cool global BIZ

Global Sports Entertainment: "What?! This Can't Be Legal in International Rules!"

 

 

Global sports entertainment and tag-team wrestling at its finest. Video courtesy of Combat Zone Wrestling and usajh1's channel on YouTube. Thanks to MediaBistro for flagging the video. 

 

I DOUBLE-DOG-DARE you to watch this Combat Zone Wrestling video without busting up. The bad guys use a deadly cobra move to hypnotize the good guys. A bearded wrestler does a jiggly PG-13 strip-tease. All of them break-dance to a funky Third World beat. The crowd goes wild. The broadcaster screams: "What?! He's using hypnosis! This can't be legal in international rules! This is the most illegal thing I've seen in the history of wrestling!" These guys are good. Almost as good as my all-time favorite, the late Bobo Brazil, the Jackie Robinson of pro wrestling and master of the devastating coco butt head butt. Watch Bobo battle the late Andre the Giant in this classic battle royale (4:15 in the video).

 

CoolGlobalBiz, October 8, 2011

 

Showtime North: Golden State Warriors, Gay Exec Rick Welts & NBA Legend Jerry West

 

THE GOOD NEWS about the hiring of gay sports executive Rick Welts by the National Basketball Association's Golden State Warriors? It isn't big news. "Whether he’s gay or straight is irrelevant,” Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob told the media Tuesday. "I want the best executive possible. All I care about is winning . . . . " Clever media spin, Lacob, diverting everyone's attention.

You're right, though. Long-suffering Warriors fans, among the most loyal in pro sports, just wanna know one thing: Can the new team owners turn around this sad band of brothers and make a strong playoff run? Or win an NBA crown? Just one championship, puh-leez. There's no time to waste. The cradle's rockin' above the abyss. Early management moves by Lacob, a partner at top venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and co-owner Peter Guber, CEO of Mandaley Entertainment, look real promising -- especially the hiring of Los Angeles Laker legend Jerry West as an advisor. 

The People's Republic of Fishin': A Real Global Community and Confederation

 

 

"Hobie Fish the World (Part 6)." Promo video from Hobie Cat on its kayak anglers traveling across France, Holland, Australia, Mexico, Corsica and the United States. Another video shows a stretch of the Owens River in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California that I fished as a kid with my late father. Must be synchronicity. Video-sharing courtesy of HobieUSA's channel on YouTube. 

 

TIME TO GO FISHING, Brother Man. The People's Republic of Fishin' is a color-blind federation, a model of pure merit, where all that counts is your angling skill. No castes, no politics, no boundaries.

This summer, I rekindled my love of the sport while chatting up a cross-section of humanity: Glassy-eyed homeless folk. Fly-fishing tech execs. College students playing hookie. A gang-banger and his homegirl. A famed bass-fishing champ. An outdoor-loving broadcast journalist. Even a former Montana fishing guide whose free tips were golden. All friendly as hell, all eager to talk fishing, all bonding in the warm weather. I imagine that anglers worldwide are no different. 

Squash Legend Khan the Greatest Athlete Ever? Watch "Keep Eye On Ball" and Decide

 

 

Trailer on sports documentary Keep Eye on Ball: The Hashim Khan Story by Josh Easdon and Beth Rasin of Squash Films. Video courtesy of meapeman's channel on YouTube.
 

 

RECENTLY SAW A fascinating documentary on the Sundance Channel on sports legend Hashim Khan, the Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods of the squash realm. The award-winning documentary, Keep Eye on Ball: The Hashim Khan Story by filmmaker Josh Easdon and producer Beth Rasin, tells the extraordinary story of Khan, a humble, barefooted boy from a Pakistan village who rose to rule squash for decades. Now nearly 100 and living in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., Khan is patriarch of the Khan Dynasty, a Pakistani-American family that dominated the global sport for 30 years. Some squash experts believe that the lightning-quick Khan -- a master tactician and technician who made bigger, stronger players look clumsy -- may have been the greatest athlete in the world. "He's like Yoda," says a grandson. "He's the Pakistani-British-American Dream."

 

• Squash Magazine, "May His Tribe Increase: Hashim Khan Turns 90" by James Zug.


• New Yorker, "The Khan Dynasty" by Herbert Warren Wind.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, August 15, 2011

 

Globalization of Sports Not Slowing, As U.S. Dominance in Sports Appears to Wane

 

 

Sports industry executives explore global business opportunities in media, merchandising and sponsorships at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2009. Video courtesy of MIT. 

 

BIG-TIME SPORTS CONTINUES to go global, with no signs of slowing. As the world's middle class grows, we're sure to see a broadening fan base and more mainstream interest in sports. The business model likely will reflect the sports industry in the United States, with broadcast deals, ticket sales and athletes' endorsements generating the most sales and attention. Even with a shaky global economy, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that total worldwide sports spending will rise 4% from U.S. $114 billion in 2009 to U.S. $133 billion in 2013.

German Muslim Soccer Star Lira Bajramaj Rises From Refugee Past to Top of Her Sport

 

 

CNN interviews Fatmire "Lira" Bajramaj, a Muslim soccer star on Germany's women's team that is competing in the FIFA World Cup in Germany. Video courtesy of CNN, interview by Diana Magnay.
 


HERE'S TO SPORTS, the purest of meritocracies when it's free of scandal and politics. Despite man-made barriers, the finest athletes find ways to persevere. Many rise from the humblest origins, leaping past poverty, racism and cultural biases. Their talent and hard work is obvious, even to the untrained eye.

Mixed Martial Arts Crosses All Borders and Cultures, UFC's Dana White Tells USA Today

 

"Starting Poses" by Stefan Tell, under a Creative Commons license on flickr. Tell is a photographer in Stockholm, Sweden, at stefantell.se/blog.

 

IS MIXED MARTIAL arts the world's most universal, border-leaping sport? Depending on your criteria, it could be soccer/futbol, basketball, tennis, golf . . . or MMA.  Dana White, head of Zuffa's Ultimate Fighting Championship, the leading MMA organization,  makes a strong case for his sport.  White tells USA Today's Michael McCarthy: "I don't care what color you are, what country you come from, what language you speak . . . Fighting is in our DNA; we get it, and we like it. It crosses all borders, all color barriers, all cultural barriers, even gender barriers. Men and women both like the UFC." Mixed martial arts and the UFC continue to go global, staging fights in Europe, Brazil, Asia, Australia and the Middle East, according to USA Today. The UFC's pay-per-view events can be seen in over 100 countries, and the UFC website can be read in many of the world's major languages.

Dana White of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Photo on Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license.
 

USA Today Special Edition on MMA:

• "As business, UFC is a real knockout" by Michael McCarthy.


•  "White says UFC's growth knows no bounds" by Michael McCarthy.


•  "MMA Power 10: It's a Zuffa World" by Sergio Non.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, June 21, 2011

 

NBA Scores Slam Dunk in Diversity Leadership, But Where Are Women Coaches?

 

 

The Smith College women's basketball team, Class of 1902. Public-domain photo on Wikimedia Commons.

 

BRAVO TO THE National Basketball Association in the United States for earning top grades in diversity leadership for its front office and pro basketball teams, according to the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. NBA Commissioner David Stern ought to be proud. But when will we see the gender line crossed in the coaching ranks? Modern sports fans would love a winning college or WNBA women's coach over the same tired retreads. It's 2011 A.D. They don't wear bloomers anymore in women's hoops, either.

• Associated Press, "NBA Remains Leader in Sports Diversity."

 

CoolGlobalBiz, June 16, 2011

 

Forget the Super Bowl. Check Out the Laureus Global Sports Awards: "A Tool for Social Change"

 

Highlights from the Laureus Sports Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Video clip courtesy of CNN.com.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, February 8, 2011

WHILE AMERICANS WERE stuffing our faces and enjoying the Super Bowl (the Pack is Back!), the rest of the world was celebrating global athletes known to billions of sports fans and TV viewers. And all for a good cause. At the Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi, Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal was named Sportsman of the Year. U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn won Sportswoman of the Year. And Spain's soccer team, winner of the FIFA World Cup last summer, received the Team of the Year Award. Little known in the West, Laureus and its foundation promote sports as "a tool for social change," funding social and sports projects worldwide, from a sports center for disabled people in Rwanda to a boxing and wrestling program in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

 

• SFGate.com, "Laureus Award Highlights Sports for Global Good" by Ann Killion. 
• TimeOutDubai.com, "Stars Descend on Abu Dhabi for Laureus Awards"
• CNN International, "Nadal, Vonn Win Top Laureus Awards."
• ESPN, "Slater Wins Laureus World Sports Award" by Megan Michelson.
• BBC, "Showtime at Sports Oscars" by Matt Slater.

 

Chrysler, Eminem and Wieden + Kennedy Score with Super Bowl Commercial on Detroit

 

Chrysler and Wieden + Kennedy's brilliant Super Bowl commercial, featuring rapper Eminem and Detroit, the Motor City. Video courtesy of Chrysler and Wieden + Kennedy, on YouTube.

 

CoolGlobalBiz, February 7, 2011

OKAY, ONE SUPER BOWL commercial deserves mention: Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" ad by Wieden + Kennedy, the brilliant minds behind the Nike, Tiger Woods and Old Spice ads. The Chrysler ad speaks positively to America's tough-as-steel heartland and the traditional values of the industrial belt. Featuring rapper Eminem, the ad also rings pro-American without being xenophobic or protectionist -- unlike many race-baiting ads during the 1980s, when Japanese autos stormed the United States market. Wieden + Kennedy also knows that much of global consumerism today is all about state of mind and lifestyle, not geography.