Todd’s Nods: Fight your bear
On Feb. 8, the New Orleans Hornets basketball club featured a new announcer for their starting lineups.
Former ABA basketball player Jackie Moon introduced the players from the Hornets and the visiting Chicago Bulls. Unlike most announcers though, Jackie had a lot more to say then just each player’s name, number and college.
Moon added his own editorial on each one of his players including:
“From Italy and ironically doesn’t like Italian food, Marco Belinelli.”
Of course, Jackie Moon is a fictional character dreamt up by the former Saturday Night Live star Will Ferrell, but the seemingly innocent player announcements represent a welcome change to pro sports.
The beginning of a sports game usually consists of a semi-serious tone that is obviously designed to please coaches and players. The problem with this formula is that coaches and players don’t dish out $150 dollars a ticket just so they can watch a basketball game from the 200th row of the arena.
Rather than go through the usual pre-game interviews of “we need to compete and play defense,” “we’ve been watching a lot of tape” or “we need to win this one for our fans,” maybe we should focus on the fan experience.
An athlete’s compete level will undoubtedly change from game to game due the rigors of the highly paid athlete’s life — you know, like Super Bowl parties and photo shoots with super models.
The fans’ entertainment experience should remain consistently entertaining, especially for young fans.
Thank you Will Ferrell for adding value to a product you’re not associated with.
Todd’s Nods is a reoccurring column, which is open to suggestions. If you know a sports story that’s worth the nod please tweet @toddcvaughan
