PR in Sports

Clippers Broadcasters Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith

I know what you’re thinking, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it actually make a sound? Well, apparently there is someone out there that actually watches the Los Angeles Clippers play basketball, and he’s not happy with the Clippers broadcasting duo of Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith.

Arya Towfighi, a Clippers season-ticket holder of Iranian decent, was offended over an exchange the duo had when the Clippers visited the Memphis Grizzlies last Wednesday. The exchange came towards the end of the game when Hamed Haddadi, the first Iranian-born player in the NBA, entered the game. According to the L.A. Times, Lawler and Smith had the following exchange.

Smith: Look who’s in

Lawler: Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?

Smith: He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA. (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)

Lawler: There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA. (repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.)

Smith: He’s the only one.

Lawler: He’s from Iran?

Smith: I guess so.”

Lawler: That Iran?

Smith: Yes.

Lawler: The real Iran?

Smith: Yes.

Lawler: Wow. Haddadi that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.

Smith: You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?

Smith: If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.

Lawler: Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.

Smith: Especially the post players.

Lawler: I don’t know about their guards.

Not a shining moment from Lawler and Smith, no question about that. But according to the L.A. Times article, Towfighi’s e-mail was the only complaint received by Fox Sports Prime Ticket. I know, I know, there’s a chance that was 100% of the viewing audience. As a result, the station suspended Lawler and Smith from calling the Clippers next game last Friday against the Denver Nuggets.

The suspension resulted in multiple stories from the L.A. Times, a headline on espn.com and articles from virtually every other major sports outlet. It appears Fox Sports Prime Ticket drew far greater attention for the suspension than the actual comments made by Lawler and Smith.

Lawler is one of the most respected play-by-play men in the NBA and hasn’t missed a broadcast in 25 years. That doesn’t excuse the comments, but let’s also keep in mind that there was only that one complaint logged. Maybe an in-person apology to Towfighi and an on-air mention might have served the purpose without drawing the extra negative attention.

Keeping in mind that harsh punishments are often expected from offensive comments, my question to PR people and sports fans is. Should organizations be looking to minimize greater negative publicity from the punishment when disciplining broadcasters or company spokespeople for offensive public comments?

Update: Brian Cuban, brother of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, has a slightly different take on this issue on his blog The Cuban Revolution.

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The Sharpie is a must-have for any Sports PR Pro

One of my favorite PR/Social Media blogs is LAF, penned by PR Pro Lauren Fernandez. She has some amazing insight into the world of PR and Social Media, and her most recent post “What’s In Your PR Handbag/Briefcase” is no different. In the post, Fernandez lists three must-haves for every PR person’s handbag or briefcase.

What really stood out to me was that her must-haves were ordinary, and I mean that in a good way. They were simple items, but they were items you’ll be glad to have on-hand and kick yourself if you don’t.

After reading the post and some of the comments left by readers, it got me thinking. PR is PR, but there are differences depending on the industry, especially in the sports and/or entertainment world. So, I decided I wanted to make a quick list of a few items that will score points for the sports PR person.

Three Items the Sports PR Person Should Always Have on Hand

1. Sharpie – Of course, being at an event with an athlete means autograph seekers, but surprisingly, most of them don’t come armed with their own sharpie. Turning down a little kid with a card or ball in hand is not the position you want your athlete to be in. Yes, they’ll look bad, but you know what? It’s your fault. Best move is to always have 3-5 Sharpies in your pocket or bag (the person doing the signing will definitely give a few away without realizing it). Disclaimer: Also be prepared to turn the autograph seekers away when it’s become too much for the athlete, that’s ok too.

2. Water – Having water on hand seems like a minute detail, but it can help keep an athlete comfortable, and in turn engaged, when you have them doing a press conference followed by one-on-one’s with TV stations, columnists, radio stations and beat writers. Is it a huge deal not to have a bottle handy? Probably not. But, it’s a little thing that can help build/strengthen a relationship when you hand over a bottle without even being asked.

3. Media Guide – This definitely applies more to the sports PR person working directly for a team, especially if it’s post-game or a  press conference to announce a new player or coach. Nothing is worse, for you or the writer, when they need stats ASAP to meet a deadline, and you don’t have them handy. Sounds archaic in this day and age of instant information, but believe it or not, a lot of sports writers still prefer an actual media guide to minimizing browsers while trying to look up stats and finish a story.

Seems pretty basic, but these items will show you’re on your game. So, what do you like to have handy that is vital for a PR Pro in the sports world?

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Harrison Barnes announced his college choice via Skype

Professional athletes have entered the realm of social media in full force. The smart ones are joining sites like Twitter, creating Facebook Pages and enhancing their own websites in an effort to build their personal brand and market themselves. But, pro athletes aren’t the only athletes working on their personal brand using this exploding form of personalized communication.

The top high school athletes in the country are popping up all over Twitter, Facebook and more. Kyrie Irving, the 9th ranked basketball player in the class of 2010 according Rivals.com, played out much of his recruitment on Twitter, and he’s not the only one. It’s also common place for the top high school basketball and football players to announce their college of choice on ESPNU.

So, it wasn’t a surprise when the #1 ranked basketball player in the country used an innovative online tool to announce his college of choice Friday evening. Harrison Barnes wanted to do something nobody had done before.

In the middle of his press conference on ESPNU, Barnes said he would be attending the school “of the coach I’m about to Skype”, then dramatically stood up from the podium and walked over to a laptop to  use the video messaging service Skype, to video conference North Carolina Coach Roy Williams.

The result of this new movement? The “Social Media Athlete”.

The “Social Media Athlete” is communicating with fans on a personal, sometimes one-on-one level. Social media isn’t solely responsible for more polished 18 year-old athletes. This movement began years ago, but direct communication tools like Twitter, Facebook and Skype have young athletes not only crafting their message, but developing entire recruitment campaigns, thus beginning to build their personal brand as early as high school.

Seriously, watch the video of the Barnes news conference. Before he “Skyped” Coach Williams, Barnes individually thanked the media outlets that covered his recruitment in a carefully crafted speech.  That’s right, he thanked the media individually. PR folks and media can attest, that’s virtually unheard of. Barnes seemed closer to what we’ll expect out of LeBron James when he announces his destination next summer, than a high school kid announcing a college. Not that LeBron will thank the media!

This focus on personal branding by athletes at much earlier ages makes sense though. The top high school players and their handlers see the potential and realize they’ll be in the NBA after just one year of college. But, what will the effect be?

Can the “Social Media Athlete” be a catalyst for eliminating the NBA rule that mandates players be one year out of high school before they can enter the draft?

It’s a possibility. Let’s be real, that rule isn’t about academics or physical development, it’s about marketing. Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant were fine, but when 5-6 high school players a year began going straight to the NBA, fans didn’t know who they were, so they weren’t marketable. Now, with the “Social Media Athlete” these players are becoming household names at earlier ages.

The question though, is this focus on personal branding at such a young age a good thing? Probably not. But, I’m sure one person out there is loving it. I’m looking at you David Stern!

Roger Clemens is back in the news folks! That’s right, “The Rocket” finally came out of the woodwork Tuesday morning, giving his first interview in nearly a year. Clemens appeared on Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio, and in typical fashion, talked a lot but said nothing.

Clemens spent the interview denying steroid use and defending himself against a new New York Daily News book. American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime was released Tuesday and recounts the news that has seen Clemens go from sure fire Hall-of-Famer, to disgraced.

Which brings us to the mystery of the interview. Very few people were even even aware the book was coming out. Michael Wilbon, from Los Angeles on Tuesday’s PTI, mentioned he was at the Houston Rockets shoot-around prior to Game 5 of their series with the Lakers, and media from Clemens hometown had not even heard of the book.

So why appear on Mike and Mike? Clemens had nothing new to say, and actually drew attention to a book that had little momentum. But, what most analysts seemed to miss, was that Clemens did say some things. He did get his message across. He just did it about an hour before his interview.

At about 7:30 a.m. Gene Grabowski, Clemens new PR rep, appeared on Mike and Mike. Grabowski’s interview was definitely interesting, because as mentioned Clemens later said nothing, but I do question Mike and Mike on having Clemens PR person on to set up his own interview. It might have been better to have an impartial PR pro on to breakdown what Clemens needed to do in his interview.

Regardless, Grabowski is a leading and respected crisis communications professional, and he swung for the fences when Clemens was unable too. Grabowski continually referred to Brian McNamee, Clemens’ accuser, as simply “an admitted drug dealer”, and the authors of the new Clemens book as “tabloid reporters”.

Most interesting was Grabowski’s recount of looking Clemens straight in the eye before bringing him on as a client. This definitely brought back images of the famous “What you do have is my whole word, and it’s stronger than oak” line from Jerry McGuire, and we all know how that turned out. Grabowski repeatedly asked the public not rush to judgment and to wait for Clemens to tell his side of the story. He pleaded “innocent until proven guilty”, painting Clemens as a wrongly accused celebrity.

But, from a PR perspective, we’re all left wondering, why set up the interview in the first place if Clemens himself had nothing new to say? There’s got to be a larger plan from Grabowski, right?…Right?

Grabowski did do his job during his segment, getting Clemens’ message out, but many seemed to miss his interview altogether. In the end, this entire thing seemed to be a colossal disaster for Clemens and Grabowski. The overall strategy seemed to be ‘Hey we’re Roger’s new PR firm and we have to recommend something, he can’t do nothing’, when that’s exactly what Clemens should have continued doing.

Why not let Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez continue to steal the steroid headlines? Now everyone knows about the new York Daily News book, which Grabowski admitted in his interview brings no new information or accusations against Clemens, and public sentiment towards Clemens might be at an all-time low, if that’s possible. I guess we’ll have to wait for another shoe to drop if this episode is going to prove to be a smart move.

Once again Major League Baseball is stepping up to the plate in the fight against breast cancer. For the fifth straight year they’ve partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Louisville Slugger in a phenomenal campaign called, “Going To Bat Against Breast Cancer.”

The pink bats and ribbons have been a mainstay in Major League Baseball, as they’ve used the Mother’s Day weekend to their advantage to raise awareness and money in the fight against breast cancer. This year is no different, as they’re once again holding their honorary bat girl contest. In the contest, men and women 18 years of age and older can submit their story to the team of their choice and win the chance to be an honorary bat girl or bat boy for a Mother’s Day game.

What makes this campaign successful is that it not only brings the issue to the public’s’ conscience for the weekend, but it engages. Major League Baseball isn’t just asking for donations. By having actual survivors submit their story, they’re helping to put faces to this dreadful disease, something that can entice much more participation and awareness. Having an online vote also ensures awareness for the entire month leading up to the Mother’s Day festivities.

So kudos to Major League Baseball and each of it’s teams for a job well done!

On a personal note, one of my closest friends had his mothers story submitted by his sister to be a bat girl at Yankee Stadium. His sister submitted the story in hopes that it would be a suprise for their mother on Mother’s Day. So please vote for “FightinPattiC” a three-time cancer survivor, or any of the amazing stories that have been submitted to the contest. Whether you vote or not, I definitely recommend checking out the site and reading some of these unbelievable stories.

Derrick Rose scored just 9 points and committed 7 turnovers after receiving his ROY Award.

Thursday night in Game 3 of their first round playoff series, the Boston Celtics routed the Chicago Bulls 107-86. In the win that put the Celtics up 2-1 in their best of seven series, Boston held Bulls rookie phenom Derrick Rose to just 9 points, while he dished out 2 assists and committed 7 turnovers. On the other hand, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo continued his stellar play with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.

In a pregame ceremony Rose, who averaged 16.8 points and 6.3 assists per game in the regular season, was given his Rookie of the Year Award by NBA commissioner David Stern. The Bulls certainly didn’t have total control over the award ceremony as it’s standard for the commissioner to be on-hand to dish-out the hardware, but for their part, the Bulls decided to promote the event by littering the arena with rose petals. That’s right, rose petals were covering the aisles, seats and courtside media tables.

The question is, did the Bulls go too far in pregame promotions, considering this was a very important and emotional game? This was the first home playoff game this year for Rose and the young Bulls.

The TNT cameras showed several shots of the petals throughout the arena, and their announcers mentioned the display several times during the broadcast. It seemed like a creative nod to their new Rookie of the Year, but this type of display opened the team and Rose up to plenty criticism and sarcasm.

I’m not suggesting Rose’s poor play and the Bulls getting run off the court were because of the rose petals, but the promotion did seem to raise the emotion and pageantry of the moment. The display also provided a tailor made story line for the media, especially as they found their seats and computers covered in the petals. The media love to use cheesy promotions such as this to use a team as part of the punchline.

To prove the point, a quick Google news search of “Bulls rose petals” results in pages of stories using the rose petal ceremony as a punchline in either the title or summary. The media definitely had a field day with this one. I can understand the excitement of the Bulls staff, this is a huge accomplishment for Rose, and with he game being on TNT, a huge opportunity for the Bulls franchise, but it seems like a decent idea at the wrong time.

The promotion came off as cheesy, added that little extra pressure that wasn’t needed and opened the team up to sarcasm in the media. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Was the rose petal display a harmless attempt at honoring their player, or did it add to the pressure of an already emotional setting and provide folly for the media?

Rick Pitino's PR risk is paying off in exortion story

Saturday night University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino issued a press release through the schools athletic office indicating that the FBI is currently investigating attempted extortion against him. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Pitino is accusing the estranged wife of Louisville’s equipment manager, Karen Sypher, as threatening him as part of a scheme to extort money.

Extortion is a serious criminal matter, and hopefully the issue gets resolved quickly. But from a PR perspective, did Rick Pitino and his team make the correct move by issuing their statement out in front of this story hitting the media?

According to reports Sypher did an interview with Candyce Clifft of WDRB-Fox 41 in Louisville, but the Fox affiliate chose not to air the story because they could not corroborate Sypher’s claims. I’m going to assume that Pitino and his team found out about the interview and made the decision to beat Sypher to the media. They most likely were not aware that the story had been held by WDRB.

In most situations this strategy has the potential to make an issue public that might have never seen the light of day, but let’s face it, Rick Pitino is one of the most famous coaches in basketball today. This story would have gotten to the media at some point.

But, by beating Sypher to the punch, Pitino’s risk has paid off. He has shaped and framed this story in his favor. Nearly every media outlet in the country has covered this in some way, and in nearly every story it frames Pitino as being the victim targeted by an “estranged” wife. Granted something must have gone down in order for Sypher to attempt to extort Pitino, but few outlets have even reported on that aspect.

In Pitino’s original statement he declined to name Sypher as the woman who is attempting to extort him, most likely in order to protect Karen Sypher’s husband Tim and their children. Sunday Karen Sypher’s name did become public, but once again the Pitino team made a smart move. They issued another statement from the Louisville Athletic Department, this time from Tim Sypher defending Rick Pitino.

In the end the risk was making a potentially damaging story public that might not have reached the public. That really is a huge risk for someone whose profession is not only to coach basketball games, but to go into the living room of high school kids and convince their parents that he can be responsible for their children at the next level.

But, by beating Sypher to the media, Pitino has managed to take control of the story with his message from his point of view. Pitino secured backing from his school’s President and Athletic Director, as well as the husband of the woman attempting to extort him. He has also framed Karen Sypher as a crazy “estranged” wife and mother.

It was certainly a risky move by the Pitino camp, but to this point Pitino has owned this story.

I missed last weeks “Piece of the Week” due to the Easter holiday, but I’m back this week with the third installment. For new visitors here’s a quick recap of what the POTW feature entails. POTW is a weekly Friday feature where we share an interesting, well-written, compelling sports article from the week. Not necessarily a piece that got the most publicity, just something that you or I enjoyed reading.

So, click the submit “Piece of the Week” link on the right and send me your favorite article throughout the week. It could get chosen as the “Piece of the Week”. Of course, if the article or blog post you send in gets chosen you’ll get a shout-out, so include your name, location and Twitter handle (if you have one).

This week’s POTW is a USA Today feature by Jeff Zillgitt delving into the world of college basketball recruiting. Zillgitt addresses one of the hot topics right now, recruits that have signed LOI’s receiving easy releases when their coach leaves for another job.  Zillgitt looks specifically at the some of the players affected by John Calipari’s move from Memphis to Kentucky, as well as UAB denying DeMarcus Cousins, one of the top players in the class of 2009, a easy release if coach Mike Davis left the program.

It’s a very interesting read if you’re into the world of college basketball recruiting. Enjoy, and please send along some interesting sports related articles you’ve read this week.

We’ve spent a lot of time looking at how situations in the sports world could have been handled better from a PR/Marketing perspective, but I wanted to take this opportunity to look at a couple jobs well done. The PR staffs of the Los Angeles Angels and the Philadelphia Phillies, when faced with the worst of circumstances, came through with flying colors, ensuring the media was kept in the loop, incorrect information was not leaked and players and families were respected.

Joe Favorito at Sports Marketing and PR Roundup has a great recap of how the Angels handled the tragic death of Nick Adenhardt. The Angels organization made the right move by canceling their game versus Oakland last Thursday, and led by head of communications Tim Mead, ensured information was released in a timely, yet appropriate manner. The PR staff made sure players, coaches, management and ownership were on the same page and respected the Adenhardt family throughout their decision making.

With Adenhardt losing his life at such a young age the Angels were not only faced with a tragic situation, but with this being a criminal situation, also had to deal with media that do not normally cover the Angels or baseball at all for that matter. Dealing with media that are not familiar with your policies and procedures can be a difficult task, especially in a situation as sensitive as an unexpected death.

The Phillies also handled the death of long-time team broadcaster Harry Kalas in a professional and respectful manner. As for the decision to play or not to play, the Phillies understood this situation was slightly different than what the Angles had to deal with last week. It’s sad when anyone passes away, but Kalas being 73 years-old makes it more of a celebration of a life well lived. The Phillies knew Kalas was a lifelong baseball man and would have wanted the team to play.

Once the decision was made the organization did a phenomenal job of of protecting their current players, allowing them to focus on their thoughts and the game at hand. The Phillies instead leaned on former players to fulfill media requests. They collected quotes from Phillie legends to distribute to the media and had the face of the franchise, Mike Schmidt, do a call-in interview to ESPN minutes after hearing the news.

Under the most difficult situations, the Angels and Phillies came through in a first-class manner. Kudos to the PR teams and decision makers of both organizations.

LeBron James is averaging just 1.72 fouls per game this season

I came across a very interesting article on the Chicago Bulls website by well known basketball columnist Sam Smith. Smith uses some very telling stats to investigate the star treatment that LeBron James receives from officials. It’s a must read and Smith brings to light some statistics that will make the NBA’s league office cringe. Smith writes:

“James is averaging 1.72 fouls per game in an average of 37.9 minutes per game. James hasn’t even been in foul trouble one game this season. He never has had more than four fouls called on him in a game, and since March 1 is being called for fewer than 1.3 fouls per game.

In 12 of the 20 games since then, James has been called for one or zero fouls in a game. James had a stretch of five straight games to conclude March averaging 36.8 minutes per game without being called for one foul. Not one in five games! In the last nine games, James has been called for three personal fouls. It’s really amazing given the involvement James has in the action of the game.”

Smith’s statistics are staggering, 5 games without a single foul called? That’s incredible for a player as aggressive as James. Now, I’m not one of those conspiracy theorists that thinks David Stern is sitting in a room ordering referees to make sure the Cavs and Lakers end up in the finals. That does not happen. But, the NBA has been accused of referees providing star treatment for years, and coming off the heals of the Tim Donaghy scandal, they need to address the issue.

Stern has often denied conspiracy theories involving referees, and most likely he’s being honest, but this is now a perception/PR issue. Whether there is a conspiracy theory or not, whether players like James, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant get star treatment or not, the fact is that fans believe something isn’t right. Many in the media believe this as well.

Instead of consistent denials, Stern and the NBA need to address the issue head on, especially with the playoffs quickly approaching where scrutiny of officials will only increase. The league is very protective of the access they grant media to their officials, but it’s time to pull the curtain back. It’s time for transparency. Many thought this would happen following the Donaghy fiasco, but it hasn’t.

To my knowledge the NBA doesn’t employ a PR person specifically dedicated to the referees, but it’s definitely time for that. This position could work exclusively with referees and allow a certain level of monitored access following controversial, or all games or that matter. It isn’t a myth that NBA refs watch each and every game to critique themselves. Stern is not blowing smoke when he says the NBA critiques their refs diligently. So, why hide the critique?

I understand there has to be some protection, but it’s time to let media and fans see what goes on behind the scenes. Let media and fans see how assignments are handed out for playoff games. Bring TV cameras into the referees room following games to see them reviewing questionable calls. Let media and fans see how the league office grades the officials. Although, I’d recommend using a network that doesn’t pay the league billions of dollars for broadcasting rights.

The bottom line is that those LeBron James foul stats are incredible and undeniable, and the league has a severe credibility issue on this topic that they need to address. I love pretty much all sports, but I’m definitely an NBA guy and have been a huge fan nearly my entire life, so I really want to see the league address this issue and put it to bed for good. For the sake of the league, the officials and the fans.