Basketball Announcers

Chris Broussard is known for his obnoxious comments all over ESPN.  Broussard always has to get in every story and blow it out of proportion.  In April 2013, Jason Collins revealed he was openly gay, which made him the first openly gay athlete in a major American sport.  Support came in from celebrities online, and the overall reaction on Twitter was overwhelmingly positive for Collins. Collins later took to Twitter himself to thank fans for the "truly inspirational" show of support.
Broussard, however, took a different view, saying on Outside the Lines that homosexuality is "an open rebellion to God." Here's video of some of Broussard's comments:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42bwxwrpvYg  This goes to show how Broussard can't keep himself under control on the air.  Broussard is definitely my least favorite sports analysts on ESPN.  The only thing he seems to talk about is the New York Knicks and whatever recent controversial news is going on.  My all-time favorite basketball analyst would be Dick Vitale, Vitale always makes the games exciting with his exciting comments, like "Trifecta!" or "Nothing but nylon baby!"  Vitale always makes college basketball games exciting especially the Duke vs. UNC games.  He is always active with fans and getting everyone up on their feet.  Vitale is one of the greatest announcers of all time and makes the games entertaining to watch.

Basketball Media

The NBA and College Basketball are very popular especially in the postseason.  The networks that broadcast March Madness are TBS, CBS, TNT, and TruTV.  In 2010, the NCAA and CBS reached a 14-year agreement worth $10.8 billion dollars to receive joint broadcasting rights for March Madness.  The agreement with the CBS Corporation which runs through 2024, allows all tournament games to be broadcast on national television.  All of the first four games will air on TruTV.  A featured second or third round game in each time window will be broadcast exclusively on CBS, while all other games will be shown either on TBS, TNT or TruTV. Sweet 16 (regional semifinal) games would be broadcast on CBS and TBS, while all games from the Elite Eight (regional final) onwards would be shown on CBS exclusively until 2016, when the CBS/TBS sharing of the Elite Eight and Final Four rounds begin.  The CBS/Turner coverage formally begins with The Selection Show, the official unveiling of the teams participating in the tournament, which follows CBS's coverage of the final game on Selection Sunday. Since 2013, however, CBS began using the March Madness presentation during coverage of conference championship games being broadcast by CBS, although still branded as NCAA on CBS telecasts. During the tournament itself, TruTV broadcasts pre-game coverage, Infiniti NCAA Tip-Off, while TBS and TruTV also air the post-game show Inside March Madness presented by Buick.  By broadcasting The Selection Show opens up more popularity to main tournament and gives the network more views and a better chance to advertise their own shows.  The NBA's popularity and viewers have gone up and down throughout the years.  The NBA Nielsen ratings have risen and fallen over the decades. The National Basketball Association achieved a rapid rise and fall in television ratings from the 1997-1998 season, when ratings for the NBA Finals achieved a record high, to the 2002-2003 season, when ratings for the NBA Finals hit a record low. Blame for this rise and fall has been pinned on the destructive NBA lockout which occurred right after the 1998 season. The lockout wiped out thirty-two games of the 1998-1999 season and caused fan apathy. Other blame has been put on the retirement of Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, also on backlash against the "hip-hop" culture of the league and as well as heavy competition from prime time programming such as American Idol, the CSI Shows, and Dancing with the Stars.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association_Nielsen_ratings

Should Basketball Player's be Role Models?

In my opinion NBA athletes are not forced to be role models, it is up to them to make that decision.  Some athletes aren't good role models as it is, so forcing them to be something they aren't is not a good thing.  There are some athletes that are good role models without being forced into it.  I think Lebron does a good job of being a good role model for younger kids and athletes.  Along with being a great athlete Lebron does plenty of charity work and helps out kids in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.  NBA athletes aren't always good role models, Charles Barkley even stated in a Nike Commercial in 1993 that he does not want to be a role model and his only job is to "Cause havoc on the court." Barkley wanted to let parents know that it isn't his job to be a role model for their kids, it is the parents job.  Also some NBA players are known for crime, bad attitudes, and drug problems.  Many people don't know but Michael Jordan had a huge gambling addiction that the media would hide so it wouldn't ruin his image as a role model.  So lastly, athletes are not required to be role models, it is not their job, they are paid to perform athletically and if they want to be known a a good role model they can but it is not mandatory.

Messing Up Off the Court

Donald Sterling, the ex-owner for the Los Angeles Clippers, made a name for himself last Spring.  Sterling made comments to his wife of how, "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people."  He also said, "But why publicize it on the Instagram and why bring it to my games?"  Sterling made these comments after his wife posted a picture with Hall of Famer Magic Johnson on Instagram. Sterling was immediately banned from attending NBA games or practices, being present at any Clippers office or facility, or participating in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. He also cannot participate in any league business going forward.  Sterling also has been sued for sexual harassment by former employees, and Stiviano describes Sterling in court documents as a man "with a big toothy grin brandishing his sexual prowess in the faces of the paparazzi and caring less what anyone else thought, the least of which, his own wife."   Sterling's actions were completely blown up and spread around fast.  I think he should have not have said the things he did and they were very uncalled for, but $2.5 million, and banned for life is a little extreme in my opinion.  Sterling definitely deserves harsh punishment but I disagree with the punishment he got.  He definitely made a bad name for himself and made an awful decision.   This goes to show that you need to watch what you say because you never know who is listening.




  http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10857580/donald-sterling-los-angeles-clippers-owner-receives-life-ban-nba

Lesson from the Super Bowl

What I've learned from the Super Bowl is that the commercials gain them most of their viewers.  Even if someone doesn't like football they will still watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.  So, my idea is that for the NBA Finals and March Madness to televise attention grabbing and entertaining commercials that will get a lot of publicity.  I think so many more people and fans would watch postseason basketball if there were big commercials that everyone would be talking about.  You always see people talking about what the Super Bowl commercials are going to be like, and of course they will watch the game.  That is why the Super Bowl reaches over 100 million viewers.  So, I think if people hyped up the NBA finals and March Madness like they do the Super Bowl, basketball would be a much more popular sport and get a lot more viewers.   Postseason basketball gets a good amount of viewers but nearly as much as the Super Bowl, so I think if the NBA and the NCAA advertised good commercials like how the NFL does, the viewer ratings would go through the roof.  Also, if the NBA playoffs were earlier in the evening more people could watch it.  Most kids go to bed around 9:00 P.M, so when the NBA playoff games are starting at 8:30 P.M, the only people watching are adults and maybe teenagers.  By having the games so late it hurts their viewers.  So with that being said, if the NBA and NCAA hyped up their commercials and had commercials that people want to see their viewers will go up.  Also if you schedule the games at a more appropriate time your viewers will also go up.  In conclusion, I think if the NCAA and NBA found more appealing commercials like the Super Bowl their viewer ratings would increase at a very good rate.







http://www.businessinsider.com/what-advertisers-can-learn-from-the-march-madness-marketing-campaign-2013-3

Super Bowl Reaction

In Super Bowl XLIX, there was a big ticket controversy.  Ticket brokers promised buyers tickets, before the brokers had the tickets.  The brokers were waiting for the prices of the tickets to go down, to buy them so they could make a profit.  But what happened was the tickets prices increased as the game got closer, making it nearly impossible for the brokers to get tickets.  The people who were promised tickets that they already paid for, had tickets that did not exist.  As people, were stranded outside of the Super Bowl waiting for calls from their brokers, most brokers reimbursed their customers double the amount the customer paid.  So for instance, if someone spent $7,000 on Super Bowl tickets, the broker would have payed them back $14,000.  The reason for the increase of sales right before the Super Bowl was mainly because of the location.  Since, the Super Bowl was in Phoenix, the weather was very warm and more people would rather go to Phoenix than New York because of the cold weather.  The prices also went up because of the teams in the Super Bowl.  Everyone knows the Seahawks are one of the most popular teams in the NFL and everyone enjoys watching them play.  Even most of the Seahawks home games are sold out, so you can only imagine what the Super Bowl would be like.  The tickets from this years Super Bowl were almost the highest of all time.



http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/12255886/hundreds-super-bowl-tickets-fall-through