» sports

Tony Hawk Wants to be Your Friend

shawn — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:04:00 +0000

Are you lonely? Unpopular? Looking for a world-famous, professional athlete to hang out with? Do you have a couple of extra grand you’re willing to spend for a friend? Then Keep Reading!

For $2,000, professional skateboarder and videogame character Tony Hawk will call you, answer any question you have or change the outgoing message on your voicemail. For a little more, he will go Go-Kart racing with you, play mini golf, escort you to Disneyland, or even show up at your school.

From his website
“For the first time ever, you can spend the day with Tony Hawk and his friends in some of the most unique places. The Tony Hawk Experience is your exclusive opportunity to have a personal experience with you and your friends with the world’s most famous action sports figure and to benefit the Tony Hawk Foundation while you do it.”

This is Genius! Professional athletes and celebrities have been doing things like this for years. It is typically labeled under something foggy like “Guest Appearance,” includes a hefty appearance fee, and is trafficked through their agent. But most people don’t know about it or think of it. The brilliance behind what Tony Hawk is doing is that it is posted as a prominent link on his website. He is putting it right out in front of his audience! Hawk recognizes that fame is directly tied to having fans, and he is offering himself up to those fans in the places they spend the most time – the internet.

Tony Hawk’s online popularity, augmented by the release of his 11th video game title, is evidenced by his more than 1.4 million Twitter followers, ranking him 24th most popular on the site. It is the old maxim of “Go Where Your Fans Are” and he is using his fame to augment his fame. The more kids that can afford his phone calls and Go Kart races, the more people will be buzzing about him online, the more video games he will sell, and the more kids will pay for his phone calls and Go Kart races. It’s a vicious circle.

My favorite is this for $75,000 – “I will pick you up at LAX in my 620hp Jeep SRT and we will visit cliché tourist spots” around L.A. That’s a bargain, folks. I would charge you at least twice that and I’d pick you up in a Honda Accord.

Sports and Poker Collide

shawn — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Have you heard of the Sports Legends Challenge? Well, you will. This event is a fun new first of its kind that I was lucky enough to become part of about 9 months ago. The people that came up with this idea were simply looking for a way to make really good poker for television. You see, they’d been watching TV and decided televised poker was pretty boring. And they’re not alone. (image from wickedchopspoker.com)
So, they crossed the exciting ideas of professional-level poker, celebrity pro-ams, and reality TV to create the Sports Legends Challenge, the ultimate sports fantasy and casino event. Nothing like it has ever been done. Past events that were billed as sports fantasy usually consisted of average people trying to go up against professional athletes in their own sport, such as shooting free throws against Rick Barry, playing golf against Fuzzy Zoeller, or driving a race car to beat Richard Petty. These fantasy events pitting amateurs against professionals inevitably end in defeat, and in many cases embarrassment or injury.
The Sports Legends Challenge is not asking you to try to beat Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the activity that he still holds the world record for. Instead, this innovative sports fantasy event is allowing you the chance to compete with AND against legends like Troy Aikman, Mark Messier, and Reggie Jackson in a completely different field where an average guy has a good shot of beating them—at the poker table.

What is the Biggest Reason why Someone would want to do This?
Just forget that the platform for the Sports Legends Challenge is 3 golf tournaments, 28 blackjack and slots tournaments, and 5 stand-alone No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments, each paying out thousands of dollars to the winners with a total prize pool of up to $10,000,000. Forget about the fact that participants will enjoy four days of lavish living, sumptuous eating, back-to-back parties and world-class entertainment. Ignore the fact that this is a nationally televised event that will give more than 2 dozen regular people the chance to become TV stars. The biggest reason that someone should take part in the Sports Legends Challenge is the unprecedented opportunity to spend four days surrounded by the most impressive names in sports, in poker, and in Hollywood in one of the most beautiful and illustrious resorts in this hemisphere, the Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas.

What Kind of Person Would Want to do This?
The Sports Legends Challenge is not for everyone. It was never meant to be. The perfect person for this event is the sports fan who understands the potential once-in-a-lifetime experience that comes from meeting one of their heroes. True fans of the game recognize the value in waiting 4 hours in a Cleveland convention center to shake hands with Jim Brown. A true sports fan will pull down his photo signed by Richard Petty to tell his grandchildren about meeting the King of NASCAR. The perfect person for the Sports Legends Challenge is the person who remembers the very first time he or she met Joe Namath, Sugar Ray Leonard, or Ozzie Smith and realized that these incredible sports figures were at the same time larger-than-life legends while being down-to-earth people who love the game as much as we do. The perfect target market for this event are the fantasy sports fans who will pinch themselves while not one or two, but 25 of the greatest Sports Legends spend not seconds or minutes, but days with them interacting as both a competitor and a teammate in the ultimate sports fantasy and casino event.

Why Now?
The current economic situation causes people to rethink what parts of their life have the greatest value. People today have learned that they need to actively pursue their dreams, that life is short, and that it is made up less-and-less by the things you own, but more-and-more by the experiences you’ve had and the people you’ve known. The SLC is part of an idea that is very much becoming a mainstream concept—the idea of living out one’s dreams. As Americans shuffle their ideals and begin to invest their money and time into things that are of greater worth, the types of real, life-changing experiences that money can’t buy become more important. The mainstream is coming to the understanding that life is short, it is made up of the things you’ve done, the places you’ve been and the people you’ve known. Fantasy sports events like the Sports Legends Challenge are creating opportunities for more people to experience more things and live better lives than they could before.

Sports Marketing Interns Wanted

shawn — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Our firm is producing the most exclusive and elite sporting event series ever held – the ultimate sports fantasy come true. We are seeking individuals with skill in online social networking websites and a passion for professional sports.

Expertise with MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Flickr, and other Social Networking Tools
Passion for Sports, Professional Athletes, Sporting Events, and Competitive Poker
Strong time management skills and personal accountability
Availability to start immediately and commitment to succeed at this project

If you feel you fit this description, please send us a copy of your resume and links to your social networking profiles at sbutler@sportslegendschallenge.com. Please do not call about this position. After reviewing your resume and social media experience, we will contact you for an interview if we believe there is the potential fit. Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to hearing from you.