The Toronto Blue Jays just sent a press release with information and images of their new logos and uniforms. It doesn’t seem like much has changed, although I’ll let you be the judge. Here are the new unis followed by their lettering and secondary logos (I couldn’t get the primary logo to download):
In response to my title, not well. On the night preceding the day on which the NBA Players Association is expected to vote on accepting the NBA’s latest CBA proposal, the league decided to leverage its 3 million-plus Twitter followers. A smart move on the surface but the League managed to screw it up.
I get what the NBA was thinking. They’ve done an excellent job of framing their proposals and stances by having Commish David Stern speak on radio shows and have him and Adam Silver jointly lead their press conferences. To use Twitter to clear up confusion on the NBA’s stance the night before the players are supposed to accept or reject the latest proposal is savvy. The League claimed Stern and Silver were actually answering questions, although my skeptical nature leads me to believe it was their PR staff.
They answered 29 questions in roughly 75 minutes. That’s a decent pace. The problem was they got off to a mind-numbingly slow start by answering, I believe, three questions in 15 minutes. While it didn’t seem the case at the time, @NBA’s timeline does show it re-tweeting each person’s question, then answering with a ‘.’ before that questioner’s handle, so that anyone following @NBA could see the answer.
One issue I had with the NBA’s selection of whom they would answer is that it was comprised of fans, sportswriters and NBA players. Two of Spencer Hawes’ irritable tweets were answered; Dwyane Wade got another. Then sports media folks Bill Simmons, Darren Rovell, Dave McMenamin, Michael Lee and Sam Amick had inquiries answered.
It’s clear @NBA wanted to spread the love. The problem is NBA players and the sports media have already had access to the NBA’s manner of thinking. Players, including Wade, have been in meetings with the League throughout this lockout. They know – or at least are aware – of the NBA’s position.
Likewise, sportswriters have had access to the NBA through their press conferences which follow every day of labor meetings. This was an opportunity for the NBA to connect with fans. Instead, they looked crass when interacting with players and media. Fans don’t want to see any of that. People are tired of the players and owners fighting; they certainly don’t want to see it brought to Twitter.
The NBA was also rather curt in its answers. I didn’t expect them to be incredibly revealing throughout the Twitterview, as they termed it. They won’t lower themselves to negotiate on Twitter. (Although that didn’t stop them from lowering themselves to arrogantly answering NBA players’ questions.) As I write this, I begin to think the Twitterview wasn’t a good idea. What does the NBA have to gain?
One might think positive public sentiment is there for the taking, but the NBA’s lack of detailed answers meant the opposite. I think people who followed the evening’s question/answer session are even more frustrated with the League. They see the NBA as being even more of a brick wall separating reason from politicking.
It ticks me off that the Miami sports community continually attracts the attention that it does. In the late ’90s, it was Jimmy Johnson’s move to coach the Dolphins, the Pat Riley/Alonzo Mourning Heat and the Marlins’ out-of-nowhere World Series win in ’97 that captured SportsCenter highlights and magazine articles.
Chris Bosh Face
By the early ’00s, Miami college football was back on the radar and the Marlins grabbed another ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ World Series victory in ’03. In ’04, Shaq Diesel himself was deal to the Heat. He and Dwyane Wade grabbed yet another major sports championship for the city in ’06, making it four sports titles (Marlins 2, Heat 1, The U 1) in a nine-year period for that ungrateful city.
Then something amazing happened. That horrible sports city which fancies itself as a New York- or Los Angeles-like town without the requisite passion fell into the mother of all sports ditches. The Heat won 44 games in their first post-title year, then captured only 15 and 43 Ws in the two seasons following that, through ’08-09. (They won a respectable 47 games in ’09-10.)
The Dolphins won a magnificently precious 1 game in ’07, briefly gained relevance with an 11-win campaign the following year, then submerged back into obscurity with consecutive 7-win seasons. The U waded into an abyss as murky as South Florida’s waterways as they won 5, 7, 9 and 7 games in ’07-10. The Marlins were marginally effective after their 71-win ’07 season, racking up 84, 87 and 80 victories in ’08-10.
During that time period, the Miami sports scene was best known for its biggest star (the aforementioned DWade) being made of paper mache, its second biggest star (the Marlins’ Hanley Ramirez) not giving a fuck and for missing the one star that got away (Drew Brees). Miami sports were pathetic. Life was great.
Then the Summer of LeBron happened. James, DWade and Chris Bosh Face pulled off what was likely a two- or three-year plan by teaming together to make the Heat relevant again. (The irony of them bringing increased attention from casual sports fans to the NBA is that it was likely the tipping point for NBA owners to lock out the players for all they’re worth, thus eradicating all those fans who found the League interesting in the first place.)
The U still sucks (and was killed by Yahoo! Sports in a transcendent bit of sports journalism), and the Dolphins are once again an NFL doormat. But now the Marlins want to share that South Florida sunshine with the Heat. They want to sign big-time free agent after free agent (or at least give the appearance of wanting to do so) to coincide with the opening of their new stadium and their new re-branding. Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes are among the big names who the Marlins are reportedly interesting in signing.
Miami Marlins' new logo.
The Marlins already have Hanley and, more importantly, young studs Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison. They have Josh Johnson and a few other talented hurlers on their pitching staff. Now, they’ll have a sparkling new 37,000-seat ballpark. (With an outstanding collection of art that will go inside it, a la Cowboys Stadium and Amway Center.) If they sign either Reyes or Pujols, then my head will explode. Miamians don’t deserve them.
Florida has no state income tax. Miami has beautiful weather most of the year and the most gorgeous women anywhere. They have LeBron, DWade, Leftover Reggie Bush, Stanton, Lomo and enough horrific uniform combinations among the Dolphins, Heat and Marlins to make anyone with bad fashion sense blush. They have enough already. I’m rooting against the Marlins in getting any significant MLB free agent this off-season as much as I root against the unreasonable small-market NBA owners trying to break the players. (Another story for a different day.) I want South Florida to stop receiving so many prized sports stars and the attention that comes with them.
Fans there don’t appreciate what they have, as shown by various teams’ attendance figures. Save the comments about the depressed South Florida real estate market. Marlins games cost next to nothing; they’re cheaper than movie tickets or any night at a bar or restaurant. South Floridians just don’t give a damn about sports. My rant is over. Thanks for reading.
This week has moved so fast that I forgot I have some NYC Marathon pictures and videos to share. Given the news in the cycle this week – PSU’s child sex abuse controversy, Greece/Italy’s situation getting worse, Joe Frazier’s death and loads of other topics – I’m beginning to feel that my thoughts on the marathon are insignificant. They probably are but I’ll give it a shot.
I’ve lived in New York City since June 2007. Sunday was the first time I watched the marathon in-person. And this is the second year I’ve lived on Second Avenue, one avenue east of a marathon’s route through Manhattan. I also lived in Queens’ Long Island City in 2009, a neighborhood through which runners travel on their way to the Queensboro/59th St. bridge.
I wanted to go simply to experience it. I had five or six friends running in it, yet my lack of an iPhone meant I wouldn’t be able to track the positioning of my friends. What I did was take a few pictures at 94th St., walk to a bar on 90th and drink a beer while watching marathoners do their thing.
One sight I enjoyed was watching people watch the marathoners from their apartment windows. One group of folks were on their building’s rooftop. Big as this city is, it can feel like a small town the way people rally around others, most of whom are strangers. That’s the part of New York City that sucks me in, as it does t many others.
The following article is not a scare tactic. Some folks might interpret it that way, that if I am writing about the skin diseases and fungi that crop up in gyms then it must mean I’m trying to stoke fear in people who go there. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ll tell you why I wrote this story for Weight Watchers Online for Men.
Very simply, it’s about awareness. I’m the type of person who lives for taking in as much information as I can. Even if some of the info I learn about isn’t of use, at least I know about it. That’s the case with staph infections or Athlete’s foot or the two other types of bacteria I talk about in this story. (At 800-plus words, I can describe only so many of them while also providing specifics.)
Maybe none of you who read this will obtain staph or any other skin disease through a gym or anywhere else. I hope that’s the case. But it pays off to know that these types of bacteria are around; to know that they’re obtainable. Which makes it valuable to understand what various bacteria look like and how to minimize the chances of having any of them enter your body.
It’s not like you’re going to walk into a gym and automatically have any of this stuff infiltrate your body. Yet you can’t assume that a gym is going to do everything in its power to keep its environment as clean as possible. It’s better to take matters into your own hands, which is really what this article is about. Awareness and responsibility for yourself.
Click on the link below to read the story.
A public relations rep at MSG Network approached me a month ago about a Knicks-related show. Regional sports networks that broadcast games of the NBA team in its market have had to get creative with their programming. The NBA lockout has forced them into finding ways to show content about their local team while training camp, the preseason and, now, regular season games are missed. MSG Network has found one solution to their problem by starting a series called 1994: March To The Finals.
The series shows 20 significant games from the Knicks’ 1993-94 season. Rather than write a story documenting why MSG Network is running the series (obvious) and getting quotes from a MSG executive (boring), I decided to speak with players, coaches and other folks connected to that team – sort of an oral history.
I began by looking into what players would chat. Herb Williams was easily accessible since he coaches for the Knicks. The team PR staff hooked me up there. I sent interview requests to the Magic (Patrick Ewing), Bobcats (Charles Oakley) and Celtics (Doc Rivers), but they went nowhere. I got at Greg Anthony to Turner Sports PR. I ended up talking with Jeff Van Gundy by going to ESPN’s PR folks. Oakley and I actually spoke for the story after I found out about an event in downtown NYC in which he was promoting his new clothing line.
I asked the Knicks if they had a team historian – they do. So, he and I chatted for an hour and a half about that ’93-94 Knicks team. In that conversation, the historian – Dennis D’Agostino – told me I should speak with Mike Saunders, who the Knicks’ trainer that season and for 26 other campaigns. Through a Google search, I found that Saunders, no longer in the NBA, runs a physical therapy practice north of New York City.
In research for a story about the famous Reno Trip, which D’Agostino told me, I read a news story of that account by Clifton Brown, who during that ’93-94 season was a Knicks beat reporter for the New York Times. Clifton and I chatted for 20 minutes about that season. Then I remembered that I’m Twitter friends with Clarence Gaines, who was a scout and front office executive for the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan Era. He and I discussed what that time meant for the Knicks-Bulls rivalry.
In all, I spoke with three former Knicks players, a former Knicks coach, their team historian, their former athletic trainer, a former beat reporter who covered them and a former scout of a rival team. This is how a story can be turned from a simple run-through of a TV network’s program to an in-depth story – or stories – of a team that means a lot to a lot of people.
Click on the links below to read the stories:
I had family in town last week and was all over the place during the weekend. Therefore, I didn’t give myself the time to search for quotes. It’ll be back next week.
The interview will be up tomorrow on SLAMonline. I wanted to plant a few thoughts on here, though. Jerry West is one of those athletes whom I think of only in mystical terms. He played in an era – the ’60s and early ’70s – which obviously came well before I was born. He played for a team I grew up loving to death – still do.
West’s presence, though, has been one that seemed only half-real. There are YouTube videos of NBA games from his era, as there are older games on NBA TV from time-to-time. I’ve read books and magazine articles about West and other athletes, from all sorts of sports, from his era and eras before his time.
But I look at these guys now, older men, and it’s difficult to imagine that they were among the world’s best athletes at one time. I remember once seeing Sandy Koufax at an event at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. I was too nervous to go up to him and shake his hand. I mean, it’s SANDY FUCKING KOUFAX. As an L.A. kid who grew up watching the Dodgers and reading about their history, I was too awestruck to do anything other than stare at him. He’s a strapping guy, too. Seventy-four years old but still an athletic-looking 6’2. The same with West.
West is also 6’2 and, like Sandy, he still has an athletic build. Yet to think of him as a world-class athlete is odd. He’s 73 years old, so athletic prowess isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. At the same time, I was still slightly dumbfounded tonight as I spoke with him. I’ve read so much about him and have seen him on TV so often. He’s been apart of every Lakers dynasty while they’ve been in Los Angeles, since 1960.
Even though he hasn’t worked for the Lakers since 2000, his fingerprints were all over the latest Lakers back-to-back title teams. He drafted Fisher, traded for Kobe on that same draft night and hired Phil Jackson. In many ways, Jerry West IS the Lakers. That’s why it was such a pleasure to step out of my mindset as a sports reporter and enjoy the experience of meeting him as a sports fan.
Coaches are particularly highlighted this week. I don’t know if they get more angry or snarky in mid-October; they certainly can be as brash as players. Enjoy.
Nick Saban in a rant to reporters about their coverage of issues aside from the upcoming game in that particular week: “I could give a shit about all that, excuse my French.”
Bryant Gumbel discussing David Stern on HBO’s Real Sports: “But his efforts were typical of a commissioner, who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer treating NBA men as if they were his boys.”
Rick Pitino on Syracuse and Pitt leaving the Big East: “You’ve been dating this woman for 30 years, show a little respect.”
FOX Sports’ Tim McCarver giving a teaching lesson on how to spell ‘strike’: “It’s a five letter word – s-t-r-i-k-e.”
Norv Turner in response to Rex Ryan’s claim that he would have won a couple Super Bowls with the Chargers teams Turner has coached the last few seasons: ” I didn’t have a chance to ask him this, but I was wondering if he had those rings with the ones he’s guaranteed the last couple of years.”
Raiders coach Hue Jackson on his backup quarterbacks: “I have great respect for our backup quarterbacks. But they’re backups.”
Texans wide receiver Kevin Walter on Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan, a notoriously dirty player: “He can be a prick here and there.”
Golfer Justin Leonard in response to a tournament official at the Children’s Miracle Network Classic who asked Leonard if he ate, while Leonard waited for other tournament officials to confirm he was eligible to play in the tournament: “I already ate. I think I’m going to throw up.”
Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant prior to the Week 7 matchup vs. the Rams. The Cowboys were 2-3 heading into the game: “I feel like, it may sound crazy, I think we are unbeatable.”
Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel describing how he’s managed to stay focused despite reports of the Eagles’ willingness to trade him: “And Asante Samuel is a business entity first, so I’m going to make sure I handle my business accordingly.”
Reggie Bush on his 0-6 Dolphins after they blew a 15-0 lead against the Broncos in Week 7: “This team stinks. It’s embarrassing. I don’t know any other way to explain it. It’s disgusting.”
Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano in a plea to a game official to review a touchdown catch during the Dolphins’ 18-15 loss to the Broncos on Sunday: “If I don’t call timeout we’re all fucked. Now I’m getting fired.”
Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan’s response to a reporter’s question of who he would at quarterback in Week 8 following the Redskins’ Week 7 loss to the Panthers, 33-20: “Are you joking?”
Vikings defensive end Brian Robison in an apology to Packers offensive lineman T.J. Lang for kicking him in the nuts during the Vikings’ 33-27 Week 7 loss to the Packers: “I am not a dirty player and did not maliciously aim for the groin, just happened to be where it landed.”
Michael Beasley on the labor negotiations between the NBA and the NBA players union: “Fighting over three percent, that’s kind of retarded to me.”
Back and forth between WFAN/YES’s Mike Francesa and Darrelle Revis, who were arguing over whether Revis should have been called for pass interference on a play against Brandon Marshall during Week 6′s Jets-Dolphins game.
Revis: “Do you know football or are you good at interviewing?”
Francesa: “Both.”
Revis: “No, no you’re not. You’re good at one.”
I dare you to remember a time when an automotive company helped athletes get better at their jobs. There may actually be several examples of this; the one I found connects BMW and USA Track & Field. I was approached by a PR firm about a BMW-developed technology that they were testing with USATF.
It took me awhile to understand how the tech worked and why it could benefit athletes. Very simply, anything that gives athletes a quicker method of evaluating their performance will help. So long as it is sensible tech. This BMW dual camera system I detailed for Wired.com’s Playbook seems as though it would be right up the alley of an athlete, specifically one training for the Olympics.
Click the link below to read the story.
A few quick lines here…
NBA players must stop playing the victim card on Twitter, other social media outlets and in interviews. They keep repeating the same talking points – “The owners locked us out.” “We just want to play basketball.” “We feel for your fans.” Shut up, stop it and bullshit.
I have no doubt that most, if not all, NBA players love the game. I actually side with them overall, not that it matters. But they’re not victims. They’re culpable for this lockout, same as the owners. Too many players under-perform their contracts and then don’t want to be held accountable for it. It’s because the players like money and value their position in the game, which is exactly why they’re arguing with the owners on how many concessions they must make to solve this lockout.
If players just wanted to play, they would’ve agreed to the first proposal the owners made. They don’t want to just play. They want to play on their economic terms. Which is fine, but they should be honest about their intentions. That is something fans can understand. Fans don’t want to be told that the players feel bad the game isn’t there. Fans don’t give a shit about that. They want action, and in order for action to occur the players must stop acting like victims. They have to put their energy into helping this lockout get resolved.
Reggie Miller on NBA TV’s Game Time commenting on NBA players not living up to their contracts: “You are resting on the laurels of the players that came before you when the puddin’ was good and the banks were open.
Victor Martinez, after injuring an oblique muscle during Game 3 of the ALCS, on his prospects of playing in Game 4: “The only way I won’t play tomorrow is if I wake up and I’m dead.”
Boxer Chad Dawson on Bernard Hopkins, who Dawson said faked an injury during Dawson’s TKO last Saturday night: “I knew he didn’t want the fight. He keeps talking about Philly and being a gangster. He’s no gangster. Gangsters don’t quit. He’s weak. He’s a weak physically- and mentally-minded person. He has no power.”
Michael Irvin on a catch made by Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin: “He can play football anywhere on the football field.”
Jon Lester on the beer and chicken Red Sox pitchers consumed during games: “It was a ninth-inning rally beer. We probably ordered chicken from Popeye’s like once a month.”
Magic Johnson on LeBron James: “There’s always going to be guys who win championships in the NBA. Except LeBron. Don’t be mad.”
Jon Gruden commenting on the winless Miami Dolphins: “When you’re winless you need a win bad.”
Bill Clinton relaying a story about what Michael Jordan once said to him during a golf outing after Clinton tried to tee off from the white tee box: “You’re going to play from the little girls’ tee?”
Marlins manager Carlos Guillen criticizing White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper. Cooper made a comment on a radio show that Guillen had told Sox GM Kenny Williams to let coaches on his staff sweat it out as Guillen moved from the Sox to the Marlins: “He backstabbed his fellow coaches, the guys he worked with for years. You got family? That’s fine. Everyone does. We all knew Coop was Kenny’s bitch.”
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in response to being asked if he was a “flash in the pan.” He joked he was the “flavor of the week”: “Call me Haagen-Dazs black walnut.”
I never imagined myself interviewing Padma Lakshmi when I began writing about sports. Yet there I was, at Justin Tuck’s charity event for literacy this past June, talking with Padma about basketball. I was there for SLAM, and Padma was there to support Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy program.
There is a section towards the front of SLAM’s magazine called DimeDrop. It’s intended for celebrities to discuss basketball, which actually makes my experience interviewing Padma to be not so unique. Lots of celebrities are interviewed about sports by those of us in the industry. Of course, Padma is probably more entertaining than most.
Yeah, she’s easy on the eyes – duh. She’s also a quick thinker. I asked her about a dish she would like to see served at basketball games, and she had one for me on the spot. It probably won’t make Madison Square Garden’s refashioned concession offerings (which are numerous) but I just might present this to MSG as a last-minute addition.
Click on the link below to read the story (or read it in SLAM 152, the November 2011 issue).
David Stern relied upon a slew of talking points during his media blast late last week, but the most frustrating one to hear was his comparison between the Lakers and Kings. He liked noting that the Kings (24 wins, last in the Pacific Division) spent $45 million on players last year while the Lakers (57 wins, first in the Pacific) doled out $110 million. That, in Stern’s argument, leads to one team selling hope versus another having none to sell. Let’s roll through the problems with this example:
–The Kings weren’t in a position to spend a lot of money last year. They weren’t expected to be in contention for a playoff spot, so they didn’t see the need to spend a lot of money. The Lakers obviously have a title-contending team.
–The point can be made that the real problem with the Kings is that they had no hope of contending. But does that have more to do with them making money to spend or with poor roster construction by team management? I’ll take the latter. The Kings’ major free agent signing of the past several seasons was in 2008, when they gave Beno Udrih $32M over five years to play point guard. Prior to last season, they traded Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni to the 76ers for Sam Dalembert, a middling center who made $13M last year. (It was presumably to use Dalembert as a trade chip, since he was in the last year of his bloated contract.)
Again, Beno Udrih was given $32M and Sam Dalembert was acquired with $13M left on his contract.
–Did Stern have a problem with the disparity between the Kings’ and Lakers’ payrolls during the early 2000s? The Kings won 55, 61, 59, 55 and 50 games from the 2000-01 season to the 2004-05 campaign. The teams from that era were fueled by smart trades (Chris Webber, Doug Christie, Mike Bibby), free agent signings (Vlade Divac, Bobby Jackson, Scot Pollard) and draft picks (Peja Stojakovic, Hedo Turkoglu, Gerald Wallace). They didn’t need deep pockets because GM Geoff Petrie had enough savvy to build a roster without one. In fact, deep pockets could’ve gotten them into trouble. Hence desperation signings like Udrih so that the team can say it’s throwing around dollars to build a winner.
–Yes, the Kings have a rundown arena that doesn’t bring in lots of revenue. Their owners, the Maloofs, don’t have the resources that owners in other markets have. Yet the Maloofs have fallen on hard times also from poor decision-making by themselves in industries which have nothing to do with the NBA. Remember the Palms Casino?
The Maloofs built the first installment of the mega-celebrity hangout in 2001. Fair enough. It was popular then and probably made a boatload of money as Vegas raked in tourists during the early to mid-2000s. So, the Maloofs spent more hundreds of millions to build a second installment of the Palms in 2005. Then…the 2008 recession hit. Vegas was pounded – one of the most negatively-affected areas in the country. People nationwide struggled financially to survive, much less to string together a budget for a Vegas trip. Casinos like the Palms were hit hard. No tourists, no money.
That led the Maloofs to sell off all but 2 percent of their ownership in the casino earlier this year. Surely the financial hit in the casino’s downturn had an effect on what money they were willing to put into the team. (The same could be said for the Maloofs and their beer distributorship, which they sold in December 2009.)
The Maloofs made poor decisions in their non-NBA holdings through the years, including an incredibly dumb idea to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a Las Vegas casino three years before a massive recession. It’s not an NBA player’s responsibility to help cover the loss incurred by an owner for a decision which was made outside the realm of the NBA.
The fact the Kings didn’t spend a lot of money last year occurred because of a confluence of factors. They weren’t competing because their team was bad. Their team was bad because team management hadn’t done a good job drafting, signing and trading for players. If there really was less money available for them to spend, it wasn’t just because Sacramento is a small market and their arena is crap. Their owners have mismanaged their non-NBA holdings, which has led them to mismanage their NBA club. That’s not the players’ fault. The owners have to take, well, ownership for that.
