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All eyes are on LeBron James tonight as he makes his final decision on which team to join in the NBA. This superstar has been rumored to be going to Chicago, Miami, New York, or even staying in his hometown, Cleveland. There is a one hour television special on ESPN tonight with his awaiting decision, a decision that is being made literally a minute away from The Brand Gallery’s office, at the Boys and Girls Club, in Greenwich, CT!

The office interns have a bet going between Cleveland and the Knicks (…this will determine who has to pay for yummy snacks in the future…Go Knicks!) Now I’m more of a hockey fan, but I’ll respect LeBron for staying in Cleveland, I’ll be excited for LeBron if comes to the Knicks, and I’ll be disappointed if LeBron goes to the Heat. Going to the Heat would be for the sole purpose of creating a power trio (with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) which I hope does not happen. I’ve heard great things about LeBron, especially with his generosity and loyalty to Cleveland thus far, therefore, I would love LeBron James to join a team other than the Heat. This will allow him to stand out and become one of the greatest basketball players of all time, up against the ranks of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

Stay tuned for tonight’s decision!!!

This is my first blog! I decided to go along with the username SPAIN because I studied abroad in Spain and now I’m obsessed with everything Spanish. It was the best time of my life, and I’m hoping that someday I can go back. With that said, the anticipation for Spain’s game yesterday in the World Cup had been building ever since the groups were announced. And it just so happened that I was working up at the front desk yesterday, having a perfect view of the television screen to watch their opening game. Seeing familiar faces such as Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos took me back to the enchanting land of Spain and remembering all the times in bars with amigos or at home with my padres watching soccer games, or “partidos de futbol” as they would say in Spanish. I was ready to watch them prevail and represent the country I love so much. Obviously, I have a job to do, so I couldn’t center all my attention to the game, but I would keep my eye on it every time I had the chance. Nil-nil for a long time until around minute 52 when Switzerland got a goal on one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Unlucky it was, but I still kept my hope strong. I knew they would come back with a goal, knew it. I had complete faith. Minutes and minutes went by until it was down to the last few, then my faith crumbled. Spain still had not scored–I could not believe that they were going to lose their first game. SPAIN! One of the favored countries to win the cup was about to contest that favorability. The game was unfortunately over and I had mixed feelings. Shock, disappointment, heartbreak, but still hope—hope for the next game. But seriously, what is going on Spain?! After reading through ESPN online headlines this morning, I came across one talking about the goalkeeper’s, Casillas’, reporter girlfriend who is on the job in South Africa. Spectators wonder if this could have been a distraction for Casillas. Personally, I don’t think this is any reason to make up for Casillas’ slip-up. It’s not like Casillas was thinking about his girlfriend during the match. He is a professional soccer player so I’m pretty sure he knows how to keep his head in the game, especially during the most prestigious soccer tournament on the planet. I can understand why people want to point fingers and have reasons for the mishap, but I just think it was an authentic failure on Casillas’ part—it’s surprising, but I’m sure he will step it up for the next game. See? It’s hard for my hope to be completely shattered, unless Spain loses against their next opponent, Honduras. Tune in on the 21st! Viva España!

Iker Casillas–better luck next time.

In the 9th inning of last nights major league baseball game, Detroit Tiger’s pitcher Armando Galarraga was in close reach to pitching a perfect game until first-base umpire Jim Joyce denied Galarraga. For those of you who do not know what a perfect game is (shame on you!); it occurs when a pitcher does not allow any player on the opposite team to ever reach first base or any base for that matter. This is a major accomplishment that only 20 pitchers have ever achieved…Galarraga would have been the 21st pitcher and the third in the last four weeks! The thing is, the runner should not have been called safe. After review there was certainly “a thwack of ball meeting leather” before the runner’s foot came in contact with the base. Stricter replay rules are being talked about among the baseball community in order to prevent mishaps like this one. This mistake is one that Joyce will think about for years to come even though he admits he called what he saw… “I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay. It was the biggest call of my life”. Umpires are told to be unbiased to every team and situation, but in situations like this one, pressure builds and in order for them to appear as unbiased as possible, wrong calls are sometimes made. Galarraga seemed very gracious about the entire situation and told reporters that Joyce apologized to him. Galagarra, smiling, added “nobody’s perfect”. I believe Galarraga will have his perfect game again very soon…

Jason McIntyre, a Brooklyn resident and former editor at US Weekly, started a blog that is now being bought for a value in the low seven figures. The Big Lead is an independent blog that covers material from news and media to sports and gossip. With loyal followers, this blog has jumped to one of Sports Illustrated’s top five most influential sports blogs of the decade. Wow! (Slayterbox1748 in 2 years…)
As news circulation has been down along with ad revenue, blogging has become the new, progressive way to catch up on the morning news and that sports craving. With three million monthly page views, The Big Lead has caught everyone’s attention including the chief executive of Fantasy Sports Ventures and buyer, Chris Russo. Fantasy Sports reaches a slightly bigger crowd of 15 million users monthly and has a network of over 600 sports sites. McIntyre began his site in 2006 with hopes for an offer as big as mediabistro.com’s $23 million acquirement. With persistence and dedication, McIntyre and his team update the site throughout the day and answer upwards of 75 emails a day. There are many competing top sports blogs like Deadspin, The Sporting Blog, and EDSBS (Every Day Should Be Saturday…I agree!), each of which are mixing media with sports and creating permanent niches in the market. Do blogs influence you? How often do you read blogs? (Other then Slayterbox1748 everyday…)

Hi everyone! My name is Trooper (thank goodness it’s not my real name) and i’m an intern at The Brand Gallery this summer! Chekseycheer, UA, and myself will be updating you everyday on all the current media! Now for the best kind of media…sports!

If you haven’t heard of VERSUS you are not a true hockey fan…(or a bull riding, nascar driving, or extreme sports fan…) Versus is the fastest growing sports cable network on television (thanks to The Brand Gallery’s work in redesigning the network a few years ago ☺). Formerly known as the Outdoor Living Network or OLN, VERSUS is now a network that has become a platform for loyal hockey fans to watch their favorite sport shortly after hockey was temporarily discontinued in the 2005 season.
VERSUS averaged 1.041 million viewers for its coverage in the National Hockey Leagues 2010 conference semifinals round, making it hockey’s most watched second round play. VERSUS has also been ranked as a top five cable network among men 18-49 and 25-54. (No wonder there are Viagra and Anheuser-Busch advertisements plastered all over the boards right behind the goal!)
VERSUS will be showing the rest of the NHL playoffs, as the Chicago Blackhawks proceed to the finals to play the winner of the Montreal Canadiens vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. The Canadiens and Flyers match up tonight as the Flyers lead the series 3-1 (in a ‘best of seven’ game series). Everyone tune in tonight to VERSUS broadcast to see either the beginning of a miraculous recovery by the Canadiens or the start of another winning streak by the Flyers!

The recent Nike campaign starring Kobe Bryant and LeBron James as puppets who are roommates is a good example of how these two players have taken over the NBA and sports marketing in the U.S. Vitamin Water has also chosen to hype these two sports magnates in their new ad campaign pitting “the Black Mamba” (Kobe) vs. “the Chosen One” (LeBron). ESPN’s Sportscenter has even gone as far as to highlight these two players individual performances in one daily segment, making direct statistical comparisons in order to allow viewers to deduce who is really the best player in the NBA. There is no doubt that the success of these marketing campaigns directly influences the popularity of the NBA. Ever since Michael Jordan became the symbol of Nike beginning in the 80’s, the company as well as the NBA have benefitted tremendously. All that is needed now to benefit both the NBA as well as Vitamin Water and Nike, is for the two to square off in the upcoming Championship Finals. But with both the Lakers and the Cavaliers behind in their current Conference Championship Series, will either one even make an appearance? If not, will this correlate directly to poor television ratings of the NBA Finals?_____________________________________________________________________    

As a proud native of Pittsburgh and a glorified Steelers fan, I felt it was necessary to give everyone out there a preview of what is to come in terms of the infamous commercials that air during the big game. Not everyone can remember the famous Coca-Cola commercial with Mean Joe Green from 1979, but this year Coca-Cola is planning to remake the commercial with Steelers safety, Troy Polamalu. This got me very excited because I cannot wait to see some hilarious commercials during the Super Bowl. Here is the original version as well as a link to some behind-the-scenes of the new version that will air on Sunday.

Behind-the-Scenes footage with Troy Polamalu.

Washington Capitals Choose Web Producer to Fill in For Injured Goalie

 Here’s a story everyone can appreciate. With a man down and practically no time to spare before a big game against the Ottawa Senators last Friday, the Washington Capitals called upon Brett Leonhardt to fill in for an inured Jose Theodore. Of course, no one would suspect the 6′ 7″ former college goalie was none other than the Capital’s own Web site producer.

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The longest men’s singles match in history, a face-off between two sisters, and the highest television ratings for tennis since 2000. Wimbledon 2008 proved to be exciting at the very least. For her fifth Wimbledon Championship, Venus Williams defeated younger sister Serena but joined her side later to take the doubles victory as well. Twenty-two year old Rafa Nadal was also victorious when he played against five-time consecutive Wimbledon Champion Roger Federer. This was not the first time the 26-year old Swiss champion saw defeat this year. Earlier, the young Spaniard also took the French Open title from Federer to become the first man to win both championships consecutively since Bjorn Borg in 1980.
It was because of this pent-up rivalry, and the fact that this match became the longest recorded match in Wimbledon men’s history, that it gained a peak of 12.7 million television viewers worldwide and TV presenters, such as John McEnroe reporting for NBC, became as emotional as the players and viewers. Audience members were crying as Nadal bounded up the stands to find his family, and for the Spaniards these were probably tears of joy and pride. Only half-way through 2008, Spain has already established a summer of dreams with the European Cup championship over Germany’s soccer team and now Nadal’s triumph over Switzerland’s tennis legend. With the Olympics exactly a month away, we can only wonder what Spain will bring to China…

The best player was no match for the best team. Kobe “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” Bryant couldn’t do it alone.

Regardless, the renewed Boston-LA basketball rivalry definitely had viewers tuned in. According to network giant ABC, viewership for the first five games of the finals was up 57 percent over last year.

Bryant finished with 22 points but only shot 7 of 22 from the field. Bryant was averaging 31.9 points through the first three rounds of playoffs but the Celtics defense held him to 25.7 points per game and 40% shooting.

Or maybe it wasn’t the hard work of superstars like Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, who took home the NBA Finals MVP Award. Maybe the success of the Celtics last night can not even be accredited to the genius of coach Doc Rivers who kept Kobe and the Lakers from earning yet another championship ring. Maybe it was the National Basketball Association.

In various polls released today, a little less than half of the fans who responded think it’s either very likely or somewhat likely that the NBA alters the outcome of games.

If you’re a true die-hard Boston fan then you’re probably already out sporting your green and white in celebration of the bringing home of a second national title in the last year. However, if you’re like so many newly converted NY Giants fans out there, you might just want to hop on this championship bandwagon, too. Here is where you can stock up on the coolest of cool 2008 NBA Champs Gear.

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