WOW! What a week of Horrible PR for Professional Sports!?!

A Bike Racing Giant is Slayed

First, disgraced and de-throned  7 time Tour de France winner (or loser, as it were) Lance Armstrong does a one-on-one, tet a tet exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he give up or gives in or just comes clean (depending on your perspective) about his “performance enhancing” drug use during his Tour de France championship runs. And in the broadcasts wake, Armstrong is (rightly so) metaphorically tared and feathered as liar, cheat, bully and all-world “bad guy.”

A College Football Star Loves His Fake Girlfriend

But Wednesday afternoon, just prior Armstrong’s broadcast interview, sports blog DeadSpin reports that Norte Dame’s star linebacker (and top NFL draft prospect) Manti Te’o appeared to be, at least complicit, in a relatively elaborate “fake girlfriend” hoax. The climax of said hoax saw Te’o announcing his “fake girlfriend” fake died from “fake leukemia” on the same day as his beloved grandmother died from cancer, all right before he caught two interceptions in Dame’s impressive win of the University of Michigan. All seemly part of a deliberately orchestrated plot to bloater Te’o’s borderline Heisman Trophy chance. Just for the record, Te’o (with Norte Dame’s backing) stands firm on the position that he was merely and unwitting pawn in a “painful and humiliating” hoax.
By math, which is admittedly poor, Armstrong owes Te’o big-time for a story poised to dominate the headlines in weeks to come. But that’s neither here, nor there.
My point with all of this, and the reason I’m (yet again) interpreting the regularly scheduled 5 Links to Small Business Marketing Goodness is Professional Sports (and by extension, College Sports), more than almost any other industry, is marketing driven. Successful, failure and a consistent revenue stream hinges as much upon a team or players record, as it does on their actions and the perception of their personality.
As students of small business marketing, we can learn a thing or two (or three) from the big boys in the sports marketing game, and as such, analyzing a the past weeks events reveals some important marketing and PR lessons.
So without further ado, here are this weeks 5 Links to PR blunders… 5 links illustrating the detrimental effects of Bad PR in the sports world.
1.  Lance Armstrong Talks to Oprah — By OWN
Wanna talk about a marketing machine? Oprah is the marketing Juggernaut to end all Juggernauts. Her seal of approval is akin to the Midas Touch — for whatever you’re selling. With Oprah’s blessing, you’re a winner, and that’s exactly what Lance Armstrong is banking on by giving Oprah an exclusive. Doing some mea culpa for Oprah “Everybody’s Best Friend” Winfrey, Lance is hoping (a) to appear as less of a “bad guy” than his bold-faced lies might indicate, and (b) demonstrate enough remorse to give Armstrong a reasonable shot at appealing to cycling’s  governing broad to lift his lifetime competition ban.
Regardless of my personal feelings about Armstrong, I think this is a lot too late, and given his self-serving motivations, a less than sincere attempt to take responsibility — falling into the category of: I’m not sorry I did it, I’m sorry I got caught. But enough about me: what do you think?
2.  Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax — By Deadspin
The first shot fired in the Hoax Heard ‘Round the World came via independent sports blog Deadspin. Based on the breadth and depth of the evidence presented, I cannot imagine a legitimate scenario in which Te’o is not involved in this right up to his chinny-chin-chin. What say you?
3.  I Was Deluded to Believe Lance Armstrong When He Denied Doping — By The Daily Beast
Journalist Buzz Bissinger, long-time Armstrong supporter — both in person and in print — had pledged his support publicly for the disgraced cyclist as recently as late August of last year (2012). Humiliated by Armstrong’s admission, however, Bissinger has sharply changed his tune: “Don’t believe a word he says because not a word he says can be believed.” Bissinger joins a conga line of news agency’s decrying Armstrong’s bullying, intimidation and even lawsuit (one of which earned him $500K from London’s Sun Newspaper) tactics as the manoeuvrings of a sociopathic liar. Apparently, hell hath nor fury like a journalist scorned. Will Armstrong ever again receive “fair and balanced” treatment from the press?
4. Manti Te’o Statement: Notre Dame LB Releases Statement On Lennay Kekua Hoax — By Huffington Post
Penn State’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky situation illustrates one of the most classic PR blunders of all-time: Covering up a scandal amplifies the indiscretions effects 1000 fold when the truth is revealed, and the truth is (nearly) always revealed. Without an investigation and in-spite of the facts, Norte Dame’s jump to support Te’o seem a little quick on the draw. Hopefully Dame will take a step back reflect a bit on Penn State mistakes before they follow Te’o too far down the rabbit hole… Defence or distance: what do you think is Norte Dame’s best play?
5. The Lies He Told — By Grantland
Acclaimed journalists and Best Selling authors Chuck Klosterman and Malcolm Gladwell offer their hilarious take on the Te’o debacle via an fab-tastically funny email exchange, published on ESPN writer Bill Simmons’s popular sports blog Grantland. Very funny stuff, but what do you make of the “grains of truth” embedded in this little gem?
Hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks entertaining diversion. And if not, never fear, I’ll be back next week with another edifying round of 5 Links to Small Business Marketing Goodness — same Bat Time, same Bat Channel — see you then!