Hit and Miss: Sunny in Philadelphia, Heat Turned Off in Miami

It must be cold in Miami! The 5-4 Heat, stacked with Bosh, James and Wade, have been in the off-position. For a team that should easily be putting up 125 points a night, the Heat should change their name to the 'Cold'. Perhaps this way their opponents will get sick and...I don't know where I was going with that. Anyways- for a team that plays their starters for the whole game (James and Wade are playing 44 minutes plus per game), one would expect a blowout win every night.

Vick looks sick. Lebron, Dwayne and Chris must feel sick.

First off - Michael Vick, welcome back. I guess if you're a celebrity, you really can get away with murder.

I am still going to praise you. Even after taking a huge hit to your career due to dog fighting charges (and the one by DeAngelo Hall), you have played well and kudos to you.

Enough about you, you still need to earn your respect back. You'll be putting your PR team's kids through University with all the money you owe them.

But here's a list of PR-related things that are missing from this season's dream-team Heat:

• A blowout win every night
• David Stern to fine them every game for showboating
• David Stern declaring them the 2010-11 NBA champions after 10 games
• Club shooting where Lebron, Wade and Bosh each get shot 8 times and make a rap video soon after.
• The league to ban firearms in the locker room - Oh sorry Gilbert, who would have guessed they would have done something like that?!
• W, B and J to quit basketball and dominate every other team sport - Florida Panthers, Florida Marlins, Miami Dolphins...

Thanks for reading...and remember: 

When athletes f--- up, there's always PR.

  

1-800-SEX-LINE - Good work, team!

Unlucky Number 113 for Lyoto Machida ...PR for Koscheck

IT IS ALL OVER!

A classic scream from ringside announcer Mike Goldberg. Mauricio Shogun Rua knocked out Lyoto Machida within minutes of the first round at UFC 113. Making quick work of what he could not finish, Rua made sure his hand was held at the end of the fight, which was quicker and less painless to watch than UFC 104. And so he should have. With nothing to lose, Shogun came out throwing. In my opinion, Shogun was also the better of the two fighters last time in Montreal at UFC 104. Now that the main event is out of the way, let's get involved with a more interesting topic...

Public Relations...

After a slow fight again Paul Daley, and a questionable knee, Josh 'Kos' Koscheck received more than just a win. He will need a publicist soon to help him as he is now the next coach of The Ultimate Fighter. Seeing how his hair speaks for him, a great move on his behalf would be to hire some great sport's PR person to actually speak for him (not dropping any names, "me") and start promoting the hell out of this opportunity. His name has never been as big as it is now, especially since he is about to fight one of the world's most popular athletes: George 'Rush' St. Pierre. GSP is expected to be the other coach and in true TUF fashion, will end the  season with a (successful) title defense against Koscheck (AGAIN). Yes, they fought in UFC 74, which ended in a unanimous victory for GSP. - Check out the fightmetric stats here.

Koscheck needs to make sure people remember who he is before he fights GSP. It appears ratings for TUF have been struggling so look for Koscheck to be in the news for some 'goonery'. Actually, as I wrote this, I noticed that Koscheck has refused to fight in Montreal. As much as I want Kos to be successful, he doesn't have a chance again St. Pierre, he's arrogantly American and his personality sucks.

...And the winner is Dana White for giving Koscheck the opportunity to make a name.

May 1st Massacre - Mayweather Murders Mosley

Over the Hill: Lucky Number 41

The most complete fighter on the planet, Pretty Boy Floyd provided everything a typical Mayweather fight should have:

Celebrities - In attendance: Mark Wahlberg, The Governator, Jamie Foxx, the Real and Fake Mohammad Ali (& Will Smith), Michael J. Fox sitting next to Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya (aka Mosley's promoter), Nick and Mariah Carey (see what I did there?), Magic Johnson, Paris Hilton, Mike Tyson, Eva Longoria [and they even helped Chris Brown revamp his career by letting him sing the national anthem].


Offensive - Although he still provided his incredible (or should I say impregnable) defense, Mayweather decided to push the fight, rather than taking to the defensive.

Money - Money Mayweather accumulated $22.5 million, not including pay-per view buys or other endorsement deals. As a reminder, his first competitive fight he earned $2,500.

Pacquiao - The only man who can compete with Mayweather, Pacquiao made the prediction that Mosley would win the fight. Now, if all goes well, a 'super-mega-monster fight' will happen between these two. Let's hope drugs, blood and urine have nothing to do with it...Last time I'll say that.

Landing punches - Talk about numbers! Check out the CompuBox numbers for Floyd: 17 of 40 power punches. Normally, his average is about 17 per 38 power punches. His opponents usually land 7 of 47; Mosley landed 8 of 40.
Excellent speed - This has always been a clear trait of Pretty Boy. Mosley couldn't handle him from the get go and Mayweather punished Mosley for being too slow.

Toughness - Almost getting knocked down in the second with a lucky right hook from Mosley, Mayweather showed his ability to handle a punch by throwing right back at Mosley. After that round, they should have just called the fight in Mayweather's favour...
Exciting - The second round provided some dramatic entertainment but from beginning to end, everyone at MGM Grand Garden Arena truly knew what was going to happen.

Mayday May Day Mayweather Mania. Alliteration that's priceless.

CAN FUND | Vancouver Medalists Keep the Momentum Running in Ottawa

CAN FUND | Vancouver Medalists Keep the Momentum Running in Ottawa

Passing the PR Puck - Ovechkin to Crosby

Sid the Kid Officially Becomes Generation Y's Gretzky

Love him or hate him, Sidney Crosby has become the new household name for hockey. Personally as a Ovechkin fan prior to this Olympics, my hat is off to Crosby and his self-made branding. Sidney Crosby, in case you were living on another planet, scored the winning goal, in overtime in the Gold Medal game of the Vancouver Olympics, on Sunday. At 22, he's won everything...literally (World Championship, Olympics and Stanley Cup- Ovechkin has none of the above. He would need a telescope to see Crosby). Winning the gold, although not single-handedly, allows him to truly call himself 'Captain Canada' (but he's WAY too modest for that).  Despite my secret dislike for Crosby, there is no better spokesperson for Canadian Hockey right now. Ok, enough ego boosting. Here's my issue: Crosby has had a ton of media training, been in thousands interviews and is on television everyday; yet he still talks to the media like a robot. Reminds me of Tiger Woods sans all the women.

Alexander Ovechkin, the Russian antagonist to Crosby, is exactly that- Cro-pposite. He has incredible emotion on the ice, loves talking to the media even when the heat is on and above all, he gets away with his antics. Last week, when Canada beat the Russians (something I enjoyed ever so much), Ovechkin pushed a female RUSSIAN fan and smashed some paparazzi camera. What could have been a PR nightmare, Ovechkin cleared up in a matter of seconds. He apologized later but said "he would not focus on failure". Immediately the limelight is off of him since he has that personality. If Sidney Crosby had done that...well, it's just so unimaginable. Probably would hear about it for...about....oh I don't know...eternity!

But who's a better online PR guru?

Here's a fun True or False game I came up with:

1. There are more YouTube videos about Ovechkin then Crosby        T or F

2. Crosby's website has more hits then Ovechkin's                              T or F

3. Ovechkin has more Facebook fans than Crosby                              T or F

4. Crosby has more twitter followers than Ovechkin                            T or F

Answers: 

1. F- Crosby has 9,000+ videos, Ovi only has 2,000+
2. F- Oveckinfans.com has 393, 138 with 602 per day. Crosby's website is under construction officially.
3. F- Crosby has 41,468 Facebook fans, opposed to Ovi's pitiful 7,804 fans.
4. F- Ovechkin has 32,000+ followers, Crosby has 10,000+

The winner of social media goes to tie..well...Sidney Crosby. Does he lose anything in his life?

ANYWAYS, the value of hockey has skyrocketed since the United States made both men's and women's Gold Medal game(s). They actually had some viewership, too! I thought that was an important fact to conclude with. Analyze THAT impact, MRP!

Crosby's Whining = Gold Medals, Stanley Cups, Trophies, Plaques and American Idol (probably)

TOUCHDOWN or FUMBLE? A case study for the Olympics

Judging the Vancouver 2010 Games on Style and Performance.

To take a page out of the Veritas Communications handbook, this will be my first edition of touchdown or fumble. In this case, the culprit: The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games (copyright, double copyright, re-use and redistribution restricted, all rights reserved, black magic swallow the key, etc).

FUMBLE

The Olympic Committee decided, as they have in the past, to establish an official website. Great. Now the public has the opportunity to become a 'facebook fan' right away! Currently on their facebook page, the Olympics have approximately half a million fans. On their official twitter page- only 9,976. With the obvious emergence and I would argue necessity of social media, why are the Olympics failing to bring in worldwide youth via internet networks? I couldn't tell you how many people watch the Olympics but I bet it's a WHOLE BUNCH! Maybe a billion? Anyways, the less popular "winter" aspect may not prove to be as interesting but as we know, the most developed nations with high internet connections are all located in the cold. Why are we not utilizing our capabilities to watch the Games on the internet or to socialize about them on 'fb'?

I can (try) to answer that.

There is a lack of communication between the Olympics and the public. While watching the Superbowl, I noticed that CTV shoved the Olympics down the view ship's throat every commercial break. (If I hear that 'I Believe' song one more time...) There was a serious failure to mention to audiences about the capabilities of the website. The website itself is actually quite impressive. They have up-to-date medal coverage, videos, news, alerts, podcasts and you can even watch the coverage live. Too bad few will ever see it.

TOUCHDOWN

As a huge fan of crisis management, I BELIEVE the Olympics dealt appropriately with the death of young luger (pronounced loo-zh-er, not loser) Nodar Kumaritashvili, from Georgia. They immediately checked the track, made modifications such as not racing immediately, testing the track, deciding on appropriate start and finish distances. Officials also talked to the media explaining the science behind what happened in terms of trajectory and other physical components. They were incredibly professional and posted information on the website appropriately. It has been so successful (as of writing this) that the Olympic games have continued on without any further discussion regarding the tragic accident.

Touchdown - Wayne Gretzky lighting the torch

Fumble - Not-so cute characters as mascots

Touchdown - Remembering to put everything in both French and English

Touchdown - Aboriginal participation in the games (also included on the website

Fumble - CTV seems amateur to NBC

Undecided - Cassie Campbell still a hockey analyst

Touchdown - Dealing with weather conditions, global warming and not letting Al Gore attend the Games
Fumble - Olympic theme song - no question about that.

The Vancouver 2010 Games win the Bronze, not Gold, in Social Media.

A PR SUCKER PUNCH: Mayweather-Mosley Mayhem May 1

Mayweather-Mosley Mayhem on May 1st Might be a Mega Miss-Match.

Ignore the alliteration-please! For after years of name calling, fight ducking and more name calling, Sugar Shane Mosley will fight Pretty Boy (actually he goes by 'Money' now) Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May Day. If you remember, yet hopefully you forgot, Mayweather was supposed to fight Manny Pacquiao but after the dramatic 'blood test' incident the fight was canceled and instead a lawsuit began. Both fighters were looking at making minimum $40-million a piece.
Mayweather unfortunately has settled to tangle with a 'past-the-due-date' Mosley. All brought about by the earthquake in Haiti, Mosley was sent to fight 'up and comer' Andre Berto. Mosley is lucky to fight Mayweather out of this because a loss to Berto, which I believe would have been the outcome, could not give Sugar Shane the opportunity he has now.

 My prediction is that Mayweather wins by score cards.

Rather than trying to hype the fight up to what it isn't (by holding it in Cowboys stadium à la Pacquiao), the Mayweather-Mosley fight is using the proper technique of creating a sold out crowd at the famous MGM Grand Garden Arena.
This is great PR. Strike that- AMAZING PR! Hold a fight, though it has the possibility to be a snore, in a historical arena where some of the biggest names have upset and been upset through the past century. The outcome of the fight is more interesting than the fight itself since both boxers will probably counter-punch each other until the crowd falls asleep and one of them gets bored.

A nightmare for Mosley's PR team is his former EPO use and the constant heckling he gets for his alleged steroid use. Guess we know what the 'Sugar' stands for. Such an up-hill battle will take most of his energy before the fight and watch for Mosley to be yawning during the fight like the rest of us. Of course with Mayweather's strategic use of urine and blood samples prior to the date, this fight may bear witness to two of the cleanest athletes in all of professional sports.

May 1st conveniently happens to be the same day as UFC 113- take that Dana White! (despite you're wonderful business sense)

As for 'Punch Drunk Pacquiao' versus Joshua Clottey - the boxing community's: "whoever that is" - he'll win but I guarantee there will be empty seats. Out of 100,000, there will be 60,000 empty seats. Mayweather-Pacquiao could be and should have been the biggest fight ever, in terms of profit, pride and punches- truly a boxer's public relations wet dream.
Apparently the winner is set to fight Pacquaio, says Freddie Roach.

Re-coining the term: 'Rope-a-Dope' as Mosley's nickname