The National Basketball Association’s regular season may be winding down to an end, but Miami Heat superstar LeBron James’ new animated series on YouTube is just getting started.
LeBron James Takes His Talents to YouTube
Posts Tagged ‘National Basketball Association’
Mediabistro Events
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.
Use Social Media to Market Your Business
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. Tweet Questioning Referee’s Integrity Could Cost AP NBA Beat Writer
A Tweet by The Associated Press‘ beat writer for the National Basketball Association‘s Minnesota Timberwolves that was critical of an official could prove costly, as ESPN.com reports that NBA referee Bill Spooner filed suit against Jon Krawczynski for alleging that Spooner promised the Timberwolves a makeup call during a Jan. 24 game against the Houston Rockets.
According to ESPN.com, Minnesota head coach Kurt Rambis objected to a foul call by Spooner, who responded that he would review the call at halftime. When the coach asked how he would get the two points that resulted from the call back, Krawczynski claimed that the 22-year game official hinted at a makeup call, Tweeting, “Ref Bill Spooner told Rambis he’d ‘get it back’ after a bad call. Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That’s NBA officiating folks.”
Spooner denied the allegations in the Tweet, saying he never responded to Rambis’ question, and his suit seeks more than $75,000 in damages, the deletion of the Tweet, and a retraction of the statement, ESPN.com reported.
AP associated general counsel Dave Tomlin responded, “We believe all of the facts we reported from the game in question were accurate,” and a spokesman told ESPN.com AP had not yet been served.
Watch the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest with Shaq, TNT, Philo
Having National Basketball Association superstar Shaquille O’Neal do play-by-play for TNT‘s and Philo‘s coverage of the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, as part of the league’s All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, was, well, a slam-dunk.
Fans who view the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on TNT and follow along with Philo’s Web, iPhone, iPad, or Android app can unlock virtual awards and win prizes, including a size-23 sneaker from O’Neal, who will offer live play-by-play, in addition to chatting live with fans during the event. O’Neal will also promote the event via his Twitter feed, which has more than 3.5 million followers.
Do You Have What It Takes to Become an NBA Legend?
The National Basketball Association will roll out social video game NBA Legend on Facebook this week, allowing players to create avatars, join NBA teams, and follow simulated careers, The New York Times‘ Bits reported.
Players will not control game play: They will build up or purchase attributes such as speed and skill in competition with other players in their network.
NBA Legend was created by Lionside. Electronic Arts has an agreement with the league covering console video games that feature its teams and players, but senior vice president and general manager of league’s digital operations Brian Perez told Bits:
Our console gaming business is mostly a licensing business, where we’re approached by game developers. We are an actual partner in this business. That was the important part here.
Perez added that he hopes NBA Legend will take in revenue from fans buying virtual shoes, sports drinks, and other products to improve the performance of their avatars.
Golden State Warriors Start Fast-Break with Tweetbeat Page
The Golden State Warriors became the first National Basketball Association franchise to add a customized, real-time page from Tweetbeat to its Web site, aggregating Tweets as they are sent to keep fans up-to-date.
The Tweetbeat page will filter all of the Tweets coming through the Twitter firehose in real-time and sift out the best ones related to the team and its games, and fans can follow along, replay the stream from past games, or see their own Tweets.
The Warriors also recently announced that the club would participate in the launch of Facebook deals.
Warriors president Robert Rowell said:
We take every opportunity to provide the best sports entertainment to our fans and really immerse them in the experience. With a Tweetbeat page on our site, we have the opportunity to engage our fans more immediately and interactively than ever before. Now fans can actively be part of the Warriors conversation even when they are watching the game at home.
Tweetbeat creator Kosmix co-founder Anand Rajaraman added:
The Warriors are a great partner because of their close connection to their fan base and their commitment to social-media engagement. They are the first of hopefully many sports teams to take on pushing the limits of social media to engage current and new fans.
Twitter Reports to Scorer’s Table for Start of NBA Season
The 2010-11 National Basketball Association season tips off with three games Tuesday night, and Twitter is ready to suit up, with Carolyn Penner from the social network’s communications department penning a blog post to remind users that all 30 NBA teams are on Twitter, along with several superstars. Penner wrote:
Now that the free-agency dust has settled and the first @NBA games are happening tonight, it’s time to see how the 2010-11 season will unfold. Will the #lebrondecision to join @chrisbosh and @dwadeofficial on the @MiamiHeat be the right one? Will the @Lakers repeat as world champions? While we don’t have those answers for you, we do have some tips on how to stay up-to-date on the last NBA news.
While the games will be happening offline, the conversations around the game and among players will be happening online on Twitter. Whether or not you can make it to the game, you can be part of the action. All 30 teams are on Twitter, as are many of the superstars in the league: @kingjames, @the_real_nash, @carmeloanthony, and @kdthunderup, among others.
