Fan Blog: Player Profile - Antawn Jamison

The player profile this time focuses on NBA veteran power forward, Antawn Jamison. Antawn Jamison has been in the NBA for 13 seasons. After playing at North Carolina for three years in college, Jamison was drafted with the 4th pick overall in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. On the day of the draft his rights were traded from the Raptors to the Golden State Warriors for ex-college teammate Vince Carter. He played for the Warriors for five seasons before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks for one season. After his short stint with Dallas he was then traded to the Washington Wizards where he actually became a major rival to the Cavaliers and played for six seasons.


Cleveland Cavaliers
Antawn Jamison   #4
Position: Power Forward
College: North Carolina
Height: 6'9''
Weight: 235 lb
Age: 35
Birthplace: Shreveport, LA





Midway through his sixth season with the Wizards he was part of a midseason trade with the Cavaliers. Cleveland brought him in to serve the part as a power forward who could stretch the defenses with the range of his shot. He was thought to be the final piece to the puzzle for winning an NBA championship. Obviously things didn't work out that way but Jamison remains a focal point of the Cavalier offense today. He is averaging 17.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this season. He is no longer the All-Star player he once was in his career but he is a great person and still a worthy player that I love having on the team.

Class Blog: Reflections

I am definitely glad that I decided to take the Sports Writing for Marketing and Promotions class. As a Marketing major that would like to do something in the world of sports, I think this was the perfect class to give me an idea as to what will differentiate me from my competition. It gave me a great understanding of all the different ways to go about marketing your team or event as well as how to gain sponsorship. It was also a very good touch-up course from my marketing classes to refresh me on all the different forms of media that sports can promote themselves through.

I think the biggest thing that I learned about sports marketing is that you have to start out small. If I want to get a career in this field I have to build my network. I need to get my name out there and just meet people who are doing jobs that I would potentially want to do. This class has taught me that the more people you know, the easier it can be to get into a job. There are tons of people who have an abundance of knowledge about sports but knowing people on the inside of an organization is something that will set you apart from other potential candidates. To go along with this, I learned that it is vital to present yourself professionally wherever you go because you never know who you could meet. Even a casual night out on the town could turn out to be the night you run into someone who could be used as a lead or referral for a job. Getting your foot in the door of a professional organization can be the hardest part of the job at times and this is why networking is so key to getting in.

Fan Blog: Byron Scott

The majority of this fan blog has been dedicated to the Cavaliers players and team, but none of their success would have come without coach Byron Scott. This is Byron Scott's second season coaching the Cavaliers in which he has not had the greatest success thus far. He came to the Cavaliers with the Lebron James decision up in the air and I think he made the decision thinking that it would sway Lebron's decision in Cleveland's favor. Regardless of not having James, Byron Scott has done as good as expected with the players he has had.

Byron Scott played in the NBA for 15 years from 1983 to 1998. During his time playing in the league he played along all-time greats such as Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal,  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Reggie Miller. He won three NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985, 1987, and 1988. After his playing career he got his first head coaching job for the New Jersey Nets in 2000. He took them to back-to-back NBA Finals and later went on to coach the New Orleans Hornets in 2004 where he won NBA Coach of the Year in 2008. Scott's style of coaching is a controlled, up-tempo paced style of offense with his primary focus on the defensive end. He has not yet won a NBA Championship as a coach but hopefully he will deliver on that with Cleveland in the near future.

Fan Blog: The End Is Near

The end of the 2012 NBA regular season is just a few days a way and that is a huge relief for Cavs fans. This season has not been a very easy one to watch but has given our young players a great learning experience under their belts. I'll be honest, the past few weeks haven't even been fun to watch. Kyrie Irving, Daniel Gibson, and Anderson Varejao have all been hurt the majority of the last two months and Ramon Sessions was traded. These are some of our best players that have missed a ton of time over the last couple months. This has resulted in poor television ratings and below average attendance.



There are only two games left in the season, one against Washington and the other against Chicago. I know many fans are just hoping for two losses to increase our playoff position and I can say that I am no different from these fans. This season has been a struggle to watch but it was leaps and bounds better than last season. There are a lot of question marks going into the offseason but I think there are even more answers which is great! The past few years have been rough for Cavs fans but I think this is a team definitely on the upswing. I think next year they will make the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed and hopefully within 3 years the Cavs will have homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Despite the bad record this season, I would still declare this season a success.

Fan Blog: Player Profile - Daniel Gibson

This fan blog is dedicated to the five year Cavalier veteran Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson. Daniel Gibson was drafted by Cleveland with the 12th pick of the 2nd round in the 2006 NBA Draft. He struggled in his rookie season in the NBA until playoffs roled around. He was the key player in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons. He scored a career high 31 points, 19 of those in the fourth quarter, to seal the series win and send the Cavs to the NBA Finals. By his second season he had earned a consistent starting spot and many people considered him to possibly be the running mate Lebron James would need to win a championship. In his second year he averaged 10.4 points per game.


Cleveland Cavaliers
Daniel Gibson   #1
Position: Point Guard
College: Texas
Height: 6'2''
Weight: 200 lb
Age: 26
Birthplace: Houston, TX




The Cavaliers acquired Mo Williams in 2009 which brought Daniel Gibson back to the bench. He has played from the bench pretty consistently every season since then. Last season he averaged a career high 11.6 points per game but his last 3 seasons have all been slowed down by injury. This season is no different. He is out for the season and just had surgery on his ankle. After becoming a fan favorite over his past 5 years wearing a Cavaliers uniform, there is much debate on whether this was his last. With potential star, Kyrie Irving taking over the minutes and a constantly beat-up Gibson, he is definitely a question mark going into the 2012-13 season.

Class Blog: The Future of Sports Marketing

I think the sector of arena advertisements are practically recession proof. The recent economic downturn has hurt almost every aspect of business but no matter what I think people are still going to attend sporting events. Sporting events allow people to get away from their normal life and step into an atmosphere that can allow them to forget some of their financial problems temporarily. Because of this 'escape', people will continue to attend sporting events so companies are going to continue to advertise at sporting events. Companies will continue to put ads on signs, scoreboards, walls, and even uniforms.

European soccer leagues already put companies logos on their uniforms and the NBA announced last week that they are considering doing the same thing to increase revenue. This could open up a whole new avenue for corporations to market themselves. Can you imagine some of the all time greatest highlights getting replayed for years into the future and a big logo of Microsoft on the players jersey? I mean what if Julius Erving's famous reverse lay-in was replayed all of these years with the McDonald's golden arches on his uniform? This is advertising that could last a lifetime! I think this really is the future of advertising. I don't think it will look very cool but they will find a way to make it work. I think the biggest problem with it is going to be working out agreements with jersey sponsors and player sponsors. For example, if a team is sponsored by Dell but an individual player on that team endorses Apple. This could cause some corporate conflicts that I am not sure how these rival companies would resolve it.

Fan Blog: Harrison Barnes

Harrison Barnes has become the leading candidate for the Cavaliers to draft. If the NBA Draft Lottery follows suit with the teams records, the Cavs will be drafting either 4th or 5th in this summers draft. With much need at the Small Forward/Shooting Guard position, all eyes have turned toward Harrison Barnes out of North Carolina. Barnes just finished his sophomore season at North Carolina after averaging 15.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game this season. His numbers dipped a bit from his freshman year but much of that was due to other scorers coming in on the team. Many experts thought he would leave school after his freshman year because he would've been a top 3 pick, but because of the looming lockout, he decided to come back to college for another year.

If the mock drafts are correct and Harrison Barnes does indeed come to Cleveland, they will be getting a perfect sized NBA body that can shoot and score from pretty much anywhere on the floor. He stands at about 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 215 pounds. He will have to add a bit of weight once he gets into the NBA but that is pretty standard for a kid his age. I think he will be able to add another young scoring threat to the Cavs offense as well as another player that will hopefully fill out the lineup for the extended future. Barnes could solidify his place as a starter immediately because there isn't a whole lot of competition at that position. Barnes would mix great with other youngsters, Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson as well as some other key players like Anderson Varejao and Atawn Jamison. Hopefully Barnes will be the key to the puzzle to put Cleveland back in the playoffs in 2013

Class Blog: Adolph Coors Company

The Sports Sponsorship Criteria in the book revealed a lot to me about the standards that Coors looks for when looking for a sponsor. Coors has a ton of qualifications and requirements for who they allow and who they look to sponsor them. Coors creates a great medium for sponsors to help themselves as well as Coors. Coors advertises through sports, co-op events, regional events that include fairs and festivals, and other special marketing events.

This Coors section allowed me to learn that sponsors have to go through a lot of requirements to become a sponsor. I used to think it was the other way around. Coors has developed a great idea of what kind of events they want to be sponsoring and what kind of image they want to have. For example, their target age is 24 so they are going to sponsor events that 24 year olds are going to be the primary attendees. It is apparent that Coors has put a lot of time and effort into these sponsorship criteria and it really seems to be working for them because they have become a major beverage company.

Fan Blog: Dan Gilbert

The importance of an owner in sports is often times overlooked. I think often times an owner is thought to just be a rich businessman that divies up a lot of money to own the majority of a team. Sometimes I do think this is true but it is without a doubt that in order to have a successful sports franchise, you must have a passionate, driven, and successful owner. Although he can be controversial at times, I think Dan Gilbert fits all of these criteria.

Dan Gilbert was born in raised in Detroit, Michigan in 1962. Dan graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from Michigan State University, a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University Law School and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. Additional to ownership of the Cavs, Gilbert is also the chairman and founder of Quicken Loans Inc., the Lake Erie Monsters, the Cleveland Gladiators, the Canton Charge, and has many other business and investment ventures.

Dan Gilbert has issued some controversial statements in the past, particularly relating to the exit of former Cleveland star, Lebron James. The night James decided to 'take his talents to South Beach' Gilbert released a statement to Cleveland fans. In the statement he accused Lebron of betrayal, self-promotion, and disloyalty. He also guaranteed a Cavaliers championship before Lebron James as well as reassured that he and the other Cavaliers management would be working harder now than ever to get the city of Cleveland the championship they deserve. To many outside people this statement was viewed as a low cheap shot on Lebron. But as a huge Cavs fan I applaud Gilbert for this. He was probably the only manager in sports that actually wrote an open letter to his fans stating what 99% of the American population was feeling. Did he get caught up in the moment, absolutely. But it is this kind of drive and dedication that you want in an owner. This letter certainly showed his fire and passion to be the best and he is exactly the kind of guy I want in charge of my team!

Class Blog: Celebrity Endorsements

It seems like celebrity endorsements are everywhere in today's world of advertising. Athletes endorse anything from the very products that they use on the field or court all the way to products that have nothing to do with their perfomance. Derek Jeter endorses Gillette razors, Lebron James endorses Sprite and State Farm, Dwayne Wade endorses T-Mobile, and even Peyton Manning endorses DirecTV, Sony, and Sprint. The point I am trying to make is that none of these products have anything to do with what these athletes do in their respective sports. Companies give these stars millions of dollars because they know they will bring publicity and a spotlight onto their product. I mean how exciting can you possibly make a commercial or a billboard featuring Gillette razors. But when you throw Derek Jeter into the mix, then you have a ground to gain interest in your product.

When Kelloggs decided to drop Michael Phelps but Speedo did not, I think this says a lot about how effective a celebrity endorsement can be when it is in the right field. Of course Speedo isn't going to drop Michael Phelps, they should come hand in hand together! I cannot name another swimmer or another swimsuit manufacturer in the whole world of the top of my head. The reason for this is because they are both the best at what they do. Michael Phelps is the biggest possible endorser of a swimming product like Speedo could possibly ask for, and the same for Speedo about getting Michael Phelps. How this compares with Kelloggs is that they could probably live without Michael Phelps. Phelps' swimming ability really has nothing to do with breakfast cereal anyways. Kelloggs can always find another celebrity endorser and they could still have a great reason as to why that new person is a better person to represent their product, Speedo cannot do this. It is like if Nike wanted to drop Michael Jordan, it just wouldn't make any business sense.

Fan Blog: Quicken Loans Arena

This entire blog post is dedicated to the Cleveland Cavaliers home basketball court, Quicken Loans Arena. The Q is located at 1 Center Court Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavs also share this venue with the Cleveland Gladiators (arena football) and the Lake Erie Monsters (minor league hockey). The arena is commonly referred to as The Q and until 2005 it was named Gund Arena after former team owner, Gordon Gund. Ground broke for the arena on April 27, 1992 and was then opened on October 17, 1994. Before the opening of Gund Arena the Cavaliers played in the Coliseum at Richfield. The building of the arena was part of the Gateway Project which was a project to revitalize downtown Cleveland.
                                                                            
                                                                              Coliseum at Richfield >
       Quicken Loans Arena
For basketball Quicken Loans Arena seats 20,562 people which includes 92 luxury suites. After the 2005 NBA season The Q underwent renovations that added new seats, new scoreboards, state of the art sound systems, as well as new locker rooms. The arena is also known as a 'sibling' to Progressive Field which is the Cleveland Indians field becasue it is right across the street and was built about the same time. The Q has become known as one of the most intimidating environments in the NBA and has hosted many notable events over the years. Some of these include NCAA Men's Basketball tournament games, WWE events, NBA Playoff games, the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, and many concerts.

Class Blog: Olympics

As most people know, the Olympics take place this Summer in London. The Olympics have become one of the most viewed events throughout the world so it is no wonder that sponsors are more than ready to line up and pay up to get their name out there. The 2008 Beijing Olympic games attracted a record 4.7 billion viewers on television alone. Think of how many times a commercial would have to run on a normally programmed show in order to reach that viewership. It would take years! The exposure the Olympics can create for a company is second to none. Even outside of television advertising there are a great number of people that will be attending the games as well. Advertising through billboards, sponsoring events, product samples, and anything else to give the people in attendance a 'hands-on' experience with your company will most certainly be profitable for companies. Some of the The Olypmic Sponsors (TOP) for this years Olympic games include huge companies such as Coca-Cola, Acer, McDonalds, Procter and Gamble, General Electric, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung, DOW, Atos, and of course Visa. All of these companies are sure to get their money's worth during the course of this years London Olympics.

Fan Blog: Lester Hudson

Lester Hudson has taken Cleveland by Storm! After having two straight games scoring over 20 points, Lester Hudson just signed his second 10 day contract with the Cavaliers. The night after signing that contract he exploded for a 25 point, 8 rebound, and 6 assist game to lead the Cavs to victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. He has proven to be a clutch performer over these past few games. Tonight against the Bobcats he had 14 points in the fourth quarter alone! Last game against the New Jersey Nets, Hudson also hit a game tying fadeaway three pointer from the corner with 0.3 seconds left to send it into overtime. Lester Hudson has only been in Cleveland for about two weeks, but he is definitely making them a memorable two weeks.

For those of you who don't know who Lester Hudson is, here is a little about him. Lester Hudson was drafted in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. He played his college ball at the little-known school of Tennessee-Martin. In college, Hudson became the only NCAA men's player to every record a quadruple double! (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals) The 27 year old Hudson has spent the majority of his bried NBA career bopping around from team to team and spending the bulk of his time in the NBA Development League. With the Cavaliers recently trading Ramon Sessions and then follow up injuries of Daniel Gibson and Kyrie Irving, the Cavs were scrambling to find a point guard to finish out the season with. That is where Lester Hudson came in.

Since signing the brief contract with the Cavs, Hudson has played in 6 games. So far in Lester's NBA career he has only made appearances in 42 total games and in those games he is averaging a horrible 3.6 points, 1.3 assists and 1 rebound per game. So far during his stint with the Cavs his numbers have exploded to averaging 19 points, 4.8 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game. Although the Cavaliers season is down the drain, Hudson has created a late season buzz around the team. Hopefully he can gain the team a bit of momentum heading into the offseason.

Class Blog: Honda Center

Signage and advertising within a sports arena can be very effective. Sometimes these advertisements at sporting events could almost be considered a sort of subliminal messaging because they actually do go unnoticed at times. Just think about in a basketball arena how many different sponsors they have on the scoreboard! Baseball and hockey both advertise heavily on their scoreboards as well but they can even put them into the walls around the field and rink. The NHL has taken it to a whole new level and even put advertisements under the ice. I don't know exaclty how effective some of these are but they definitely create a recognizable logo and brand for the companies who place them. Some of these logos become part of the game and the arena themselves so you can hardly think about watching the game without tying that logo with it. I know that's how I feel when attending a Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Indians games. The tallest building in downtown Cleveland is this huge Key Bank building. So naturally, Progressive Field (Indians) and Quicken Loans Arena (Cavs) have tons of things sponsored by Key Bank. Progressive Field always has a huge Key Bank logo on the giant scoreboard in left field. At many home playoff games the Cavaliers offer every fan a free shirt and they are almost always sponsored by Key Bank. It is almost like Key Bank comes hand in hand with these downtown Cleveland Sports. I don't think all this adertising has taken away from the games being played yet but I think it could if they start doing sponsored animations and visual effects on televised games. For example, if the simulated first down line in football started to get sponsored by a company or something, I think that could get very distracting to viewers.

Fan Blog: Cavs Struggles Down the Stretch

Coming into April, the last month of the NBA regular season, the Cavs are beginning to show their inexperience to playing a longer season than college. Most of these players were just playing college within the last few years and because of the strike, NBA teams have been cramming 66 games into a relatively short period of time. These young Cavaliers seem to be not used to this amount of games especially in such a short time. Cleveland has lost their last eight games and 11 of their last 12. The frustrating thing about this is that the majority of these games have not even been close. In the NBA, it is one thing to lose games but a complete different situation if you're not even competing. I think that is why many of the fans are frustrated by this. Cavalier's majority owner, Dan Gilbert, even tweeted after a recent blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks,

"One of those nights where I can't find the words to match the emotions (at least non-profane words). Cavs fans deserve better. Much better."



Frustrations are at a season high right now so it is vital to close the season on a strong note and at least finish by playing hard. Injuries have been a part of the issue but the veterans should be able to pull the young guys through to the finish. Cavs fans have seen some flashes of what's to come in the future from this team so there are some things to be positive about. It's just playing for pride at this point and knowing that even though playoffs are no longer a possibility, the team can still use these last few weeks to gain experience and practice for upcoming years. If you would've told me at the beginning of the year that because of the lockout-shortened season the Cavs would play 16 less games and still win more than all of last year, I would've said you were crazy. But they have the chance to do just that. The Cavs are only two wins away from having the same record and three wins away from beating that. With a shortened season like this and so much youth on the team, I guess that's all we can ask for, to keep improving every day!

Class Blog: Naming Rights

Naming rights are something that are taking over the sporting industry. It seems as though pretty much all teams are sponsored by some major company and even most games and events have a title sponsor. College football is where this seems to be most prominent. Every single bowl game has some sort of major sponsor affiliated with it. They range anywhere from the classic Tostito's Fiesta Bowl or the Rose Bowl presented by Vizio or even the Allstate Sugar Bowl all the way to the ridiculous sounding Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl or even the Franklin American Mortgage Music Bowl. Although some of these are classic sponsors and some are some of the most insane sounding things ever, every one of these sponsors do serve a major purpose in the involvement in these games. Sponsors get their name out their everytime the sporting event is shown and in return they should see an increase in business because of this sponsorship. Even professional teams are sponsored by companies. It was huge recent news that the NFL officially changed their uniforms from Reebok to Nike. Who knows, it might not be too much longer till American professional sports teams wear giant sponsor logos on their uniforms like European soccer teams already do.

The Ohio State vs. Michigan matchup is one particular event that could benefit immensely by getting a sponsor for the game. I'm sure every year the campus officials are contacted by multiple Fortune 500 companies to sponsor this humongous rivalry game. Michigan Football is sponsored by Adidas and Ohio State is sponsored by Nike so it would almost have to be a company that each school could mutually agree on such as Gatorade or Verizon Wireless or something like that. I think the major reason as to why this game has not taken on a sponsorship is because of the history and tradition that this game as well as college football has taken on. Just like many classic college stadiums like Ohio State's Horseshoe, The Big House of Michigan, or even Notre Dame Stadium, these places do not have sponsors because it would take away from the classic appeal that makes these programs what they are all about. Of course there is a lot of money if any of these schools ever decided to sponsor The Big Game, but in my opinion you can't put a price on tradition and history.

Fan Blog: Cavs Trade-Deadline

Every season around this time there are tons of rumors floating around the NBA in regards to potential trades that could be going on. This year was no exception. Big names such as Dwight Howard, Monta Ellis, and Carmelo Anthony were all thrown around into these rumors. But even though there weren't any major blockbuster deals this year, some teams did make a splash.

The Cavs were heavily involved in these trade rumors. With only a few players that were considered 'absolutely safe' from being traded on the roster, the Cavs were not afraid to make any sort of deal. The two names that were rumored to be most likely to being traded were Point Guard, Ramon Sessions and Power Forward, Antawn Jamison. Antawn Jamison has come on strong this year and could offer a potential playoff team with a veteran presence that could become a second or third scorer for the team. Several teams were interested but in the end no deal went down for Jamison.

However, Ramon Sessions was another story. The Los Angeles Lakers have been rumored to be heavily interested in acquiring Sessions for about two months now. With the core group of their team aging and the trade of veteran point guard Derek Fisher, the Lakers were forced to trade for the Cavaliers young scoring point guard. Sessions was traded to the Lakers along with Christian Eyenga on March 22nd after averaging 10.4 points per game and 5.4 assists per game so far this season with the Cavs. In return Cleveland got the Lakers 2012 first round draft pick as well as Power Forward Luke Walton. This is yet another move in the rebuilding process for Cleveland. They continue stockpiling draft picks and with the acquisition of this pick they now could have three first rounders this year. With a strong draft class coming out of college this year, it seems like there couldn't be a much better year to have all these picks.

Class Blog: Social Media Marketing

Social media is becoming more and more prevelant in sports marketing today. Twitter is probably the most common place where this takes place. Twitter offers players the unique and new opportunity to personnally market their teams as well as theirselves. What is so unique about this form of advertising is that it is an interaction directly between players and fans. Players are even advertising for teams that they don't play on. I know the Cleveland Browns players Joe Haden and Josh Cribbs both urge fans to come out to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers whenever they come to games. Josh Cribbs even had a special code offered on his Twitter account that fans could redeem for tickets and a meet and greet with him before the Cavs game. These marketing opportunities were unheard of as little as a few years ago.

Teams are using social media as well. Practically every single professional team has a Facebook and Twitter page as well as multiple blogs and vlogs. The Cavaliers frequently post video interviews on their website with players and announcers to give fans a background look at the organization. Many teams even offer discounted tickets or advertise for upcoming promotions on their Twitter or Facebook pages. A new online ticketing base used by several teams such as the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, and several others creates an interesting and innovative way to market each team. The company is called FlashSeats and they have totally eliminated paper tickets for these teams. Rather tickets can be bought and sold on the website and just emailed to whoever goes to the game. Once purchased, you just scan your credit card or drivers license at the gate of the arena and they will give you your tickets there. This site creates an interactive place where season ticket holders can communicate with every other fan on ticket prices and other issues involving their teams.

Fan Blog: Mid-Season Review

With the NBA's All-Star weekend wrapped up it is official that the second half of the season is underway. The first half of the year presented both NBA fans and Cavs fans with a lot to think and talk about. This season has seen many interesting things like the emergence of Jeremy Lin, the Heat's Big Three and the Thunder's dominance in their conferences, as well as the Lakers adapting to life under new head coach Mike Brown. But even with all of these big name teams having so much success, Cleveland has had an interesting and eventful first half as well.

The first half of the season has seen the Cavaliers finish with a 13-19 record which lands them in 9th place in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs have definitely seen their fair share of up's and down's so far but I think so far Cleveland fans have to feel pretty positive about the results of this team. The Cavs have had some huge wins against teams like New York, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles Clippers, and Indiana. They have also received setbacks from bad teams such as New Orleans, New Jersey, and twice to Toronto. So far the Cavs have exceeded expectations but there is still a long way to go. It would be great to finish the season with a lottery pick but I think if Cleveland can finish with 25 wins it would be a success. Even with the shortened 66 game schedule this season, the Cavs are still on pace to have more wins then their 19 from last year. Hopefully the young players they've acquired over the last few years can continue to grow and lead the Cavs to the playoffs soon!

Class Blog: Bill Veeck

After researching the great Bill Veeck, it is very apparent that he was a promotional genius. The biggest thing that Bill Veeck did to make him great at promoting his teams and products was how innovative he was and how amazing he was at thinking outside the box. Bill thought up promotions that were anywhere from being offensive, to fun, to just plain weird.

Of all the great promotions Bill Veeck created during his major league career with the White Sox and Indians, I think his best and most creative promotion was with his minor league team, the Charleston Riverdogs. The promotion he created in July of 2002 was called "Nobody Night." This promotion sounds completely silly because at first thought it is obviously a loss taken by his organization if no one attends the game. What made this a great promotion was that just by announcing he was doing this gave his team a ton of publicity. Minor league teams do not get publicity on a regular basis. With this promotion Veeck successfully got his Riverdogs in papers and magazines everywhere. This was simply FREE advertising that he created through this promotion. Another important aspect of this promotion was that he actually created a great buzz outside the stadium. He simply locked out the fans until the game was official after the 6th inning and let everyone in after that. The article said he had tons of people outside the stadium that he sold tons of concessions to as well as letting them watch on big screens outside the stadium. Despite all of this he even got his team into the Guinness Book of World Records for lowest attendance. All of these worked great for a minor league team and had to be considered a huge success for his team.

Fan Blog: Lebron Back to Cleveland?

Anyone who has watched sports television this past week has more than likely heard about Lebron James' most recent comments regarding Cleveland. Lebron James has emerged as one of the most popular athletes on the planet. Because of this, his departure from Cleveland and now his annual returns to Cleveland are becoming national news. This past week he was making his third appearance in Cleveland since the infamous departure. When asked by a reporter about a possible return to Cleveland he stated, "I think it would be great, it would be fun to play in front of these fans again." Later in the interview he went on to say, "I had a lot of fun times here. You can't predict the future. Hopefully you continue to stay healthy. I'm here as a Miami player and I'm happy where I am now but I don't rule that out in any sense. If I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me."

Needless to say, these comments have created quite the stir within the sporting world. There has been much discussion over whether these comments were out of line for him to say, and more importantly, whether or not there is some truth to his return to Cleveland. It will be two more seasons before James has a chance to opt out of his contract and explore the possibility of returning or looking elsewhere. Many people think he is just trying to regain some of his popularity but I really do think there is some truth to what he said. Lebron's image has taken a huge hit since he left Cleveland and along with that I think has come a lot of regret. Miami Heats' fans have been lacking even with the crazy talent they have there. Miami even had to use a "Fan Up Miami" promotion last season because they were having so much trouble selling out games. Even when they do, everyone isn't in their seats until halfway through the first and second halfs. Nothing against Miami fans but this is completely different than what Lebron is used to in comparison to Cleveland. In Lebron's time in Cleveland he was literally treated as if he owned the city. He gave the city a certain buzz and he could do no wrong. Since he was from Northeast Ohio, Cleveland sports fans viewed him as their own homegrown product, therefore felt an interesting attachment to him. This is something that he can never achieve outside of Cleveland.

I don't know how much to actually read in between the lines on these comments but for those Cavs fans who would like to see Lebron back in Cleveland, this cannot be viewed as bad news. I think there is a decent chance he could return but I really do think things will have to change with current Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert. Whether he stays in Miami, returns to Cleveland, or explores other opportunities, it will without a doubt be an eventful and interesting time when James has the chance to opt out. I am sure rumors will swirl like crazy between now and then and it will be very interesting to see how everything turns out.

Class Blog: Marketing Ticket Prices

This weeks blog presented us with the question of whether we would rather sell 10,000 tickets at a cost of $2.00 per ticket or 1,000 tickets at $20 per ticket. In my personal opinion I think this is a rather simple answer. Just like in any industry, you want to gain a wide customer base and residual customers. With selling tickets to 10,000 people rather than 1,000 you do just that. This is a great opportunity for your team to gain a very large fanbase if you would choose that option. Another huge advantage of selling that amount of tickets for only $2.00 rather than for $20.00 is that you get a reputation for having good value as a sports organization. This will help build a certain rapport with the customer base because they will trust you as well as your product. This great price as well as the amount of 10,000 tickets you sold will absolutely build a large, repeat customer base. These 10,000 customers will be able to tell many others about the great deal of $2.00 per ticket in comparison to the low amount of people that could or even would spread the word of $20 tickets.

Class Blog: Super Bowl

As everyone already knows, the Super Bowl is the day that every major company showcases their new commercials for the year. It creates great exposure for their product because of the insane amount of people watching the game. But besides the commercials, there is plenty of other, more subtle advertising going on during the Super Bowl.
One major form of advertising I noticed was the Reebok logo on the teams uniforms. What better way to advertise then to put it right on the players. This doesn't straight out tell the viewers to buy Reebok equipment, but tons of people must think the uniforms look cool. This gets other teams such as colleges and high schools to contact Reebok and see what they can do for their own school.
Another advertising I noticed was the Verizon Wireless logo on the scoreboard. They only showed the scoreboard about two times during the game but both times I saw that logo on both sides of it. This ad wasn't so much for the viewers at home but rather for the fans in attendance.
The last one I noticed was probably the biggest one that I saw outside of the commercials. The entire halftime show was called the "Bridgestone Halftime Show." It seems odd that a company that manufactures tires would sponsor a halftime show that contained Madonna, Nicki Minaj, and Cee-Lo Green, but with the amount of people watching, it really doesn't need to make sense. I am almost 100% certain the Bridgestone had major hits on their website immediately following that halftime show.
What all this tells me is that it doesn't matter when or where you advertise during the Super Bowl. All it boils down to is that the Super Bowl is a marketers dream. It creates the rare opportunity for a company to showcase their product to one of the largest audiences possible and actually have the audience intrigued in the commercial itself. I mean after all, isn't that half the reason why people watch the Super Bowl anymore?

Fan Blog: Behind the Building of the 2012 Cavs

So many things go into making a team. It seems like a simple enough thing to do. Make a few trades, draft good players, save money where you can, and hope the end product is satisfactory to your fans. But like many things, it's a whole lot more complex than it seems. There are so many factors that go into a team. Salary cap, luxury taxes, trade exceptions, drafts, trades, free agency, and much more. In this blog post, I am going to give a brief background on how this years team came to be.

Draft:

 - Daniel (Boobie) Gibson was drafted 42nd overall by the Cavs in the 2006 NBA Draft. He went to college at the University of Texas and has become a key addition for the Cavs during his time in Cleveland. He is rather small for the NBA but his shooting ability has kept him a fan favorite in Cleveland.
 - Christian Eyenga was drafted 30th overall by Cleveland in the 2009 NBA Draft. Eyenga ia 22 years old and is an athletic Small Forward from the Congo. He has great leaping ability and has become a good role player for the Cavs.
 - Kyrie Irving was drafted number 1 overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. This draft pick was acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade earlier in 2011. Irving attended Duke University for one season. Although his time has been rather short here in Cleveland, he is making a name for himself and showing the league that he will be a force in years to come.
 - Tristan Thompson was selected number 3 overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. He attended the University of Texas and is just a meir 20 years old. His long, lanky figure promises to be a great asset to Cleveland on the defensive end moving into the future.

Trades:

 - Anderson Varejao was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 2004 but then traded to the Cavs for Tony Battie and two second round picks. Varejao is from Brazil and has become a major fan favorite in Cleveland during his seven years playing with the club.
 - Antawn Jamison is a 13 year NBA veteran who found his way to the Cavs by way of a three team trade in 2010 between the Cavs, Washington Wizards, and Los Angeles Clippers. The Cavs had to give up a first round pick and Zydrunas Ilgauskas and received Jamison and Sebastian Telfair.
 - In the summer of 2010, the Cavs traded for two players that are currently on the roster from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Cleveland gave Minnesota their 2013 second round pick as well as Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair. In exchange, Cleveland got center, Ryan Hollins and point guard, Ramon Sessions.
 - During a midseason trade in 2011, the Cavs acquired two current players in a trade with the Boston Celtics. Cleveland received both Semih Erden, a center from Turkey, as well as Luke Harangody, a young power forward from Notre Dame. Boston got Cleveland's second round pick for that year.
 - Omri Casspi is a tall small forward who was acquired in a trade from Sacramento to Cleveland in 2011. Cleveland received Casspi and Sacramento's first round pick for 2012 and gave the Kings JJ Hickson.

Free Agents:

 - Anthony Parker was claimed out of free agency by the Cavs in 2009. Parker had been released by the Toronto Raptors the prior year. He is an 8 year veteran out of Bradley University.
 - Alonzo Gee was claimed by Cleveland out of free agency in 2010. He played overseas for a year before returning to the Cavs in 2011. Gee is a 24 year old small forward who attended University of Alabama.
 - Samardo Samuels was claimed from free agency by Cleveland after being released from the Bulls in 2010. Samuels signed a 3 year deal with the Cavs and is currently playing backup Center for them. He is a 2 year NBA player out of University of Louisville.
 - Ben Uzoh became an undrafted free agent in 2011. He was picked up by the Cavs to be a shooting guard off the bench. He has not yet seen much playing time but is still just a rookie from Tulsa University.

As you can see, this team was not acquired over night. It has taken many different acquisitions and I think the Cavalier front office has to be proud of the direction they are taking. Hopefully within a few short years, all their hard work will have paid off!

Class Blog: Sport Product Life Cycle

The class blog for this past week was to give background information on an Athletic/Sports company and dive a little deeper into what the company is all about. The company I chose for this is Callaway Golf Company. To the average sports fan, Callaway may not be a household name. Keeping themselves restricted to one sport is the main cause of this but by no means do I think they need to expand to other areas.

Callaway is considered the world's largest maker of golf clubs. If any of you have ever watched a PGA event, there is no doubt in my mind that you have seen Callaway products in use. Callaway produces a wide range of golf products including clubs, balls, tees, apparel, shoes, gloves, and golf bags. Callaway is based in Carlsbad, California and was founded in 1982. Callaway began publicly trading their companies shares on the NYSE in 1992 and by 1997 they boasted a market capitalization of 3 billion dollars. Their net profit in 2010 was 967.7 million dollars and they are continuing to grow today.

There is actually a lot of competition in the golf world between companies such as Callaway, TaylorMade, Cleveland Golf, Nike Golf, and many more. With all this competition, Callaway has to gain a competitive advantage any way they can. The way they accomplish this is through sponsorships. Callaway does a great job of sponsoring athletes with their biggest cash cow being Phil Mickelson. Other huge stars Callaway has are Stuart Appleby, Ernie Els, Arnold Palmer, and even Justin Timberlake. They have numerous more sponsorships that are not nearly as recongizable nor as profitable as these individuals and in the marketing world they are labeled as question marks and dogs. Callaway is doing a great job growing their business and getting their name out there. Phil Mickelson just won this past weekends Pro-Am at Pebble Beach to continue carrying the Callaway name with pride.

Fan Blog: Player Profile - Kyrie Irving

This week's blog focus is on the Cleveland Cavaliers rookie point guard Kyrie Irving. I thought this would be a fitting topic since Irving recorded his first career game-winning basket on Sunday against the Boston Celtics. The most impressive thing about that play wasn't the shot at all but rather his ball handling ability to keep the play alive. We haven't seen that kind of ball handling skills under pressure from a Cavalier since Mark Price in the 90's. Kyrie Irvings last second bucket the other night capped an incredible road comeback and hopefully was the first of many game winning shots in Irvings career.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Kyrie Irving   #2

Position: Point Guard

College: Duke University

Height: 6'3''

Weight: 191 lb

Age: 19

Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia

Kyrie Irving has definitely made his impact so far on the Cavs season, averaging 17.9 points per game, 4.8 assists per game, and 3.4 rebounds per game. It is obvious that he is continuing to learn the game at this level but he couldn't be doing so under a better coach. Byron Scott has had great success grooming point guards such as Jason Kidd, Baron Davis, and Chris Paul. If Irving ends up having a career like one of them I think it's safe to say he will be a household name in Cleveland before long. 

Fan Blog: Winning vs. Draft

As the NBA lockout drug on this fall I found myself growing more and more impatient for the start of this season. After the Cleveland Cavaliers chose Kyrie Irving number one overall and Tristan Thompson number three, I couldn't wait to see what these two players had to display on the professional level. Neither was portrayed as a kind of "superstar" prospect like recent lottery picks such as Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, or Lebron James. Tristan Thompson in particular seemed to be sort of a controversial pick at the time - many analysts believed it was a stretch to take him at number three with so much other talent still left to be taken.

source: msn.foxsports.com

Now with a month of the season in the books, I think these two picks were the best possible for the organization. Irving is currently leading all rookies in scoring and second in assists all while sharing significant minutes at point guard with Ramon Sessions and Daniel Gibson. The addition of Tristan Thompson has been something that has ignited our defense, and it is already very noticeable that his athleticism will cause opposing big men fits in the years to come. Given the depth the Cavs have at the power forward position he is currently splitting his minutes with several players, but with the aging Antawn Jamison and trade rumors swirling around Anderson Varejao, it is just a matter of time before Thompson becomes a major asset in Cleveland's rebuilding efforts.


This season has myself as well as many other Cavs fans really asking ourselves what we are looking for out of this season. It is obvious we are a better team than last year, but is that necessarily a good thing? With this summers upcoming draft class being touted as one of the best classes in the last twenty years, I can't help but wish for a high pick. Obviously the downside to a high pick is you need to have a bad record. Since playoffs aren't even creeping into any Cavs fan's minds this season, it actually makes a fair amount of sense to actually root for the draft in order to gain another huge building block for the future. However, that does not mean while watching my beloved Cavaliers this season I root for the opponent. This year can still be a success by gaining valuable experience for all of our young players while winning a few games in the process. In sum, I think it is fair to say my agenda for this Cavs season is to get a top five pick, stay healthy, have Kyrie Irving win Rookie of the Year, and have Lebron choke in the NBA Finals to an underdog Western Conference team. Given the expectations going into this season, I think that is all any Cavs fan can root for!

Fan Blog Spot

I believe creating a Fan Blog Spot has several benefits pertaining to this course as well as to professional sports blogging. For starters, I believe it gives us students a different perspective of writing - at least for myself. I am so used to writing in a scholarly fashion where I am expected to be very proper and thorough while blogs are far more casual. Because of that I feel as though they are much easier to write. I also actually enjoy writing about sports because it is something I am extremely interested in.


On the other hand, I think a fan blog can be beneficial for the reader as well. Many times when reading sports articles and magazines published by professionals I feel like I'm not getting the type of answers I'm looking for. A fan blog such as this would provide an interesting perspective of sports organizations through the eyes of a fan rather than, for example, the beat writer for the team.


If I was hired by a team to blog about their organization there are tons of things I would like to write about. I would write about events and issues relevant to the team, upgrades to the venue they play in, do player or coach profiles, focus on weekly or monthly success, write about a specific game from the past or present, or even talk about potential issues with the league or team they play in. I think any of these issues would get readers interested in what I had to say. I think the feedback you would receive as a professional sports blogger would be very rewarding.

My Sports Autobiography

Growing up in a household where Cleveland sports debacles left our household a gloomy place to be and where our beloved Buckeyes were king, I was thrust into sports at a young age. I've been an avid sports fan since I can remember and I can honestly say I'm probably one of the most passionate sports fans I know. I started playing baseball in the first grade and I stuck with that all the way until senior year in high school. Experiencing moderate success in the sport over the years definitely brought out my competitive side. I went to a small private elementary school and later a small high school in rural Ohio so my passion for playing sports was in large part due to the comradery I had with my teammates and friends. In third grade I started running track, mainly competing in high jump and long distance running. Track was never my cup of tea but I stuck with it until eighth grade to keep active and to give me something more to do during the spring. Once I hit the fifth grade I took up basketball which was a great idea at the time seeing that I was a good foot taller than all the other kids. From that moment forward I realized that basketball was definitely my favorite sport to play. I also continued to play this until senior year despite the mediocrity of the teams that I played on. I had a short run at football during my first two years in high school but decided to focus on baseball and basketball. Like I mentioned previously, I was fortunate enough to enjoy some great team success in baseball during my four year high school career. We won our conference championship and were ranked as high as third in the state until we got knocked off in the playoffs to the eventual state champs. Unfortunately, the only thing I got from basketball outside from great times with great friends was two broken noses and the school record for 3 point percentage in a career. (I may or may not have been a career 1 for 1)


Outside of playing sports I am a long-time and passionate fan of Cleveland sports teams. I've witnessed many heartbreaking games and seasons between the Browns, Indians, and Cavaliers, but I find myself becoming a bigger fan of each the more the anticipation for a championship grows. Along with them I am also a huge Ohio State Buckeyes basketball and football fan. I've also recently started getting into the NHL and enjoy watching the Minnesota Wild and for some reason the consistently terrible Columbus Blue Jackets. I try to go to any of these teams sporting events any chance I get, and my dad and I were even season ticket holders for the Cleveland Cavs for two seasons (2009-2011). My dream job would really be to work in the marketing department of one of the organizations that I just mentioned. I cannot think of a better suited job  for me than to work for a club that I am that passionate about. That is in part why I am taking this course. I believe that this class can give me a good insight to the writing and promotional tools I could potentially put into effect along with my marketing major to someday be an asset to an organization.