  McDonald's terminated his contract and Coca-Cola let his contract expire in 2005.

Coke let Kobe's Sprite contract expire in 2005, but has since signed him again

Over the next few years, Kobe began work on repairing his image.  He said and did the right things.  He appeared apologetic and always seemed to have his family visible after games.  He also continued to play tremendous basketball.

Flash forward to 2011.  Kobe Bryant is widely cheered both at home and on the road.  Chants of 'Kobe' and 'MVP' are often rained down upon him.  His jersey is the number 1 selling jersey in the league and he made over $24 million in endorsements alone in 2010.  Even Coke re-signed him in 2008 sighting the fact that a marriage between a superstar player and superstar company made perfect sense.  Most recently, Bryant signed a big deal with Turkish Airlines as his endorsements are becoming more global.


So how did Kobe Bryant pull this off? Did it have to do with the fact that was contrite in the public eye?  Possibly, although his crime was so horrible that it is hard to believe that anyone would ever mistake him for citizen of the year.  It is more likely that Kobe's play on the court turned his image back around.  He scores 81 points in a game.  He won his 4th and 5th championships.  And in a what have you done for me lately society, this is good enough for Kobe Bryant to again be cool.  Many ignore Kobe's past transgression as if it never happened.  They are too busy buying his products and trying to be like Kobe to care.  Taking notes Tiger?