Today marks the triumphant return of the Ballsy Blog of the Week, which fittingly goes to the quartet of Chad Ochocinco, Chris Cooley, Ray Rice and Darnell Docket for their unprecedented news coverage along with Jake & Amir during Super Bowl week. We highlight it for the fact that not only is the group (collectively known as the OCNN News Team) downright hilarious, but the project’s sponsor – Motoblur – does an amazing job integrating their product into the viral videos in a manner that compliments, rather than takes away, from the videos’ entertainment value.
I have seen the future. Take note, advertisers.
Staying in Miami, we bring on on-location guest Joe Fortenbaugh of National Football Post to talk Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, trade rumors, McNabb/Favre speculation and how the site and its unique staff have quickly become an inside source for pro football news, analysis and insight.
Prior to joining on with NFP full-time and focusing on fantasy football posts, Joe worked as an NFL agent at JB Sports for three years while earning his degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.
Christopher Byrne, one of the foremost watchdogs on sports journalism at Eye on Sports Mediabestowed this beautiful etrophy upon us today along with a very flattering write-up on his site.
When I started blogging as part of the IBM Lotus Software community back in late 2002, I was immediately part of a group of people that understood (and still understands) the inherent value of community building and collaboration. In many ways this is unusual among blogosphere genres, and the sports blogosphere has been no exception. That is, until someone came up with a great idea to bring sports bloggers and mainstream media professionals together to meet, greet, debate, and exchange ideas.
Shifting gears from NFL playoff and Super Bowl talk, we bring on guest Lang Whitaker, executive editor at SLAM Magazine, columnist at Hawks.com and author of a forthcoming memoir on Bobby Cox and growing up a Braves fan.
Lang talks about the unique relationship the magazine was able to develop with the NBA’s biggest stars and teams.
As someone who dabbles and excels in and on so many platforms, Lang brings insight to how writing in general is affected by the immediacy of the Internet age:
“The more you write online, the better a writer it makes you. You learn to deal with immediate reactions from people. You understand what the audience looks for in stories…But at the same time, I learned a long time ago you cant 100% give in to what people want you to do. At some point you stay true to yourself and you hope the audience likes what you’re doing.”
Keep an eye out for Searching for Bobby Cox, due out February 2011, which is a Julie and Julia-esq memoir of lessons Lang’s “learned about life by watching Bobby Cox managing the Braves.”
Steve Nash graces the cover of this month’s issue of Fast Company magazine.
The accompanying story focuses on Nash transforming his public image from a reluctant sports superstar who once shunned public light and endorsement oportunities to one who now embraces the spotlight and the subsequent philanthropic benefit he can garner from it.
Photo Credit: Patrik Giardino
His willingness to transform came from his realization that he needs to prep for a life after basketball – one in which he hopes he can make a real difference in the world. A large part of his new carefully-crafted public persona comes from his ability to maintain control of his assets by using his own concepts (and production team) and leveraging new technology.
While Nash says in the article, that these days professional athletes “think of themselves as a brand, but that’s not my way of thinking,” ultimately it is his personal brand that he is honing to both personal and public benefit.
His newest startup, Apoko, grew out of his affinity for social media. On Facebook, where he has nearly 600,000 fans (more than 100,000 people follow him on Twitter), he shares videos of himself — playing a pickup game in China with locals; hanging out on the set of Katherine Heigl’s next movie, Life As We Know It (he has a cameo); and sweating through Whitecaps training. While playing a charity game, he and the Clippers’ Baron Davis discovered a mutual interest in film, which led to their making a spoof of Will Ferrell’s Step Brothers. The video attracted more than 600,000 views on YouTube. As two of the most Web-savvy NBA players, they decided to help other athletes market themselves online. “We’ll help them build a fan base and create content,” Nash says. “That’s the hard part for players.”
That “hard part,” whether Nash will admit it, is only as strong as individual branding. Were Nash (and Davis) not the commodity that they are, it’d be difficult to gain an upward of half-a-million online fans to opt-in to the athlete’s social media space.
Nash’s reflectance is ultimately part of his appeal – a stark contrast to the egotistical world of sports we know.
The model could very well serve as a blueprint for athletes in years to come.
I’ve long been a fan of former MLB pitcher Jim Bouton’s book Ball Four.
The Blue Workhorse’s Shotgun Spratling caught up with Bouton for a candid telephone conversation on “the transformation and evolution of media since his playing days” (and also a little baseball talk).
“The media coverage now in sports is more distant than it was in my days. There’s so much media now, so many television cameras, so many reporters. There’s no intimacy any more. If a reporter wants to spend time with a professional athlete, get to know him and learn something about his life, he can’t do that. He has to show up at a press conference where the guy sits behind a long table, answers questions, and then gets up and walks out behind a curtain. There’s no intimacy. … There are more cameras, more reporters, less information.”
This week we focus on sports fans and are joined by not one, but two very special guests.
First, we talk with Hollywood royalty – actor Scott Caan, son of James and admittedly most known for his roll as Tweeder in Varsity Blues. (This is actually the second person from the film we have had on the show, having talked with director Mike Tollin back in October).
Scott is one of the official spokespeople for Monster.com’s NFL Fandemonium initiative.
For the second year, “Monster and the NFL have teamed to find the DOF, this year expanding the promotion to allow fans to participate in deciding who becomes the next Director of Fandemonium. The DOF promotion inspires the most zealous football fans to compete for the dream “job” of serving as a fan ambassador for Monster and the NFL with special access at a series of marquee events throughout the 2010 NFL season.”
The events in which the new DOF will have the opportunity to play a key role include:
NFL Draft: Announce a pick at the 2010 NFL Draft (April 2010)
NFL Kickoff: Act as backstage talent wrangler at the 2010 NFL Kickoff concert (September 2010)
NFL International Series: Participate in on-field introductions at the 2010 International Series Game (October 2010)
NFL Thanksgiving: Serve as an on-field broadcast liaison for the NFL Network 2010 Thanksgiving Game (November 2010)
NFL Super Bowl: Join the coin toss ceremony at Super Bowl XLV (February 2011)
NFL Pro Bowl: Select a play from the sidelines during the 2010 Pro Bowl (January/February 2011)
Publish blog posts on NFL.com and meet with top NFL executives
We talk with Scott about his involvement with the program, his career and his own athletic upbringing.
Next we are joined by former Clinton White House, Congress staffer David Goodfriend who heads up the bi-partisan sports fan advocacy group, Sports Fan Coalition (SFC). The SFC is the American sports fan’s advocate in the Washington, D.C. public policy arena and around the country for a fair return to the fans for public resources used in sports; and fair access to sporting events at the game and in the media.
With David we talk about how and why it started, what its focus is, and of whom is it comprised. We also discuss specific issues the coalition is addressing including the Comcast/NBC merger and blackouts, specifically in regard to how these things directly affect fan and whether the Coalition (as an extension of fans themselves) have real power in affecting the outcome of business decisions and public policy.
Goodfriend is also co-host of “Left Jab” on XM Satellite Radio and was a co-founder and EVP/General Counsel of Air America Radio.
Without further ado, we finally tip our hand and offer a few details on the location and time for Blogs With Balls 3.0. Listen to the podcast to find out where and when, and sign up for more information on the BwB Site.
The book makes its official release on January 19, so go get yourself one.
This week’s guest is John Christie, who serves in the dual role of EVP of Content Partnership with XOS Digital and as General Manager of the SEC Digital Network.
The company and conference made waves last summer when the New York Times ran a piece that highlighted their seemingly restrictive policy that made it difficult for bloggers and fans alike to share and distribute SEC content.
Since that time, we’ve followed the SEC’s progression and the role XOS has played in it on the Blogs With Balls blog, and have also maintained a steady and honest dialect with the company’s representatives. We also conferred with some top college football bloggers to get their thoughts. Most noted the lack of functionality and embeddablity of video and accused the SEC as serving as a clearinghouse, and hoarding and filtering content.
While the SEC’s policy may not be at the level bloggers would like to see it, John indicates that it is constantly evolving and they are taking feedback seriously.
A first step they say is the recent availability of the SEC Digital Video Widget. Christie tells us about what the widget entails and specifically if and how it might address these previous blogger criticisms.
We appreciate his willingness to address bloggers’ concerns head-on and we came away with better understanding of both why and how the policies are being implemented.
Says John:
“It was never about keeping the content from the fans. It was about developing that comprehensive strategy to get it out there to the fans through all these different mechanisms.”
Our good friend Shotgun Spratling from the Blue Work Horse passed along this video he took at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this past weekend, where he sat down with Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim centerfielder Torii Hunter and “discussed his favorite electronics whether he is at home, on the road, or even on the team plane and talked a little baseball.”
Ken Fang is one of the most intelligent and insightful sports media commentators and watchdogs on the web. He just published a great list and recap of the the best sports media stories of 2009 at Fang’s Bites.
Our guest this week is The Big Lead’s Jason McIntyre.
TBL’s combination of news, opinion, media oversight, and pop culture has enabled Jason to position it as one of the most popular independent sports blogs on the web, and parlay it into a full-time career – with a little help from the likes of Jason Whitlock and Colin Cowherd.
He talks about the site’s creation and growth, his personal background and the role it’s played in TBL’s success, and addresses the online tit-for-tat that comes with its success.
In a nod to the site’s marriage of sports and entertainment, we’ve Skyped him up with “Name that Celebrathlete.”
Staying in Miami, we bring on on-location guest Joe Fortenbaugh of National Football Post to talk Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, trade rumors, McNabb/Favre speculation and how the site and its unique staff have quickly become an inside source for pro football news, analysis and insight.
