As frustrating as it is, MLB does do things right every now and then – and we aren’t talking about inviting Chris Berman to call the home run derby, that falls into the frustrating category.  For example, over the weekend, I saw a marriage between a great game and one of my current passions, social media.

Now you don’t need to hand me a cold compress, the ole ballgame has embraced social media in a cool way with their new MLB.com Pulse.

Much like having your finger on the pulse of a trend, MLB’s version gives a social wrap up of each of the night’s game by combining video, Tweets and score updates.  The tool is a dream for a geek². Not only is there a social graph of what’s happening in real-time to gauge the buzz of each team, but also shows the stats and video to go along with the buzz.

So with these graphs in hand, I applaud the crew in the league offices that embraced social media to bring the sport to the wired masses. Now if only they would start letting their videos be embedded.

Do you think other leagues will take the copycat approach to this innovation or will they ignore social media and hope that they can keep it away from their games?

That changed today when I went up to New Hampshire with my wife and some friends to catch a game and see some July 4th fireworks. Kyle Drabek, atop prospect of the Toronto Blue Jays tossed a no-no tonight and I captured the last out and celebration – pretty cool way to celebrate the country’s birth.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the site, click the links below for both sides and let us know what you think.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, chances are that you’ve heard the sports news that has also made its way into the gossip rags and morning talk shows – Tiger Woods is returning to the PGA tour at the Masters.

While the return of the world’s top golfer will help the Tour’s ratings, it also marks an interesting event for the media. In his public apology spoken press release, Woods did not field any questions and has not answered any questions about his marital infidelity.  So while we’d like to say that the media will stick to the tournament at hand, drama sells and the opportunities for juicy questions and an irate golfer are some must-see TV in the making.

But hey, you don’t come to this blog to read about sports or infidelity so let’s get to the root of Tiger’s return to the PGA at Augusta National as a PR move – one that is safe, nostalgic and was strategically planned.  Much like a CEO, Woods is advised by some top notch PR folks who carefully chose when he would return to golf. Given the course’s history, importance and pageantry, the Masters is an intriguing choice for Tiger.  Our two in-house Sports PR experts don’t agree with each other on this topic:

What a great move

Dumb move, Mr. Woods

Photo by Robert Seale/TSN /ZUMA Press.

The NFL Draft is usually a time when teams make selections that can shape their franchise for years. There are also selections, aptly dubbed busts, that can leave a team, like the Lions, in as rough shape as the city they call home.  While teams and their general managers have been lambasted in the media for poor choices, the league escapes criticism for some of their poor choices on players. Now I am not talking about discipline, but rather selecting players for growing their brand. Think about it, NFL commercials are usually graced with the face of Peyton Manning, his younger brother Eli, Drew Brees, Adrian Peterson or Larry Fitzgerald. They are all great players who have marketing value, but they are also safe choices who fit in with the old-fashioned thinking of the NFL and won’t help grow the game’s reach. To do that, they need to embrace someone who gets it and can make fans feel like they are a part of the game. They need Chad Ochocinco.

As a Ravens fan, I hate seeing him twice a year, but as much as it pains me to say it, he gets it. He has fun, interacts with fans and works in the community. Perhaps what scares the league so much is that he understands the game too much. Mike Schaffer may have put it best in our conversation the other day, “Chad Ochocinco is the antithesis of the ‘No Fun League’.”  He celebrates touchdowns (my favorite is when he performed CPR on a ball…and the ball didn’t make it). In a league filled with gangsters, thugs and criminals, the worst thing Ochocinco has done is ask for a trade 2008 – and he honored his contract when the Bengals kept him.  Oh yeah, he also owns every major receiving record in team history.  So he’s a showman…so what?”

The league prides itself on sportsmanship and tradition, but has become increasingly corporate and the moniker of the “No Fun League,” is clearly evident. They need to take a deep breath and get what the game is really – a child’s game that men get paid a boat ton of money for – and they should be happy to have a player who realizes this. Ochocinco fully understands the value of fans and loves to interact with them, at times on an one-on-one level in an open forum, something that I couldn’t see any of the aforementioned NFL poster boys doing.

So NFL, if you are listening, here are some reasons to embrace Ochocinco’s gold grill and make him your poster boy in the digital age that we live in.

@OGOchocinco – If you didn’t know, this is the Bengal receiver’s Twitter handle. His account has approximately half of the followers that the NFL’s official page has. Unlike their feed which reads more like an RSS of NFL.com, the receiver is just like anyone else on the popular social networking site, give or take a couple zeros and commas on his pay stub.  He interacts with fans and has held an impromptu Tweetup at a Cincinnati-area restaurant.

The Ocho Cinco Show – Yes, sites like the NFL Network and ESPN give nearly 24-hour coverage of the league, but how many players will invite you into their home? Now I can’t say that I will watch this weekly, but it was kind of funny seeing how he let a smoke detector beep and instead of changing the battery calls someone into fixing it. He’s a character that lets you know what he’s thinking and offers life tips like: Don’t forget your mom or wife’s birthday and other important dates.

iPhone App – Maybe narcissistic, but it keeps folks laughing and connected. This application has gotten mixed reviews in the press for its $5 price tag, but here are the four reviews from the iTunes Store :

1. Dope App   by Vbizzle4shizzle – At first I was saying $5 for an APP!!! “CHILD PLEEEEZ!!!” I bought it anyway an it is Worth every penny- every aspect about is cool from the funny sayings, what would ocho do-(WWOD)?, to the fan pics are very cool. One of the best apps I’ve bought
2. Ocho Cinco  by Jeffrey Lange – He is a great athlete and good entertainer with his social media engagement.
3. -DigiJeff – Very entertaining!
4. by neiljcrump -Has lots of videos from his webcasts, which are usually hilarious! ‘where’s ocho’ accuratly [sic] shows where he’s at, has updated Twitter posts! If you’re an ocho fan, it’s must have!

Volunteer tour bus – While this is not a social media application so to speak, it does show how the receiver is giving back to his community and inspiring them to do the same.  This three-day tour to Miami was very cool and it shows how willing he is to put himself out there and give 10 fans a trip of a lifetime with some great work done.

You decide, is the receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson another blowhard egomaniac or should the NFL embrace him as the face of football 2.0?

While I read this book months ago, I just got it back from a friend and am considering it as a time filler and overall good read as I wait for baseball to start back up. The book paints the behind the scenes Cowboys just as we’d expect them – wild, crazy and with enough blow to put Columbia to shame. Definitely check it out.

Pros

• Opens up the new look of Tiger. Golfer not a role model
• May appeal to golf’s male audience
• Can help launch new brand based on performance
• Viral sensation

Cons

• Are you serious?
• Opens up Tiger’s credibility as a person to look up to
• Could hurt existing image/brand

Image - Batimore Sun

Unless you have been in a coma for the past four months, you are aware of Tiger Woods PR issue. If you have been in a coma (my apologies), live under a rock or are just out of it, please click here before continuing reading this post. As you may have heard, the world’s top golfer will break his silence and issue statements to a group of assembled media on Friday. While the speculation on what will be said, when he’ll return to golf and if there will be an apology will run rampant, there will be no Q&A so some may be left with a sense of emptiness. As a PR pro, I would like to offer some free advice to Tiger to help get his image rebuilding start on the right foot.

Don’t lie – While the situation may look bleak, it could be a lot worse. Treat your flack like you would treat a lawyer. Tell them the whole truth; if you feel like omitting things, I’d like to offer Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire as examples of why you should not leave any reasonable doubt in the mind of the public. This will also help your team run a tight ship in repairing your image.

Air your laundry – Now this piece of advice may sting a little, so please have a seat. While the public may know about your infidelity, it is important to let your flack know about any lingering bad news that may leak out. Now the approach can be done one of two ways. The first is to admit to everything that you have done – everything. It is risky, but it puts the kibosh on any more skeletons from coming out of the closet. The second is the more conservative approach but could open you up to more prying down the road. It is to simply tell your flack everything and have them on the ready to disprove everything that newly emerged sources have to say when they do emerge.

Personally I would air it all, it shows that you are human and will also gain some sympathy from the public. You’ve already gotten out of rehab for your sexual addiction so you are on the road to recovery already. It could also help make the sponsors less edgy around you.

All eyes on you – Prior to Thanksgiving, you may have been able to avoid the public eye away from the links, everyone will be looking for dirt on you. That counts everyone from Golf Week scribes to TMZ hacks, so be ready for it. With that said, you can quell some of the intrigue by taking option #1 above and by also making one thing clear in your opening statement, you will field questions on your personal matters once and after that one time any question brought up will end your interview. While some folks may call your bluff on this, stick to it. You are golf so if they want to get your take on something, they are playing by your rules.

Play nice – Now don’t take this as saying to lay off your dominating game, but rather to open up to your fellow golfers. Let them know that you are sorry and show the human side of you. There are more of them than you, so getting them on board with rebuilding Tiger2.0 can help get the media in line with your no personal talk mantra.

Dominate - At the end of the day, there is one thing that will silence critics instantaneously – winning. So the sooner you get back on the course in your cold-calculated way, the better. When you are winning, the golf world is relevant and the folks in the PGA front office have mile wide smiles on their faces and fat wallets. So when you win everyone wins.

While this post may fall onto deaf ears, in the rare chance that TW or his agent sees this post – call me. Contact info is on the about page.

What would you do if you were Tiger’s flack is there any advice that you’d offer him?

As a sports fan, you always want to see your team make it to the championship. Just getting to the game is good for community morale as well as local businesses. For fans of the New Orleans Saints, some of this goodwill and joy has lost its luster the NFL and some members of Louisiana are locked in an ugly PR battle over two words – Who Dat. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the phrase, it has been the rallying cry of the Saints and their fans and was prominently displayed in the Super Dome following their NFC championship win.

Yes, there are other two-word phrases that are much worse, so why the focus on them? One word answer – trademark – read merchandising. With the Who Dat craze swirling around the state, local shop owners have been hawking shirts with the phrase on it. That was until the NFL sent out cease and desist letters citing a 1988 trademark registered by the Saints. Well those letters have been met with angst from these shop owners and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who is looking into pushing a lawsuit against the NFL over the ownership of the phrase.

Click here to read the post in its entirety.

Image - NFL

Dear NFL,

Let me start by saying, I love your product and you keep me entertained for over 17 weeks a year – so thank you. I just wanted to let you in on a little secret – which I am sure you probably know already – fans don’t care about the Pro Bowl. We also know that the move to the Super Bowl city wasn’t to draw attention to the game it was to save money and drive more revenue from the cities that host the game. It’s a smart business move and for that I applaud you.

What many fans will take offense to is that you are still trying to sell it as a viable game. But seriously, how can we take a game seriously when David Garrard and Vince Young are on the AFC roster and will see time in the game? The guys were waiver wire pick ups for desperate fantasy owners. Hell even owners are pissed that you are making Super Bowl players head to the game for some festivities.

All-star games in general are a joke and to be honest, why not keep it after the big dance? The game means nothing so why wait for Peyton Manning to sling some passes? Because then the whole BOA touchdown thing might mean something if him and Drew Brees had their say.

I know that you are the biggest league in the world, but please consider the fans. This is bad customer relations and PR for you guys.

Thanks.

Jeff

PS Here are some ways that you could rectify this for the future:

Make the game count – MLB does not do many things right, but why not make the winning conference the recipient of the Super Bowl the following year? It would spread the game around and give some incentive.

Do players care? – Let’s face it Miami just isn’t Hawaii, and imagine if this game was in Detroit. How many pulled hamstrings and opt-outs would you get? It’s all about fun in a tropical place for these guys and it could make for some interesting TV if you made skills competitions similar to the NFL challenge a few years back.

Fines – You don’t show, you get fined, simple as that.

Image - GapingVoid

Here’s to hoping for a good game and a win by the away team. And to me not freezing by butt off.