With the dismissal of Billy Packer and the continuation of our sports film discussion, we delved into the sports media arena on WXYC this week. With this week’s show, we tackled the worst, overrated, and underrated sports films from the past. Check out this week’s show here.
Stay tuned for a best & worst list from us at WXYC. Enjoy the show, take notes, and by all means, tune-in and call-in to next week’s show for your selections at (919)962-8989. We shall review.
Big ups to Cy Rawls…Whap! Zam! Pow!…Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang!
Maybe the summer blockbusters have inspired the SportsRap conversations this summer, but we devoted half of last week’s show to the Best Sports Movies of all-time. Check out last week’s show here.
The topic was so solid that we’ll be devoting 45 minutes to sports film discussion next week.
I’ll post my top 15 here soon. In the meantime, I’m off to Buffalo. I’m going to be checking out some Frank Lloyd Wright Homes, and if I run into Marshawn Lynch, I’m staying away ten feet back.
For a lot of Carolina fans, the wish has been granted…
College basketball announcer, Billy Packer was ousted by CBS on Monday. In my book, CBS’s dismissal of Packer is dismal for college basketball. What’s more disappointing is that the large majority of Packer’s detractors were Tar Heel fans.
Like him or hate him, the guy called a great game, and he isn’t an apologist. He not only has forgot more than people know about the game, but also he is the last commentator in sports to critically analyze coaches and players. The announcing world saw examples of fan-generated dismissals in Tim McCarver and Steve Stone baseball cases. With Packer, he may be the only college basketball analyst who calls a straight shot and generates conversation about speaking out out upon serious topics within the game.
The tragedy is that for bringing up the nuances that people are afraid to touch, each announcer has been pulled from the booth from fervent fans who felt antagonized by them picking on their home teams.
Yes, Billy Packer is bombastic, but they dumped him because he speaks his mind. Whether or right or wrong, shouldn’t you want that from an analyst when either your team isn’t playing or if you don’t care to paint your face for gameday?
There never has nor will there ever will be a basketball analyst…and that’s not just college basketball…like Al McGuire. As I’ve mentioned before here, if you’re able to listen to college basketball’s prime vintage years of NBC telecasting between 1978-81, and even after Packer left NBC…Brother Al’s commentaries are untouchable.
However, Packer provided the in-game analysis and the tempo changes in that tandem. He was not only able to rely upon his knowledge of the gam, but also letting the game call itself. Packer knows when to pause with his game calls, and he understands the ebbs and tides of the game. He doesn’t blow his thoughts with volume and emotion on every positive play.
More importantly, Packer doesn’t ‘jock-sniff’ coaches, players, and referees while making his points. He brought a national perspective on the broadcast. He is not only bashful about expressing his points, but also he is not afraid to pull a punch with his commentaries about the actors on stage…That makes him rare, rare…very rare.
The shame is that Clark Kellogg is not even close in comparison with the guy in terms of both analyzing a game and even knowing the rule book…Now, this blogga is not saying he doesn’t enjoy Clark Kellogg, but he’s not even close in terms of an enlightening experience and educating fans upon the nuances of the game.
The only guys who comes within a ten-mile proximity toward speaking out against moves upon the floor is Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery. Over the past two years, Bilas is getting to that level of confidence upon speaking out against coaching decisions in games and providing suggestions and ‘what could happen.’ However, he doesn’t have the old-school history or in-game savvy that Packer is able to bring to powerful moments and game action. The guy actually ‘balled’ in the McGuire-McKinney-Case-Bubas wars of the Big Four and the days of the Dixie Classic.
Seriously, I hope that Packer lands on more Raycom programming. And a major hope would be that he lands on the national telecasts for Fox, which I don’t see. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with Len Elmore and Marques Johnson for Fox national telecasts, which provide nothing in terms of tidbits other than the action itself. In fact, this blogga would argue that the special effects of the infamous Fox ‘whoooshs’ are more entertaining these days.
With the dismissal of Billy Packer, college basketball television programming has taken a major hit on this one. Packer respects the game.
A review of more than just strawberries and cream…
After the scintillating Rafael Nadal/Roger Federer Wimbledon Final, we shifted to the hardcourts. How could you not? In fact, this blogga not only thinks is the best tennis match of all-time, but also the best one-on-one sporting event of all-time…Yes, that good. On this week’s show, we talked a lot about tennis and where the game could be headed. Check out the show here.
The show also includes baseball talk and our preview for next week’s Summer Sports Film Review.
Check in next Sunday between 9-10PM EST, and we’re on…
P.S. Don’t be afraid to pick-up that phone. Call us at (919)962-8989.
I’m pretty stunned by Brandon Jennings’s move to Europe..In terms of following basketball, this is out-of-the-box move…And this blogga here likes this move.
The shame is that college basketball fans won’t be able to see Jennings match-up with Tywon Lawson in January. That would have been truly an epic battle.
If he hasn’t showed his maturity by making this move, the maturity level of Jennings is going to soar with this move to Europe. You have to wonder how many guys will follow this route in the next few years. (What will be interesting is how major teams in European cities will retain talent in the future. Let’s see this potential decision in the future…Barcelona or Oklahoma City?)
I also think this could be a watershed moment in terms of pushing kids who shouldn’t be in school in the first place to locales that will truly develop their games.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out. Very gutsy move and a nice play…What will be wild is to follow this story come next June when he’s touring individual workouts for the NBA Draft…This is a good one.
Special thanks for the input and to the listeners on WXYC’s Thursday Night Feature. I have to admit that I was nervous about presenting the legendary music and story of Bo Diddley. His innovations and creative process is nothing short of astounding. Bo Diddley was truly a “Man’s Man.”
For the show, I was able to inerview, Blues Hall of Fame member, photographer, curator, and producer Dick Waterman and former Chess Records sax player and producer, Gene Barge. (Little known fact: Barge was actually the sax player on Chuck Willis’s C.C. Rider.)
Both Dick and Gene provided great insights on Bo Diddley and the Chicago Blues scene. As an added bonus, they were able to touch upon where the direction of blues is headed today.
With that first hour, you’ll enjoy Bo’s biographical tidbits and Bo’s early Chess years. The tough part is that with help from an esteemed WXYC elder, I was able to uncover Gene Autry’s guitar riff from “Jingle Jangle” and compare the portion to “Who Do You Love?” That may not be on the recorded version.
With that said, the shame is that I was able to play a lot of Bo’s ‘funk’ and his ‘Black Alligator’ work from the ’70s from ‘Another Dimension’, ‘Big Bad Bo’ and ‘Bo and Co.’ In fact, for sample fans out there, pick up ‘Big Bad Bo’, De La Soul used the sample off ‘Hit or Miss.’ The song is a classic funk sample. Also, be sure to try and find a lot of Bo’s live work, which you can catch a good feel for in the YouTube video that I’ve posted below.
Here is the information that I used for the show: 1.) Bo Diddley Box Set - For XYC DJs, do yourself and dig deep into vinyl. The cuts between 1955-1962 are all classics, and they all contain that classic Bo Diddley riff. Another tidbit is to check out the liner notes. Bo set the record straight with his thoughts upon Chess Records, his musical style, his influences, and even icons like Chuck Berry …Great read.
2.) “The Indestructible Bo Diddley” - This may be the definitive article on Bo Diddley from Neil Strauss of “Rolling Stone Magazine.” Seriously, this is a great read, and Strauss depicts a great impromptu jam session in Diddley’s living room filled with home-made amplifiers and guitars…Very strong read.
3.) Bo Diddley Wikipedia Entry - Good source of consolidated info. This was probably the best source for details of the last two years before his death on June 2, 2008. Check out the final entry that details his last show in his birthplace of McComb, Mississippi.
Bo Diddley - I’m a M-A-N - Chess Records
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley - Checker/Chess Records (Talk)
Bo Diddley - Send It To Jerome - Chess/Checker
Bo Diddley - Diddley Daddy - Chess/Checker
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing - Chess/Checker
Bo Diddley - Before You Accuse Me - Chess (Talk)
Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love? - Chess
Bo Diddley - Mona - Chess (Talk)
Bo Diddley - Oooh Baby - Chess Records (Talk)
Dick Waterman Interview
Gene Autry - “Jingle Jangle” (Talk)
Elmore James - “Dust My Broom”
Bo Diddley - “Look At My Baby” - Chess (Talk)
Bo Diddley - “Cops & Robbers” - Chess (Talk)
Bo Diddley - Ride On Josephine - Chess
Bo Diddley - Aztec Bo Diddley The Chess Box
Bo Diddley - “Back Home” - Bo Diddley The Chess Box/Chess
Bo Diddley - “Pills” - Bo Diddley The Chess Box/Chess
Bo Diddley - “Untitled Instrumental” - Bo Diddley The Chess Box/Chess (Talk)
Gene Barge Interview
Bo Diddley - “Bo Diddley The Gunslinger” - Bo Diddley 16 All-Time Greatest Hits/Chess
(Talk)
Bo Diddley - “Bad Side Of The Moon”- Another Dimension/Chess
Bo Diddley - “I Said Shuttup Woman” - Another Dimension/Chess
Bo Diddley - “Go For Broke (Instrumental) ” - Another Dimension/Chess (Talk)
Bo Diddley - “He Got All The Whiskey” - Big Bad Bo/Chess
Bo Diddley - “Hit or Miss” - Big Bad Bo/Chess (Talk)
Bo Diddley & Co. - “He’s A Hell Of A Man” - Bo Diddley & Co./Fan Club
As I mentioned in the show, I actually met Bo inside the lobby of the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles, and he was one of the cooler bump-ins that I’ve had with a celebrity. I only now wish that I could ask more about his Chicago days.
Also, thanks to George Thorogood and Dan Aykroyd for placing Bo in their works. Both of those works introduced me to Bo Diddley’s music. Bo appeared as a pool hustler in Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone” video, and he appeared in Trading Places as a Philadelphia pawn-shop owner/broker, who not only states Aykroyd’s watch that tells time in ‘Sch-tad’ ‘That watch is hot”, but also pronounces “…in Philadelphia, that watch is worth fifty bucks.”
After learning and reading more about Bo, the setting in Trading Places with all of the loose equipment hanging from the walls, electronics under the shelves, and blues music playing in the background, that may be a solid setting for listening to his work.
For Bo Diddley fans, here is a special treat for you. I’ll be hosting WXYC’s Thursday Night Feature tomorrow night, July 3rd from 9-12AM, and the topic will be Bo Diddley and his music.
We’ll have two solid interviews from Blues Hall of Famer and renowned blues archivist and photographer, Dick Waterman, and former Bo Diddley labelmate and famed Chess/Checkers sax player Gene Barge providing their insights upon Bo’s legacy and where the direction of blues is headed today. We’ll also touch upon Bo’s Chicago roots and his influences.
I’m looking forward to sharing info on Bo Diddley. If you have any insights or special requests, feel free to drop a line here. In the Chapel Hill area, tune into WXYC FM 89.3. Outside of the Hill, tune-in through cyberspace by streaming online via www.wxyc.org or via iTunes Radio. WXYC is listed under the the ‘Eclectic’ section.
Diddy Wah Diddy, walk it home and join us tomorrow night on WXYC.
I told people that this young gunna’ is different…
A while back, I posted this shot of Brandon Jennings that I caught at the MLK Invitational in Greensboro. I called him the second coming of Kenny Anderson. I called him the best high-school point guard of this decade, and I still don’t think that I’m that far-off with that assessment. (Note: Many people would say that Chris Paul would be at that level. I thought Jennings played against tougher competition.)
Sure, Kevin Garnett shook the world of basketball by going pro in the ’90s. We hadn’t seen such as move in a span of twenty years beforehand. However, not since ‘89 when Danny Ferry and Brian Shaw ditched the Clippers and the Celtics and their first-round selection status to for Italy’s Il Messangaro have we seen a realistic threat of a player ditching the traditional route of a NBA future for a year of tutelage in Europe. (Note: As a ’80s Celtic fan, I never forgave Shaw for that one…Double-down on that one when he joined up with the Lakers in the early ’00’s…I think he may be one of the worst things that happened to the Celtics over the past 25 years.)
According to his mother, Alice Knox, the threat is more than just a passing. “We’re weighing all the options,” Knox said last Thursday. “We’re not bluffing about playing in Europe and even if Brandon gets the SAT score doesn’t mean he’s going to college.” Jennings later told ESPN.com that going to Europe would take a “perfect situation” where a team needs a point guard, has an attentive coach and an American on the roster to guide Jennings.
This may be the best idea that has come about in college basketball the past fifteen years.
Who is not tired of perceived ’student-athletes’ treating college basketball and campuses as a jump-off for the league?
These cases are complete wastes of educational time on college campuses. In the case of Jennings, he has not displayed even a feign of interest for developing academic progress in two years at Oak Hill. The guy barely passed his SAT…with suspicion, and from all points of view, he has made no intention to progress his education beyond his freshman year at
Arizona. If not for the NBA’s half-assed effort to retain kids in college basketball, Jennings and others such as Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, and O.J. Mayo would have been long gone. Why do these players have to spend time on a college campus?
Hell, Kevin Love didn’t even live on UCLA’s campus this season.
If Brandon Jennings does not want to go to school, and is only attending for the sole reason to spend time to go to the league, then he should be able to play as a pro. That is the league’s responsibility to develop that product not an educational institution that does not list ‘basketball’ as a certified major.
In fact, future players choosing to develop in the NBDL and in Europe will probably become far better players with NBA and Euro Pro coaching. If a player has no interest in earning a college degree or attending college classes. Why should he be forced to do so?
For a player like Brandon Jennings, he will be allowed to focus full-time on developing his game, but also due to the fact that he would be forced to learn another culture, spend inordinate time with himself, and be forced to deal with players from another country would better his game.
The question is whether he’ll be able to compete in a lot of the European A-leagues…Yet, I don’t think that a first-round pick would be able to hang in Europe. I’m serious….Going up against a 26-year old Omar Cook is no joke…Guys are very hungry over there for their jobs. Believe me, joke time is over.
Despite the fierce competitiveness that a player would endure in Europe, after watching the changes of players who visit Chapel Hill from their European stints, I’m convinced that Europe would not only ready them for the following year’s draft, but also develop them as people. (I just would love to see how a Brandon Jennings and others would react to the notorious two-a-day practices or how he’ll deal with Euro team management and their erratic paydays after a couple of shaky nights.)
My fellow heelhoops list-serv mate and New Republic editor, Jason Zengerle, wrote a great article on Sonny Vaccaro in the New Republic entitled“The Pivot.”Check out Zengerle’s article here. There a lot of juicy ideas to tug upon in an argument over the ethics of college basketball. Zengerle penned a great article.
Now, Vaccaro is the ultimate lighting rod for arguments concerning the ethics of college athletics, and he is the full-blended definition of a real-life Robin Hood who acted as a mercenary for shoe companies. No one can ever take a one-sided approach in debating his worth to college basketball.
Yet, Zengerle pulled out an innovative idea from Vaccaro. Vaccaro states that he has been looking for young hoops phenoms who’d be interested in playing overseas for the year they’d otherwise be in college before coming back to enter the NBA draft. “I need Jackie Robinson; I need a guy who can stand this,” he says. “And I think I’ll have one.”
From the type of guys that he has influenced over the years that have gone astray from the traditional route such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, O.J. Mayo, Shawn Kemp, Chris Mills, and Carmelo Anthony, Jennings fits that Jackie Robinson mold. And with Vaccaro’s connections and proximity to Los Angeles, we can assume that his fingers are pulling some cords from above the manifold.
All said, a move for Europe could be a great move for Jennings…
This blogga hopes that these types of will become a trend because a lot of these types of players will be forced to grow-up fast in this type of environment. Formerly coddled players will be better people, more well-rounded culturally, more appreciative, and more importantly from their point of view, better players. Spending mass amounts of time in an empty apartment online, burning-up Skype, watching DVDs, and forced to learn a pigeon-form of a language can do wonderous things for developing an appreciation of the real “game.”
Jennings has a tough chin, commands the court, holds Penn Relay speed, mesmerizes the court with dizzying handles, and what makes him even more special…A slick left-handed jumper that launches and hits from deep. Believe me, the NBA won’t forget about him overseas.
However, let’s just hope that he doesn’t fall into the deep abyss of the forgotten elites, where and what are the high-school legends from Los Angeles from the late ’80s and early ’90s such as Sean Higgins, Earl Duncan, Schea Cotton, and John Williams doing now?
The concept of branding has been leaning toward two-way communication over the past decade…
That type of talk isn’t hot off-the-press news. However, we can say that the online marketing has been driving innovative ways toward that concept over the past decade. Promoting brands through interactive services and online communication tools are emerging as the more powerful branding concept for big brands. Check out this article from AdWeek’s Brian Morissey, “Why Nike Embraces Brand Utility.”
Always ahead of the game, Nike has made a jump away from the traditional online branding seen through banner placements and online giveaway efforts. They’re making more of a stronger play by utilizing web tools that not only offer services, but also engage the user with the brand and with their athletes delivering their highly valued expertise and values.
In the Morissey’s article, Nike Global Director of Digital Media, Stefan Olander explains. “We’ve been viewing digital as less of a marketing channel than a place for services,…It’s really hard to convey a brand message” through Web ads.”
He’s spot on…Nike has made solid efforts with creating Facebook groups for NikeID and their “Ballers Network”, which was built through a partnership with Dime Magazine, and by all means, a great tool with their Nike Plus features on their Nike Running site.
However, I believe a stronger example is shown through the video content from the Nike Skills Instructional Camps last summer. Nike tailored instructional camps for the positions held by their elite basketball endorsers such as Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudamire, Vince Carter, Steve Nash, and LeBron James.
The Steve Nash Skills Camp video that was released in November not only provides great highlights from future stars, but also gives great insights to developing moves and drills and shares tidbits from his talks with campers.
Now, Steve Nash is one of the more engaging athletes in the Nike stable, and he has a ton to bring to the table in terms of conversations and insights. Also, be sure to check out Kobe Bryant’s Skills Camp video. Yet, here is a great example of how Nike incorporates their brand with a segment that can run online, sharply targets youth basketball consumers, and partners the brand with the content in a subtle manner.
With youth basketball demanding stronger skills and a protected environment for eilte athletes to learn skills, Nike created a great tool to not only build their brand, but also a great vehicle to tell a story on the side. Nike is developing the brand while creating valued content with substance and two-way communication with potential consumers and viewers.
That’s Grade A work.
Blogga’s Note: (I know you cats from Beaverton are always dropping in here. The deeper critque from this blogga would like to see more instructional tips and more audio from a player like Nash’s talks…This is the best vid out of them all. That spot-up shooting drill from Kevin Eastman was the dope…We need more…There is at least twenty kids who will learn from that ‘change of direction’ tip. Share it.
As a super-side note, it’s only a matter of time when Nash becomes a GM. The guy knows that the players not only were the elite players in the country, but also spoke to them as the All-Conference and first-rounders of the future that they are.
For people pushing up, check out the video at the 8:00 mark, listen to that speech…”Don’t stop because I got to get to do the little things…Be in the moment and work every day, but it’s because you got to keep getting better to get to here. I still feel like I’ve never arrived. I still feel like I can improve and add more to my game and my team.”…Pure class.)
Here’s another one from the Vince Carter Skills Camp. I have to say that there is a pivot move that I know comes directly from Chapel Hill and his tutelage under Coaches Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge.
Nike in the first year of the sponsored training program for the Chicago Bank of America Marathon stealthily placed 10 decals smack in the middle of the asphalt bike lanes in five different locations on the lakefront path. Supposedly, the ads were so close together that a runner on a soft jog could see an ad every three to four seconds.
Although the ads were for a 17-week free training program, they were easily removable, and they could be removed after three days, Nike not only didn’t receive permission from the Chicago Park District, but also the natural landscape of the lakefront’s jogging path was disturbed.
Now, I can understand the Chicago Park District wanting to garner ad revenue from advertising in public places. They’re not only ripe for the taking with the amount of pedestrian traffic and watchful eyes, but also the revenue is steered toward park maintenance. Yet, there has to be some taste and class left for our cities. When the natural surroundings and features are disturbed by blatant advertising, that’s…foul.
What is strange is that the Park District didn’t give any notice to Nike about the ads. Perhaps, our public places have become so inundated with corporate advertising that we don’t even realize when their corporate banners and decals have been approved or not.
Whether the ads are for the American Red Cross or GEICO Insurance, ads in public places need to be treated with high respect and taste for our urban grounds. There is too much of a slippery slope when ads are placed upon paved grounds.
Decal ads should be treated the same way that decal stickers are placed upon lamplight posts, subway turnstiles, or other public amenities.
With guerilla marketing way past the fifteen-minute mark and deep into the maintream, Deardorff makes a great point. “I started to imagine the awful possibilities–garish ads along the path, fences and the wall along Lake Shore Drive. After all, if one company is allowed to do it, why can’t every training program or 5-kilometer race paste down fliers?”
Here’s a plea for marketers and advertisers to respect public spaces. Yes, they’re too easy to use, and they’re unchartered waters. Yet, don’t poach.
In this case, the Lakefront path is one of the most esteemed urban-runs in America, there has to be a stronger way to promote a program. The natural landscape is a major part of people’s runs. Please respect.
