A PR firm in Arizona lost an account when one of the partners sent a Tweet talking about “special ed” people. The client: Special Olympics Arizona. Read the full story here.
To quote a smart man, “Zoinks, Scoob!”
The bottom line is this: Everyone can read your everything. Including (especially) clients, employees, colleagues, bosses, family, exes, loved ones, hated ones. Everyone.
It should come as no surprise that your clients follow you online. They are investing a lot into you and your company… trust, resources, finances. They need to know that you value their business – on the clock and off.
To think they aren’t paying attention to your agency and your people falls somewhere between arrogant and ignorant.
Mike’s Note: This was written by my summer intern ‘T-Bird” Steve Benkert. Read with caution!
————————————————————————————
Declaration of Fandependence: Learning to Love Bullets
For this story to make any sense, we must backtrack a few years of my life. I was born in the heart and center of America, Washington D.C. The District’s effervescent air was the first thing my little baby lungs took in. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was soon to fall head over heels for one of the most renowned and historic D.C. franchises in the past millennium: The Washington Bullets/Wizards.
Bet you thought I was going to say Redskins. (On an editorial side note, I still love, and like every year, think the Redskins are Super Bowl bound).
The back-story continues…
I liked D.C., I truly did. Yet according to my parents, it was time to move. And, being a baby, I had very little say in the matter. So we moved far from any storied sports franchises, to the land of Virginia Beach. While yes, it was rather exciting to watch the minor league soccer Hampton Roads Hurricanes play in desolate high school stadiums, I was a fan of nothing. Nothing sports related, I was, of course, a fan of fireworks, breaking windows, and dinosaurs. I was just another daring beach bum too caught up in his own hair to care about a “team.”
The story picks up…
I moved back to the greater Washington Metropolitan area at the end of elementary school. That’s when I got metaphorically sucker punched in the kidney, hard enough to cause internal bleeding, by the Washington Bullets/Wizards. It made very little sense, the team was down right lousy. But I think I related to the team that included leading scorer Chris Webber and assist machine Rod Strickland. I was new to the area and I was alone, by myself, the odd man out, the early worm, the kid that ate worms… just like the Bullets.
At the start, I didn’t have cable so I was forced to listen to the radio to get my Wizards fix. My Fandependence was low, but I was learning. I was learning to become a consummate fan. Every year my fansmanship would steadily grow, like a line graph documenting a prosperous new restaurant with a sound 10 year business model.
These moments enter my brain: Michael Jordan coming, Michael Jordan pooping the bed, hilarious players such as Popeye Jones, Michael Ruffin, and Peter John Ramos, the first playoff series victory in 23 years courtesy of Jared Jeffries and Co.
Today my fanenthusiasm is through the roof. With three legitimate all stars in Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison all healthy, there are serious murmurs of a Championship season. Not to mention, my man-crushAndray Blatche is coming into his own. And yes, I have stood up and challenged Mike’s rules for a man-crush.
So I sit back, finishing this article, now very antsy because I have gotten myself all riled up thinking about the Wiz this season, and I have to pee. However, I am proud to Pledge my Fandependence to the Washington Wizards/Bullets. I check their website once a day and read every new article, I chat with local bloggers about which starting five we’ll see opening day, and I have dreams of Blatche and I starring in a “Starsky and Hutch” type real life documentary. I would be Starsky.
NOTE FROM MIKE: If you ever doubted my ability to blog down-the-middle, here ya go. As I presented last week, I bleed Orioles orange and black. And here I go, posting an ode to the hated Yankees! I feel a little dirty about it, but Meghan’s good people and I’m an equal-opportunity blogger. And definitely check out her MumboJumbo blog, link below! Always a good read!
So read Meghan’s story of falling for the New York Yankees! (grumble, grumble)
————————————————————————————————————-
Declaration of Fandependence: New York Yankees
Guest Blog by Meghan Butler
I have a confession to make. Long before I ever entered Yankee Stadium and caught Jeter-Fever. Before I saw the power of the pinstripes and knew the history of the Bronx Bombers, I was ….
The Day Meghan Became a Yankees Fan
…a Mets fan.
I know. I’ve been told many times that you “can’t switch teams!!” but let me explain: I am a New York fan through and through. One of my first professional photo shoots as a 6-month-old was in full Giants Regalia (yes everyone thought I was a boy, that’s what you get for being the only girl in a family of four kids). Whenever I was asked to name my MLB team, I’d say, “I’m a New York fan but in the Subway Series, I’m a Mets girl.” How could I not be? I am a big fan of going against the grain if only for the hell of it and it seems that everyone in the Tri-State area is a Yankees fan – even if they can’t name more than a few players on the team. Although, some to think of it, unless you live under a rock, the NYC metropolitan area is Yankee-Central, but I digress.
Anyway, my Yankees fandom started one year on my birthday. My best friend (a Mets fan) was able to get free tickets to a Yankees game and being a recent college grad, I was not about to turn down free anything.
What came next was a spiritual sports fan awakening. Walking into the House that Ruth Built, the excitement was palpable and the history that was seemingly infused into the concrete walls of the stadium was undeniable. In a sea of blue and white, I stood
"Robbie Cano hit that homer because he wanted to jog around the bases. Because, you know, he’s so lazy." - Mike Axisa FiverAveBlues (http://riveraveblues.com/2009/07/game-99-spillover-thread-15102/)
a little straighter and walked with a bit more pride under my borrowed Number 2 jersey.
I don’t remember who the Yanks were playing, but it wasn’t the Mets so I obviously rooted for the Yankees that game. Sitting up in the third tier over home plate, I’ve never felt more proud to be a New Yorker in my life. And I also realized that the Yankees were my team.
I realize that there are many things to criticize about the team. They spend an un-godly amount of money. Their players may or may not use steroids. Said players may or may not have dated a certain Queen of Pop at some point. But I can honestly say, once you go Yanks, you never go back. They’re just an amazing source of history and pride. I’ve been to the new stadium a handful of times and visited the museum. It gives me goosey-pimples to see the signatures of all the MLB greats – DiMaggio, Mantle, Ruth. These are the guys who made baseball an American past-time. If you hate the Yankees, that’s fine, I get it –I used to too. And believe me, I know Yankee Stadium is expensive. I absolutely hate paying $12 for a BudLite. However, you have to respect them for being one of the best teams throughout baseball history. This season is a perfect example. To go from a mediocre season peppered with tabloid scandals to an 8-game winning streak and placing first, 2 ½ games ahead of their rivals, the Red Sox is nothing short of amazing.
So scorn me if you must, I won’t hold it against you but the Yankees are my team and I’ll gladly pay $75 for a ticket to see them whoop the Red Sox this season. Afterall, if Teixiera is allowed to hop from the Red Sox to the Yankees, switching my Declaration of Fandependence from the Mets to the Yankees isn’t so bad.
Meghan is a Marketing Coordinator in New York. She graduated with her degree in Journalism from SUNY New Paltz and is a rabid sports fan. Find her at her personal blog, MegsMumboJumbo or on Twitter @meghanbutler
Check out the original post here for more information. (Briefly, I asked you to tell me who your favorite team was and why…but definitely read the post!)
Here are two terrific Declarations of Fandependence:
From Tom Oates (www.twitter.com/OatesTom), videographer extraordinaire!
The late, great Len Bias
We’re Americans; we love a comeback story.
No college team has a better Tragedy to Triumph story than the University of Maryland Men’s Basketball team.
The 1986 death of Len Bias spiraled the program into a turbulent pit of sanctions, coaching changes and a flurry of negative stigmatism.
We also love the story of the prodigal son; the Terps have one of their own.
In the 1960’s Gary Williams was Maryland’s scrappy, overachieving point guard. Returning to his alma mater in 1989 as head coach, Williams was besieged by NCAA sanctions; penalties for violations conducted under a previous coaching staff.
Twelve years later, Maryland – led by another scrappy, overachieving point guard – captured the NCAA championship.
What’s not to love? It’s the all-American tale.
——————
By: Sasha Muradali, guest blogger
When, I think back to my days at university, I see a sea of orange and blue: a vision of the University of Florida.
Located in Gainesville, Fla., a small town in the middle of nowhere, population 150,000 – population of UF 60,000 – Gainesville is where I spent four of the happiest years of my life (2003-2007, B.S. Public Relations).
Go Cure Cancer. Go Gators.
Sasha and the Gator Girls!
A college town, at its truest, I think of pokey sticks, spending dry, hot days under umbrella shaped trees, rain that spewed from the side in mass buckets and squirrels the size of small dogs. I remember the smell of the air, the fresh, swampy scent of flowing fresh water ponds and the scent of pine. I recall, the love bug season, the giant butterfly garden, live alligators and the scary, small car-sized raccoon inhabiting the moonlit street of Sorority Row every night. I taste the 3 a.m. Starbucks runs, cold pizza and lager on my lips.
Go Write the Great American Novel. Go Gators.
I met my best friends at UF. We’ll be friends forever, we’ll grow old together, see each other get married and welcome the other’s kids into the world. There is some inexplicable bond I share with those people. To a certain extent, that bond is shared by a couple hundred thousand alumni and Gator Nation fans alike.
I remember the first time I saw the Gator Nation video, I cried.
I hadn’t graduated UF as yet, but I thought to myself, “this is it. This is exactly what it feels like.” There is just something magical about that place, some sort of rooted camaraderie that is over 150-years old. It is passed down from person to person and shared through the generations.
I know I will always bleed orange and blue. Period.
No matter where I go, who I meet or what adventures I encounter, my Gator Nation days molded me into adulthood. I was molded into a Gator.
Go Start A Fortune 500 Company. Go Gators.
But that’s what being a fan of the Gators, being a Gator – that’s what it’s about.
It’s about this spurt of happiness that crosses your face and swells your heart when you are in another city and someone is wearing your colours, your mascot, your jersey.
It’s this smile that graces your lips when someone you don’t know randomly does a Gator Chomp in front of you. They’re Gators too.
It’s that laugh that creeps up from inside of you, when from across the airport, someone shouts “Go Gators!”
Being a Gator, is so much – it’s more.
There aren’t adjectives enough to describe the exhilaration caused by being a part of three national championships back-to-back, or the rush of seeing University Avenue swarming with hundreds of students after the NCAA or BCS wins. They swung on the trees and climbed the street lights.
I hear laughter; I feel comfort; I see jovial, blinded bliss; I remember my home away from home –
The University of Florida is in Gainesville. The Gator Nation is everywhere. Go Gators!
Sasha Muradali runs the ‘Little Pink Book’ . She holds a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Florida (’07) and an M.A. in International Administration from the University of Miami(’08). She loves Twitter and all things social media, so you should find her@SashaHalima.
Currently Sasha is the VP of Communications for the Gator Club of Miami. Find them at http://www.miamigators.com
