Public relations strategists can debate the proper and most effective ways to escape a crisis. Before giving their guidance, they look at the basic information and prior examples. Then they make a judgment on how to best approach the situation: How can they best achieve positive results? When is silence best? What’s the best route to victory?
I question the judgment of a public relations professional’s suggestions for how Tiger Woods can save face in his current, still exploding, scandal. Based on his advice, Woods would come up on the losing end. The PR guy’s list includes:
1. Woods and his wife need to meet authorities and explain what happened after his car crash; 2. Woods needs to make a statement disclosing the real story and the basic facts; and 3. Woods needs to go forward with his charity tournament this week and get back to his public schedule.
I’m beginning to think this Vince Young character can play football. Prevailing logic dictates that what a good quarterback makes are not monster numbers but rather a list of Ws in the only column that actually matters. And those Ws are precisely what VY continues to chalk up as he stumbles and toddles his way through a spectacularly strange NFL career. Read more
A 1,000 yard rushing season is arguably the most respected mark any NFL player can reach in order to be hailed for his on-field achievement. But today’s most recognized rushers are being challenged more than ever for their spots atop the depth charts and NFL rushing list. Moreover, in an era of teams relying on committees of running backs, more rushers are getting the chance to show what they can do. As the stats pile up, you may wind up seeing some surprising names toward the top of the rushing list.
One of my favorite presents my father has ever given me – right after a receding hair line and a deadly three-point shot – is a set of 24 books he read as a kid called The Chip Hilton Series by basketball guru and Hall of Fame member Clair Bee. Chip Hilton is a high school athlete who excels at everything, is friends with everybody, and never misses the game-winner. Written in the ’40s and ’50s, these books managed to speak to me three decades after the fact. When I went out to my backyard or sat daydreaming during Civics class (this was back in the day when they still taught Civics), I wasn’t thinking about Jose Conseco or Kirk Gibson, Magic or Larry, or even Elway or Montana. When I practiced hitting a buzzer beater, I was Hilton, not Jordan. Read more
Los Angeles Clippers’ broadcasters Ralph Lawler and Mike Smith were suspended for one game by Fox Sports Prime Ticket after an exchange they had during Wednesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. The duo’s comments centered on Memphis big man Hamed Haddadi, the first Iranian player to play in the NBA. A transcript of the recorded exchange confirms what Fox acknowledges in a statement, that it’s clear the pair “did not intend their exchange to be offensive,” but still “the comments were inappropriate.”
No one will debate that sentiment. But what is being questioned is the punishment. It does appear to be a bit severe for something so mild. Suspending them is a sentence for a wrongdoing which, faced with Lawler’s and Smith’s obvious lack of malicious intent, was probably not deserving. On the other hand, singling out Haddadi’s nationality for any purpose is irrelevant to his performance on the court. And the network had to send a message to its announcers – Lawler, Smith and beyond – about what is acceptable conversation and conduct when covering games. Read more
Yes, here at the Sportsnook blog hub, we are still talking about the fateful call made on 4th down by Coach Belichick. At the time of this writing, it is Wednesday and the ’4th-and-2 should he/shouldn’t he’ is still more than a hot topic; former Patriots Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi have admonished Ol’ Bill and notorious Belichick bashers are coming out of the woodwork in support of him. Lions are lying with sheep, Brits are losing their accents, the sky is falling upon us! Read more
There’s an interesting side to this whole Colts-Patriots saga that has emanated from Bill Belichick’s controversial decision to go for it on 4th down from his own 30 yard line. His defenders, for the most part, have cited statistic-backed analysis proving that percentage-wise Belichick made the smart decision. According to that stats generator, Belichick’s Patriots had a 79 percent chance of making the first down on that play (and sealing the game) vs. a 70 percent chance of preventing the Colts from scoring and taking the lead in the waning moments.
This isn’t why Belichick was right. Math, while important in sports, wasn’t a factor at that moment. When you coach the way Belichick does, you live and die by your gusty decisions. The few you have to make each game determine your team’s fate. That’s the perspective he takes with everything. Read more
The college basketball season has begun! Games between top-25 teams are less than a week way. We’re talking fundamental ball, raw talent, and no fantasy leagues to distract. Pure athleticism meets strategic coaching, and to the winner goes the spoils. Considering we’re still collectively not fully focused on this 2009-2010 season, I implore you to listen to the CBS theme music. As you continue reading this post, click on this link and listen as you read. I dare you to click and NOT get pumped. It simply cannot be done. Read more
A guerrila marketing campaign performed by Philadelphia Eagles’ tight end Brent Celek has the football world buzzing about something called “ambush marketing.” Celek struck a pose after scoring a touchdown against the Cowboys which turned out to be part of a Captain Morgan promotional campaign.
The issue is somewhat controversial. NFL defenders say that Captain Morgan had gone off the deep end with its stunt. NFL critics say that the league is just trying to protect itself from losing deals it has with other companies. That’s the power the NFL has over its players; the league creates new rules in order to uphold its sacred legacy. Although the game itself has changed over the years, Roger Goodell still strives to keep the game, and its accompanying culture, consistent with what Pete Rozelle would approve of.
We often come across sports pundits who disagree about a given player’s play. Analyst A lauds his speed and agility. Analyst B labels him mediocre, a role player at best. Rarely, however, do we come across a debate where Analyst A praises a player as the second coming (or a younger Raimy Rubin) while Analyst B calls for his head. Congratulations, Michael Oher, the seemingly ambiguous quality of your play has completely divided two of the biggest football analysts in the media. Read more
Several of college football’s finest coaches including Lou Holtz, Tommy Tuberville, Phillip Fullmer and Nick Saban make cameo appearances in the upcoming movie The Blind Side. See the trailer featuring them below:
Although films are new to the repetoire, college coaches have a long history of acting for television spots. Take a look back at the best from over the years: Read more
The goal of the NFL regular season is to make the playoffs. We don’t have to look farther than last year’s Cardinals – or the season before that when the mediocre-in-the-regular-season Giants beat the record-setting-regular-season Patriots – to see that once a team makes the playoffs, its regular season record means bubkus. Make the playoffs. Get hot. That’s the strategy to win in the NFL. How’s that for a Thing to Think. Read more
The latest Allen Iverson experiment is off to a disastrous start. After playing just three games with the Grizzlies, the point guard expressed dismay over his role as a bench player. Leading up to the season, Iverson said that he didn’t want to be a sub:
Bench came into the play when I came to Detroit. You never heard about Allen Iverson coming off the bench ever in my whole career. It was never something people even thought in their head until I came to Detroit. Now, it’s the big topic. I’d be crazy to just out of my mouth say, ‘I’d be comfortable with being a guy coming off the bench.’ That’s never a role I ever had.”
It’s not surprising then that he abruptly left his team Saturday after a meeting with the team owner. It’s unknown whether Iverson will rejoin the team for what would be his home debut against Portland on Tuesday. Read more
The baseball season is over and I’m ready to say it: I rooted for the Yankees to make it to the Series. I hate them with a dirty, dirty passion, but I can’t help it. I rooted for the Yankees.
I don’t need to list the reasons here why Joe Non-New-Yorker hates the ladies in blue. They represent everything wrong in sports. But after the Pirates were eliminated in early May, few things kept me as interested in pennant races as the desire to watch the Yankees lose. And sure enough, with each Yankees win, I rooted harder and harder for them to fall apart.
But as they made their way into the postseason and past the Twins, I found myself wavering in the wind, suddenly unsure where my allegiance lay. If the Yankees lose, I realized, my personal baseball season is over. My season was on the line. Strange as it may seem, I needed the Yankees to lose and I needed the Yankees to win. Read more
When the St. Louis Cardinals last week announced Mark McGwire as their new hitting coach, some people scoffed. Commissioner Selig came out in favor of the Cards’ selection, saying that he has no “misgivings” about it. As people continue to debate McGwire’s place in the record books, no one has asked the more simple question: Is McGwire a good fit for this job?
Several days after the Cards made their choice, the San Francisco Giants announced Hensley Meulens as their hitting coach. Meulens was a career .220 hitter who had just 15 home runs in his seven-year career. Hardly monstrous numbers for young Giants to hope to emulate. Yet it looks like there are more Meulenses than McGwires in this area. See , for example, the career stats for these current hitting coaches: Read more
