The Sports Info Business

What would you be willing to do to get a job these days?  Last week, I heard one of the best stories about what someone would do to get their first job in the sports field.  It could have been a scene right out of a Hollywood movie.  This was not one of those blog posts on the Internet that may or may not have been true.  The student told me this story while attending the Long Beach State Sports management roundtable.  If you do not know, I lead this event as the internship coordinator for the Long Beach State Sports Management program.

Quick background:  The roundtable is an effort offered to new students.  They are welcomed one evening very early in the 18-month program and introduced to 10 sports related companies.  Last week, we welcomed organizations like The X Games, The Rose Bowl Stadium, the LA Galaxy, USA Volleyball, Special Olympics of Southern California and on and on.  Each student is required to gain work experience via an internship.  This requirement includes 100 hours minimum during the first semester and two hundred hours each of the other two semesters.

Well, I was floored when this new student told me what she did to gain an internship.  If I remember the story correctly, she was standing in the hallway and heard that there was an opportunity with an organization, but was not dressed appropriately to speak with this hiring manager about working there.  Now, she did something that I would never have thought nor ever could have pulled off.  This woman, found someone who was about the same size, asked her to switch clothes for an impromptu interview and the stranger agreed to do it.

It was only an hour she told her.  Well, long story short, the creative woman got the offer and is currently working there.

Once in a while, she told me, she sees this woman around.  They smile, but it is an awkward smile, and then each moved on without really saying a word.

Amazing.

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I just closed the book on Walter Jacobson’s biography of Steve Jobs.  The cover jacket, shown on the right, easily illustrates the intensity of the man who co-founded Apple, was fired by his board and ultimately came back to see it become the world’s most valuable technology company.

This book is not a puff piece about how great of a man Steve Jobs was as an entrepreneur.  In fact, Jobs is quoted in the biography saying he was happy that Jacobson told the truth, even if he did not always look so good, so it would not be perceived an an in house publication.

At times, this book is not an easy read.  That said, Jobs is a fascinating man and to anyone who needs a little passion in their lives, then this book shows what one man’s will can bring to others.  There are important life lessons, a man’s will and ultimately the stories of the Macintosh, iPhone iPad and much much more.

While I wish he was a bit more humble and the distance with his children is not something to brag about, I would highly recommend this book to read.

Jobs knew what he wanted and ultimately, he achieved what he set out to do.  Apple is a better company for it and consumers are enjoying the results, every day.

I am writing today’s blog while driving on the 405 freeway from Los Angeles during the height of traffic. No, I am not typing while I am driving. I’m actually using an Apple application called Dragon Dictation.
In order to evaluate the functionality of this free app which I downloaded from Apple, I am speaking into a microphone while both hands are on the steering wheel.
I often see other drivers holding their smart phone and checking messages and god for bid typing while they are driving on this freeway. In order to recommend or not recommend the Dragon dictation free application, I wanted to be able to deliver this entire post by speaking into a microphone while focusing on my driving.
In order to successfully complete this blog post without typing a single word, voice recognition technology for dictation must be clearly effective to understand every word I am saying as I’m changing lanes, changing lanes and breaking. I will have to double check this post after I arrive home and correct any errors the computer has made. However, what I would like to see as I’m speaking into this microphone is how accurate the program is in putting my verbal thoughts in print in order to deliver the content that I want to convey.
If this verbal dictation is successful then I may continue to voice my blogs that are transferred into the written word which I can then e-mail myself in order to post future blogs. As someone who spends a lot of time on the freeway in Southern California, this would be a terrific way to communicate my thoughts.
While driving, I often look for ways to be more effective for work or other projects like this blog post. However this production cannot come at the cost of being unsafe. If I’m able to speak into a microphone while paying full attention to the road, an effective dictation tool could help me verbalized my thoughts.
Often, I will listen to a national television broadcast of the evening news through my smartphone as I driving home. while I cannot visually see what is happening on the screen I can still absorb the days events while being a road warrior.
The question that I ask however, is this: How distracting is talking to yourself like this? Is it as distracting as someone who smokes while driving?
My driving pace has now slowed to 20 mph. I’m now changing lanes while both hands are still on the steering wheel.
One of the drawbacks of this free program is that either the bumping of the road or the sensitive nature of the application has caused the recording to stop several times. I had to push a button to restart the recording process to finish this post.
That said, this is certainly an interesting way to voice your thoughts over the internet.
Dragon successfully transferred what i said into the written word 90+% of the time with no spelling mistakes.
There is just no short cut, yet, for editing down the babble into something that makes more sense.
I think this app is certainly worth the free download.

I would like to share with you my views what is wrong with America today and one suggestion of how we can fix it.  I have visions that making my voice heard can make a difference but I’ll need your participation.

Here goes…

I still order a printed newspaper.

I have adopted to reading news and information online like everyone else.  In fact, I often link stories to the SportsInfo101.com Facebook page or Tweet about it from the Sportinfo101 Twitter account.

However, I still enjoy reading a printed newspaper on the weekends.  I grew up reading a printed newspaper and when I was working an an executive for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks and UC Irvine I would read several newspapers a day.  It was a great product then and the writing from the Los Angeles Times is still outstanding today.

But let’s take a closer look at the customer experience, my experience, from this morning.

Up at 6:00 a.m., I went outside to get the Saturday Los Angeles Times and I found that the paper was delivered on time, but dumped at the bottom of my driveway, right in the center of a very small small puddle.  It was the only water anywhere near my house.

“No problem,” I thought to myself.

I will call the customer service office and get it replaced.

When I dialed around 7:00 a.m. no one answered.

I waited until they were open, informed the operator who answered what the problem was and I was promised another newspaper in 45 minutes.

Fast forward, an hour and a half later.  The door bell was rang and a fresh Los Angeles Times newspaper was wrapped and left on my front stoop.

I waved to the nice guy who took care of me and went back inside.

I ripped off the plastic wrap, sat down at the kitchen table and opened the edition.

It was yesterday’s newspaper.

Ugh.

“Okay,” I mumbled.

I went back and called customer service again.

I explained the issue and asked if they could deliver TODAY’s newspaper as I already knew yesterday’s news.

“No problem,” I was told.  “It will be just another 45 minutes.”

The same delivery guy came back again, in his black van stacked with newspapers.

My door bell buzzed once again.

I picked up the paper and went inside.  They could not screw up a newspaper three times in one day, could they?

Yes they could.  Friday’s newspaper AGAIN.

I guess they didn’t sell enough newsprint yesterday and they were trying to make up for it by delivering the extras again and again.

This was enough.

I called the Los Angels Times customer service office and decided to ask a few more poignant questions.

When the person answered the phone, I asked she was based in the U.S. or internally based.

“Asia,” I was told.

I informed the operator I wanted to cancel my subscription.

I was quickly transferred to another operator in another location.

This time, after I questioned the location of this department, let’s call it the “save the customer department” I was told I was now in the Philippines.

The gentleman I spoke with is a really nice guy.  He did his best to keep me as a customer but they lost me with the the third screw up of the day.  Three strikes, and the Los Angeles Times is out.  Retired.

So I did the only thing I could do.  I voted with my wallet.

I canceled the subscription on the spot.

“But you still have a credit,” the operator told me.

“Send it to me,” I replied.

“It’s um, .73 cents,” he said, almost laughing.

“Send it,” I confirmed.

Would you like to donate the change?,” came the final plea from the other end of the phone.

“No thank you.  Just send it back.”

You will pay more in cutting the check and mailing it to me, but at this point, I can only stand up and make it more painful for your company, however small it is.

This experience is just a small sign of what is really wrong with America today.

We produce good products, like the Los Angeles Times newspaper.  However, when management looks only at the bottom line as a way to maximize revenue it sometimes cuts off its nose to spite its face.  Bad internal communication and outsourcing jobs to foreign countries when unemployment is so high did nothing to keep me as a loyal consumer.  So, they dropped in revenue and circulation by a very small percentage today.

Am I the only one with this experience?

No way.

How do I know?

As I was writing this blog, someone from the local Los Angeles Times called to find out what had happened.

This time, I got someone from a local office.

I explained the story.  Here is what this manager offered me:

“At least a 100 people I talk to a year complain about what happened to you today.”

This is one person and one office.  Now, multiply it throughout Southern California.  Think there might be a trend?

Bueller, Bueller?

“I would be the first one to agree with you, he added, after he hearing my plight.

What I learned from the conversation with this last representative was eye opening.  He said that the international customer service folks had TOLD HIS OFFICE to deliver the Friday newspaper.

Oy.

Businesses will always try to maximize revenues.  I get it and do the apply the same methods in my day to day business practice.  However, you have to evaluate the cheapest way to get things done vs a positive consumer experience.

And as the lowly consumer in these tough times, All I can do is use this platform to make my voice heard.

You can too.  If you agree with this, post it on your facebook, Tweet about it, Digg it, link it to Redditt.com  Tumblr or Google+.  It is the only way we can bring about change in this country.

Businesses like the Los Angeles Times and many others need to wake up, before we all cancel our subscriptions.

Make your voice heard.

I have been teaching, as an adjunct professor at Long Beach State for a while now.

The summer has just about ended and my thoughts return to the graduate program and a new learning team. School is about to begin.  Leaves are beginning to change colors, or as it happens in southern California, the temperature dips a few degrees.  The sun, thankfully, keeps the days magical here.  Especially as we creep towards September.

I first began teaching with graduate students from team eight.  I have watched careers advance, alums marry and grow families.  Tomorrow, I say good-bye to learning team 18 its time to prepare for the arrival of learning team 19.

Something still puzzles me however.  It has happened with learning team 18, 17 and 16.  I could go on.

All of these students are hungry for direction, attention and ideas.  I provide them a bunch and often they walk away after that first class invigorated with several paths to tackle.  Many are only starting to realize they must stand out and fight for a job in this industry.

But, none take me up on a simplest of offers and I cannot understand why.

Here is what I essentially tell them.

I built this blog in part to help educate and provide resources for them (and now you, 10′s of thousands of readers from around the world).

I tell them to develop their voice in this industry and make it heard.

If you have something to say, I tell them, the submit a guest blog for this site.

The requirements are simple.

I know there is an audience.  I can measure it on Google analytics.

I also receive many emails from executives in sports related jobs across the country.

PR people often pitch me with ideas for topics to write about.

And yet, not one student takes me up in the offer to write for this blog.

Yet, I don’t push the point more than one time in the first class.

The old saying holds true.

You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.

The platform is there.

I can only guess they haven’t much to say.

SF Giants closer Brian Wilson at the 2011 ESPYs

The 6,000-plus athletes, agents and sports executives who crammed into LA Live’s Nokia Theater last night for the ESPY awards.  Most of the folks attending were well dressed although Giants closer Brian Wilson, and there’s always one, wore what he called a “onesie” which I cannot even begin to describe.  So I am posting a photo of him from the event.

Seth Meyers, the host, was terrific with his jokes to open the show.

There were the expected Hollywood celebrities like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake and Ryan Reynolds that drew attention and screams from adoring fans.

I saw more mini skirts and tight dresses than a Saturday night Las Vegas night club.

However, for me, the show stopper was a special award, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, which was presented to Dewey Bozella.

Dewey was not the most famous man in the room when the event started.  By the end of it, he had captured hearts of everyone.  Briefly, Dewey was freed from jail two years ago, after his  his double conviction a 1977 murder was overturned.  Dewey lived for 26 years in jail and while there, took up boxing.

When you think work and family issues have you down, come back here and watch this video again and again.  Dewey, now in his 50′s doesn’t look back.  We can learn a real life lesson from this man.  Watch the video.

I want to talk about loyalty for a moment.
It takes a long time to earn it and only a very short time to see it vanish.
I was in Costco yesterday and a family member asked if I also shopped at SAMs Club as well.

“No,” I replied.
A few years ago, I had first shopped at Costco, liked the experience and stayed on as an active member.
Costco has never betrayed my trust so I’ve always continued to renew my membership.
It’s much like auto insurance. Many of us sign up for auto insurance coverage and  do not change carriers when the renewal notice arrives in the mail.  In fact, most of us I would guess don’t even compare prices. We just pay the renewal fee, unless the price jumps.
However, if one of two things happen, a spike in prices or horrible customer, then our buying patterns change.  The lack of service can be a game changer.
It often motivates us to look elsewhere. The same holds true for sports.
Spoil the experience and we start looking for other options to do with discretionary income and sponsorship dollars.
So sports leagues like the NFL and the NBA who have locked out players are walking down a very dangerous path. That sentence is intended for both players an owners. careful how you treat the fans that adore and follow you.
Same holds true for a team like the Dodgers. Several bad experiences (ie Giants fan beating) and ownership trust has led for the first time to dramatic shift in Dodger fan patterns. The team will need to significantly change the experience to win back fans. …and bring in new ones.
The bottom line is this. While so many corporate business and sports teams have cut back on customer service. We need it now more than ever.

I want to talk about loyalty.
It’s takes a long time to earn it and only a very short time to see it vanish.
I was in Costco yesterday and a family member mentioned asked if shopped at SAMs Club as well.

“No,” I replied.
I had first shopped at Costco, like the experience and always stayed.
Costco has never betrayed my trust so I’ve always continued to shop there.
It’s like auto insurance, I said. Many of us that sign up for auto insurance do not change when the renewal notices come. In fact most of us I would guess don’t even compare prices. We just pay the renewal fee, unless the price jumps.
However, if one of two things happen, a spike in prices or horrible customer service can be a game changer.
It often motivates us to look elsewhere. The same holds true for sports.
Spoil the experience and we start looking for other options to do with discretionary income and sponsorship dollars.
So sports leagues like the NFL and the NBA who have locked out players are walking down a very dangerous path. That sentence is intended for both players an owners. careful how you treat the fans that adore and follow you.
Same holds true for a team like the Dodgers. Several bad experiences (ie Giants fan beating) and ownership trust has led for the first time to dramatic shift in Dodger fan patterns. The team will need to significantly change the experience to win back fans. …and bring in new ones.
The bottom line is this. While so many corporate business and sports teams have cut back on customer service. We need it now more than ever.

I just learned about a short online video that I need to share with you.  It doesn’t capture a great video of an NHL playoff hockey goal, touchdown or a walk-off home run.
The video, with a link below, is about two men who were recently stuck in a Dallas Fort Worth Airport.  With their flight cancelled and a camera at their disposal, they created this video that has generated a half million hits in five days.  Watch their creativity in action.

Why would I post the Stuck video in this space? Because I want to show you how easy it is to get noticed when using your creative skills.
Let’s take a step back.  It would have been easy and predictable for two people who missed their flight to be angry at the system when their ride home didn’t materialize.  What is one to do in this situation.

These two men knew what to do.

These two aspiring film-makers developed a two minute film on what could happen when apparently no one is watching.
What did it get them? At the very least their own 15 minutes of fame.
I challenge you to Google: Stuck Dallas Fort Worth Airport and see what kind of links pop up.
With all the attention this video has generated with buzz online and news reports, it may just land them a job in the film industry.
You be the judge.
Push your creativity to a new level.
And next time, don’t get angry, get creative.

New York City Skyline right around sunset. I took this photo during a reception I attended this week. Click on the photo to see it higher resolution.

I found time for lunch with local and out of town friends while I was in New York for business meetings this week. We went back and forth on stories, from the New York Yankees and Mets to Congressman Anthony Weiner’s social media and personal issues to client stories.  Our lunch ran the gambit.

During one exchange my friend told a story about a “struggling” New York singer who tried to make it on Broadway. She ended the tale by saying that her friend is marrying a doctor or lawyer. Frankly, I do not remember which one, but we joked how she could remove  the “struggling” portion of her unofficial New York City title.

I joked that just about every job had a struggling title in front of it if you call New York home.  There is of course the struggling actor or actress, the struggling singers and entrepreneurs… Let’s not forget the investment bankers and future Wall Street gazillionaires.

No matter which conversation I am having, it ultimately leads me back to the impact in sports.  More than ever, young people are struggling to make a name for themselves in sports management. The question remains for many that live in New York or anywhere is, how bad do you want to follow your dream?

What are you wiling to do in order to succeed.  I am not taking anything away from the woman who married someone out of love.  However, as far as I know, we get one chance at this life and you need to make the most of it.

Unemployment is creeping up and there are more doubts in the economy.  It seems tougher to break into sports and move careers forward.  However, if you really listen, people are still being hired, promotions are given and people do change jobs.

No one wants to listen to whiners.  People hire and promote others that find a way to solve problems and get things done.

Some see struggles.  Others see opportunity.