The Electric Waffle

The NBA is here! Despite a shortened season, there’s a lot to be excited about. Here are my predictions:

Finals: Heat over Thunder in 6.

MVP: LeBron James

Scoring Champ: Carmelo Anthony

ROY: Kyrie Irving

Others:

I don’t buy the Clippers hype. They’ll be the 6th-7th best team in the West.

Russell Westbrook is a stud. We all know he’s good, but he’ll break out even more this year.

Dwight Howard won’t be traded. He’ll leave in the off-season.

Knicks will continue their climb. This is good for the NBA.

Memphis is for real. They’ll compete and I could see them making a run for a spot in the Conference Finals.

Spurs and Celtics are done. Rondo is a stud, but neither team has a shot. Time to rebuild for both of them.

The T’Wolves! I believe. They likely won’t make the playoffs, but I could see them surprising people like Memphis did last year.

You hear about the NFL franchises. The rivalries of the Cowboys v. Skins; Patriots v. the team they are playing that week.

There is something to be said, though, about the part of the Midwestern United States that drives fans out in freezing temperatures, win or lose; the ones that taunt each other year round; and the division that has the smallest town to own a team included – plus the only team to ever lose every game in a season. Everyone talks about the Bears v. Packers rivalry, and in recent years, Vikings v. Packers. We all poke fun at the Lions because they are the Lions. Games are sold out, win or lose.

But how has social media played a role in the rejuvenation of the NFC North?

One position: QB.

The Bears got Cutler. The Lions received the 1^st round draft pick QB Matt Stafford. The Vikings may say they don’t have Favre signed, but I would bet money on it. The Packers have a QB with 2009 stats better than when Favre played for the Jets.

People have been talking for years about whether Favre is going to retire or not. If you’re a Packers fan, this is a broken record. Is he coming back? Is he signing? Social media outlets have pushed both the Vikings and Favre in the spotlight again and again. It’s a smart move for the Vikings – they will have a quarterback who can guide their younger ones once he leaves; they will sell out their season tickets; and the media coverage will be extreme when they play the Packers. Plus, what Vikings fan doesn’t want to rub it in that they have Favre to their pals in the North?

When the Bears got Cutler and put Sexy Rexy as backup, social media again played a role. The NFC North and Chicago were again talked about constantly. The name repeat brings old fans out of the woodwork, turns eyes upon franchises that haven’t done too much the last 10 years, and begins an almost grass roots marketing effort that teams don’t have to lift a finger for.

The speculation of how the Lions will do can also have the same effect. Social media platforms give real time information that can spread very quickly. Popular trends are top items in the search functions. What might not have been popular before is the hot new thing. Snuggie, anyone? These platforms can convey passion that you have for a certain topic, and sports fanatics across the world can connect through them. It’s one of the best ways to get the most up to date information, including sport scores, who won what, etc. Plus, you get to talk to other fans during games if you choose.

Let’s face it, though: When Rodgers faces off against Favre, I think we might have a Twitter apocalypse.

Lauren Fernandez is a marketing and public relations professional in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She currently works as marketing coordinator for National Office of American Mensa and it’s philanthropic arm, the Mensa Education & Research Foundation. She’s also an avid sports fan and maintains the blog LAF. She can be found on Twitter @CubanaLAF

The NBA Playoffs have come and gone. We saw Kobe get #4 and we saw Phil get #10. This upcoming Thursday, June 25, 2009 is the NBA Draft and then we stop talking about the NBA for a while. So as a season round-up, I thought I’d take a quick look at how the NBA has changed its image.

The days of Jordan, Bird and Magic are gone. The game has changed. For the most part, the game has gone from a team game to one of individual highlights. Boston and San Antonio are the exception to this thought. What was once a game of teamwork, discipline and family entertainment has shifted into flash, youth, greed and selfishness. This change isn’t necessarily bad and I still believe the core concepts of the game are still there. The passion of the game still resides in many players, however, instead of trying to build the image of the game; I think more players are trying to build their image and status. Times have changed and so have people. Some may argue that this is just the NBA trying to remain relevant and keep up with the times. The hottest topic of the game is what LeBron James is going to do in 2010. You never heard this when Jordan and Bird were playing. The “I gotta get mine” era is here, unfortunately.

Despite the image being tarnished, in my opinion, the one bright spot is the increase in the audience. The NBA is global thanks to the likes of Yao Ming, among others. The NBA is just as popular in China and European countries as it is here in the United States. So while the NBA has gone global, I also think the NBA has appealed to a lot younger audience. In the 90’s, the majority of players were a lot older than they are now. In today’s game you have Kobe, CP3, Dwight Howard, LeBron — all young stars just reaching their peak. As the number of young stars increase, I think the NBA can continue to increase its audience and reach.

Will we see more games being played in China and other countries? Probably not. Based on logistics and the cost involved, I think it’s simply impossible to have NBA teams outside of North America. Mexico? Possible, however, that’s probably as far as you can go. However, I think that the game overseas will continue to build which will result in growth in the NBA as well. With more potential NBA players going overseas to play and with the increase in international talent and competition, it will make the NBA step its game up in order to remain competitive.

While there are a few things I dislike about the NBA, it’s clear that its brand is slowly becoming more and more relevant. Kobe and LBJ are two of the world’s biggest stars and there are a few other players that I feel can become international stars. Clearly the NBA isn’t at NFL and MLB levels, however, I think the NBA can pass MLB if current trends continue. NASCAR is no longer the dominate force it was and soccer will never reach great popularity in the U.S. The NBA is a great position and if managed effectively, has the potential to become more relevant and popular.

[caption id=”attachment_57” align=”aligntop” width=”150” caption=”From www.sonnygill.com”][/caption]I recommended a blog for #followfriday a few weeks ago, and I’m going to continue that trend this week. One of my biggest passions is sports - specifically basketball. I grew up playing the sport (highlight: 12 straight points in 6th grade) and I’ve coached youth basketball. My dream job would be to own the Minnesota Timberwolves - so I’m pretty passionate.

So naturally, I love talking b-ball. Who better to talk basketball - and sports in general - than Sonny Gill’s Rockin’ the Rim. A Cleveland Cavs fanatic, Sonny knows his stuff when it comes to basketball. There aren’t that many good blogs out there that solely cover basketball, so for a fan like me, this is a great resource and sounding board.

I encourage you to check Rockin’ the Rim out, then venture over to his personal blog - Shining Light on Social Media and then come back over to Rockin’ the Rim, again.