College Basketball, ESPN/ABC, Mixed Martial Arts, NBA teams

Revisiting Politics and Sports…Obama, KJ…and Lindland?

One of the most elusive groups for those running for office…as well as those looking to advertise products…remains the male demo 18-34, which of course remains the sweet spot for American sports.  Therefore it remains interesting as we move toward the Presidential election that Senator Barack Obama continues to be the only candidate to use sports to try and reach that demo thus far.  This week’s HBO Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel piece again put the Senator in a very simple, understanding light to that demo, and gave him another chance to have the young male identify with him and then look closer to see if they agree with him on the issues. Unfortunately a chance to reach a larger part of this audience was lost this week when ESPN did not allow the Senator to do a podcast with Bill Simmons for ESPN.com, but once again he should should get points for realizing that the sports demo, and the brands associated with it, remain relevant and untapped.  Also along those lines, former NBA star Kevin Johnson continues to run a solid race and fight off critics in his run for Mayor of Sacramento.  The great thing about Johnson’s race thus far is that he has put his NBA celebrity status in the back window…there are no flashy slogams related to his career or shots of his great days with the Suns on his campaign website…he looks like the smart, hip urban professional that can make a difference in his community.  Using his NBA background to make connections and draw casual interest is great and will help him if he gets in office.  Not using it as the base for his campaign was very smart as well.  Also on the topic, former UFC star, Olympic silver medalist and current IFL coach Matt Lindland also made some noise this week by running for a local seat in his native Oregon.  Although nowhere near the level of committment that Obama or even Johnson will have, it is another great example of a local citizen/celebrity athlete comitting his time and effort for a greater good.