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Extreme Makeover Football Edition: What Michael Vick, John Terry, and Joey Barton Tell Us about Media Rehabilitation in 2012

July 30, 2012 — by Ryan

Recently, Michael Vick appeared on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption (PTI). Vick appeared on PTI to plug his new book, Finally Free: The Power of a Second Chance. In his nearly eight minute interview, the Philadelphia Eagles star openly acknowledged his problematic past and while contrite and thoughtful he also admitted the book was also an attempt to end the conversation about his history. “We can talk football, we can talk other personal things but let’s not talk about my past, let’s leave it where it is.” Vick’s career and life provide insights into several aspects of sport including race, and media rehabilitation. After serving hard time in prison for dog fighting, Vick’s efforts in rehabilitating his career, image, and persona have been notable. Finally Free is really the last leg in a Michael Vick public relations campaign to undercut those who see Vick as little more than a talented, underachieving,

World Cup Marketing: Make Your Customer the Hero

July 10, 2012 — by Johnee99

[Our marketing guru Johnee99 posted this to his blogspot two summers ago, towards the end of June 2010/WC2010. We had planned to reblog it back then, belatedly came back to it this week and decided to finally get it up. We'll have to get him to write up his thoughts on more recent footy marketing efforts, like Nike's latest "My Time is Now" campaign.] Watching as many World Cup matches as possible over the last 2 weeks, I have seen my share of the 2 tentpole commercials from Nike and Adidas. I actually saw the Nike "Write the Future" commercial well before the WC started and my wife had to force me to turn it off after the 10th time. I saw the Adidas "Zidane" piece on TV and was thoroughly bored. Why? Nike put the fan (me) at the center of the message. For the commercial to work, I

The Great American TV Tune-In

July 4, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

Expect to see more soccer on American TV. The trend of increasing U.S. TV soccer viewership continued with the 2012 European Championship, with Americans tuning in throughout the tournament but particularly for Spain’s 4-0 mauling of 10-man Italy in the final. As such, even new viewers could probably repeat the super-over-reported stat that Spain became not only the first country to win consecutive Euros but also the first to win an unprecedented three major international tournaments in a row, factoring in the 2010 World Cup. But since the achievement really is pretty phenomenal, we'll repeat it, too. Overall, the U.S. audience jumped 51% over that of Euro 2008. The surge is particularly striking when you consider that the numbers include no big-four broadcast network coverage, but rather just ESPN. (ABC and ESPN partnered in 2008.) Top Viewership Numbers in Euro 2008 and Euro 2012: Sun, July 1, 2012

Italia, Psicologia, e la finale di Euro 2012

July 1, 2012 — by Simeone

I grew up watching soccer and seeing the gold jerseys of Brazil or Germany's white ones – gives me goosebumps, especially when I see the bright azzurri jerseys on the same field. It brings back memories of great games, players, tears and joy.

Euro 2012 Preview

Il gran finale di Euro 2012: España contra Italia

July 1, 2012 — by Suman — 1

The 30 (24+4+2) matches of Euro 2012 over the past 23 days have led to the finale, later today in the Ukrainian capital's Olympic Stadium: Euro 2012 Final : 1 July 2012 More » Spain 20.45 Italy Referee: Pedro Proença (POR) – Stadium: Olympic Stadium, Kyiv (UKR) We'll be gathering to watch at CultFootball HQ West, which should make for a good viewing atmosphere--not least because of one us is partial to Spain (arising from a longtime affinity for Dutch total football, through to Barcelona starting in the '90s under Cryuff (& with Cocu, Kluivert, Overmars), to the technical brilliance to today's tiki-taka); while the other has a rooting roots for Gli Azzurri (Italian ancestors plus childhood Saturdays spent watching the Serie A match of the week on the broadcast Italian channel, not to mention years spent as a defender). We plan to be live on the site--if not actually

Euro 2012: Semifinals Wrapup

July 1, 2012 — by Suman — 2

After four relatively disappointing quarterfinal matches, we hoped the two semifinal matches would live up to high expectations. Here is Sid Lowe writing right after the quarterfinals ended and the semifinal matchups were set: Spain versus Portugal, Germany versus Italy. The semi-finals couldn't be better. Packed with plots and sub-plots, redemption and revenge, history oozes through them. There is something big, something historic, something right about these match-ups. For Spain, "historic" could be meant literally. They are chasing a unique treble: no one has won consecutive European, world and European titles before. The closest were West Germany; they lost the 1976 final to the Czechs when Antonin Panenka took the penalty that Andrea Pirlo emulated. The first semifinal certainly had plots and sub-plots: the intra-Iberian rivalry, a close Round of 16 match at World Cup 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo trying to carry Portugal practically by himself, backed by Real Madrid teammates Pepe and Fábio Coentrão, going up against another

Euro 2012: Quarterfinals Wrapup

June 30, 2012 — by Suman

After a tremendously fun twelve days of Euro2012 group stage matches, we found the knockout phase over the past week a bit of a letdown. Well, until the 2nd semifinal match on Thursday. (This was originally going to be a wrapup of the quarters and semis, but got long enough with just the quarters. See here for some thoughts on the semifinals.) The quarterfinals were all one-sided, at least in terms of possession and chances created. Indeed, they fell into the Manichean proactive/reactive divide that Jonathan Wilson identified early in the tournament, in a column about "the flaw of tiki-taka": A clear pattern has emerged from the first round of group games at Euro 2012. Holland against Denmark, Germany against Portugal, Spain against Italy, Ireland against Croatia, France against England, the first half of Poland against Greece: each have featured one proactive team taking the game to the opposition; one reactive team sitting deep

Giroud Joins Arsenal, Ditches Nasri in Polkraine

June 27, 2012 — by Rob Kirby

All non-German Arsenal players exited the Euro 2012 tournament at the quarters, so no more Tomáš Rosický, no more Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott or even new signing Olivier Giroud, the 6'3 striker who scored the most goals in the Ligue 1 with Montpellier this past season. Giroud knows what it feels like to win titles and scores goals. The experience can only contribute promisingly to the operations of the club. Hopefully Giroud beds easily into the team and may his explosiveness out of the gate be everything one could hope for in the world of combustability. State of the Union: Arsenal, Polkraine 1 and Polkraine 2: Electric Vindaloo, we will miss you, but it's hard to Arsenal it up properly Polkrainically with the spine of the team now largely absent. Not to forget, of course, the first big new signing of the summer, Lukas Podolski, who quietly roars into the

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