1974 NBA Finals, Game 6...a Classic

May 10, 1974.

Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

Boston Celtics—John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White, Paul Silas, Don Cheney.

Milwaukee Bucks—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Jon McGlocklin, Bobby Dandridge, Cornell Warner.

Final Score: Bucks 102, Celtics 101 2 OT.

38 years later and on paper this still has the makings of a classic.

I’ve been thinking about this game a lot lately.

Ticket stubs to 1974 Finals

A few weeks ago I heard John Havlicek (all-time leading scorer in Celtics history and my dad’s favorite player—he watched him play while at Ohio State with John Lucas, Larry Siegfried, Mel Nowell, and backup Bobby Knight) on a radio show with Elliott Harris, a former editor of mine at the Chicago Sun-Times. Hondo said this was the best game he ever played in and his best performance. “We thought we won, then, we thought we lost…it was the ebb and flow of the game, more than any other game I played in.”

Here’s how it ended: Havlicek scored 9 of 11 of Boston’s points in the second overtime, including the rainbow jumper over Kareem with seven seconds left. Bucks called a timeout to set a play for McGlocklin, but he couldn’t get free. So, Kareem took the shot…with three seconds left…the shot that he made famous, the sky-hook, for the win.

The game is considered one of the top games in finals history. And, at this point I was hoping to tell you I was there. However, while the ticket stubs say Game 6, I was actually at Game 5, which was in Milwaukee. Funny, after all these years we just realized the Bucks made a mistake on the tickets!

I was at Game 5…with my brother, Tom, and cousin, Larry…when the Bucks lost 96-87, however Kareem still scored 37 points. And, yes, Larry, I still have your ticket stub after all these years! It was $4 to go to Game 6…err…5 of the NBA Finals. This was way before teams realized they could charge more and people would still come.

Our memories might be a bit fuzzy, but Tom remembers that most of the games were won on the road (5 out of the 7). So, when they talk about home-court advantage it really didn’t exist in this series, even considering they were playing in the Boston Garden.

I do remember that Larry tried to go down on the court. He was always trying to see who he could meet—broadcasters like Eddie Doucette (who was the Chris Berman pre-ESPN and who created the term sky hook for Kareem’s shot) or players.

And, more importantly, the reason I keep the ticket stubs, besides that this was the only Championship Series game I have ever been to, is that it reminds me that I have an amazing brother. Here I was the little sister—seven years younger than him and always tagging along. It never bothered him. He promised me that if the Bucks made it to the Finals he would take me to the game. He kept his word. And, to this day he still goes to games with me.

The Bucks were the dominant team that year and were the favorites to win. However, in Game 7 back in Milwaukee, the Celtics double-teamed Kareem (who still finished with 26 points) and Cowens had a big game. The Bucks would not pick up their second title.

And, there were a few other disappointments for Bucks fans that we did not foresee on that day when we were celebrating that great win in Game 6. This was the last time we would see Oscar Robertson play in a Bucks uniform as he retired after the Finals. Oscar, the Big O, was the linchpin to the Bucks’ success. Kareem needed Oscar to win. Kareem brought the Bucks to a second place finish in the division in his first season as a pro. With Oscar by his side in the very next season, the Bucks won 66 games en route to a championship. They repeated as division leaders four straight years.

It’s very hard even for a superstar to win an NBA championship on their own. They need someone else. Michael had Scottie Pippen, Kobe had Shaq, and Kobe had Pau Gasol.

The other major disappointment for Bucks fans was the trade in 1975. The trade that sent Kareem and Walt Wesley to the Lakers for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers, and Junior Bridgeman. While Kareem requested the trade, giving up one of the most dominant players in the game is almost unimaginable.

At the time, Kareem won three MVPs in five years, was Rookie of the Year, and the Finals MVP in 1971. He would go on to finish as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer (38,387 points), hold a record six regular season MVP awards, win 6 championships, play in 19 All-Star games, won Finals MVP twice…and on and on.

Kareem played for 20 years and was one of best players of all-time. How do you trade a Kareem, a Michael, a Magic, or a Kobe?

And, while seemingly, the Bucks got a lot for Kareem, they were never able to replace his leadership, his presence, his ability, or work ethic. Kareem was known for doing yoga and keeping fit, which helped him tremendously in the later part of his career during the Showtime Lakers.

On that day in 1975 when Kareem was traded to the Lakers, this little girl became a Lakers fan. This is the only time that I have followed a player and become a fan of his new team. I am a fan of the team first. And, this is typical of most fans. Players come and go these days, but fans stay loyal to their team.

However, in this case, when one of the greatest players in NBA history gets traded, this loyalty goes out the window. Although, I have stuck with the Lakers to this day, well past the Kareem era. I guess it doesn’t hurt that the Lakers do what it takes to win and are one of the NBA’s dynasties.

Peter Varellas...and the Two-Minute Drill

This time listening to Dad paid off…big time.

If Peter Varellas hadn’t taken his dad, Larry, up on trying out for the water polo team his freshman year of high school, we may never have witnessed his rise to one of the best in the world.

In his own words, Peter says he was “adamant about not playing.” And, it had nothing to do with water polo… it was just that he didn’t want to play a fall sport. He played basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. But, his dad convinced him to try it for a week, if he didn’t like it he could quit.

Peter looking for his shot

This is where it all started…a little push to try out a new sport…playing at Stanford and going to the Championship each of his four years (and winning the title in 2002)…named to 2005 NCAA All-Tourney first team…scoring in 27 out of the team’s 28 games in 2005…honored as Stanford’s Most Outstanding Male Senior Athlete in 2005-6…honored as the Pac-10 Stanford Male Athlete of the Year…named to the American Water Polo Coaches Association All-Academic Team…

And silver medalist in the 2008 Beijing Olympics (with five goals and seven assists in the tourney).

Oh, and by the way, Peter played for Rari Nantes Savona in Italy from 2006 to 2010, helping lead the team to runner-up finishes in the Italian League and LEN Cup in the 2009-2010 season.

I sat down with Peter recently and he shared his insights on his journey, the Olympics, and what’s next.

PJ: What does your training schedule look like?

Peter: Three times a week we train seven hours a day. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday we train three-and-a-half hours a day. And, Sunday is our day off. We have nine practices a week and eventually we will go to ten.

In the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we lift weights from 8am-10am. From 10am-12pm we are in the water, and then we come back at night for another water workout.

We started a new strength program with Peak Performance Project (P3) in Santa Barbara. It’s interesting; they have a lot of lab testing equipment and do evaluations to develop individual training for athletes. For me, it’s making a difference. We are lucky to have them. It’s definitely to our advantage.

PJ: What is the advantage of this new training program for the team?

Peter: The challenge we typically have every year before the Olympics is training in the United States. Our team is spread out in Europe playing on club teams. They start playing in mid-October and run until June, depending on if your team makes the playoffs.

This year we made a decision to stay home as a team and train—to build the right team chemistry and train the way we want to. In the past it had been a challenge in the weight room as for 9 months we were with our pro teams and had our own programs. We were left to do our own thing in the weight room. And, we needed to be highly motivated to keep it up. And, some players might now know what they needed to do to get the most benefit. This year we are all on the same page, being on this program for the year.

PJ: What has it been like to be together for the full year?

Peter: In the past we were only together for a few months it was easy to stay motivated…along with the excitement of playing with your best friends. It is a challenge this year. It is a long year without competition. Although, we are mixing in some trips. However, the training to competing ratio goes way up. We have to stay motivated to do this. And, we all know that the real Games count the most.

The decision to stay home is a sacrifice. We are in Europe to make a living as there are no pro leagues in the United States. So, it’s been a financial sacrifice for players. However, we are fundraising and funds do pick up in an Olympic year. This was definitely a factor.

It is nice to be in the United States. I have been in Italy for four years, which was an amazing experience. But it’s nice to be here instead of abroad. We have a lot of older guys with kids and now Dad gets to be home more, which is nice.

PJ: What is the makeup of the team this time around?

Peter: We have five or six guys over 33. That’s a veteran team. We have a core group with two guys who are two-time Olympians and have been together for 10 or 11 years. Most of the team is returning from Beijing in 2008. We stuck together. We didn’t finish—win the gold. The silver medal was nice, but not fun to lose in the final at all. Now we’ve been to the games, we’ve been to the podium. We know what it all looks like—no gray area. That’s the goal—gold. All of the other stuff is taken out of the picture.

Peter with his silver medal

PJ: So, what happened in 2008?

Peter: We had an amazing run through the Games. The US men’s side hadn’t won a medal in 20 years. We won silver in 1984 and 1988. We were ranked ninth in the world and shocked everyone else getting there…not ourselves. I like to think we knew we could play with anyone.

The Hungarians were the favorite in the finals. That being said, we knew what we could do and we could play with anyone.

We were tied late in the third and they reeled off five straight. You can’t expect to win with that. We just didn’t complete the job. We lost the final 14-10. We had played incredible defense all tourney. Our normal shot blocking, defensive execution did not happen. I’m glad we didn’t break down until them. It definitely hurt and motivated the guys thinking of retiring to go for it again.

PJ: So what does the competition look like this time around?

Peter: This year is a lot like 2008. There are a large group of teams that have a chance to win medals. Tourneys come down to one or two goals. It’s a slim margin for error. It’s all about attention to detail.

Germany is playing well and Italy came out of nowhere to win the Worlds in 2011. Both weren’t players in 2008. And, of course the former Slovak countries are always good. Eight teams could win, which is a lot in a 12-team tournament.

PJ: So, you are a lefty. Tell me about the advantage this gives you.

Peter: I got lucky. I thank Mom…she is the lefty in the family. It’s a quirky advantage…it’s just rare.

There are a few advantages playing on the right side of the pool facing the cage…having my dominant hand inside making the pass. When I receive a pass on my right side I am ready to shoot…or a quick pass to my teammates’ strong side. Goalies are not quite used to seeing this…it is a little different than the bulk of the shots they see. It is important for me to be a set-up man for my teammates, cutting passes and making things happen. In some ways it’s like a point guard in basketball. I am able to get a quick release off. When I get a pass, I can make a quick shot and the goalie needs to re-position. I can catch him out of position and not in the spot where he is able to cover yet.

PJ: Did you like playing in Italy?

Peter: I loved it. I always wanted to study abroad in school but couldn’t because of sports. And, this turned out to be such a better way; not just for three months. I had an amazing experience. I had my own apartment…I stayed on the same team. So, there was continuity. I got involved in things outside the pool and was deeply involved in the community. It was awesome.

I learned another language and walked away fluent. I never studied…people we’re so friendly I just picked it up with their help.

I was in Savona, near Genoa in the northwestern part of the coastline. It is part of the Italian Riviera…an hour from the French border and an hour plane ride from Rome, my favorite city. The town has 60,000-70,000 people and everyone knows each other. They got behind water polo. It’s amazing to live in a country where the day after a game everyone was either there in person, watched it on TV, or read about it in the paper. And, they wanted to talk about it. You don’t get this in California or this country. Water polo is big, which is cool.

PJ: What are your goals?

Peter: Short-term is nice and incredibly simple…win the gold medal. It would be the first gold on the men’s side...ever. No more talk about “Back to the Podium,” which was the mantra in 2008.

Next goal is graduate business school. It’s a two-year program starting at Stanford next fall. Not sure what that means for water polo. Although, things cool off for the year after the Olympics. So, for water polo it’s day-by-day.

Mychal Johnson...and the Two-Minute Drill

Recently, someone was asking where I get my ideas for my topics and how do I find the folks I interview. My ideas come from all over—things I read about, conversations I have, etc.

For this interview subject I didn’t have to look too far…as Mychal Johnson is my cousin. And, he just happens to be a former Division 1 defensive lineman.

Mychal at the 2006 Conference
Championship game.

He played in the 2006 Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Championship game for the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions. This was quite a feat for the school, considering it was the first time the team had played in the championship game and the first time anyone but Grambling State and Southern had even played for the title. To get there they had to win six straight games, before falling to Alabama A&M 7-3 in the Championship game.

Currently, Mychal is the varsity coach for the defensive line at Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, CA. He also handles all the video for the defense and is the head junior varsity baseball coach.

This past fall I had the pleasure of watching him coach his squad and although they had a rough game, I could definitely see the impact he has made on the kids. Mychal definitely has a bright future ahead of him as a coach and I for one, will be cheering from the sidelines.

He has successfully made the transition from player to coach, but as with all journeys it has taken a little time to get here.

I sat down with Mychal recently and he shared some insights on his transition.

PJ: So, what has the transition to coach been like?

Mychal: It still is difficult. I played football since I was 13 years old and stopped when I was 23. It was my life. I did things, made choices for football. And, it stopped out of nowhere. It’s been hard to find things that are that competitive.

Coaching fell into my lap. It has changed my life. I still miss playing. It was a lot of who I was and it was tough after it was over.

I struggle every day with not being in full control. I can do the scheme; teach the technique—every aspect except execute the play. It’s a lot different. I used to rely on my talent to get the job done. Now I motivate the players to get the job done.

PJ: So, it’s been a total shift for you. How does that make you feel—to be teaching and motivating the players, instead of executing?

Mychal: It’s frustrating and exhilarating at the same time. To be molding a kid brings in the mental aspect—far more than in my playing days. It’s more satisfaction. I have to find ways to motivate the players and to show them how to do things right. Physically, they can’t do what I can do. Athletically, they are not at my level.

This is what drives me and keeps me coming back. Not having complete control is the driving force in this. It’s different from what I am used to.

PJ: So, who are your coaching role models?

Mychal: I saw many different personalities in my coaches. Now, I do research on successful coaches like Nick Saban and Bill Belichick. I go to clinics and read books. I know the X’s and O’s—I know this from being in football for so long. Things I don’t know I study.

It’s funny, I never understood why coaches did certain things—like make us run laps, etc. Now, I know why.

For the most part, I look at coaches who changed the landscape of football…like Lombardi…to understand the style they were using and mold myself based on that.

For me, it’s the day-to-day challenges off the field—grades, etc…making sure they are doing things better. We aren’t in this to just win football games. We are trying to build them into good people with good character.

Grandma (my Aunt Elaine),
Mom (my cousin Debbie),
and Mychal.

PJ: What advice would you give other athletes who face this transition?

Mychal: Always having a plan. I know it’s a cliché. But, that’s where it starts. Your playing days will come to an end, whether it’s high school, college, or the pros. You can’t play forever, so you need to find something you’d like to do after—whatever you love. Find what you are good in. I fell into it. But, if I think about what I was good at was always working with kids.

PJ: You are just getting underway with your spring sport, baseball. How does your team look this year?

Mychal: Baseball is one of the main sports at my school. If you can run, you play soccer or baseball. It’s interesting; they don’t have Pop Warner football or feeder programs here. We have good kids and we compete for the league championship every year. Rarely do we have great hitting, not a power team. But, we focus on bunts, sac flies, taking bases, good fielding and defense. We try to win like that.

PJ: And, how is it to slow down the pace from football?

Mychal: It’s a good thing. I’m not in charge of as many kids. In football I have 20-30 kids, while in baseball it’s around 15. So, I can do more individual work. It’s a nice break. Football is so intense—a lot of time off-the-field in game prep, meetings, looking at film. In baseball the work is on the field. It’s good to go home and not watch film, just to work on the lineup, etc. That’s nice…sort of like my vacation, I guess.

PJ: What are your goals?

Mychal: Coaching football is now my passion. Furthering that as a head coach in high school or I’d love to coach in college. Breaking though in college is much harder. And, of course, teaching in high school.

PJ: I couldn’t end my interview without this question. I know each level you played you had to bulk up and increase your calorie intake. What was highest calorie intake and where are you now?

Mychal: This changed dramatically when I stopped playing. At my peak I was at 3,000-4,000 calories per day and still had a tough time gaining weight. I had to eat right before I went to bed—ice cream and peanut butter sandwiches. I was working out so much.

Now, I’m around 2,000 calories per day, which is pretty low for my size. I’m at 220 lbs. now. My playing weight was 245 lbs. [and, listed at 6’5’’ in his playing days] I’ve gone down a bit and would still like to lose 5-10 lbs.

I don’t work out as much as I did before. It’s good that I married someone, Valencia, who watches her health. I am definitely healthier than I was four years ago!

And, it’s tough as football coaches have the worst eating habits. I am one of the smallest on our coaching staff. I try to keep in check.

Favorite Team: Packers—no wavering on that. I was raised a Packer fan. (Good answer!)

Favorite Sport: To watch and play I still love football. However, I am growing fond of golf, although not sure if it is growing fond of me!

Favorite Athlete: My inspiration growing up was Ken Griffey, Jr. For sure, he is my all-time favorite. I loved baseball first; didn’t play football until junior high school. Another one is Tiger Woods for his mental capacity. It was outrageous when he was in his prime. How he could channel the mental aspect—now I have a great appreciation of that knowing how hard golf is. And, I love Kobe. I have a Lakers bias.

Women's sports...the journey for equality

When I launched this blog and made a list of topics to write about, one that was at the top was women’s sports. At the time, I did not know what my focus would be, but I knew a few things for sure. One was that I needed to write about it.

This year marks the 40 anniversary of Title IX, the law that states very simply that no person, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

BAWSI girls learning basketball
skills from Stanford athletes

And, if it wasn’t for this landmark piece of legislation, we wouldn’t have seen the likes of Mia Hamm, Lisa Leslie, Jennie Finch, Brandi Chastain, Tamika Catchings, Julie Foudy, Candace Parker, Rebecca Lobo, Abby Wambach, Cammi Granato, Jessica Mendoza, and Hope Solo, among others.

This makes it a good time to reflect on what this has meant to women and what the future holds.

And, it just so happens that this past weekend was the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) Women and Sports Conference in LA. To kick off the weekend, the IOC showed a video that highlighted all MALE Olympic stars. Yes, you read that correctly. The IOC sponsored a women’s conference and showed a video with all men. It really makes you wonder.

Jennie Finch, gold medal winning softball player, accepted an award and pushed for the reinstatement of her sport in the Olympics. “We are supposed to leave the game better than we found it. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for me and my sport.”

Softball was eliminated as the IOC thought the United States was too dominating. The IOC didn’t take that into consideration in 1992 when the United States fielded the original Dream Team in men’s basketball. The quality of the competition did rise in that sport…chances are it would rise for softball, as well. Again, it just makes you wonder.

There are definitely some promising things happening in women’s sports. Just look to London for this summer’s Olympics. Sebastian Coe, four-time Olympic medal winner (a middle distance runner who dominated in the 1980s) and chair of the London Olympics, has put together a fully diverse staff and his legal staff is 54% women.

And, pressure is building for the IOC to force Saudi Arabia to put a woman on their Olympic team.

We are making some progress, yet as our gal Hill (that’s Secretary of State and former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton), said, “We cannot achieve global progress if we leave half the population behind.”

The other thing I knew for sure was that I would talk to Marlene Bjornsrud, co-founder and chief executive director of Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI), who is considered a pioneer and a voice for women in sports.

Marlene has more than 30 years of experience including general manager of the San Jose CyberRays women’s professional soccer team; assistant director of athletics at Santa Clara University; and assistant athletic director, senior women’s administrator, and women’s tennis coach at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.

BAWSI girls cheering at the
Cure for Cancer game at Santa Clara

BAWSI is nonprofit that mobilizes women athletes to serve as role models of health, hope, and wholeness to girls and women in underserved communities and to children with disabilities. It was founded in 2005 by Olympic and World Cup soccer stars Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy and Marlene to provide a meaningful path for women athletes to become a more visible and valued part of the Bay Area sports culture.

Recently, I sat down with Marlene, and she shared her insights on women’s sports.

PJ: So, tell me about the work you are doing at BAWSI.

Marlene: We are trying to have the women’s athletes depart from their cocoon and see what else is around us. We take the athletes to the neighborhoods where poverty is…we all have responsibilities for the next generation. We try to open their eyes that poverty is everyone’s issue. It does seem like we could do better.

Our biggest challenge at BAWSI is serving the athletes who serve the girls. We talk about this as a staff…it is our privilege to engage the next generation of leaders. One of these athletes could be a doctor, on the city council, or in the legislature. They have the capability to improve the world and do better than we are. We think about who is in our midst.

PJ: The women’s professional soccer league just suspended the rest of the season. Given that you were involved with the other professional women’s soccer league, please share your thoughts on why these leagues aren’t sustainable.

Marlene: Although I haven’t studied this, but I think the NFL went through a couple of interactions…it took a while to gain traction. It is disturbing and disheartening to see this happen in women’s professional soccer. When the WUSA folded it was after 9/11 and it was due to the economy and external things. It was devastating.

The issues in this league [WPS] were internal--the owners were not in agreement. There were issues from Day One. From all appearances this was an internal battlefield.

The WUSA was a single entity, the investments/contributions were the same, and salaries were standardized. It was less flexible.

It’s a shame. I’d love to see them stop chasing the men’s model and figure out what really fits for women, instead of needing to be like the MLS or NBA. It’s not like this is the only business model out there.

I am optimistic that a middle way will be found. They haven’t found the right business model. What is the middle ground? I hope the conversation can be bigger. I hope they can do possibility thinking rather than critical thinking.

I say middle way as it is a great way to look at all the possibilities…ones with risks and those that are sure bets. Then, come up with enough safeguards and enough flexibility. We need to create a league of our own.

PJ: And, what about the athletes who aren’t able to play right now?

Marlene: How is this good for soccer around the world? There was continual training and conditioning in place. The beauty of the league is it gave players another look, experience, and environment to play in. It gave them a different look at their capabilities and an opportunity to be a more fully developed player. This gave the athletes different voices from other coaches…when Pia Sundhage [the US National Team coach] could have conversations with a WPS coach about a player it was like she had tons of assistant coaches. The coaches want to get their players in as many experiences as they can to sharpen competition skills and thinking skills. And, even the intangibles—having relationships with a diverse group. Now, the pool is smaller for playing. They can only play through their National teams.

PJ: Where do you think we are at this moment in the journey of women’s sports?

Marlene: The cliché is three steps forward, two steps back. We’ve taken two steps forward, three steps back. I think we are further behind. Although, without Title IX 40 years ago…we would not be anywhere near where we are today. It is the foundation, the building block we all stand on. I sense we have so much further to go. It’s amazing.

Although, any civil rights issue might be the same. This law falls under civil rights. And, the journeys for women voting, African Americans, labor unions, LGBT…in so many aspects, fighting for rights are the same. It’s as if we never fully get there…who has gotten there?

The Prop. 8 battle in California…to see what it has taken to move this through the courts…sometimes I think it’s a very exciting time to have your eyes wide open about all of these things. We need to remember not to just get mired in women’s sports, which is my calling. It is important to be fully aware of every group considered “lesser than”—the immigrants in Arizona. It’s hard to be there. They are human beings and no different than anyone else. But, the attitude towards them…

I just saw [the documentary] Miss Representation. One thing that stood out was [Lieutenant Governor and former Mayor of San Francisco] Gavin Newsom’s interview. He talked about how we choose to “dehumanize” people with words and policies. And, this happens to everyone except white middle class and above men.

It is important to see who we are in the big context. It’s dangerous to fall into a niche, the Tea Party mentality—where we are only with people who think like us and look like us.

PJ: We aren’t as far along as we’d expected. However, there have been moments, big moments…like the 1999 World Cup Soccer win.

Marlene: There was a big vision with that group [Brandi, Julie, Mia Hamm, Christine Lilly, etc.]—a sense that they felt called to something bigger than themselves. It is big for any athlete to look outside of themselves. Knowing Julie, as I know her now, she was the one always calling them back to the greater good, the bigger purpose—what this meant to little girls. This was their mindset…their calling…their purpose.

We can’t go back, but someone needs to be calling women to something bigger. We need to be mindful that this is the stepping stone. In some ways, BAWSI is taking that voice. However, I have to catch myself…speaking of the golden age. We don’t want to go back, we want to go forward. We want it to be better than the way it was back then.

For more information on BAWSI and their programs, check out their website http://bawsi.org/

GAGA Sports & Entertainment--Smarter Data + Targeted Fan Engagement Equals Revenue

With social media the dynamic of fan engagement has changed. It takes much more than the tired concept of put a winning team on the field and the fans will come. Sure, winning still is a piece of the equation, but today it takes more. And, teams know this.

They talk directly to their fans through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, streaming video, etc. But, how do they develop their messages and the content they are sharing? Does their messaging fit their audiences? How are teams measuring what works, what doesn’t? And, what do they know about their fans?

Sports teams aren’t the only ones who struggle with these questions.

Jamie Pardi, CEO & Co-Founder of GAGA Sports & Entertainment, has been working in this this space for quite some time. In 2004, Jamie was one of the first to develop a hosted technology platform for professional sports teams, providing a global scalable infrastructure for increased data acquisition, fan engagement, and incremental sponsorship opportunities.

Today, he takes it to another level. Partnering with Patricia Roller, former frogdesign owner and Co-CEO, they have developed a new solution: the GAGA Social CRM Platform™ and Influencer Tool™. These tools not only help companies understand their fans, but also helps them in providing the right messages and content towards monetization.

The Social CRM Platform™ gathers information including a fan’s demographics, interests, and behaviors. This information helps drive the right content to the individual fans and helps teams generate leads.

The Influencer Tool™ allows teams to dig deeper, analyzing how fans share data (frequency, and their network). Most social sharing analytics only show who is clicking and sharing, while GAGA’s tool shows multiple levels of sharing. This allows teams to create campaigns not only around that first fan, but encourages them to share for more rewards.

When you put something out into the social media space, typically you can only measure readership or engagement by who is commenting, what links they are using to get to your page, what referring links, how many people are visiting your page, what specific content they are reading, maybe even what country or region of the country they are from. That’s about it—you don’t always know who exactly is reading or what is resonating with them. These tools help in understanding the fan, what content they want, how to market or sell to them, and how to truly engage.

Recently, I sat down with Jamie, who is considered by his peers as a thought leader in sports media, to learn more.

PJ: How did you recognize there was a need for better engagement and take it to the next step of developing this technology?

Jamie: I was working with some of the largest brands in the world of sports. I thought there was a disconnect between the fans and their teams, between alumni and their schools. It’s been documented that more than 93% of sports fans will never step into the arena of their favorite teams, yet they stay passionate about their teams.

It is tough to get qualified leads for ticket sales opportunities and leads for alumni donations. With social media teams don’t own the data and so we need to make them smarter about what to do with their data. There is a big need to make teams more profitable and efficient with the data.

Teams need to engage their fans. They are not leveraging their assets—using access and content to bring more people in the fold and “humanizing” it. We realized we could build more revenues for sports teams.

PJ: Let’s get back to that stat—I can’t believe that more than 93% of sports fans don’t step into the stadium.

Jamie: Take the 49ers. They have around 500,000 in attendance for one season. Most of those fans are repeat visitors—season ticket holders. So, safely around 200,000 might be unique, one-time visitors. The overall fan base of an NFL team is 8 to 10 million, depending on the market. So, there is a large group of people who never see their team play in person.

Another example is the LA Lakers. They have 19,000 seats per game and they have more than 19,000 fans—they have 15 million fans. So, again, most of their fans aren’t attending games, yet remain passionate and loyal to their favorite team.

PJ: Recently you worked with the Oakland Raiders on a project. Tell me about the project and how you measured your success.

Jamie: After providing the Raiders with three concepts, they liked the “Bring a friend to a Raiders game” campaign. We had 9 winners or 18 people in a suite. In just under four weeks we had 27,000 fans in our database, which broke both NFL and Raiders records. This was a function of technology and a digital strategy. Now we are building a strategy going forward to understand their fans better.

Part of our measure was getting leads. We found 15,000 people were interested in purchasing tickets. The measure of success for us is based on revenue, not on building a brand. For us, it’s all transactional.

PJ: You launched a little more than two years ago. Who is on your current roster of clients?

Jamie: Los Angeles Clippers, Stanford University, University of San Francisco, Oakland Raiders, Houston Dynamo, and Los Angeles Lakers.

Sports teams are slow to adopt new technology and don’t want to be the first one. Although, as you know, once you are in the club, you are in the club and providing meaningful case studies accelerates the sales cycle.

The Los Angeles Lakers were our first client.

The goal was to increase the waiting list for season tickets. They had 800 people on the waiting list and this increased to 50,000. They are in good shape now. It is a long-term strategy. We are moving to a new platform this spring that will help us grow the population.

PJ: Do you have a project that has been more challenging than others?

Jamie: For every customer I’ve felt good at their launch. None of them were challenging. It is so fun to build databases and communities to increase revenue. It’s fun and I can’t believe I get a paycheck every two weeks for this. It’s very cool what we do and the value we provide to our customers.

PJ: What makes your product and technology unique?

Jamie: Our understanding of sports media, marketing, and the stakeholders in the space. We are more of a technology and product company based in Silicon Valley. No one else has the technology expertise and experience that can do this. Our product was built by the former Yahoo! Fantasy Sports engineers. They get data, product, and usability we are bringing a high level world class product to the industry.

The analytical on the back identifies influencers, trends, demographics, and which content people are interested in…and gives detailed reports.

PJ: What’s next?

Jamie: We have great products coming out over the next three months to help shape the college landscape and ties into ticket sales and donations. It’s a smarter, analytical donation tool with personalization components. And, we will be hiring more sales and marketing folks, too.

For more information on GAGA Sports & Entertainment, check out their website http://www.gaga-inc.com/

Andy Dolich...and the Business of Sports

As some of you know, I was not the greatest student in college. I would have rather done just about anything than go to class and study.

But then a funny thing happened after a few years out of school…all I wanted to do was be in school and learn!

I started by taking writing classes in Chicago—everything from short stories to plays. And, then I took art history and classical music classes at the University of Chicago’s continuing education program. At UCLA I took a writing class. And, since I’ve been in Northern California, I’ve taken at least one class a year at Stanford’s continuing education program—from modern history of China and great cities throughout history to philosophy.

Last spring was the best class of all—Biz Ball, sports as a business, taught by Andy Dolich.

Andy is an inspiring teacher--bringing invaluable insights and a perspective that only someone with 40+ years in the business can share. While he currently has his own consulting firm, Andy has spent time in the front office of many professional sports teams including the Oakland A’s, Memphis Grizzlies, Washington Capitals, and SF 49ers.

Not only did Andy share his views on hot topics in the news, he brought in speakers each week from different aspects of the business, including sponsorships, ticket sales, operations, and marketing. And, to a speaker, they gave us a glimpse of life working inside the world of sports.

To top this off, our class project/competition was moving the New Orleans Hornets basketball team to Pittsburgh. Each team was charged with coming up with the actual game plan…uniforms, team name, sponsors, media rights, marketing, personnel, etc.

And, besides the fact that my team ended up the proud owners of the Pittsburgh Swarm, it was an amazing experience!

This spring, Andy is teaching another course at Stanford—Current Business Issues in Sports.

This course is slightly different as it will feature weekly roundtable discussions with leading sports decision-makers on the major issues facing the sports industry. Some of the topics Andy plans to discuss include labor issues in sports; the economics of new sports venue construction; sports technology; the impact of sports on popular culture; pro sports star athletes (are they role models?); the big business of college sports; sports talk radio; the future of women’s pro sports; sports and gambling; and sports as a cross-cultural vehicle. And, the agenda is flexible to include hot topics in the news that unfold during the course.

The guest speakers include Ted Robinson, 49ers radio voice; Michael Lynch, head of Global Sponsorship Management at Visa; Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle columnist; Pat Gallagher, former San Francisco Giants executive; Jamie Zaninovich, Commissioner of the West Coast Conference; Tracy Hughes, Cisco Sports and Entertainment; and Dwight Clark, former San Francisco 49er.

The class is on Tuesdays from 7:00pm to 8:50pm and runs for 10 weeks, starting April 3. Registration begins February 27, and I’d sign up quickly for this one. With this lineup, it’s going to be a sellout.

I’ll see you in class, and I’ll save you a seat…up front!

Toradol...the NFL's next dirty little secret

This past week leading up to the Super Bowl was a celebration of everything NFL. Not even an interesting report on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel about a little drug called Toradol could upset King…er…Commissioner Goodell’s celebration last week.

I’m sure most of you still don’t know what Toradol is or the risks--as this was swept under the rug…again…so as to not interfere with the celebration. That’s not to say that some media outlets (especially in Chicago) wrote about it, but it was just one of the stories that you had to look for if you lived elsewhere. And, why did it play in Chicago? Brian Urlacher, defensive lineman for the Chicago Bears.

Yes, Urlacher was interviewed for HBO’s Real Sports and admitted to using Toradol 40 to 50 times in his 12 year career, although he didn’t use it last year.

Let’s back up a second…Toradol is the drug of choice for many NFL players who are injured and want to keep playing. According to Jeremy Newberry (a center who played 10 years for the 49ers, Raiders, and Chargers) and was really the main subject of the Real Sports report, Toradol makes you “feel like Superman.” For three hours it takes away the pain and lets you play with abandon. It is this generation’s wonder drug. The last wonder drug was cortisone. We now know that continued use of cortisone leaves you with tissue damage, bone degeneration, and even bone death.

Toradol is a blood thinner. The risks of continued use are stomach bleeding, kidney failure, and the possibility of more concussions and more severe ones, because you cannot feel anything.

Newberry has been diagnosed with Stage 3 kidney failure and the doctors have said that the excessive use of Toradol is the cause. He said in the interview, as a football player you expect to walk away with certain injuries, but not with this.

Another issue is that players have not been informed of the risks…although, as Urlacher said after being told the risks he would still use it because he wants to play every down.

This mindset is one that many NFL players have…after all, they are our gladiators…hitting other players and trying to stop them from scoring.

From all accounts this drug is widely used…with as many as 30 players on a team lining up for a shot before a game.

Urlacher and Newberry are not the only players who did not know the risks of prolonged use of this drug. Super Bowl champs NY Giants just put up a notice in their training room this year about Toradol’s risks and in the postseason were thinking about banning it. Sounds like a good move by the Giants…but where were they 12 or 15 years ago?

Here’s another news item we didn’t hear too much about--at the end of last year 12 former NFL players filed a suit against the NFL. They say their concussions were worse and they claim they might have had more concussions and not felt it. They claim that Toradol helps masks traumatic concussions.

Oh, and while the owners locked out the players last summer, one thing they didn’t work on was the health insurance for former players. Did you know that the NFL’s health insurance does not cover collision-related injuries? So, the entire sport is hitting and collisions…and the NFL is still not taking care of its own? I think it’s safe to say that every player gets at least one concussion during his playing time. And, we’ve seen the significant long-term effects of these concussions. And, now, they don’t have care…they are faced with significant medical expenses for these significant medical issues—with debilitating anxiety, depression, short-term memory loss, severe headaches, dizziness, and changes to their personality.

We are hearing more and more about former players and the effects of concussions on them. And, as we move forward even more will be coming out. The NFL has slowly moved to become aware and start working on this. They did form a Head, Neck, and Spine Committee in 2010 to advise teams and research best practices for concussion prevention and management, as well as for avoidance or protection against other head, neck and spine injuries. So, to allow players to use a drug that contributes to more severe concussions doesn’t make sense.

Even a neurologist, who is an advisor to the Committee, said that those using Toradol should not be playing a contact sport.

The NFL’s medical advisor, Dr. Lawrence Brown, does not think Toradol is an NFL issue, he thinks the decision to take it is between the player and the team doctor. And, he was happy that Real Sports was informing players on the risks—not owning up to the fact that maybe this responsibility belongs to the league.

This mindset reminds me of when former players first started talking about concussions. And, we all know that we still haven’t even scratched the surface on concussions—not with so many still suffering. Not with good men like Dave Duerson taking his own life. The late Dave Duerson, former Chicago Bear, was an intelligent, kind-hearted, level-headed man with a good sense of humor. That’s how I remember him. I interviewed him while he was a Bear during a summer camp for kids. He knew football wouldn’t last forever and he had a plan for his life after football. He had a spark and was charismatic.

He shouldn’t have gone out like that. He and his family should not have suffered in that manner.

The NFL has a long way to go in taking care of their current and former players. It’s time to stop sweeping it under the rug and facing it head on. These men deserve better.

Step up and do the right thing. Do what they would do for you.