Taylor's Shaq Blog

All Star Votes? If Shaq keeps it up he’ll deserve MVP votes

taylorb2 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:30:30 +0000

Washed up. Unmotivated. Lazy.All terms used to describe Shaquille O’Neal upon his arrival in Phoenix. Luckily for Suns fans, someone forgot to send the memo to Shaq–or they did send it and Shaq didn’t like what heWhile his retirement is just 545 days away (Thanks to …

Are athletes using social media to its full potential?

taylorb2 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:33:22 +0000

Original Article

Great article (“Sites to behold: Many high-profile athletes have embraced the Web as a way to connect with fans and raise their profiles, but others hane’t yet clicked with the Internet“) by Tod Leonard in the San Diego Union-Tribune…

I agree with his position that athletes and sports personalities have only scratched the surface of the possibilities the internet holds for their careers and their brands. It allows for fan engagement far deeper than any traditional fan club, autograph session, or other established forms of marketing. And some athletes are definitely doing it much better than others!

Athletes and their representatives need to remember that just having a web site doesn’t cut it. I think having a poorly designed, non-user-friendly site with bad content may actually hurt an athlete’s image, making him or her look out of touch. More importantly, fans aren’t going to consistently visit a site is never updated. Athletes may be better off with no web presence at all if they’re not going to commit to doing it well. Leonard mentions LaDainian Tomlinson – arguably one of the biggest NFL names -having an outdated official web site. Perhaps L.T. listened? When I navigated to the first item from a Google search, www.ladainiantomlinson.com goes to a blank page with “Coming Soon” at the top.

Chris Cooley logo merchandise

Take for example Washington Redskins TE Chris Cooley… his popularity and name recognition have gone up exponentially due to his well-maintained blog, which has enabled him to grow the Chris Cooley brand. He even has a logo now and merchandise for sale.

Chris Cooley knows what others will hopefully soon realize: fans crave real information about their favorite athletes. Things like the Cooleys decorating the house for Christmas, that Tiger Woods’ daughter Sam was a tiger for Halloween, and Shaq asking his Twitter followers whether he should eat at Schlotsky’s or Subway for lunch, are the types of details that make athletes “real”. Sometimes fans can forget that athletes and celebrities are people too!

Athletes reaching out to fans online, especially via social media, converts fans into advocates and advocates into brand evangelists.

Back spasms keep Suns’ Nash out vs. Grizzlies

taylorb2 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:10:51 +0000

Original Article

Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash sat out Tuesday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies because of back spasms.

Billups, Pistons Set Suns in Overtime

taylorb2 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:55:22 +0000

Original Article

Chauncey Billups scored nine of his 32 points in overtime, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Phoenix Suns 110-105 Monday night.

Shaq ejected, but Suns beat Pistons 104-86

taylorb2 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:55:27 +0000

Original Article

Shaquille O’Neal made an early exit from Amare Stoudemire’s 26th birthday party. Stoudemire and the rest of the already short-handed Phoenix Suns did just fine without him Sunday night. Stoudemire had 29 points and 11 rebounds and the Suns overcame O’…

Shaq Fu

taylorb2 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:15:11 +0000

Original Article

I am sure you have already seen this clip, but the lesson from it being…..Don’t fuck with Shaq! Look at McGrady go flying, KAZAAM!!!!!

And how big of a pussy is Skip to My Lou…I mean Rafer Alston? You don’t run at someone, get right in front of their face, and then just stand there. Punch that mother fucker in the face!!! Or at least push his ass to the ground. Spyda, AO, 50 and the rest of the And 1brethern are probably embarrassed to be associated with this vagina.

TNT Extends Multi-Year Agreement With Charles Barkley

taylorb2 — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:45:24 +0000

Original Article

TNT NBA studio analyst Charles Barkley, who provides analysis on the Emmy-Award winning Inside the NBA studio show alongside Emmy-winning host Ernie Johnson and co-analyst Kenny ?The Jet’ Smith, has agreed to a multi-year contract extension. As part of the agreement Barkley will continue to work exclusively for the network on TNT NBA Thursdays, TNT’s 40 games. 40 night’s playoff schedule, NBA All-Star Weekend and the network’s exclusive Conference Finals coverage. With the new agreement, which begins with the 2008-09 NBA season, the 2006 Basketball Hall of Famer inductee will also make a number of appearances on the jointly managed NBA TV and on Turner’s broadband channel TNT NBA OverTime on NBA.com.

Diaw, Bell could be back on a D’Antoni roster

taylorb2 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:15:19 +0000

Original Article

PHOENIX – The Knicks were very much interested in acquiring both Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, but with Mike D’Antoni now in New York after a bitter divorce from the Suns, they were not going to come directly from Phoenix.However, because the trade that…

Miami’s Magloire returns to practice, could be activated Monday

taylorb2 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:20:05 +0000

Original Article

Udonis Haslem might just have a support system after all.With the Heat about to begin a four-game run against bulky centers Yao Ming, Greg Oden, Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Kaman, coach Erik Spoelstra revealed Saturday that offseason free-agent…

Suns Captains lead team to huge win over the Nuggets

taylorb2 — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:21:35 +0000

Original Article

All is well in the world again, and it’s thanks to the Suns captains. Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal led the Suns to a fantastic victory over theHere’s why these three saved theGrant Hill: He did an absolutely phenomenal job on Carmelo Anthony tonight, and was my MVP …