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Dan Markovich
Dr. Ruth
Public Relations
30 November 2009
Blogger
I always have read blogs and never realized the potential Public relations applications they can offer for any field. This was my first time blogging and it was interesting to actually do something that people could potentially follow if your blog is relevant and entertaining to read. Blogging doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out and certain applications make the blog more interesting. Those applications took some getting used to. While doing the blog I looked a little more in depth than usual into the sports world to grasp the Public relations in the real world. I had never looked at it in this light, and I felt a better understanding of different types of media. Not only because it taught me a new technical skill in blogging, but it also broadened horizons in teaching me how pivotal Public Relations is for the business of athletes and sports organizations alike. I still have much to learn about what is appropriate for this more informal way of writing known as a blog, but that will come with more experience and when I better understand my audience. Hopefully if I get a PR job, I will be the one to blog for that company If it will help reach the consumer.

Tiger wood’s first PR Nightmare.

Tiger woods’ has been the poster boy for the PGA and how to be a mature athlete dealing with the constant fame. He has done a wonderful job staying free from scandal which in turn has made him one of the safest and most heavily endorsed athletes of all time. Years of excellent golf and raking in hundreds of millions a year has seemingly caught up to him. In recent media he has made his first PR nightmare. The circumstances are still being sorted out, but his image is being torn apart by the media because of his refusal to have a prepared statement about what went on that night between him and his wife. By not speaking to the media at all, he has opened the door for speculation, was he drunk driving crashing that care in the driveway? He did his 100 pound wife drag him from the driver’s door all the way out the back window? Was there another woman? The speculation goes on, because of how impeccable his image has been and how famous an athlete he is. Anyone who has ever taken a pr class knows that by not addressing the media, you are basically completely guilty. Sorry Tiger you dropped the ball on this one.

Links

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/w/tiger_woods/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gKSxUer_3I

Apple pie and Steroids

Greg Valentino, does this person sound familiar? Looking at his picture, you might feel a nauseating feeling in the pit of your stomach, yet you can not look away. He holds the world record for the largest triceps ever. You would think that this title is an honor, but not when you take a look at this man. There is no possible way he wasn’t shooting up roids (steroids) like it was going out of style to obtain this narcissistic honor. This is one of the more blatant portrayals of steroid use in the athletic world. Valentino even comes out and says it “steroids are as American as apple pie”. I’m sure he’s not the only one with these sentiments. Our society seems to be pushing us to be better, faster, stronger, and if you happen to fall short in one of these categories, then you better find some way to cheat. A-Rod, Pettit, and Hogan are just some of the more recent names associated with anabolic steroid use. It’s a shame that our society is so superficial that people feel the need to cheat and put something physically harmful into their bodies just to feel good about themselves or to meet some kind of unattainable standard. I have felt these pressures first hand, having played football and baseball. Coaches would turn a blind eye to any of the players with huge jumps in their body mass or in their bench press. It is all fair if it helps you win, the end justifies the means in a sense. Once again, this win at all costs is tearing these young bodies apart. It gotten so out of hand that the PGA tour and college golfers are required to be tested for steroids and they have mandated some of the harshest punishments. The age of the chubby, middle aged golfer is no more. I can understand the PGA’s logic for laying down a no tolerance policy, because of the impeccable image they don’t want to jeopardize. In conclusion, steroids are everywhere. The USA is ground zero for any new anabolic steroids so you can see why Valentino compared them to apple pie. One hopes this is a dying trend because, its causing physical harm to the younger generations.

Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBBWMRRWOrM

Fantasy Football

Fantasy football is attracting more and more fans each day. If you don’t know what it is, then you are not an American. Its really so prevalent that if you don’t have a betting pool somewhere, you are out of the loop. Fantasy football is Public a relations masterpiece. It gets people involved with their teams and the NFL as a whole. First off, you find a group of people who you want to compete against for a small wager or no wager. It livens things up if you bet a within your pool. Once you have gotten your pool together then you have a round robin “draft” in which you choose offensive players and one defense. Throughout the year you have to keep updating your teams, therefore keeping you very involved in the game and the stats. If a player you have drafted scores a certain amount of times or rushes for a certain amount, then you are awarded fantasy points. On the flip side, if your player gets injured or is unproductive, then you can draft other players or bench them. All this involvement has to be done within your pool and all selections have to be done prior to kick off on Sunday. It seems a bit complicated, but its pretty intuitive and keeps you really involved in any kind of sports news. You consume more sports news because any kind of a scandal or injury will affect your and if you find out in time, you can change your starting lineup. To conclude, this is one of the best ways to get people involved in their sports and it also keeps them consuming as much media on the subject as possible, leading to millions of advertising dollars flowing into the NFL and their teams. Who ever thought this scheme up is the modern day Edward Bernays.

Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QmH4jkqJFQ&feature=PlayList&p=6B9E348D58CFB1A4&index=0

There will be beer

Advertising is pivotal for any company with a specific audience. Beer companies have discovered this marketing scheme and have spearheaded advertising campaigns. The Anhauser Bush Clydesdale is one of the ad campaigns engrained in history. They know their audience, which means me and every male in my family is a prime candidate for beer consumption. Watching any football game, we seem to get bombarded with every beer. Not only do these ads adhere to the 1 by 10 second rule of showing the product at least once every 10 seconds, but they make it very humorous to keep you talking about it. People who watch sports automatically fall into the beer drinking category. these companies have commercials during the games, but they also have product placements on the field as well. They sponsor certain parts of the announcements, such as the “cold hard facts” sponsored by Coores. It’s hard to ignore such blatant product pushing, but they have new humorous commercials to keep us watching and not changing the channel during commercial breaks. Humorous commercials such as the Dos Equis “most interesting man in the world” who once had an awkward moment just to see what it felt like. This commercial has been a subject of countless conversations among the males of my family. It’s evident how well it’s working, because every time I watch a game I make sure I have a Dos Equis and quote their spokesperson while drinking.

Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2SSZA0CjdQ

Rugby Union

If you went onto the street a few years ago and asked people what Rugby is? Most would describe cricket or some form of lacrosse, but that is changing. The word is getting out, especially because Rugby was just inducted into the London Olympics. This is a huge step for the sport’s popularity and there is hope that this will influence parents to put their kids into rugby camps whenever possible. Yes, they do exist; these rugby camps are becoming more and more omnipresent. Once people see how entertaining and unique rugby is at the Olympics, it is certain it will only be a matter of time before we have a US Rugby union team worth bragging about. If you didn’t know, our US rugby unions name is the Eagles. We are currently ranked 17 which you would think is pretty impressive, but then you realize this is World Rankings. 17 is almost an insult considering America’s resources, and just to give an idea, Japan and Fiji are ranked in the top 12. 17^th is not good enough for a sports obsessed nation such as the USA. That’s not to say we don’t have talent on the Eagles. The Eagles have great speed and tackling abilities, undoubtedly coming from players growing up playing football. Unfortunately, that’s not all it takes to be a World Cup victor. The dynasty teams have superior kicking ability and have ball handling that is better than having a 4.2 second forty time. Rugby is more similar to soccer when it comes to the amount of kicking and its hard to beat a team that can kick better you. To reiterate, these players have the ball handling and kicking abilities that can only come with time and experience. These other nations don’t have Football to distract them when they are growing up, therefore all the kids will play rugby in the streets instead of Baseball or Football. Rugby is second nature to these boys and that translates to their national rugby team being so prolific. In comparison, most of the USA Eagles have only been playing the game since college. Meaning their opponents have around 10 more years experience than them. Rugby is a game about instinct and reaction, world cup team’s players have this instinct, because it’s all they have ever known. Hopefully The tide will be changing hopefully with such Hollywood movies as Invictus with Matt Damon, other Americans will shift from American football to the Rugby union. I want a world Cup and I know we are capable of making history.

Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lb953XHQSc

http://www.irb.com/

Life's Not Fair

Life's Not Fair

The NFL has taken some hits to its public image over in recent years. From criminal acts taken by the players and coaches, to the leagues complete disregard for the player’s safety. Few would contest that the NFL loves to have big hits in games because that sells tickets, But coupled with those big hits, are also dirty hits. These collisions cause brain damage and we just now seeing the effects of that on NFL veterans. The NFL has since tried to fix this dirty image. Not just for the future health of the players, but to make its image more family oriented to compete for ratings from rivals the MLB or NBA. The NFL has since made it mandatory fines for any helmet to helmet collisions, fines for unnecessary roughness, and for players to partake in a certain amount of community service. It has also upped the fines on players showing intent to harm opposing players on the field and made bigger penalty on the field, I.E. roughing the passer, chop blocks Etc... These seem to all be steps in maintaining a good image of the NFL as a whole, but one can see a bit of smoke and mirrors in this case. Everyone I've ever known watches football because it’s a contact sport."Contact" being the key word, basically hard hitting drag out helmet to helmet hitting. The NFL has since started fining these hits, but anyone who knows the appeal of the NFL knows these hits bring crowd. All the fines associated with these hit are just smoke and mirrors for the NFL's image whilst it sells the highlights of bone breaking hits to networks and on DVD Specials. The players are very aware of this injustice, especially on the defensive side of the ball. It’s their job to deliver hits that disorient the offense for the next play and make the ball carrier pay for every yard he gets. They are also familiar with this policy, because they are the ones feeling it in their pocketbooks with fines. Sure it’s a drop in the bucket for most of the players considering that the average wage in the NFL is 1.4 Million a year. One can help feel for these players, because their careers are so short before their bodies break down and the fines are symbolic. The fines are smoke and mirrors so the NFL can keep up its facade of being for the players. The NFL is a corporation and with that, its sole purpose is to maintain profits. Ticket sale and ratings are what the NFL is, and unfortunately the players are the work horses of this machine.

Here we Go… Again

Here we Go… Again

Here we go again; this is one of the most controversial years in College Football history. Of course I speak of the BCS and its inequities. The Bowl Computer System seemed to have its place, but not anymore. Not when every year you have so many undefeated teams who are computed out as not good enough to play for the national championship. I can’t imagine the feeling when you have trained all year, fought and overcome every team on your schedule, and still not being computed in. Teams have no real power to alter their schedules making them completely at the will of the BCS. They have been deprived of their one goal, because one computer program says that this team in another conference is better than you. Even if that team has lost once or twice, if the computer says they are better then you are hamstrung. You also have no chance of setting that computer right by playing that team (which is supposedly better than you). Like I said there was a time and place for the BCS, way back when there were not as many teams with flawless or nearly flawless records. Now is the time to do what our recent president has suggested and have a college playoff. I didn’t vote for Obama, but I would definitely have a much higher opinion of him if he brought to the forefront this injustice that is the BCS. It was part of his campaign he said “ if I could change something in college football, I would have a playoff”. You don’t have to agree with his politics, but most avid sports fans would agree to do anything to be part of the first playoff in college history. I understand why they still want to keep the system around. Money talks as they say and having 26 bowl games is much more lucrative than an 8 game playoff. Look at all the corporate sponsors attached to those bowl games. Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Tostinos Bowl, Out Back Bowl etc. Colleges have grown accustomed to getting the massive revenue received from their football team, and changing from the bowl game to a playoff would jeopardize this income. I hope I will see a playoff any way , because it is wrong to deprive these young athletes the chance and experience of a lifetime just so the SEC can make a couple extra million dollars.

Links

http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/schedule

The Vick Project

The Vick Project

You would have had to be living under a rock not to be exposed to the massive NFL scandal of star quarterback Michael Vick being accused and convicted of animal rights violations.I will not go into detail, but anytime someone is involved with a dog fighting ring, you know there has been atrocious cruelty towards those dogs. He of course was convicted, but the one year of jail time was the least of his worries. His fan base and public image took a blow that is almost impossible to repair. Even a firm as prestigious as Fleishman-Hillard would have their hands full trying to repair the soiled Vick Reputation. My hypothesis is, if it had been some other sort of fighting ring such as a cock fighting, it would not have made such headlines as dogs. We in America love animals, some of my fondest memories are of my dog growing up. Not to mention that most kids, are raised with such movies as Homeward Bound, Old Yeller, and Turner and Hooch. These movies instill this American tradition of dog lovers. One can also see this American obsession when you see the National Dog Show on primetime television every year. Because of this love for animals in the US, the NFL and the courts had no choice but to make an example of Vick. By no means am condoning what he did but I just find it a bit hypocritical that no one wanted to give him any chance at all. It’s not like most of these NFL players ever finished school so, this is their only form of job training. Another reason he was made an example of, was the fact that the timing of the trial and accusations were during the NFL off season. ESPN was barren and even resorting to showing WMBA highlights and even worse… Soccer!!! I was craving anything football related new and the Vick coverage seems to keep my attention. The off season is torture for any ex player or anyone who just loves football. Its no secret that those down weeks of football are tough to handle without something football related. This media phenomenon is nothing new. Often when there is a void in sports news because of off seasons, ESPN and other news related media reach for stories that would otherwise be overshadowed. Not that a dog fighting ring is not news worthy, but it was televised constantly because of the news void. That seems to be how our America is, and however hypocritical it is “if it bleeds, it leads” is how journalism maintains itself

Related link

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/v/michael_vick/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JDM4aTdPiY