Maria Burns Ortiz

Week 9 – Athletes as celebrities – or Why Tiger Woods Hates TMZ.

Impact of the 24 hours news cycle – Part II. (Nov. 2)

Readings:

• “What Tiger Woods can learn from John Gotti.” Charles Feldman, Reuters.

• “Tiger Woods’ business is his and no one else’s” Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com.

• “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Celebrity Worship.” Charlene Muhammad, The Final Call.

• “What Tiger Woods’ crash means to mainstream media and celebrity news.” Eric Deggans. National Sports Journalism Center.

• “Tiger Woods and the TMZ effect: Can mainstream media compete?” Hal Boedeker

• “Hide The Baby Mamas! TMZSports.com Is Coming.” Sports by Brooks.

• “Brand It Like Beckham.” Kristen Bolt, Time.

• “The Multiple Brand Personalities of David Beckham: A Case Study of the Beckham Brand.” Vincent, Hill and Lee, Sport Marketing Quarterly. (Sep 2009. Vol. 18, Iss. 3 – Available via ProQuest.)

Additional Sites:

• Tiger Woods scandal: Complete coverage. Orlando Sentinel

• TMZ Sports

• Terez Owens

Twitter Feeds:

• Shaquille O’Neal (@THE_REAL_SHAQ)

• Chad Ochocinco (@OGOchocinco)

• Ozzie Guillen (@ozzieguillen)

• Donte’ Stallworth (@d_stallworth18)

• Two other sports personalities to follow.

Blog Assignment: Give examples two or three athletes that are frequently in the tabloids and two to three examples of athletes that are similar in regard to on-field success, but aren’t tabloid fixtures– what differentiates these athletes? Give at least one example per athlete of an away-from-the-game story he/she was in the news for. Who endorses these athletes? How much do their (estimated) net worths vary? How does the public perception of these athletes differ?

Additional Assignment: Post five personal/observation tweets. (Bonus point if they are engaging.) Use at least one @ reply.

Skill: Ethics and corrections

In-class Exercise: Simulated press conference

Final Project Progress Check.

[Note: Classes on Tuesday, Nov. 9 will follow a Thursday schedule.]