Jordan’s

Michael Jordan the living legend has been the face of his own marketing campaign since it’s beginning. In 1985, Jordan flew through the air, tongue out and made one of the most memorable slam-dunks in history. On his feet, the first pair of his custom Nike’s. In bright red and dark black they were unlike anything that anyone had ever seen before. With big Nike swooshes on the sides, the empire was born. Jordan now commands millions of dollars each year for his custom sneakers. Top N.B.A. players like Carmelo Anthony, Richard Hamilton and Ray Allen all are signed to mega deals by His Airness. Derek Jeter, Terrell Owens and Andruw Jones are other athletes signed to the Jumpman. The launch day for his signature line of sneakers is near his birthday, which occurs in February. Athletes wearing Jordan shoes have preformed some of the most memorable moments in sports. The shot he hit against the Cavilers in the Eastern Finals came while he was wearing the fours, the Dream Team he wore red, whit and blue seven’s, and the shot over the Jazz in the 1998 Finals were the 14’s. His brand name isn’t just a shoe; it’s a subculture that exists in both the sports markets and the sneaker world. Famous advertising campaigns like the Mars Blackmon ads starring Spike Lee, the Carmelo Anthony I want the last shot ads and the most recent There are no Cinderella’s during this years March Madness are just a few of the successful commercials he has had. There are now 23 different editions of his signature line, and tons of other shoes like team and half models. Jordan isn’t just the name of the greatest basketball player of all time; it is the name of one of the most powerful brands on the planet. His website can be found here.

Farewell to Dodgertown

Since 1948 the Brooklyn now Los Angeles Dodgers have held their spring training camp in Vero Beach, Fl. A small town, with a broken down military base was all Branch Rickey and the team needed to teach the Dodger way to play baseball. Dodgertown has street names named after Dodger legends like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campenella, Duke Snyder and Tommy Lasorda. The facility looks like a high school baseball park and is barely able to keep a major league team happy. But it does, and it did a great job for 60 years. Dodgertown is closing down because the team is moving to Phoenix because they want to be closer to their fan base, however the team has a great number of fans in Vero. Phoenix will offer the Dodgers financial consideration and a brand new state of the art facility to prepare for the season. What makes Dodgertown unique besides the history and the town, is the openness. There are no high fences, very few restricted areas and the players are within an arms reach, pretty much all the time. Since it’s an older facility, the players have to walk to and from the fields on the same paths the fans take. This allows for unparallel access to your favorite ballplayers. The Dodger Ambassador, former manager Tommy Lasorda still drives around the camp in his golf cart, kissing babies and signing autographs for kids. The memories that will be left in Vero will last a lifetime, and it is time for new memories to start in Arizona. Dodgertown will truly be missed. A video from the New York Times has a vdeo on this story here.

Joba and Harlan Chamberlain

Joba Chamberlain burst onto the scene last August and became an immediate fan favorite. His electric personality, his lights out fastball and the famed “Joba Rules” have all contributed to his immense popularity. A story was written last year by the Daily News gave the first look into the unbelievable relationship between Joba and his father, Harlan. Harlan, has had polio since he was nine months old, cannot use his left arm and has to get around on a motorized scooter. Harlan raised Joba and his siblings alone, in a small apartment near Lincoln, NE. Joba’s real name is Justin but after spending time with a Native American Indian Reservation he changed his name to reflect his relationship with them. Joba says his father is not only the man who created him, he is his best friend. During the rubber match of the first Red Sox- Yankees series of 2008, Harlan Chamberlain collapsed. Joba’s sister broke the news to him over the phone shortly after the game, and not even Joe Girardi the Yankees manager could console him. The Yankees flew to Tampa for a short series with the Rays and Joba was with them. However shortly after landing, Joba took a flight to Lincoln to be by his Father’s side. Joba and Harlan are the epitome of the Father-Son relationship in baseball. A game that has been passed down for generations, Joba shows what’s really important, not money, not fame not even the game of baseball. Family. Harlan Chamberlain get well soon.

New York Yankees and The Daily News

As the New York Yankees play their final season in “The House That Ruth Built” the New York Daily News has launched a website and special Sunday pullout section of their paper. The pullout chronicles different era’s in the Stadium, from its beginnings in the 1920s to its last goodbye. Everyone from Ruth, DiMaggio, Berra, Rizzuto, Hunter, Jackson, Munson, Mantle, Maris, Ford, Jeter, Torre and even Rodriguez and many more will all be covered. The section features articles written from past and present columnists, photos of all the greats and even has a “Yogisms” section. The photos capture the detail and presence of all of the greats. There are several pictures of Babe Ruth in which you see the massive presence that he had wherever he went. You see a picture of him with soldiers, and he towers above even the tallest ones. The website is extremely well put together and it uses the new media technology that is present to further enhance the print version. An interactive timeline, quiz, photos both submitted by Daily News photographers and even the readers are just some of the features available on the site. The site even has a blog, which is being written by the columnists of the Daily News Sports section. The blog focuses on what is currently going on in the Yankee Universe and what happened on that day in Yankees history. What is really well done by the site is how interactive the readers can get with it. Besides posting their own photos, readers can submit postings on their favorite moments at Yankee Stadium. The House That Ruth Built may be torn down next year, but sections like this and the great memories in all Yankee fans hearts, will keep it standing forever.

The Pats Super Bowl Shirts

Every year the company who gets an exclusive license to produce the Super Bowl Champions t-shirt, has a tough decision to make, which shirt to produce? Since no one in this world is psychic the company produces an immediate run of about a thousand or so for each team. However nobody wants a shirt that says they are champions when they just lost the biggest game of their lives. So a few years ago companies started giving the losing teams shirts, to underprivileged third world countries. That is why you will see a lot of kids in those ads to adopt a child wearing Buffalo Bills Super Bowl Champions shirts. (There are quite a lot of those since the Bills lost four years in a row.) The N.F.L. has really got their acts together by doing this. This shows commitment to the world and most importantly its children. Kudos N.F.L. on whoever instituted this idea. The video can be found here.

NewsTrust

Going a little off topic for this post, but I felt it was necessary to talk about NewsTrust.net. This is a site that allows its readers to rate solid journalism and recommend it to fellow readers. The site moderators of News Trust pick a topic for the week and allow the readers to submit stories on it. The more you submit, the higher your ranking is and the higher your contributions are placed on a certain topic. NewsTrust also allows its readers to comment and rate several different aspects of the story. The higher each of the rankings is the better the story, and the more it gets read. However if the story does poorly it gets pushed to the bottom of the pile and readers have to search harder to find it. The rankings allow you to rate specific areas of the story such as facts, sources, quality of sources, stakeholders, to the way it’s written and several others. The site then allows you to write about whether you think the story is good journalism or if it falls short. You are allowed to write about 250 words describing what you think the story does well and what you think the story fails in. The next section allows you to post a key quote that you think sums up the article best. My favorite part of News Trust was the section where it allows you to rewrite a paragraph or paragraphs that you think need work on. By allowing this feature, this site really connects its readers with the news going on in the world. News Trust is the new wave of online journalism and people should be ready to embrace it.

Extra Mustard and Page 2

A part of the SI website, Extra Mustard pokes fun at the lighter side of sports. It is somewhat news oriented but it is mainly aimed at the casual fan who wants to enjoy a laugh or two about sports. Too many websites try to be serious and not poke fun at some of the idiosyncrasies in sports. Extra Mustard actually requires very little journalism, most stories are just little blurbs with links to other pages, but it gets the job done. They really have the advancing technology down pat, as they blog, post video and links and allow for readers to send in their own submissions and if it's good enough, they will post it. They do everything from stupidest athletes, to the all convict football team, to posting videos of every body's favorite female sports reporter Erin Andrews. (She actually posts from time to time as well.) What I like best about Extra Mustard is the site embraces the new technology that is present in the world of sports media today, and they use it very well. To counter Sports Illustrated, ESPN launched Page 2 several years ago and it is one of the most read sections on the site. Some of the journalism is serious, but mostly it is either blogs or funny little quirks in the world of sports. Bill Simmons the most famous of the Page 2 columnists launched his career from writing on this site so much. Page 2 will be a vast collection of articles, predictions, pictures, links and videos relating to the content. Page 2 has sections like Uni Watch, cartoons, the BS Report and even has a link where ESPN The Magazine subscribes can read the current issue online, with the pictures ads and everything else. Most columnists usually write a weekly post, which can be a prediction on a season or playoffs, what a stupid thing an athlete or athletes did, to just plain old writing about an issue in sports with a more serious tone. What Page 2 does very well is they are journalists, writing actual journalism just in not that serious of a tone.