The Twitter infatuation has quickly spread to the world of professional sports, and the number of athletes using the service is growing daily. Through tweeting, athletes can connect and engage fans, build up their personal brand, grow and nurture their fan base, and even ask for help! Fans who grew up idolizing their favorite stars now have a chance to interact with them, and offer them advice and support. I complied a list of the top 10 NBA ballers (in no particular order) you should all be following on Twitter, because they are what makes the NBA “Where Twitter Happens.”
Shaq (A.K.A Shaqtus, The Diesel, The Big Aristotle…) is one of the NBA’s most popular all time players. Following 585 accounts, his 2,911,684 followers make him the most popular baller on Twitter. Though he doesn’t tweet every day, he is known to interact with his followers, and even uses the live broadcasting service Ustream. After all, how can you not follow someone with a bio that reads “Very quotatious. I perform random acts of Shaqness“. [click to continue…]
Reuven is a fourth year student at Marquette University, earning degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. He hopes to create sports marketing initiatives that drive value while focusing on charitable causes. Reuven lived in three countries and visited 13 total. He prides himself on being fluent in Hebrew, Russian, and English. People and idea lover. Connect with Reuven on Twitter @ReuvenFridmar
Sportsmanship was reborn on June 2 and it wasn’t without a lot of labor pains.
In one of the most debated and discussed baseball games in years, Major League Baseballumpire Jim Joyce incorrectly called a Cleveland Indians’ ground ball to first base with two outs in the ninth inning, safe. A video replay showed otherwise. That one call cost Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga a coveted perfect game.
Fans booed in the stadium and online. That led to not a riot (although if I read correctly, one wasn’t far off), but a most classy and likely unexpected move by Galarraga who met with the highly respected Joyce soon after the game. He said they hugged and Joyce expressed his regret for the call.
Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.
Our friends over at WorkInSports.com have a funny new video about how to get a job in sports. If you know about the famous SNL routine by Justin Timberlake then you will appreciate the similarities between the two videos.
All jokes aside, the best way to find the sports job you are looking for is to sign up at for WorkInSports and start using their job board. I have yet to find another alternative that can bring you the results you are looking for.
What did you think of the video? Funny, or not? Love to hear your opinion in the comments below.
We all strive on the ability to obtain information when and how we want it; and it is becoming more and more popular to receive that information through our mobile devices. Millions of people use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many other social networking sites every day. The question is, would we use them as much, or at all, if they weren’t available on our cellular devices? With the addition of 4th Generation wireless networks offering speeds that surpass traditional DSL Lines, we now have the ability to do more than we ever imagined. Although stringent mobile marketing tactics may seem like a distant thought for most, several organizations have already begun implementing them. [click to continue…]
Have you ever been ‘frozen’ in a ticket sales conversation?
We all get that sinking feeling every once in a while. You’ve either lost your place in the conversation, got distracted, or reached a verbal dead end. It’s been called “Salesheimer’s Disease”; your brain goes numb, and it feels like there’s nothing left to say that would make any sense.
What do you say when you don’t know what to say?
Fortunately, there are a few phrases you can get to know and memorize that can get you out of sticky situations like these, and save the call in the process. Have these responses handy next to your phone, just in case you may need them: [click to continue…]
Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a dynamic sales training and consulting company whose list of blue-chip clients includes the ticket sales departments of dozens of teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer. He is the author of the Gold Medal-award-winning book Reality Sells, and The 800-Pound Gorilla of Sales: How to Dominate Your Market. Subscribe to his Sports Ticket Sales Newsletter at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow Bill on Twitter at www.twitter.com/800poundgorilla.
Pressure is a perceived expectation of the need to perform well under challenging situations. Athletes in particular are known for either choking or excelling under extreme pressurized circumstances. Often, fear of failure is tied to pressure and can either fuel or exhaust athletes’ efforts. A few examples of how fear plays into an athletes’ performance:
Fear of disappointing others (coaches, parents, fans)
Fear of feeling embarrassed if they blow it
Fear of losing their place on the team if they underperform
Fear of not performing perfectly; of making mistakes
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An athletes’ level of experience, confidence, and self-belief play a vital role in how well he/she performs under pressure.
Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
It’s an exciting time to be a sports fan. The NHL and NBA Playoffs are approaching their climax, the World Cup starting, and the MLB season in full bloom, it’s hard to keep on top of it all. I have composed a list of my personal favorite mobile applications so that you can be up to date on the road. Please feel free to let me know any great apps I may have missed out on.
1. NHL Ice Time Platforms: BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
NHL Ice Time is the official app from the National Hockey League and it is absolutely gorgeous, especially on the iPad. In addition to live scores standings, and the most extensive stat profiles of any hockey app I’ve used, it also has game photos, video highlights, and a ice tracker to show shots, goals, penalties, hits and saves on a virtual hockey rink, so for hockey geeks, this is your chance to show Don Cherry up. There is also an option for a premium version which includes my favourite feature: live radio feeds for both the home and away feeds. [click to continue…]
Sam is the community manager of Sports Networker and the Sports Executive Association. He is passionate in all things sports, mobile, and social media. His dream is for the Vancouver Canucks to win a Stanley Cup in his lifetime, although so far, its looking kind of bleak. In the past, he worked with BlackBerry and helped relaunch their Business-to-Business network. With his experience there, he can probably help you change your ringtone, maybe. When he finds time (never), he also writes infrequently at his personal blog. If you would like to talk sports, write a guest post for us, or argue about why iPhone > BlackBerry, you can find him on Twitter, Facebook or email.
(This is a guest article by 
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