The Fall of An Icon

Well the end of an era and a career is here.

Michael Vick (aka Ron Mexico) has plead guilty to conspiracy to engage in dog fighting. This after months of denying and parsing out the truth about his involvement in the criminal activity. Amazing that he actually thought that he would get away with it all, but of course his “friends” ratted him out big time and he had no choice except to try and plead himself to limit the damage.

So much for “honor between thieves”.

His co-conspirators have all issued statements to the court stating that Vick was involved in all aspects of the business (Bad Newz Kennels), including the execution of non-performing dogs, financing the operations, providing money to make and cover bets, setting up the fights and transporting the dogs across state lines to participate in dog fights.

He gave the usual press conference after the hearing and in a memorized prepared statement (denied of course by his attorneys) offered contrition and apologies. For someone who claimed not to be a public speaker, he did deliver a very well polished and measured speech. In fact he never sounded as polished even when he was in commercials and had do-overs to get it right. So his new speech coach who prepped him on this message (I am sure they practiced all weekend to get the head motions right) earned his or her money. I was almost moved by the performance.

Naturally he apologized to his teammates, the owner and coach of the Falcons, as well as the Commissioner of the NFL (Roger Godell). Also as in these cases he said he “found Jesus” (amazing how many people “find Jesus” after they commit brutal and heinous crimes. In fact the prison population in the USA is full of so-called “Born Again Christians). He also mentioned that he thought Dog Fighting was wrong (so why did he do it if he thought it was wrong?) and he was sorry for “everything he did”. Amazing none of this occurred to him before he was caught. It is easy to look contrite and sincere after the fact and right after being in court (kind of like it's easy to sound sick immediately after waking up in the morning, so if you are calling in sick to work, do it before that first cup of coffee/tea and shower).

Everything he did? Does this include everything or just a few things mentioned in the indictment? Was he sorry for the practical jokes he played in elementary school as well? It is noticed that he would not mention specifically what “everything” meant or contained. Of course he said this after mentioning “finding Jesus”, so does that mean he is sorry for doing that as well?

It will remain to see if he truly is repentant or if he was really saying that he was sorry he was caught.


For some reason he feels he will only be out of football for a year (as mentioned in his speech). Does he really think that people are as stupid as he is or just wishful thinking? First of all his sentencing isn't until December 10th, and his jail term and/or other punishment starts then. Does he feel that he will skip out on jail time and that the NFL will just open its arms and accept him back as a convicted felon as if nothing happened?

Sure people point to Ray and Jamal Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens (no relation) who also had problems with the law, but that was under a different Commissioner. Ray was involved in a scuffle at a bar during a Super Bowl weekend in Atlanta, where someone was shot and killed. The gunmen were part of Ray's “Posse” and they sped away in his SUV. Ray himself was never the suspected shooter, nor involved directly with the scuffle. All he was convicted of was obstruction of justice by withholding names and evidence from the police. However never was he mentioned as a suspect. He pled guilty and paid his fines and that was that. So his only real crime was not ratting out his old friends. However he did clean up his act and dismantled his “Posse” and has been a model citizen ever since.

Jamal was convicted of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. He was found guilty and served 6 months in prison. Again involved with an “Old friend” from his past. Once out he went back to football, but was never the same. The Ravens dumped him over the off season, and he is now “sentenced” to play for the Cleveland Browns (only true football fans will get that joke, so if you don't understand find a football fan to explain it to you).

Neither of these can be compared to Vick, as they were one off occurrences. Vick has been running his dog fighting ring for 7 years now. In fact he was planning it from out of College and organized the whole scheme.

He has only himself to blame ad these racist jerks and jerkettes who defend him and blame the government for his poor judgment and character are not doing him any favors. In fact his whole career has been one of poor judgment on and off the field (see previous posting). His character is not one of quality, and he has been lying all this time, so why are to believe his performance now? His words mean nothing and he has no basis for expecting anyone to believe him now. He has shown himself to b of low character and he sought those of the same ilk (birds of a feather?).

However people can change if they really want to and work hard at it daily.

It was reported that Part of the plea agreement was that he is now going to work with the federal government in cleaning up the dog fights. It was reported that he is going to give names and places etc so they can crack down on this heinous brutal activity. In fact they have already arrested a famous Rap Star and there is speculation that Vick gave them his name. It will be interesting to see what else is to come of this. There are a lot of people a bit worried right about now. And one wonders what they are thinking about Vick and if they are willing to gamble that they won't be named next.

Michael Vick he football player is done, however there is plenty of time for Michael Vick the person to change and become a productive member of society after he serves his time. We are a nation of second (and third and fourth and....chances) so it is up to him to change. This is the challenge and tribulation that really is ahead of him.

Right now he just needs to fade away and do the right things to get his life back on track. That will tell his true character as a man. Michael are prayers are with you, good luck and God speed on your rehabilitation.

Mahalo.

Me Too! (or The Death of Creativity)

 

Being on a multiple ezine lists one starts to wonder what ever happened to originality amongst marketers, in particular Internet Marketers. I get over 30 emails a day from these lists, and it is amazing how many times not only are the subjects are the same but the texts are as well. Yes I know I can just unsubscribe from these lists, and I do regularly but they make such excellent examples of what not to do and let's me see what the sheep are chasing these days.

I know the “latest greatest thing” is Affiliate Marketing, and that the person one buys the product from generally provides the marketing material (squeeze page, email and source files) but it is up to the individual to change it up so that their message stands out.

The ones that get me is where the Subject line reads “Don't buy XXXX until...” . Well I see the words “Don't Buy” and I immediately delete that message. I know they are each trying to say they have the best ad-on product or “special report” they are trying to hawk, but I (and I am sure a lot others) are just not buying from this negative message. Besides most of the so called “bonuses” are retreads that have been around for years or some other worthless thing like a “membership” to their site of duplicate and obsolete information.

Another one is where they all are best friends with “A 25 year old millionaire”, or “The Rich Jerk” etc. It is amazing how these show up every 6 months or so and again the message is lost.

I am surprised at the lack of originality from these self proclaimed “Creatives”. I guess they are living in Utopia, you remember how the people made their living by taking each other's laundry. That seems to be how these people are making money by buying the same stuff off of each other and sharing the lack of wealth between them.

Yes they are blindly following each and every fad and are just filling up the net with more and more useless junk. The sad part is each one of them think they are impressing me (and others on their lists) with their “amazing discoveries”, but I am just not buying into it. Occasionally a new idea pops up from one or two of the leaders( yes there are a couple who come out first, but soon the rest follow), and these do show what the new fads are, but soon they are buried in the hype and copycats.

I do admit I do love reading these emails as a source of amusement. However I don't think that the majority of the senders have that as their main reason for sending them out. Some do try to find out by sending emails that ask for opinions about what they should be sending out, but these are just tricks to have the readers write the emails for them. Let's face it, we signed up for your newsletter because we were interested in what you were advertising as the topics, not to be deluged by offers of old and overly abused information. Surprisingly I have never heard back personally from these people, but do keep getting their emails, including the occasional “reader survey”. In which I answer again as above.

I do believe that there are people making a living in this manner, but regretfully they are being lost in the shuffle of the lazy incompetent that are filling our email boxes daily.

Good creative people will survive, and the bad impostors and copycats will fall by the wayside, but regretfully they will be replaced by more copycat zombies. We just need to accept that this is true in all endeavors, offline as well as online, and just a fact of life and move on.

Mahalo.

Barroid, A-Rod and Glavine, Oh My!

 

Well 3 new milestones have been reached this weekend in the stat heavy baseball realm.

Barry Bonds, aka “Barroid” grabbed the career home run mark by hitting his 755th, and 756th, Alex Rodriguez reached the 500 mark (youngest to do so) and Tom Glavine finally got his 300th win (only 5th lefthander to reach that mark, 23rd overall). Congrats to all.

Baseball more than any other sport seems to care more about individual statistics. There are more stats in baseball than one can imagine.

Yes the baseball fans are ecstatic about these, but what does it mean for baseball in general? Basically not much. While Glavine and A-Rod are basically considered nice all around people, they are not exactly marketable commodities. They are so calm and reserved that they border on boring, as far as stars are concerned. Even though they both play in New York City (A-Rod for the Yankees, Glavine for the Mets), there was no really buzz around the country for these two players. They just don't excite anyone because of their lack of flash or controversy. So the milestones were passed without fanfare and another chance at marketing a sport in trouble went to the wayside. There should have been more done to promote these two good stories.

Glavine's fault is that he is a finesse pitcher instead of a power pitcher. He relies on placement and control to get his outs instead of over powering the hitters like a Roger Clemens or Nolan Ryan. People just don't get excited by these type of pitches as they are methodical and slow, yet they get the job done. He has been around for a long time and is just steady and luckily never has been on the disabled list in his career. So the marketability to the general public is negligible, as only purists (like myself) appreciate what he has accomplished in his career. The “casual fan” just doesn't care about the finer points and nuances of the game, just strike outs and home runs.

A-Rod hits home runs, but has never really clicked as he tends to be quiet and professional in his approach. The idiots in the press don't appreciate this and have labeled him “aloof” and distant. They can't stand or understand the fact that he just isn't a loud mouth or flashy kind of guy. Plus since he is the highest paid player in baseball, and plays for the Yankees, he is expected to shine in the post season. For some reason he has not lived up to billing in the playoffs, giving his distractors ample fodder to label him “soft” and a “choker”. So naturally with this type of personality and bad press he just isn't marketable as well.

The problem of course is that these happened the same weekend that Bonds tied the home run record. Of course a lot of sports writers claim that this record is the “most hallowed in sports”, but that is only to them so they have something to complain about. Barroid is of course under suspicion of having done steroids and is under investigation by the federal government for this, perjury, and tax evasion. The Grand Jury has been investigating for the past few years, and for some reason they keep it going without resolution (of course I think they are waiting for the record to be broken so they won't be accused of playing politics and interfering his breaking the record).

Barroid's trainer Greg Anderson is in jail for contempt for not answering questions about the steroid use by Bonds. The whole thing stems from a raid on a lab called Balco that was producing “Performance Enhancing Drugs” and the owner was convicted and sent to prison. He has said in interviews that tests performed by the authorities cold never keep up with the labs producing the drugs as they can always find ways to mask the drugs and beat the tests. Of course the main drug “Human Growth Hormone” (HGH) can not be detected by normal urine tests, and the Major League Baseball union prohibits blood tests that will detect the presence of HGH.

Of course dozens of minor and lesser major league players have tested positive and have been suspended, but many of these come from Latin countries where the drug technology isn't as advanced, and since these players are not as known, the media like ESPN doesn't mention them except in passing if at all. In fact many just have their names mentioned in scrolls as the main program are being aired. Then of course they claim that noon wants to know, but in effect if we aren't told about this, how can we care about something we don't know about? It's just that they market themselves based upon the major stars and don't care, so they don't feel obligated to announce it. Talk about censorship of the news! Tell us and let us care folks!

Barroid of course is famous due to his assault of this record so every move he makes is recorded (Barry Bonds picked his nose today, news at 11) and shoved down our throats. Barroid's other problem is the fact that he doesn't treat people right. He is known for his snapping at reporters and fans, even those that support him. Of curse this is one side effect of steroids, irrational quick anger. There is also the famous book out there from a couple of years ago, “Game of Shadows” that detail the information the government has on Barroid and others. This is the most damning evidence along with his ex-mistress talking about the steroid use and tax evasion.

There is the rub (as the English might say), in that we have the most prolific home run hitter in the history of the game, but baseball cannot profit by marketing his image or his achievements. I think that is why the commissioner Bud Selig looked like he just choked on a pile of manure when Barry hit the home run that tied the record. Now that he broke the record, the real fun starts. If he was a nice and contrite as he was during his post game interview throughout his career he would be a national hero instead of the pariah that he has become. Again the steroids he took to reach this mark is to blame for his actions off the field. Too bad as he just let his ego run away and now it is time to pay the piper.

Luckily for baseball, the game will survive and as long as MLB doesn't make the same mistake that the NBA did by changing their marketing strategy away from marketing the game and teams to marketing the individual players above the game.

Remember players come and go, but the game remains, so that is where their marketing resources should be focused and we'll still remain fans.

Mahalo.

..And I'm The Only One!

Woe The NBA!

Yes that line from the 1970's Disney production of A.A. Milne's classic “Winnie The Pooh” is what the NBA is hoping to hear from disgraced referee Tim Donaghy in reference to the betting/fixing scandal that has just emerged this summer. It didn't emerge from anything the NBA did of course, but from an investigation into mob activities by the FBI.

The scandal surrounds one referee (Donaghy) who owed an alleged mobster money from gambling. He supposedly made some calls to influence the “Over/Under” on games he was reffing in so that the mob could clean up on bets. The “Over/Under” refers to the total points scored by both teams in a game and is a popular bet both legally and illegally. He was able to keep some players form scoring by calling fouls on them (and maybe even get them out of the game either by having too many fouls early in the game, or having that particular player fouling out) to decrease the overall score, or if he needed to increase the score, allow for a team to get to the foul line more during the game to get more points on the board.

The commissioner of the NBA, David Stern, came out and gave a very measured press conference in which he kept referring to Donaghy as a “rogue referee” who was acting alone, and he was certain there was no others involved. The trouble with that statement was that one of the other charges was that Donaghy was supplying his mob contact with “info on other games”, what ever that was to mean. How could he possibly have “information” about other games he wasn't refereeing in if he didn't have accomplices? Let's face it, injury reports are public knowledge, so that can't be it. Personal problems of players? Well that pretty much is reported in the news as well so that's not it either. So what information could he possibly be passing on? No one is saying just yet and the investigation continues.

The NBA has a definite image problem that seems to not want to go away. First of all is the conception (or misconception depending upon your point of view) that the league has turned into a “Thug” league. The conception has emerged because as the players get younger and miss the development that college ball has to offer, the game has evolved into more of one-on-one street type of game. Some people like this sort of thing others are bored by it (like me if I want to see a street game, I'd go down to the local YMCA). Also the players on the bench (injured, inactive etc.) were dressing in clothes that were deemed “too casual”, and resembled “gang wear”. Stern took this in consideration and put a decree out that players not in uniform should wear suits and ties. This is of course response to the so called “concerned citizens” who think that by doing this gangs will disappear because they won't have their haberdashery models (yea like this made a difference).

The other image problem is that for years people have been saying that the games (especially the playoffs) are bing fixed to maximize the TV audiences, or to eliminate Stern's least liked owners. One of whom is the Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban. Cuban tends to be a bit outspoken about the stodginess of the league and is trying to improve the game in other ways. Stern doesn't appreciate any criticism in the way he markets the league to younger audiences, even when it comes from someone who made billions through marketing to young audiences.

I have this same image of the league based upon watching on TV. I have never been a huge basketball fan. I watch during the post season as the regular season games seemed a bit boring and pointless to me. Of course growing up in Chicago we had the Bulls, and the Jordan years were exciting, but then again only when the intensity was ramped up for the playoffs. It was during theses games that I would see uneven refereeing. Calls made against one team were not called against the other. Also it seemed like certain teams were given advantages at the end of close games that allowed them to pull off miracle wins. One particular game was a Bulls-Knicks contest during the first Jordan “retirement” era when the bulls looked like they were going to pull off an upset and real ticky-tack foul was called on Scottie Pippen that allowed the Knicks to win the game and advance...hmm. But the game that soured me for good was a Laker-Trailblazer game where it looked like, again, Portland would advance t the finals and the Shaq led Lakers were going down in defeat, when all of a sudden the Portland center was being called for phantom ticky-tack fouls while Shaq was allowed to just barrel through, and take as many steps (called traveling or walking in the NBA rule book) as he wanted. Again the league really needed the Lakers in the finals to pull ratings, and guess what, they did! Imagine that, what a coincidence.

There are so many no-calls and ticky-tack fouls being called that how can the NBA be sure more refs are not on the take? The explanation is that these are “judgment calls” made on the fly. What is the use of a rule book if everything is subjective depending upon how the referees are feeling that day? What is the point of a rule book if a call is made one game, but not in another? Why have referees if they are not enforcing the rules? Just let the teams suit up and let it the players go if you are not going to enforce the rules properly.

The main problem is that the league office seems to tie themselves into marketing players not the game. They want to sell merchandise and shoes endorsed by these players. I guess they realize that marketing the game itself (like Football and Baseball) doesn't work as the public seems to think that basketball played by the rule book is boring and something we do in elementary school gym class.

The NBA is slowly going the way of the WWE as more and more people are recognizing the bad calls and obvious way the championship is being decided (by the league office once playoffs are under way). I mean they went out of their way to try and rein in the “Star Player” treatment and enforce the “Team”concept by having San Antonio win it this year, but it was so blatant that only a brain-dead moron couldn't see through the facade.

Yes there is a big problem in the NBA and I fear (for their sakes) that Tim Donaghy is only the tip of the old iceberg and when this trial starts, more dark secrets will be revealed and David Stern will be wincing once again in front of press row as he squirms for answers.

Woe the NBA, a great concept, but the hubris got them in the end.

Mahalo.