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« Friday « May 29, 2009
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Memphis Charged With Violations
(ESPN.com)
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The Memphis men's basketball program has been charged by the NCAA with major violations during the 2007-08 season under former coach John Calipari. Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose is at the center of alleged violations at Memphis.I think it's time to end the sham that is NCAA basketball once and for all. To begin with, the NBA's age restriction is ridiculous, and probably unconstitutional. Moreover, it seriously compromises the integrity of the NCAA. When you're 18-years-old, you're old enough to join the armed services, go overseas, and fight in a war, at great risk to your life and health. If you're an 18-year-old computer prodigy, there's nothing preventing Google or Microsoft from hiring you right out of high school. But if you're 18 and extremely gifted in basketball, you can't compete for a spot on an NBA roster. Well, how's that fair? So you have these kids who come to college for no other purpose but to get old enough to qualify for the NBA. And it's a joke to think these "one-and-done" kids have any interest in getting an education. To call them student-athletes is the greatest of oxymorons. They already know how they're going to try to make a living. They've poured their lives into developing their basketball skills. What's going on these days is making a mockery of college basketball. The NCAA should fine itself, and the NBA, not the teams, players, and coaches just trying to make the best of the screwed-up system they've been sentenced to.
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« Sunday « May 24, 2009
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LeBron James' game-winning shot has historic impact
(SportsIllustrated.com)
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He sprinted away from the basket out past the three-point line to catch the inbounds pass at the height of his leap. LeBron James landed with the ball as if upon a diving board that shot him back up high. He was looking at the basket with his chin near his right shoulder and the goal like a needle's orange eye slim and small and 25 feet away.I'm not sure about the history-angle, but then again, if you replay it over and over and over again, it will effectively becomes "historic" by sheer brute force. If LeBron leads the Cavs to a championship this season, they will look back to this shot as a pivotal moment. We'll have to wait to see how things play out before we call it historic.
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« Thursday « May 14, 2009
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Seeing Pink, Branding Pink
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Screenshot from MLB.com Web site of breast cancer promotion landing page
So it turns out that my Scarlet Letter rebranding dream for Major League Baseball (MLB) isn't so far-fetched after all. Just this past Sunday, in honor of Mother's Day, MLB teamed up with one of their sponsors, Susan G. Komen for the Cure to help in the fight against Breast Cancer.
And pink was the color of the day.
MLB logo is pinkIn the manly sport of hardball, where there ain't no crying' no less.
Some players sported pink arm bands, and uniforms were patched with pink ribbons. One player, Houston Astros third baseman Lance Berkman, used a pink limited-edition bat from the Louisville Slugger Company. For fans, there were mascots wearing pink, contests and giveaways to win pink hats, pink T-shirts, and even more pink limited-edition bats.
But most-telling from a branding perspective for MLB, the brand that I've already argued is in need of a rebranding, is that they took their logo...and turned it pink! As longtime San Francisco sports talk radio host Gary Radnich often says, "Who does that? Who has time?" I'd love to see the brand guidelines which drove that decision. (Aside, if you visit the page captured in the screenshot above, you'll see three different MLB logos on the page, it's branding run amuck.) Is there a pink exception for the logo? What if someone wants to use it in fuchsia? Lime green? Burnt umber? Sure, some uses of the logo may call for adjustments, for example in the black-and-white enviroment of a traditional newspaper, the MLB logo can't appear in full color, but pink?
The breast cancer awareness promotion is a highly-worthwhile community-building activity for MLB. It's great that baseball is involved in raising lots of money that will ultimately save lives. But if you take the very symbol that represents your organization and alter it just to fit one promotion, what does that say about how you're managing brand? There's this key concept at the heart of branding called consistency.
And if you can go pink, then why not scarlet?
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