New Era Launches New Ad Campaign

Today New Era is launching a new brand campaign called, "Fly Your Own Flag." The campaign, by a New York agency named Brooklyn Brothers, promotes self-expression and individuality.  It tips its cap (pun intended) to New Era's incredibly diverse market.  No typecasting allowed.  In print and online ads, consumers will be urged to “Start your own movement,” “Raise your own game,” “Blaze your own trail,” “Create your own world,” “Sing your own song” and “Make your own grand entrance”.
Once upon a time, people wore sports paraphernalia to strictly represent their fandom.  However, times have evolved beyond that.  Fans now don caps to rep their favorite team, a particular player, city, or simply because they like the colors, all judgement withheld.  But, despite New Era being an inherent part of our sports culture, they're still working on increasing their recognition as a global lifestyle brand outside of caps.  

“It’s about building credibility as a global lifestyle brand,” said Christopher Koch, chief executive at the New Era Cap Company in Buffalo, after being “a headwear brand for 90 years” and a clothing and accessories brand for five years. 

Here are a few print ads featuring their brand ambassadors, NY Yankees Curtis Granderson and jewelry designer, Osamu Koyama.

New York Yankees center fielder, Curtis Granderson

A jewelry designer, Osamu Koyama

The campaign, which bears the slogan "Fly your own flag," will include a two-minute video.

I like New Era's attempt to try and break out of their niche market of caps.  Also, redesigning their site to encourage fan engagement is a no-brainer, especially since consumers have been doing it on their own for years.  BUT! I also think if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it!  No one is messing with New Era when it comes to this category.  I remember delivering 5-10 Yankee fitteds to my brother and his crew when I visited him in Paris.  The passion and loyalty people have for the New Era brand is untouchable.  New Era has 90 years in the game for a reason!

The Talk of the Town: NY Knicks, NY Yankees, NY Jets, NY Mets

No matter the season, NYC sports always manages to dominate sports talk.  This morning I woke up, turned to NY1, like I do every morning, and realized that we (NYC sport teams) were pretty busy yesterday. In case you missed it, here's a quick recap!

NY KNICKS
The Good!  Yesterday afternoon, the Knicks announced that Isiah Thomas would not be consulting for the organization, after all.  According to certain NBA bylaws, an NBA exec can't have any contact with NCAA athletes.  Since Zeke is the head basketball coach for Florida International University (which went 7-25 last season, fyi), Isiah would've been in direct violation of that bylaw.  When I read this, I released a huge sigh of relief.  Phew!

The Bad!  The fact that Isiah Thomas was offered a job with the Knicks, after EVERYTHING we've been through with him, proves that leadership (Jim Dolan) is still delusional and ill equipped to run this team.  At one point in Isiah's career, he was praised for being able to scout talent.  I was one of those people doing the praising. But, those days are long gone.  In my opinion, Isiah has indisputably proven that he's all about self and lacks any type of dignity or pride.  How could Isiah, a Hall of Fame player, return to the scene of the crime, while Knicks fans are still licking our wounds? Contrary to what Isiah and Dolan may think, it's still too soon.  Until the Knicks have a respectable season, we will not forgive OR forget Isiah for leaving us in ruins.

I say all of this despite having been a Zeke fan forever.  In fact, when I tried out for the basketball team in 7th grade, my Dad hyped me up by saying that Isiah Thomas is small, but also the best at his position.  Nuff said.  I got this.  Lacking talent, I quickly realized that the only thing Zeke and I had in common was our size deficiency, but I digress...

Thank goodness the NBA stepped in to put Knicks fans out of our misery, for now.  Despite making some solid (not great!) off season moves, hiring Isiah Thomas would've ruined our season before it even started.


NY YANKEES
The Good:  Last night, the Yankees had an incredible comeback against the Texas Rangers. After a loss to the Red Sox and a blown save by Mariano Rivera, the Yankees' bats suddenly woke up toward the end of last night's game.  Sadly, I fell asleep and missed the exciting comeback, but it was nice to wake up, wipe the cold out of my eyes, put my glasses on and see that we got the W!

The Bad:  Watching the Yankees struggle against Cliff Lee had me fuming. I keep shaking my head at the thought that the Yankees didn't get Cliff Lee when all reports pretty much confirmed that he was a Yankee. Cliff Lee should be in pinstripes, not serving up 11 strikeouts against us.  And then to make matters worse, I had to witness another piss poor Lance Berkman performance at first base.  I keep asking myself, why did we acquire him at the trade deadline?  Why?????  Congrats to Mark Teixeira and his wife for welcoming a son into the world, but I'm thankful he'll be with the team for tonight's game against the Kansas City Royals.

As of now, there's a good chance that we could face the Rangers in the playoffs.  Thankfully their relief pitching is a little suspect.  Despite the Rangers having Cliff Lee, I like our chances.

NY JETS
The Good!  Last night was the highly anticipated debut of HBO's hit series, Hard Knocks starring the NY Jets!!  Since I'm such a huge Jets fan, I've been waiting for this show to debut since HBO announced that Gang Green was their chosen team.  I know I've said this before, and I'm saying it again, I absolutely love that the Jets have completely erased the NY Giants from the back pages of the New York dailies.  They're everywhere!  We have a coach that talks nuff smack, as I'm sure you saw on last night's show, and a team that can back it up! The Giants/Jets preseason game on Monday can't come soon enough!  J-E-T-S!  JETS! JETS! JETS!

The Bad! I was asleep before the show even started.  Extremely pathetic.  I know.  I remember looking at the clock at 8something thinking that I had another two hours to go.  I tried to fight it but lost that battle.  Although I haven't watched the show, I heard that the Darrelle Revis contract situation had a starring role.  I hate this.  I really do.  Up until this point, what made the Jets such a good story to follow is that there was nothing negative to report.  Now all of a sudden they're engaged in this extremely public contract dispute with Darrelle Revis and his agent.  And, our GM Mike Tennenbaum is admitting defeat on camera.  Really?  Really?

I've tried to speak about this topic without getting fired up, but I can't.  However, I will say this.  I understand where both parties are coming from.  I'd be a horribly judge.  Also, I didn't expect Revis to hold out this long.  I wasn't all that concerned during OTA's but now that we're heading into our first preseason game on Monday, I'm super concerned.  And, having the team owner, Woody Johnson, publicly say that he doesn't think Revis will play this season does not put me at ease, posturing or not.  Oh how I wish this was just scripted reality to create more buzz around Hard Knocks, but I know that it's not.  All I can say is, Damn you Al Davis for overpaying Nnamdi Asomugha!!! 
 

NY METS

Unlike all of the other teams I've covered, the Mets don't have anything "good" to touch upon.  With them, it's just all "bad". They can't catch a break.  I don't follow them a whole lot, but I do know that they're on a sinking ship.

Last night, Francisco Rodriguez verbally assaulted reporters with countless F-bombs during the post game interview following their 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies. As if that wasn't enough, he then went on to physically assault his father-in-law. Whoa!  Who does that?  K-Rod certainly isn't a saint, and has a history of losing his temper, but going off on your father-in-law is next level!  As a result, K-Rod was arrested, charged with third- degree assault, and suspended 2 games.

More importantly, this altercation gave everyone an insiders look at how dysfunctional the Mets clubhouse really is.  If Mets fans were hoping for some type of miraculous comeback, they should face reality and shift their focus to football.  It's not happening.  The only hope they can cling to is team owner, Fred Wilpon, finally manning up and getting the courage to send Jerry Manuel packing.

It ain't easy being a New York sports fan!

NHL, NJ Devils, and Kovalchuk Arbitrate Over $102 Million/17-Year Offer!

This Summer, teams and leagues have been busy with contract disputes and signings.  While most of the sports world was focused on "the decision" of Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, you may have missed the drama surrounding the NHL and Ilya Kovalchuk's $102 million/17 year offer from the New Jersey Devils.  

When I first caught wind of this, it literally stopped me in my tracks! Woah!!!! A 27 year old player being offered a 17 year contract?  Really?!?!  I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around this concept until I realized that Alexander Ovechkin signed a $124 million/13 year contract.  Yes, he's younger and the deal isn't for as many years, but even that seems a bit excessive and out of the ordinary to me.  I guess I'm just used to 5 and 6 year contracts in the NBA and NFL.  Anything outside of that is completely unfathomable.

  

Well, I was so interested in this topic that I tapped the biggest NHL fan I know, Catherine Marzi aka @CMarzi84 and asked her to be a guest blogger.  She breaks down this situation for me and you, my readers!  Thanks, Marzi!

Arbitration in the biggest NHL off season story begins today. Ilya Kovalchuk, the number one draft pick in the 2001 entry draft, a 27 year old forward was offered $102 million over the course of 17 years by the NJ Devils. The NHL has contended this violates the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement and filed for arbitration. The contract averages out to $6 million per year, but is likely not structured to pay out evenly. Specifics of the contract have not been released.

Whether Kovalchuk's 40+ goals in the past 6 seasons, or 80+ average points over the same number of seasons are worth $102 million is not really in question. He's an outstanding player and could be a great asset to help the Devils put together a solid playoff push. The issue is to be decided is whether the contract is fair, as per the CBA, which exists to protect players and franchises.

Outside of the NHL's objections, these super long term contracts feel like bad business. Just as far as the basics, when a couple players monopolize salary cap it leaves less opportunity for a supporting cast. Also, if anyone is looking for a most glaring example of a bad long term contract, check out Rick DiPietro, who signed a 15 year contact in 2006 and played a grand total of 13 games in the past two seasons.  He's a fair example of why these types of deals are questionable.

Though Kovalchuk has dominated the headlines, there have been some recent off season moves that have been eclipsed by the Kovalchuk drama:

Antti Niemi: the Stanley Cup winning goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks has been let go. His award winning performance wasn't enough to convince Chi-town to put up the $2.75 million per year. They opted for a less costly, and more senior goaltender in Marty Turco.

Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin: the top two draft picks this season have both signed 3 year contracts with their respective teams. Both 18 year old boys will be making at least $900,000 this season, with the possibility of collecting up to $3.75 million dollars.

Alexander Frolov: joined the NY Rangers to strengthen their offense. 20 points from Frolov coupled with 40 goals from Marian Gaborik could make the Rangers surprisingly effective. Oh wait, no one cares about the Rangers other than me? That's right.

Either way, the Kovalchuk drama will be resolved within the next week. It's been an interesting off season and the face of many teams in the league will be changed before the preseason kicks off in September. Only a few more weeks until hockey's back!

What do you think?  Should the NJ Devils be able to sign Kovalchuk to such a lengthy contract?  Or, is the NHL right for disallowing this deal to go down?

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• Kovalchuk Update: Arbitration Looming (bleacherreport.com)
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• Kovalchuk Arbitration Will Have Impact on Entire Hockey World (bleacherreport.com)