With Big Brown's loss in the race for the Triple Crown on Saturday, publicists.madia and brand managers were left scrambling to find ways to fill voids, justify dollars spent, and re-jig lineups that were anticpated for the coronation and history that would have come for all involved with a Triple Crown winner.MLB player Doug Glanville's op-ed piece in the New York Times. Glanville does a great job on how the assumption of winning and then living up to those expectations, is handled by media and athletes.The spin of failure…how sponsors like UPS and Hooters, who rolled the dice with Big Brown, will handle the next phase, and what horse racing can do not to lose all that momentum, will be interesting to follow in the next few days. Having the umbrella ready for the rainy da.is more important than dealing correctly with the win, and making sure that al.properly take pause to be messaged and that brands have gotten back what they invested prior to the unpredicatable results, are so important in the process, since marleters and publicists never have control over the ultimate result of a game, race or competition. For example, Edelman PR did a great job in seizing the moment of a world record late at night in last week's Reebok Track and Field Championships in New York, getting Usain Bolt to every media opportunity possible following his world record finish.Another great piece of spin was offered up by.legendary boxing promoter Don King, waxin.positiv.on how boxing can benefit from the recent MMA success, in a piece in Sunday's Daily News…both come from seasoned pros ready to take advantage of opportunites..the biggest challenge on the rainy day is finding ways to look through the adversity and create the unforseen chances.
Some other great reads from around the business for a weekend…it is such a sad day with the passing of legendary sportscaster Jim McKay…luckily the industry still has some great writers who can take pause and not just capture the facts but the spirit of a man, and few do that better than Mike Lupica…his column on McKay today is a keeper, as is Jeremy Schaap's look back on espn.com…another solid piece is Kurt Streeter's column in the LA Times on ho. the Lakers-Celts throwback rivalry brings up so much of the good about what we remember about the NBA, especially in terms of race relations…also on the NBA Finals side, the Chicago Tribune's Mike Downey has a good look at how the late Dennis Johnson's presence is effecting the finals through the eyes of some of the players he worked with later in life…the Newark Star Ledger's Steve Politi has a good profile of retiring Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese…lastly on the Olympic and boxing side, the Boston Globe's Joh.Powers has a solid profile on Olympic hopeful Demetrius Andrade and the road he has taken to potential Olympic success going to Beijing…another of those great pieces we should always look for in telling the human side in an Olympic year.
