New site design ready for launch soon? Do you like?

Edition 4 of #BODSW, wow 4 straight weeks thanks Jerry Seinfeld – “Don’t break the chain”.

Nike goes Viral in April – how Nike is taking a different approach in social media using their vast stable of athletes to promote the Nike brand via YouTube. Hat tip to @activ8social

How engaged are Australia Twitter users? – Great stats on Twitter users and how they are using Twitter from the team at @Tribalytic, keep an eye on these guys.

London 2012 announce new mascots – Wenlock & Mandeville – two one-eyed steel creatures, borne out of the steel used for the Olympic Stadium in east London – hardly cuddly.

Are Facebook Like Buttons Wrong or Right For Your Site? – A recap of the how & why Facebook buttons may or may not work with your site, good read from @problogger.

Pat Coyle aka @sports20 has a nice mashup presenting a Twitter following/Facebook fan ladder across all US sports updated every 12 hours, now numbers are not everything in social media but sports is competitive so people love ladders.

ESPN working on a Foursquare style app – Will it work? ESPN Passport hasn’t caught on yet have they missed the geo-location boat?

From the “Hey, that’s cool pile” you can now read the news from your tweeps using Paper.li – Feel free to read what my followers are reading – http://paper.li/seancallanan

Worst On Ground

After awarding a Worst on Ground instead of BOG to Phil Mickelson I’ve decided to create this as a permanent feature as you cannot go past Western Bulldogs footballer Jason Akermanis. Aker caused a major stir with his article “Stay in the closet, Jason Akermanis tells homosexuals” he then followed up on radio & TV interviews. The backlash was evident in social media with Facebook groups & fan pages springing up to deride Aker’s views. On Twitter we saw #akermanis trend and the story was picked up globally by the likes of Deadspin. It was a good lesson in understanding how the social platforms can work against you as much as for you, I’m sure the AFLPA (@AFLPAToday) now have a better understanding of this after they prompted the article from Akermanis.

Best On Ground

Great article from Marketing Week “Where dreams of global goals are made…” looking at strategies that brands will take to best leverage their partnership with the FIFA World Cup. Coke, Visa, Castrol & Tesco all featured.

YouTube Clip of the Week

Here is what happens when you introduce AFL footballers to impro, you end up flapping your arms on national TV.

Thanks to @Harry_O & @ImproMelbourne.

Check out Impro Melbourne for shows & workshops. Impro Cave season starts soon check it out!

Got your ticket yet? HUGE lineup with speakers from Real Madrid, NBA & Tottenham…

Engaging Fans & Participants in the Digital Age Sydney – Star City – July 13 & 14
Sport is Fantastic 2010 Auckland – Eden Park – July 19 & 20

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Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

What did I miss? Drop a comment with your suggestions for next week’s #BODSW

After checking out the Clippers defeat the Lakers at Staples on Wednesday night (blog post to follow) I decided to check out the BCS Championship Game at the Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl web site didn’t provide that much information on tickets sales, as it was the BCS Championship Game I assumed it was sold out with so many Alabama and Texas fans in LA.  Either way I thought I’d see what was on offer at the ESPN Tailgate Party.

I arrived in Pasadena and parked on the golf course next to the Rose Bowl (the greens keeper definitely earns his money after 90,000 people park, walk and tailgate all over the course).  Several “traditional” tailgators were setup in the parking lot – no expense spared: big screen TVs, satellite dish, , BBQs and large eskys (or coolers as they are called in US).  This was 7 hours before the game kickoff!

The ESPN Tailgate cost $25 to enter but with little else on offer it was the place to be.  ESPN as presenting partner was everywhere, including the College Football team broadcasting the pre-game show.  Other sponsors included Taco Bell, AT&T, XBox, All-State & Direct TV.

Getting fans active was a big success with most fans drawn to attractions where they got to throw, pass or kick.  Giveaways were a close second no matter how small the freebie on offer was the fans were attracted like bees to honey.  Taco Bell did will with the Couch Touchdown and the Obstacle course.  AT& T tent was always full, fans lined up for hours to get autographs from former Alabama & Texas stars like Vince Yound and Ricky Williams

There was plenty of food stalls all doing a roaring trade, unfortunately the bar service was deplorable.  I don’t know if it was by design or not but I did talk to a few fans who were more than annoyed at the slow service.  Perhaps ID verified wristbands and more bar staff would have made an improvement.

Not expecting to attend the game I headed off to watch the game on TV, I avoided several people trying to sell tickets upwards of $350 (by people I mean scalpers at 150%+ of face value (side note: 15 arrests for scalping)).  After talking to some Texas fans tailgating near my car I found out the game wasn’t sold out and single tickets were available.  So with ticket in hand I entered the Rose Bowl.  Other than it being a hard stadium to get navigate (then again 94,000 people do provide logistics problems) it was an awesome game.  Unlucky for the Texas Longhorns to lose QB Colt McCoy in the first quarter, but congrats the Alabama on winning the game.  Fans of college football love their teams, everybody I mean everybody was wearing team colors I have no doubt you could pick me out in the TV coverage as I was wearing a grey hoodie amongst a sea of orange and crimson.  It’s easy to see the why the focus on pre-game activities as most fans stood, cheered, hollered ALL game never leaving their seats.

I have so much more to report but I’ve gotta go… more sport, never enough.