Music Cures

I'm so happy for my music loving bud, Matt Hauber, the vision and founding force behind Music Cures, and a dedicated supporting crew - "a little help from our friends," so to say. Great job!

NECN aired this news feature on Nov. 6, 2014 - It's a perfectly produced synopsis of the simple concept behind Music Cures.

So, here's to Jessica, Susan, Brad and to James Montgomery and the many musicians who volunteer their time and have completely understood and supported Matt's vision from Day 1.

Best to all involved and a sincere plea to every who reads this to click to MusicCures.net to donate, perform or pitch in any way you can. 

Dear Mr. Fantasy

This article appeared this week after Hotbox Sports Ventures made its first big announcement with the NJ Devils.

#CuttingEdgeSport takes a look into the growing market, and dollars, found in the latest form of fantasy football...

A sampling of the free-to-play game currently on Devils' site

The area of pay fantasy in the United States, the loophole that exists in federal law that allows a form of legalized wagering by fans through daily and weekly games based on statistics, continues to evolve. In recent weeks, the two biggest competitors in the marketplace, Fan Duel and Draft Kings, have raised millions in capital in attempts to gain more of the market share and awareness in the minds of consumers by buying up large blocks of advertising in and around every sports event they can possibly attach themselves to. At a Bloomberg conference in September, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he could see a time where gambling plays into the business plans of the league, assuming it is legal, and lobbyists are earning large fees trying to sway the political arena one way or another to keep, or change federal law which currently prohibits online sports wagering everyone outside of the state of Nevada.

The business, it is theorized, can bring in millions to professional sports teams if it is controlled and legalized and be an amazing revenue generator, not to mention fan engagement platform, for sports in the United States as it is in other parts of the world. Still, the stigma of gambling, along with a powerful lobby of Las Vegas, has kept almost all forms of online sports wagering off the books, but that battle is continuing on.

Leading the way are a handful of states that see gaming as a holy grail. The biggest of which is New Jersey, which has seen its once lucrative business in Atlantic City fall on very hard times as casinos have opened all around the state. The thought, led by Governor Chris Christie, is that legalized inline sports gambling can be even bigger to a new generation of first adopters than the lottery was to a generation decades ago. Battles in the courts or modify or overturn federal law have been beaten back, but loopholes and persistentcy still exist, and another loophole was opened a but wider by the NHL’s New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.

The Devils, under new ownership and led by dynamic CEO Scott O’Neil, have looked to many alternate ways to drive sales and buzz for a team that has traditionally been under marketed in the competitive New York scene. Last year O’Neil led the charge in having New Jersey be the first U.S. team to have an online gambling site, Party Poker as a sponsor. That opened the gates for other teams who were more conservative in their approach in other markets, and has led to online gambling becoming a key and growing category for some teams. Now O’Neil and the Devils have gone another step further, taking the fantasy sports category and introducing a  pay-based fantasy game, the first in American pro sports, with local gaming company Hot Box Sports.

While several teams have engaged free fantasy games where cash prizes are involved, creating a game that has a fee is another shift, and a potentially very lucrative shift, for professional sports.

The deal will include traditional sponsorship components, but will also allow fans both in arena and online, to have fans select Devils players in a series of statistical categories for a game or series of games, with very large cash prizes attached if the predictions hold out. It is restricted for now to only Devils games and players, but Hot Box is banking on the fact that there can be cross-promotion with other teams in the NHL to grow the base and the revenue stream for all involved.

"Hotbox Sports has been working behind the scenes for a few years on building relationships and offering free-to-play games that help the teams and their sponsors in activation and on mobile via apps, fan rewards programs, you name it,” said CMO Terry Lyons, who worked for years behind the scenes running communications for NBA International. “All the while, everyone constantly asks, 'How do we monetize digital?' Our entry fee games are a perfect solution and can be integrated with team media partners and a sponsor who wants to activate."

It is that type of win-win which can make an entry point for teams into this lucrative digital gaming space, while keeping costs and issues with controversy controlled. For this deal, the NHL was well aware of the stakes, and everyone was kept in line to make sure no lines, or rules were crossed with regard to online wager on sport. Fantasy, so to speak, has brought reality to fans who want to see an ROI on their gaming experience.

"Fantasy sports plays an important role in a fan’s experience, and we wanted to bring Devils fans a game where they could focus on their favorite players and their favorite team,” added O’Neil, now CEO of the New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center in a press release. “Our collaboration with Hotbox Sports, offering both free-to-play games and this first-of-its-kind entry-fee game, will ensure Devils fans have an unrivaled fantasy game experience."

Where all this goes next in the States is up for debate. Some argue that sports and gambling will never see the light of day, while a growing audience feels like the time has come. Regardless of what the future holds, it is clear that in the present in the States fantasy sport, for money, is a reality, and that a new opportunity for revenue was opened this week.  The Devils and their partner took a gamble, and it looks like it could pay off for many teams going forward.

Got any thoughts? Let us know using #CuttingEdgeSport

STR Marketplace , Santa Clara Stadium Partner on Seat License Deal

Some interesting news today in the Sports Marketing and Ticketing world:

STR Marketplace Partners with Santa Clara Stadium Authority on SF 49ers Seat Deal

The Santa Clara Stadium Authority has partnered with STR Marketplace to provide a new service to help fans buy and sell Levi’s® "Stadium Builder Licenses" (SBLs). The Official Levi’s® Stadium SBL Marketplace is a safe and easy conduit for fans to sell their SBLs or purchase licenses from current SBL holders.

STR Marketplace Home Page for Levi's Stadium

“We greatly value our Levi’s® Stadium SBL owners and are happy to be able to provide them with a convenient and secure location to buy and sell SBLs," said Julio Fuentes, Executive Director of the Santa Clara Stadium Authority. “Protecting our customers' interests is of the utmost importance to the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, and STR Marketplace will offer SBL owners a tremendous service and peace of mind."

STR Marketplace works with some 10 NFL teams and a host of others in the sports world to provide a safe and secure location where fans can feel comfortable selling or purchasing SBLs without the concerns that often exist with third-party sellers or websites. STR Marketplace is the world’s largest provider of transfer marketplaces and provides this service to venues for NFL teams, MLB teams and NASCAR venues. 

"We are very pleased to work with the Santa Clara Stadium Authority and the 49ers,” said Preston Hill, President of STR Marketplace. "We look forward to providing a great service to Levi’s® Stadium SBL owners.”

The website provides step-by-step instructions throughout the entire process of buying and selling. Online visitors can read about the benefits of buying and selling, learn about the simple transfer pro

cess, then view and make offers on available SBLs posted for sale by current season ticket holders. Every listing and transaction is verified which makes the Official SBL Marketplace safe and easy to use.

In addition to the ability to sell and buy, seat licensees/owners are able to process all ownership transfers through the Official Levi’s® Stadium SBL Marketplace.

http://www.digitalsportsdesk.com/news/?np=2460

A Christmas Tradition - A Little Shelby Strother

Merry Christmas everyone. 
TL

Each Christmas Day Contains the Past, Present and Future

By SHELBY STROTHER

TL's Favorite Book

It did not matter that the wind-chill was life threatening. It was Christmas morning, and a bright sun stabbed the frozen land. And children were playing.

The decision over which to play with - the official World Cup soccer ball or the Turbo Football - never materialized. With all the snow, a soccer match was out of the question. So spirals of pink and black performed in the most sincere imitations of Rodney Peete and Joe Montana floated back and forth in the yard.

What a nice sight.

The Annual Second Chance is near - it's called New Year's Eve. It is the window of opportunity where the hopes and fears of all the year (not to mention the mistakes) can be erased.

But Christmas Day is a time of reinforcement and the essence of tomorrow. And children playing with toys are the finest examples of what that tomorrow looks like.

I look out the window. I've been in that yard. All young boys have. Sports become such a part of childhood. Santa is aware of all of this, naturally.

This particular day is exquisite, I think to myself. I take personal inventory, not only of blessings and personal satisfaction, but of the presents of Christmas past. Still the kid, I suppose.

I got my first basketball when I was six. I made my first basket a year later. There was a tetherball set; I must have been eight. And a football helmet when I was ten. A Carl Furillo-model baseball mitt at eleven. There were tennis rackets and fishing poles and boxing gloves and shrimp nets and a Mickey Mantle 32-inch Little League bat and one time, even a badminton set.

Every Christmas, I'd play out my dreams and my mind would fly over the rainbow, imagining my propulsion. Of course, I would become a major-leaguer, an All-Star, an all-time great, a Hall of Famer. We all would. My vision extended well beyond the day.

My athletic ability, alas, never kept stride. It was not the worst realization I would ever make.

But I have noticed a direct correlation between Christmas gifts and sporting dreams. The dreams are for the young. So are the gifts. Usually, the two disappear in unison. The rare few who project into greatness discover they do not need imagination to make those lofty flights of fantasy. Hope is not the co-pilot. Expectation is.

It must be a wonderful view.

I was thinking about all of this when another memory nudged me. My 17th Christmas I got a typewriter.

It was about the same time that I'd maneuvered my fantasy a few extra miles. I'd received a baseball scholarship to pitch at a small school in Florida. There were other opportunities, other colleges available. But none that would allow my athletic vision to continue.

I had expected a Christmas of more games in the yard. More dreams to celebrate. I got a typewriter instead.

"What am I going to do with a typewriter?" I asked.

My mother said I'd need it for college. But she also said, "Sometimes you get too old to play games. But you never get too old that you can't use your imagination."

Sometimes Christmas is taken for granted. Almost always, in fact. I think Christmas music, and I hear bells. I turn on the radio and I hear someone named Elmo and Patsy lamenting their grandmother's head-on collision with a reindeer. I think of the meaning of Christmas, and I think of the most special birthday in the history of the world. But I turn on the TV and there are all these Claymation raisins doing Doo-Wop homages to the joys of buying machines wherein a microchip can seize command of entire generations.

Christmas (will soon) be gone, 364 days to go. But children still play. They chase the wonderful image of themselves as they would like to be seen. Christmas is their favorite arena. But they settle for lesser stadia.

But remember this - the present is sometimes confused with the package it comes wrapped in. Sometimes the gift is simply the freedom to imagine. There may be no greater one.

It was a great typewriter. I still play with it.

- A column by Shelby Strother

(For my Blog Entry on Christmas Eve over the past six years, I've alternated by posting memorable columns from a few of my all-time favorite writers. This column is, by far, my favorite column of all-time so read on my friends and "followers."  Here is to Shelby and a Merry Christmas to all).

###

Notes: For those of you who did not know Shelby Strother, I pass these little tidbits along; He was a very good friend. I've lost a father and an older brother. I've agonized and felt helpless as we've since watched close relatives and friends of the family pass away, but Shelby was the first good friend in my life who went and got cancer and then died. My good buddy, Bob Rose, did the same damn thing this past year.

Back to Shelby... I can remember Shelby attended the 1991 NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte, NC. That Sunday night, he said that he didn't feel well and was going to bed early. That was about Feb. 10, 1991. The next month was a bad dream, each minute of every day for a solid month. Shelby died in the suburbs of Detroit on March 3, 1991, leaving his wife, Kim and two great little guys, Tommy and Kenny (the latter joined Shelby in heaven a few years back but that is a terrible fact of life to be told another day). Shelby grew up in the great State of Florida and loved it. I met him when he was a writer for the Denver Post. He went on to be a sports columnist for the Detroit News, but when big news was breaking and the News needed a writer, they sent Shelby. Berlin Wall coming down, off went Shelby. I could go on.

My Way Home ...

I just enjoyed a short business trip to Southern California. As I travelled from Boston to LA late this week, I remembered that the first day of my journey happened to be on the 22nd anniversary of the day Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced his retirement from the NBA because of the HIV+ diagnosis he was given after he took a physical for his life insurance policy.

Thank God, Earvin is doing very well today. While his playing career was cut short, he went on to two miraculous curtain calls with the '92 NBA All-Star Game (one of my fondest memories) and with the '1992 USA Basketball Dream Team at the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games.

The rest is history. (My prior post noted the news reports).

So, now I'm up early and happy to be heading "home."  I don't take "home" for granted.  None of us should ever, ever take home for granted because sometimes, some of us -- well -- just can't find their way home.

Note Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, of course, Derek Truck, on rhythm guitar no less, along with drummer Doyle Bramhall.  The video was shot at Clapton's Crossroads festival in 2007.  In 2011, Bramhall passed away in his sleep at the age of 62.



Gotta Go! Time to pack up and head home.

And1 Names Slate of World-Class Dunkers for Summer Remix

Terry Lyons Sports Marketing is proud to be working with the people at AND1 Basketball to bring back a brand that was so much a part of our basketball-loving lives .... So, read on, please:

***

AND1 Summer Remix in Phila

The AND1 apparel and sneaker brand and their event partner, IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, recently announced one of the most accomplished lineups of streetball dunkers ever assembled as part of the inaugural 12-team, $100,000, winner-take-all Summer Remix Tournament, the largest cash prize for one event in streetball history. The event will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University during Labor Day Weekend (August 29 – September 1). 

The star-studded list of “elite dunkers” scheduled to compete in Philadelphia includes:

Justin Darlington, a Canadian hoopster, known as “Jus Fly,” won the 2012 Nike World Basketball Festival Dunk Contest in Washington, D.C. An accomplished jumper, Darlington has competed in basketball events worldwide and is the winner of more than 60 national and international dunking events. 

Guy Dupuy, a 6-foot-3, 22-year old star from France is known as “The Best Dunker In The World” and is widely recognized as a major part of the amateur group of popular dunkers as well as being part of the AND1 team.  Dupuy gained fame earlier this year for replicating Blake Griffin’s legendary dunk and even topping it by jumping over the car while simultaneously putting basketball through his legs.

Brandon “Werm” Lacrue is a multi-time winner of the Sprite Slam-Dunk Showdown and is among the most entertaining Slam-Dunkers on the planet. He is also a current member of the AND1 team.

Haneef Munir, known by the nickname of “Young Hollywood,” is famous for his acrobatic dunks, including his most recent headline-grabber of picking the ball out of mid-air and putting it through his legs before slamming the ball over NBA All-Star Blake Griffin which took place at last weekend’s Jordan Release event in Santa Monica, California.

Chris Staples, known to many by the nickname of “Hoopstar,”  is a 6-foot-3 former Harlem Globetrotters’ guard famous for his windmill and 360-degree whirling dunks.  He recently was among a trio of dunkers who entertained fans at ancillary events around the 2013 ESPY Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

In addition to the dunkers, AND1 announced that some of the most accomplished DeeJays in the music industry, including DJ Diamond Kuts, DJ RL and DJ Johnny V, plus special guest DJ Aktive, will provide the soundtrack for the Summer Remix Tournament events in Philadelphia.

The AND1 dunk contest is the latest addition to the star-studded lineup of basketball luminaries, music personalities, Streetball stars and long list of former NBA players who are scheduled to participate in the Labor Day weekend events.  A Streetball.com team led by former pro players Penny Hardaway, T.J. Ford and other basketball dignitaries will join the previously announced Streetball teams led by NBA Legend Shawn Kemp, who will form a team of players from the Seattle area, Indiana Pacers star and AND1 athlete Lance Stephenson, who will captain and coach a team of players selected from open tryouts from events held throughout the country during the past month. In addition, a trio of music legends with a passion for basketball in Michael Bivins, Jermaine Dupri and Rico Love will all captain or coach teams which will be comprised of several former NBA and pro players, as well as some of the most accomplished individual basketball and streetball talents in the world.

In case you were wondering, the AND1 basketball apparel and sneaker brand got its start in Philadelphia and is currently owned and operated by Galaxy Brands of NYC, a company that recently acquired the business and is orchestrating And1's revival.  For And1, the mission remains the same as it always has been -- to focus on those who are passionate about basketball and use the game as a metaphor for success in everything they set out to do in life. The celebration of hard work, freedom of expression and dedication to excellence is reflected in the unique and iconic product that the brand has and will continue to create for both the dedicated player and the casual competitor.  AND1 has worked with a number of professional players in its storied history, and currently sponsors Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson. The powers that be behind the brand recently created the "AND1 Summer Remix Basketball Tournament," a 12 team, $100,000, winner-take-all streetball event to held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University over Labor Day Weekend (August 29 – September 1).  For more details on the brand vision and programs visit The AND1 apparel and sneaker brand, http://www.and1.com and follow AND1 on Twitter: @And1basketball and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/and1basketball.

To Be Continued ... More Q & A

Eastern Long Island from Orient Point Ferry (T. Peter Lyons)

Picking up where I left off earlier this gorgeous Sunday morning...as I'm now on a ferry boat from Orient Point, Long Island to New London, Connecticut en route to The Cape for 24 hours of solid R & R ... and maybe even a Cape Cod Baseball League game! (Go Kettleers!)

Back to the student-led Q & A:

1. Would you have preferred working in MLB or did you like your job working at the NBA? -- This is a question which came from my intro... a story about trying for an internship at MLB but having a different schedule than what Baseball needed at the time.

A - It is amazing that I could've landed an internship at Baseball, finished it and been kicked out the door, left to rummage through the Help Wanted ads forever and ever.  Instead, that stroke of luck - to be turned down by MLB - led me to the NBA and on December 20, 1980, I walked through the door never dreaming ...

  A. I'd actually get a job.

  B. I'd work at the NBA and enjoy (nearly) every single day I entered the door at 645 Fifth Avenue to the offices of the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association.  That lasted from 1980 and all the way until the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics. (I called it quits when the team headed over to Beijing).

In short, I am 100-times happier that I was able to intern at the NBA and work in basketball.  Baseball was a school-era thought, a real dream, but, truthfully, I had a much deeper knowledge of the NBA. I grew up in a "basketball family."  We watched thousands of games (NY Nets (ABA), the Knicks, St. John's, local high school (Trinity, all of the CHSAA, including great teams at St. Agnes, St. Anthony's St. Doms (Tom Riker era); Hempstead, Malverne, Roosevelt (Dr. J) and LI Lutheran (Reggie Carter).

I can state without doubt, I really hit the ground running when I interned at the NBA. I thinnk I excelled because of that "basketball" knowledge, including a love and respect for the NBA's history and the ABA's history. The foundation made my job a little easier and it allowed the people I worked for to let me write, research and to be creative outside of my daily chores (clipping newspapers). Looking back, I was born to be at the NBA and I left some of my "DNA" with the league and the league forged the very "DNA" in my own blood.  (Plus, guess where I met my wife, Clare)?

2. What was it like to be one of the "PR guys" for the 1992 USA Dream team?

A - It was great! It was the experience for a lifetime and I only wish I had appreciated it more at the time. It was a long haul and throughout the experience, there were a number of - let's call them obstacles - put in front of us by many people who chose to make our lives difficult rather than try to help us out. Most, if not all, were Americans.

So, the vivid memory, unfortunately, is how tough it was and how mentally grinding it was at the outset (in Barcelona). We had been working with the players for years and years. In essence, we (meaning the PR team and the small "front office" people - like Rod Thorn/GM, Kim Bohuny/Basketball Ops and logistics, Horace Balmer and Larry Richardson/Security, Nancy Hayward/everything from tickets to hotels to doing all the arrangements for David Stern and Russ Granik and a bunch more - all great people.

On the PR side, we were "tight" with most of the players and we had everyone's trust.  Everyone, except Christian Laettner, because he hadn't met us until the team camp in LaJolla. But, he undoubtedly watched Magic and Larry, Stockton and Malone, MJ and Pippen and all the guys listen and "DO" exactly what we asked of them, so he followed along.  Quite frankly, he wasn't in very high demand, so it really didn't matter much. 

The main issue in Barca - early on - was the fact three of us (Josh Rosenfeld (LA Lakers and NBA Int'l), the late Matt Dobek (Detroit Pistons and PR for Coach Chuck Daly) and yours truly, did not have ANY type of accreditation and therefore - NO ACCESS - to do our jobs.  We had full access at our hotel and we could get some things done there with (very) important media requests, but we could not gain access at the venues, or get to places like the Main Press Centre (MPC), the Athletes Village or even to many of the NBC compounds.  That made life miserable for the first three days of the Games.

I could write a book on the '92 team alone, never mind all of the other amazing days with USA Basketball.

I'd have to say, working with the people at USA Basketball to bring the best players in the world to the biggest audience basketball had ever enjoyed was my favorite assignment of the entire 26+ years.

3. What do you think is the most influential thing about the international players coming into the NBA?

A - I think it's the impact they make to the hundreds of thousands of young athletes from their home country.  We've begun to see the impact Michael Jordan made worldwide and we're soon to see the "real" impact that Yao Ming will make. In short, they get many a great athlete to shoot a ball instead of kick it.  That is the biggest part of the continued growth of the NBA.

Now, unlike when Magic and Larry or Oscar and West or Wilt and Russell made their mark on the NBA, the global media exposure is unlimited. Lebron is enjoying that fact, too.  He will make a tremendous impact going forward, as did Dirk, Duncan, Hakeem and a lengthy list of others.

4. What European country has evolved the most in terms of basketball teams and fans?

A - Great question.  And my answer?  "I don't know!"

In general, I think China has evolved the most during my career.  In Europe, the Italys, Spains, (former Yugoslavia - Serbia, Croatia, etc) were all pretty well developed in terms of the game. I think France moved along nicely.  Greece and Turkey are amazing, but they've always had a pretty strong love for the game. I am disappointed in the growth of the game in Britain.  We worked hard (1993-on) on growing the popularity of the game in the U.K. but I just don't see the needle moving very much and that includes the fact they just played the 2012 Olympics in London. They did a great job with the British team at the 2012 Games, and that includes my strong praise for the job Chris Finch did as coach of the GB team, but, it hasn't moved the sport forward.

5. Favorite NBA player?

A - Always tough to single out any one ... so, I'll just mention three.

1. Charles Barkley

2. Charles Barkley

3. Charles Barkley

Chuck was the best.  Still is.  Key word -- Genuine. And, he is funny as all hell, and, while he 'rides' the hell out of all of us for a joke, I've never received more respect from any other athlete in my career.  He is the best. Thanks Charles.

I also have tremendous respect and have to mention a few others... Julius Erving, Chris Mullin, Jerry Sloan and John Stockton, Dominique Wilkins and a long list of Atlanta Hawks, MJ and Scottie Pippen, Doc Rivers, Clyde Drexler, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Joe Dumars, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Shane Battier, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaq, James Worthy, Brad Miller ... I could go on and on and on.... but I'll finish with Tim Duncan.  With ole' Timmy Duncan, it was the roughest of roads.  He did not enjoy my company and the list of media requests, interviews, photo sessions and other off-court assignments that I'd bring to him (during the NBA Finals, USA Basketball events and at the Olympics), but we really became close as my career ended.

I would also note, I enjoyed working with every single NBA coach and the refs.

So, that's it for now.  I've covered (nearly) every subject.  Thanks to all the people I've mentioned above and in the prior post. Special thanks to the kids at Columbia.

NewsRoom: Season Two ... the Trailer

Now, that's what I call a trailer...

(PS:  The stuff that HBO does to promote its original programming is a page out of the book that the folks on Broadway need to read.  Stated clearly and honestly, my prior criticism of Broadway theatre promotion might've been a little unfair since I didn't include specifics on a few of the best methods to sell some more play tickets.).

Here's an example:

Rock the Vote - TL Blog and DigitalSportsDesk.com nominated

Decisions, decisions.

Do you vote for The Blog (at) TerryLyons (dot) com or for the great new site, DigitalSportsDesk.com?

Hmmmm.. We're hoping for the Gold and the Silver.

Vote early, but you can't vote often (unless you have multiple email addresses)-which is fine with me.

To:  All the family, friends and acquaintances of Terry Lyons; Terry Lyons (dot) com; The Blog at TerryLyons.com and for all the visitors to DigitalSportsDesk.com

Both of my sites - The Blog (at) TerryLyons.com and DigitalSportsDesk.com - have been nominated amongst The Best Of Sports Blogs and Local Media Sites by WGBH-TV in Boston.

Please see:

For Best Blog: see this for complete voting site, scores, placement of both sites amongst the other nominees.

http://boston.cityvoter.com/best/sports-blog/local-media/boston

Don't be afraid to cut - copy and paste this message and send to some friends...

Thanks,

TL

T's #Tweet of Today: The term "Gerrymandering"

T's #Tweet of the Day - a regular feature on the @terrylyons Twitter feed - pointed the finger of fate at former US Veep (under James Madison) Eldridge Gerry, who opposed the political party system and often worked across all party lines in a bi-partisan manner, is the man behind the political strategy of drawing up voting district lines with the greatest possibility of winning the vote for the district, thus the term: "Gerrymandering."

T's #TweetofToday 201 yrs ago, former Mass Gov. Eldridge Gerry signed law to re-zone districts for voting purposes, re: Gerrymandering!
— Terry Lyons (@terrylyons) February 11, 2013

A little Huff. Post syndicating ...

Lockout? What Lockout? huff.to/113uJtL via @huffpostsports
— DigitalSportsDesk (@DigSportsDesk) January 29, 2013

TL

All is Quiet on NYD ... U2

Happy New Year - and yes, Bono and the boys look a little younger in this vid.

The very best to all for a great 2013.  Let's make it better.  Let's make it a GREAT YEAR!

Stormy Monday. And Tuesday's Just as Bad.

It's an easy decision to dedicate this nasty storm to Gregg Allman, Eric Clapton and the late Duane Allman. Today (Sunday), we closed up all the summer stuff on our porch, brought every single thing that might go airborne inside, and did all of the things the American Red Cross recommends. Water? Check, All the flashlights and candles in strategic places and easy to light and reach - check. Snacks and non perishables - check. We're as ready as we're gonna be.

So, here ya go - They call me Stormy Monday ... and Tuesday's just as Bad.

Thanks EC

Monica Matocha to make NYC debut at Gibson's Hit Factory Studios

Rhino Marketing & RFC music are bringing another emerging music talent for her New York City debut.  Monica Matocha and her band will play an invitation only music showcase at New York's Gibson Guitar studios on the evening of July 28th.  Music industry, entertainment and select media have been invited for the show featuring http://www.monicamatocha.com and her full band for a rock show to be remembered.


As part of the special promotion, the two followers of The Blog @ TerryLyons (dot) com who are in the music and entertainment industry and will be in NYC on th evening of July 28 will be invited.  If you would like to enter, reply to this post via Facebook.

See:

Mike Lee Boxing

Here is a short compilation of Mike Lee's first four professional fights.  Yes, he's 4-0.  You can see for yourself:

Charting the 2010 Senate Races while Monitoring Media, PR, Crisis Management

Google Ventures always has some interesting links to surf when time permits.  This morning, I was up early and had some time to investigate what Google and AOL were up to as they try to navigate the future.  One site, http://www.recordedfuture.com struck me as interesting and, upon further review, I discovered a number of strong PR, Communications and Crisis Management applications.  It's worth a few minutes of you time and let me know if you have questions, suggestions or ideas on applications to the sports world.  I will share those and a number of my own thoughts as this plays out in my recorded future.

Aside from sports, here is a cool application in the world of politics

Recorded Future’s View of the 2010 Senate Races

We at Recorded Future are pleased to announce our new U.S. Senate elections dashboard featuring our news analytics data on candidates in the closest 2010 Senate races.

Drawing from our database of events and entities identified within online news publications, blogs and social media channels, this dashboard tracks the momentum, best characterized as online buzz, and sentiment, both positive and negative, on coverage of the 29 candidates in 14 interesting races.

The dashboard also shows the state of the current race via Pollster’s poll aggregation as well as links to the most recent sources discussing each candidate.

By laying out the past thirty days of sentiment and momentum, we can easily visualize the mood of online media coverage as well as trending of discussion on each candidate. As a supplement to the daily tracking polls, this shows a few different angles of how the campaigns are playing out.

Certainly, it’s not meant to be predictive of who will win each race. Instead, it takes the view of a strategist, as the dashboard lays out how well a campaign has been doing in getting the media to speak positively about the candidate.

We hope you’ll enjoy playing around with the dashboard to get a view of how effectively the races are being run and seeing which candidates might be peaking in coverage.

See the 2010 Senate Dashboard here.

A Naismith Memorial HofF & Nike Tribute ...

Here's to a great event in the books: (Video by Nike Brand Marketing)

Ramble On ... this deep, dark December Sunday morning

I enjoy the process of finding interesting articles, topics and sub-topics in the entertainment, sports and communications world. Equally so, I enjoy the process of the Blog with the purpose of passing interesting items along, calling attention to certain aspects of current events and entertaining all of my loyal readers from Augusta to Geelong. The Blog @ TerryLyons.com is approaching 1,000 posts and one the most popular features has become "Ramble On." Each week, I save a few items which strike me as interesting but not necessarily timely and I compile those odds and ends for use in a column I post on Sunday morning. This week, with a trip to NYC and Long Island taking up a considerable amount of time, I did not get much screen time and will be starting from scratch this morning.

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First up? My Sunday Boston Globe had a whopping 25 free standing inserts when I picked up the plastic-wrapped paper from my frost covered walkway this morning. The weight alone could've prompted me to use a construction crane to lift and tuck the paper from front yard to kitchen table. What a colossal waste of advertising dollars, time, energy and paper. The whole batch are already sitting in the recycle bin.

When are retail stores and their marketing wings going to wake-up and smell the coffee? It's a digital age and they need to change the strategies to reach consumers in a more effective manner than dropping their FSI, literally wrapped in the comic strip, and praying that one of the 25-strong falls out onto my lap so I have to touch it, maybe read it. What a waste.

To any marketing exec reading this... see lessons in mobile marketing 101.

Jim Williams, a top exec that advises General Motors on its ad buys, sports marketing and strategy, was asked this past Tuesday night what was the most important aspect of marketing that he will address in 2010. His answer to the assembled group of sports marketers at the Boston chapter of the National Sports Marketing Network (NSMN) was: "Mobile."

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When in discussion with sports types in the Boston area, I frequently hear that Boston is very much a "pro sports town." I agree.

Compared to Austin, Texas, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Lansing, Michigan or Tallahassee, Florida - where college football is king, the athletic department staffs at Boston College, Northeastern University, Boston University (BU), Harvard and many other great institutions of higher learning really have their work cut out to gain attention and awareness outside of their campus gates.

The Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins monopolize the nightly sportscasts, sports-talk radio, and the column inches of the Globe and Boston Herald.

College Hockey took a step in late November and named Paul Kelly to head-up the newly created
"College Hockey Inc." which will certainly have a positive impact on increased marketing efforts for Hockey East, the ECAC, New England and national college ice hockey. The Boston-area schools should benefit as College Hockey, Inc will be based in beautiful Newton, Massachusetts.

See this from The Sports Business Journal:

Paul Kelly, who was fired as the NHLPA executive director in late August, has taken a new position, executive director of College Hockey Inc., but he would not rule out coming back as the hockey players’ union chief in the future.

Kelly, it was announced last week, has been named head of the new organization, charged with recruiting the best talent in North America to play hockey at U.S. universities. Fifty-eight U.S. colleges and universities have Division I hockey programs, and those schools have been losing a battle to the Canadian Hockey League for the best amateur North American hockey players, according to hockey sources.

Kelly was fired as NHLPA executive director by a 22-5 vote of player reps Aug. 31. Since then, there has been an uproar over his firing and the NHLPA voted to appoint a four-player committee to review his dismissal.

Asked whether there was any possibility he might go back to run the NHLPA, Kelly said: “I can’t answer that question. One, that is not an issue in my control. At this moment I am fully committed to this role on behalf of college hockey.” Kelly said he had a contract with College Hockey Inc. but would not give the terms.

College Ice Hockey took a great step and the results should be evident soon. So now, the question remains, what can college basketball, baseball, football, baseball and soccer do to gain some market share and increase awareness, attendance and revenue in the competitive "pro sports town" of Boston?

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One basic point, clear and simple, is to do a better job of telling the many interesting stories that are omnipresent at all of the major universities. That being the unique and interesting stories of the athletes who compete. With a slow schedule of games, due to the end of the college football regular season and exams taking their toll on college basketball match-ups, today's Boston Globe printed a full page (sports) front page story on Northeastern Basketball and their (very) interesting 5-10, French-born guard Baptiste Bataille.

See: CIRCUS CATCH

There's plenty more great, human-interest stories to go around, but it is challenging to get around the the fact that the editors continue to print inches and inches of game stories, boxscores and old results that are a full 12+ hours old, and they are a waste of time, space and energy because anyone who cares, read them online last night or first thing this morning.

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NY Post sniper Peter Vecsey is right on the money with his column on a convicted felon, former referee who walks around with his pants on fire.

See: NY Post Blows Whistle

I have a question and will try to get it answered in the week to come.  Why - on earth - would former FBI agent Phil Scala have anything to do with Donaghy's life, never mind writing the forward to his book?

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The Tiger Woods story continues on like a freight train out of control. Sports Marketing gurus and PR Crisis management execs continue to fill the airwaves, spilling and spitting out their opinions on how to control the wreck that has become the "off the golf course" hell for Tiger Woods.

On Friday, with Tiger's announcement that he will step away from golf for an indefinite period of time, the story gained serious momentum as it became legitimate general and sports news. Before the announcement on Friday, one could easily state, "It's Tiger's personal life and is an issue for his family. It has no bearing on his professional golfing career except for the fact he pulled out of the Chevron World Golf classic tournament."

Now, the incident on Deacon Circle is the cause of the greatest golfer on the PGA Tour to step away from the game he has dominated for more than a decade. That is legitimate news and is no longer material for the National Enquirer, TMZ and the like.

I ask? "Why?"

Why make the announcement now? Tiger was not expected to play golf until late January, or early February.

The answer is a giant question mark because we do not know the facts. Everyone continues to speculate and conjure up their own solutions without knowing any of the real dynamics. The news continues to leak out, mostly from secondary sources. It's all hear-say and the media continue to report it as though it is truth.

The storm will continue as there is no end in sight. We have no idea what happened, what was said, and what steps are being taken by Tiger Woods, his wife, Elin, or any of Tiger's inner circle of friends, family, relatives, sponsors, neighbors, or so-called advisors. It is a media feeding frenzy that will last for years and years.

And, I am sure Tiger Woods believes in the old adage, "Being rich is great, but being famous sucks."

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New England-made Colombo yogurt is the best.

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Joe Favorito does a great job with his daily blog but he always knocks it out of the park with his weekly email blast to some 20,000+ sports executives.

Joe is also writing a sports marketing blog for The Huffington Post. Click HERE for his latest entry.

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Does anyone have a recommendation on a GPS? I have been looking at the TomTom 140S and plan to plunk down a few bucks after Christmas.

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Steve Weinman's D-League Digest is worth a read.

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Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania and Russia were all awarded the wild-card spots for the 2010 World Championship of Basketball to be played this summer in Istanbul, Turkey.  The USA and reigning champion Spain are the odds-on favorites to win the title and its automatic entry to the 2012 men's Olympic basketball tournament.

In the 2006 Worlds, the USA lost to Greece in Saitama, Japan.  Spain went on to defeat Greece in the finals while the USA bested Argentina to take the bronze.

Russia finished 7th in the 2009 Euro championship this past summer while Germany and Lithuania tied for 11th.  The wild-card bids reward the longtime strength and viability of a national team's efforts and the berths are largely based on world rankings.

Britain was left on the outside looking in, as expected.  Some in the UK had hoped FIBA would toss the Brits a bone and help fuel interest in the sport leading up to the 2012 Olympics in London.


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Ramble On ... Catching Up on Some Notes

I have a million things all squirreled up in the reporter's notebook of my mind. I thought I'd empty the trash today. Let me know what you think, please?

Yes, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, I wonder if NY Congressman Peter King (R-Seaford, Long Island) is asking NBA Commissioner David Stern why Maccabi Tel Aviv Coach Pini Gershon was "giving the business to the NBA, its replacement officials and New York Knicks?

Or, better yet, maybe the governments of the rest of the world should be asking Rep. Peter King why the rest of the world should do business with the US of A as the likes of Lehman Bros., Goldman Sachs and chumps like Bernie Madoff (Queens) were responsible for the global financial crisis. Also, the most recent financial meltdown-man - Sri Lanka's Raj Rajaretnam --was holed up in some Manhattan penthouse when he brought down Galleon Group, the hedge fund failed flavour of the day. The WSJ has the story.

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I know you've come to expect the unexpected while being thoroughly informed of newsworthy tidbits and current events by reading The Blog @ TerryLyons dot com, so here's something new and completely different, as Monty Python's Flying Circus used to say. Tell me? You haven't lived a complete life unless you've witnessed the World Conker Championships. Read on: click here

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I like to watch George Stephanopoulos on This Week on ABC News and I regularly log into his blog and have his twitter/tweets on my Blackberry. That's a full dose of George. Here's what he informed me about earlier this week:

It’s not quite the Nobel Peace Prize, but Japanese college students have awarded President Obama something a bit more hip: a place in their vernacular.

Jim Fallows points to reports that a new verb is popping up in Japanese college students’ conversations: obamu (literally “to Obama”).

One blog in Japan offers a definition:

obamu: (v.) To ignore inexpedient and inconvenient facts or realities, think “Yes we can, Yes we can,” and proceed with optimism using those facts as an inspiration (literally, as fuel). It is used to elicit success in a personal endeavor. One explanation holds that it is the opposite of kobamu. (which means to refuse, reject, or oppose).

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My fave Boston Bruins player Milan Lucic is out for the count. It will be a long four-to-six weeks. Here's what the Globe ran on Tuesday, a day after Lucic had surgery.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli announced earlier this afternoon that forward Milan Lucic underwent surgery yesterday on his right index finger, which was broken in the second period of Friday’s 3-0 win over Dallas.

“He’ll be out four to six weeks,” Chiarelli said, following the team’s morning practice at Riscuccia Arena in Wilmington.

Yesterday, the right winger was placed on long-term injured reserve, which means he must now miss at least 10 games and 24 calendar days. In his absence, the Bruins recalled Brad Marchand and Vladimir Sobotka from Providence. Guillaume Lefebvre, who played in the P-Bruins’ 7-2 win over Portland last night and was recalled as an emergency backup Saturday, was also brought back up.

"Any time you lose a guy like Looch, one of those players that usually has a pretty good impact on the game when he's on top of it, it's certainly going to hurt," coach Claude Julien said.

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Plastics? In the movie, The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman was told by a friend of the family that the newest technology that was the secret to his success was 'plastics,' I will now predict that the secret to financial security and success in 2010+ will be "Bluetooth."

SEATTLE (AP) — Starting in mid-2010, new versions of gadgets like cameras, cellphones and computers will be able to talk to each other using Wi-Fi without needing to connect to a wireless network first.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group, said it is nearly finished putting together a Wi-Fi Direct specification, a set of technical “rules” that guide consumer electronics companies that plan to add the new capability.

Kelly Davis-Felner, the Wi-Fi Alliance’s marketing director, said Wi-Fi Direct will make it easier to liberate the mounting gigabytes of digital family photos that are trapped in cameras, smartphones or PCs. Now those gadgets will be able to connect directly to digital photo frames, TVs or printers.

In creating the specification, the Alliance is moving into the territory of Bluetooth, a competing wireless technology that already handles direct gadget-to-gadget connections.

Bluetooth uses less power but has much shorter range and a lower transfer speed. To tackle the latter problem, the industry group behind Bluetooth announced last year that it would co-opt Wi-Fi technology to make it possible to send videos and other bandwidth-hogging files around the house, much as Wi-Fi Direct promises to do.

Only one of the gadgets need have the new Wi-Fi Direct technology to make a two-way connection work.

In one scenario, you could connect a smartphone with Wi-Fi Direct to a laptop and piggyback on its wired Internet connection for a quick e-mail check without tapping your phone’s data plan.

Terry Lyons Sports Marketing and Communications LLC has a deal with Ace Marketing & Promotions of NY to market Proximity Marketing and other solutions of which Bluetooth technology will play a major role.

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From today's Washington Times ...

OBAMA to TRY to WIN OLYMPICS for CHICAGO

By Matthew Mosk and Tim Lemke -- THE WASHINGTON TIMES

President Obama will put his international star power on the line this week as he travels to Denmark for a last-minute, in-person appeal to members of the International Olympic Committee to choose his hometown of Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Games.

The president had initially said he would have to skip the final presentation to the IOC, which will occur just prior to the committee's selection from among four finalists, Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. But in a bit of theatrics, Mr. Obama reversed course and announced Monday he would attend.

Mr. Obama has made no secret of his desire to capture the games for Chicago.

"Chicago is ready. The American people are ready. We want these games. We want them," he said during a speech at the White House earlier this month.

For a vote that is expected to hinge on the leanings of just a handful of IOC members, his visit could be pivotal.

"I think his presence makes it almost certain that Chicago will win the bid," said former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, who oversaw the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. "I think we could have easily lost the bid" had the president not gone to make the case for Chicago in person.

But there is also a political risk that Mr. Obama's personal intervention falls short, dealing the new president a very public defeat on a global stage.

The presidential pitch is part of a well-orchestrated lobbying campaign involving the White House. In June, Mr. Obama created the White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport. Last week, he raised the topic repeatedly with world leaders as they gathered at the United Nations and at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

Observers of the bid process said Mr. Obama's presence this week will help, especially considering that the heads of state of Brazil and Spain and Japan's prime minister are all expected to attend.

IOC delegates have come to expect a personal appeal from the very top from its bidders.

In the weeks leading up to the vote for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, London's chances of winning seemed remote, with many observers predicting the IOC would award the games to Paris.

But London surged to win the bid on the final day after British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived before the final vote in Singapore to speak with IOC members. Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Blair had originally said he could not attend the IOC gathering.

Russia's Sochi bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, once seen as a long shot, also got an unexpected boost when then-President Vladimir Putin spoke during the bid presentation on the final day, one of the few occasions he has spoken publicly in English.

Mr. Obama's decision to attend "is absolutely huge," said Terry Lyons, a New England-based sports marketing consultant who has worked with many Olympic teams and athletes. "He has a real understanding and true knowledge of everything that's gone on there and he is clearly backing up the bid. I also think it's a statement of his belief in sport as a very important part of society, and I think that will carry a lot of weight with the IOC."

Chicago's organizers will make their final presentation to IOC officials on Friday morning, with the other bidding cities to follow. IOC members will then vote in as many as three rounds, eliminating the lowest-scoring city each round. The first city to capture at least 50 percent of the vote will win.

Past votes suggest the contest will go down to the wire. London and Sochi each won in the final round of voting by a mere four votes. Sydney, Australia, was awarded the rights to the 2000 Summer Olympics by two votes in the final tally, despite badly trailing front-runner Beijing in the first three rounds.

"Obama will matter a lot, definitely, especially since it's so close," said Rob Livingstone, the producer of Gamesbids.com, a Web site devoted to the Olympic bid process. "Any edge you can get is very important."

Predicting an IOC decision is inherently challenging, and recent technical evaluations of the bids offered few clues on the committee's leanings. The IOC had been critical of Chicago's inability to get a full financial guarantee from the federal government to protect against cost overruns, but those concerns were addressed earlier this month when the Chicago City Council passed a measure ensuring a full financial guarantee at the local level.

All four cities have mounted strong public relations campaigns touting the technical side of their bids, but Olympic observers said emotional arguments often play a bigger role. Some give the edge in Copenhagen to Rio de Janeiro because IOC members might be moved by the notion of holding an Olympics in South America for the first time. Brazil has also played up its high level of support from its citizens.

But analysts said Mr. Obama's presence will boost Chicago's profile.

"What Chicago can use to their advantage is to say that President Obama calls Chicago his hometown and they could try to, in the presentation, use the emotion and swing the votes their way," Mr. Livingstone said. "The final presentation is going to be very, very important to the final results of this election."