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9 players betrayed their teammates.

9 players betrayed their school.

9 players betrayed their coaches.

9 players betrayed themselves.

9 players betrayed the spirit of sport.

Yes it’s 3rd down and 9 at the University of Waterloo. If you haven’t been following the story, there is no first down for the Warriors in 2010.

Sadly. The result of a team-wide doping test, triggered by an unrelated police investigation, resulted in nine players being guilty of infractions. With nine of sixty-two found to be cheating, the university has suspended the football team for the season.

I personally don’t agree that the other fifty odd players, plus countless coaches and supporters, should be punished for the wrong doing of nine. But like all stories, I am sure there is more here than meets the eye. So let’s give the administration the benefit of the doubt.
What makes me more concerned is that these young men betrayed the values of the sport. They betrayed the values of being a student-athelete.

I am a football guy, first and foremost. Its my sport. I coach high school as a volunteer. I watch every game I can. I’ve been to a dozen Grey Cups.

Personally, I believe it’s the greatest team sport in the world. No other sport requires every member on the field to be so involved in every play. If you don’t have your teammates back, they could get hurt.

Clearly, in Waterloo, the teammates let each other down. Someone had to know. Someone had to have seen it.

Yet, it went on.

As teammates we owe it to warn one another of the health, legal, and moral risks of crossing the line. In the case of the Waterloo story, the risks also included losing a chance to play the game they love.

University sport in this country is a precious jewel. Every sport, male and female, features world-class athletes and coaches. Many of whom outshine their none intercollegiate classmates on the academic front as well.

University sport doesn’t deserve the potential black eye this could cause. There isn’t enough money to test every football player.

But the real question is should we have to? Should we test for other legal transgressions?

As a high school coach, I have never warned my players about steroids. That’s going to change this fall. I need to do my part. Ever so small. To ensure that what has happened to the Warriors doesn’t happen again.

Charlie Francis may have died this year, but doping issues haven’t gone away.

It was February. 1997.

There was no way I belonged where I was. Toes on the baseline. Butt on a first row floor seat. Right next to the visitor’s basket. Eyes on the palace known as Pauley Pavilion.

Before me, the likes of Charles O’Bannon, Jelani McCoy and Toby Bailey warmed up for the UCLA Bruins, while Trajan Langdon, Jeff Capel, Steve Wojciechowski and Canadian Greg Netwon did the same for the Duke Blue Devils

13,477 souls waited in anticipation for the tip-off between these two storied college basketball powers. The throng otherwise known as the Bruins student section levitated as one. Thousands of bear-pawed faces exulted in unison, as the crowd whipped into a frenzied anticipation for what would become a UCLA victory.

But suddenly, it stopped. Not gradually. Not due to a referees whistle. Not because of an event crew rolling out some props. For 13,476 of those souls that day in Pauley, the cue was automatic. The cue was expected, yet unsure. The cue was climatic, yet quiet.

For the 13,477th (me)… it wasn’t so natural. I was the only person in the entire building left cheering when I realized the rest of the mob had stopped issuing guttural sounds, every cheerleader had loosened her Vaseline inspired smile, every band member had exhaled as one at that precise moment.

It was all in honour of spectator 13,478.

I don’t recall if the players stopped warming up, but if they had kept running and dribbling the hardwood had become a silencer. What I do recall is my colleague (who worked at UCLA) gently nudging me to attention.

It wasn’t a moment of silence. It was a lifetime moment.  John Wooden. The Wizard of Westwood. The creator of the Pyramid. The John Wooden was making his way to his seat.

Down the stairs he came and I am sure I detected an angelic ray of light off his left shoulder.

Eighty-six years after he was born in Martinsville Indiana, Wooden looked as spry and fit as a man half his age. The architect of ten NCAA men’s basketball championships, including an unbelievable of seven in a row, didn’t so much walk to his seat as he did float.

Students one-fifth his age demonstrated unprecedented respect, as not a word was spoken. Not a breath taken. Until Coach had taken his seat.

On May 26th, 2010 John Wooden took his last breath, dying just months before his 100th birthday.  On his deathbed he had his son shave him and find his glasses, just minutes before he died, so he would be ready to greet his late wife Nellie. Despite her death some twenty-five years previous, Wooden continued a lifelong habit of writing the only woman he had ever dated, a love letter on the 21st of each month.

I never got any closer to Wooden than that February day over a decade ago. But his greatness made him one of the coaching giants I have studied throughout my life.

Wooden died the way he lived. Meticulous. Prepared. Committed.

Angelic to the end.

On Victoria Day weekend there were all sorts of fireworks displays, special events, and parades across much of Canada.

But the best celebration I attended wasn’t to be found on any online event calendar… in any newspaper listing… or promoted on any local radio station. Largely because it was a neighbourhood street party that has been happening for over fifteen years at undisclosed location in North Toronto.

Friends, neighbours, former neighbours, near-neighbours, and friends of all of the above gathered en masse for this annual tradition of making fun… even if all the appropriate forms and paperwork hadn’t been filled out. (Perhaps I was jeopardizing my career by attending?!)

The party was held on a little street that benefits from being a cross between two streets that really provide little in the way of a shortcut for daily commuters, Because of that setup…the folks who live here benefit from having a relatively safe arena for their kids to skateboard, bike, play street hockey, or just stand around and chat. It made for the perfect environment for this party.

Any doubts I possessed that the festivities would be low key were squashed as I tried to find parking on one the adjoining crescents. Fist off the place was jammed. I am a bit of an exaggerator, so lets go with 400 people. But if you told me it was 700 I would believe you. At both ends of the street, makeshift signage blocked vehicle entrance as the street was filled with lawn chairs, food stands, and screaming children. A local family restaurant had donated hot dogs and while the lineup for the freebies was long, at least six people mentioned the “donation” to me on an unsolicited basis. Talk about great brand building.

Various parent volunteers had put ice cream, drinks, and face painting in place. The six dads behind the pyrotechnics had designed a staging area for the fireworks. Mother Nature cooperated with an incredible evening.

Someone brought me a beer… who knew we could drink on the street? It was probably the best tasting beer I had all week. Oh the liberty of not confirming to our ridiculous liquor laws for just a few moments!

After a couple of hours of mayhem, the crowd settled in for the show. A powerful home stereo, and some speakers on the lawn, provided the perfect symphonic backdrop. A barrage of roman candles, comets, and bombshells filled the dark evening sky. For a bunch of amateurs it was pretty impressive.

Parents kept one eye on the sky and another on their children. These dads knew what they were doing, for nothing landed out of the safety zone. Outside of a few burning embers on a pair of houses. This hint of arson was attributed to a local roofing company trying to drum up business.

As the main show ended, the kids were encouraged to get sparklers. Soon the street was aglow with dozens and dozens of sparkers. This was probably the only time I was truly nervous.

It seemed every tween boy somehow felt that lighting a girl on fire was an approved mating ritual. Needless to say, the young women didn’t agree and caught between this mindless form of fencing were a few terrified tots. Thankfully none were mine.

In the end nobody died or fried, so I guess all is fair in love and war. Even when you are twelve.

As the sparklers petered out and the firework smoke cleared, a dozen neighbours grabbed brooms and garbage pails, cleaning up the street faster than it had been (illegally) closed. I hustled my kid’s home for a now overdue bedtime. But I would not have been upset if the event had lasted a few more hours.

The agency geek in me of course kicked in as I started thinking… why don’t more marketers get involved in “unorganized” events? If I brought this to your desk tomorrow, would you chase me away? Does everything we do have to line up to a cost per sample measurement?

In this social media crazed world… where an unbranded viral video (or video that went viral) which reaches X thousand consumers is deemed a “success”… why can’t a viral event be worthy of consideration?

Think of how much more cost effective your sampling would be. How much more authenticate the brand experience would be. How much more word of mouth you could create, by letting your events go viral.

So I am not advocating we all break civic ordinances and ignore appropriate permitting and safety procedures, I do think a little spontaneity in our event world could generate significant ROI.

The Celtics & Lakers may very well meet in this year’s NBA finals, but don’t wait for the conference championships to finish before you watch HBO’s Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals, now on The Movie Network in Canada.  If you’re my age (45) or thereabouts, you’ll remember the days of Dr. J and Kareem playing in less than full arenas and to minimal TV crowds. But then along came Magic & Bird, fresh off their NCAA title clash. Their skill, magnetism, and charisma took the league to places it could never have imagined. With respect to D. Stern, his golden tenure was truly cast by these two players. Rivals is a beautiful retrospective on Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and their on-court and off-court relationship. I of course was a Magic fan back in the day, with little enthusiasm for Bird. But watching this show, I have a new found respect for Bird. I wont spoil it, but you have to watch it to see how much his hometown, his teammates, his mother, and Magic really meant to him.

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I was at the CFL Sponsorship Summit last week in Collingwood. Another sign that life is back to economic normality… properties are rekindling their sponsor summits! In addition to the mandatory booze up which can only be described as best in class… the summit delivered some powerful insights and sponsor best practices. The theme of the summit was all about the league’s commitment to their fans and how this has paid off for them in terms of ticketing, TV viewership, and sponsor activation. It sounds simple but its brilliant. A dedicated focus on the “client” (as the CFL is a ticket league first and foremost) across all marketing functions is paying off.

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Speaking of fans, how come Torontonians (myself included) aren’t giving the Blue Jays a fair shake these days? They have a competitive team that beats the crap out of the ball. Forget Doc Halladay, this year’s birds are on their way to MLB records for runs, hits, and homers. Can Vernon Wells keep up his newfound steadiness? They won 12-4 yesterday, seems like a team we should be supporting. Hey I’m guilty, my kids find baseball boring (sorry AB!), and I haven’t taken them down once this year. But seriously these guys deserve our support.

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Speaking of the CFL, seems like a building boom has hit. May have to rename the league, the Cohon Facilities Lesson as the commish seems to be batting a thousand at convincing owners and government to invest in capital infrastructure. A groundbreaking in Winnipeg last week, refurbishment underway in BC for 2011, new seats in Montreal to be ready for June. Plus plans on the blocks for new venues in Ottawa and Regina. Could Moncton be far behind? One place that could use Cohon’s deft touch is this mess in Hamilton. Time for everyone to get along before the money disappears.

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Credit Marketing Magazine for their first Sports Marketing conference and integrating with corporate assets the Rogers Centre. Holding the conference in the stands/on the field was a great idea. Surprisingly the A/V worked quite well.

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Interesting article in the May 17th issue of Marketing Magazine. Leger Marketing unveils its most admired companies in Canada list and also shows who won and lost based on their Olympic sponsorships. Hbc for all its success with the red mitts and awesome clothing may have sold a ton of gear. But they did nothing to burnish their image unlike when Roots had the sponsorship. Interesting lesson here for the oldest company in Canada (now owned by Americans). They did a great job at recovering from the Beijing design fiasco. It will be interesting to see if they can figure out how to generate brand love utilizing the Olympics heading into 2012.

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The best place I have ever been for a sporting event was old Chicago Stadium. If they could raise it from the dust for the Stanley Cup finals, I don’t know if Philly or Montreal wouldn’t be better off forfeiting. The fans in the old Stadium were loud, proud, and downright ugly. In a good way! Today’s Hawkey Nation seems to feature a different crowd.

A very Happy Anniversary to the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance! The CSTA celebrated its 10th anniversary in style hosting their Sports Event Congress in Toronto last week.

TrojanOne programmed the Sports Marketing Stream content for the Congress’ third day. This include keynotes from Keith Pelley, President of the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, Stacey Allaster, Chairwoman and CEO of the WTA.

It also included panelists: Andrea Shaw, VP of Sponsorship Sales and Marketing of VANOC; Dan Ouimet, Principal, Event Director of the Calgary Triathlon; Scott McWilliam, Director of Corporate Partnerships of the Abbotsford Heat Hockey Club; Scott Giannou, VP of Targa Newfoundland; John Paul (JP) Cody Cox, Executive Director for Volleyball Canada; Chris Morrissey, CEO for the 2011 Halifax Canada Games; and David Hopkinson, Senior Vice President, Business Partnerships for Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment.

The focus of discussion included the key sports marketing influences in the past decade as well as reflection of what will emerge over the next ten years.

Here are some tidbits I thought I would share out of the presentations and panels:

• China is the hot new market for women’s tennis and the WTA has opened an office there to capitalize on the opportunity for the next decade!
• The Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium was the first Games broadcaster to show every minute of competition live.
• There is considerable disagreement surrounding the sophistication of sponsors. Some panelists feel the expertise has advanced significantly in the last ten years. Others feel there has been very little advancement.
• Online streaming of events is great for smaller properties seeking exposure but for major properties with existing TV exposure, its not a significant opportunity.
• Social media doesn’t directly benefit a large property nearly as significant as it could hurt the same property.
• Volunteers are a part of your brand, they are the frontline participant and customer experience.
• One hockey property who has WestJet as a sponsor changes their rinkboards every game to feature a key destination.
• Cause, charity, social responsibility are significant themes for properties and sponsors alike. The integration of charitable groups is a critical element of marketing, PR, and sponsorship initiatives for many events.
• Doing a TV deal is not for the inexperienced, don’t ruin your chances if you’re a rookie. Contract an expert or learn best practices from an organization that has done it.
• Vancouver was the first Olympics where senior staff wore the same uniform as volunteers. It was done on purpose to send a message that all involved were a member of the “Blue Jackets”, hosting visitors from around the world.
• Small properties must emphasize their reach beyond their event borders to engage sponsor prospects.
• The Abbotsford Heat sold the sponsorship of their “penalty box” to the municipal police force!
• The Olympics educated Canadian companies on how to leverage sports marketing opportunities.
• Often times Canadian organizations do a great job of putting the “amateur” in “amateur sport”.

Now, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what will drive our industry in the coming years!

Yesterday, the Glen Gould Theater was the sight of the 7th annual Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada conference and 6th annual Sponsorship Marketing Awards.

The day featured a series of dynamic speakers. But like most conferences, some of the best knowledge was gathered form the networking and hallway conversations that always occur.

Here are some things I “learned” yesterday. From both the on and off-stage presenters!

• Major sponsors indicated in the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Survey that properties are NOT doing a very good job providing service and reporting.

• Human resources… having people to implement… is a major issue for sponsors, properties and agencies alike. So get hiring!

• Small properties should look for small sponsors. They have money and business needs just like the major marketers.

• Four companies in Canada have over 1,000 sponsorships!

• Sponsorships that have a causal tie continue to stand head and shoulders above others, in my opinion.

• Every presenter who talks about social media keeps babbling about clichés and one-off stories… It’s time for the experts to provide specific insights!

• Kraft Hockeyville is an unstoppable machine. Deservedly it again won Best in Show at the Sponsorship Marketing Awards.

• Branded entertainment has advanced so far into the core of media sales that product placement firms are no longer “welcome” by the major broadcasters.

• Sometimes three years deals are better for the sponsors… one of my contacts is losing a coveted sponsorship because an underling took one-year sponsors.

• Multi-year deals are good not just for the property but also the sponsor. One notable sponsor is losing a feature property because a junior person insisted on a one-year deal. It worked so well their competitor has not approached the property and outbid the incumbent for this year’s event!

• Everybody who tells me they are coming to next year’s Canadian Sponsorship Forum… also told me that last year!

My final learning. Not a learning but a remembrance. That everyone in this industry should remember the pioneering work of Marilyn Michener.

I had the opportunity to hear the new Chief Executive Officer of the 2015 PAN/PARPAN American Games, Ian Troop, speak last week in Niagara Falls. The occasion was a private reception held in his honour by Parks & Rec Ontario, at their annual PRO Forum.

Just a few weeks into the job, Troop is marshalling his past experiences from an international business career, to tackle the next major multinational sports event to come to Canada. Troop’s career has taken him from Canada to the United States, Poland, and Mexico, while climbing to the rank of President of a billion dollar food company.

Clearly Troop’s international experiences have provided him with a perfect background for the Pan Am opportunity. These games will be a multicultural cornucopia with 42 countries represented, including twelve from South America and twenty from the Caribbean. Troop has quickly identified that as an exciting opportunity for the Pan Ams. Given the cultural diversity of the Golden Horseshoe population, it is clear that the Toronto 2015 will be able to provide a unique experience for these visiting athletes. In fact, for many countries, the support of their countrymen that live in southern Ontario will create an almost home field advantage for them.

Troop highlighted the fact both Toronto and Hamilton will feature cultural festivals during the Games, and painted a picture of major streets filled with cultural events, entertainment, and attractions. He spoke of working with existing major events to parallel schedule their dates, to create blockbuster attractions. He also talked about his desire to ensure that all people living in the region can participate in the event, regardless of whether they posses a sporting event ticket.

When you consider the opportunities of having an event like Caribana be held during 2015, the uniqueness of the opportunity becomes even more compelling.

Troop also spoke quite proudly of the seventeen communities that are serving as hosts for the Pan Am Games. These hosts, in stretching around Lake Ontario will form three “Games Zones,” each boasting attractive competitions and events. While some critics have challenged the expanse of the event footprint, it should be an exciting opportunity for a great many communities to benefit from the experience and energy that the Games will bring.

For now Troop is employee # 1. The job market has been abuzz of late who will soon be employees 2 to 6-7-8, as the recruitment of the senior management team is in full swing. Troop mentioned some talent coming in from VANOC, which makes sense. But I suspect he will also want to tap into talent from local communities, both culturally and geographically, that will be serving him so well going forward.

My Olympic experience officially ended at 5:43 AM this morning (March 25th) when I put my Team Canada jersey on the “shelf.”

We all have a shelf like this one. Up high or down low, in some far reaches of your closet or your basement. It stores items you love but are only to be worn in the right setting. Or in some cases you are storing them for some future use.

For your personal Hall of Fame. For your grandchildren. For your casket. For the “next time.”

My shelf holds a Minnesota Gophers sweatshirt. A Leafs jersey from a long ago playoff clash with Carolina. An Emery Collegiate coaching shirt from 1996. A USC football T-shirt. A Boca Grande shirt from some vacation or other.

And now my Team Canada hockey jersey. I have to admit mine wasn’t an official 2010 Olympic jersey. No mine was a 2008 World Hockey Championship variety. But it did the job.

The job was to tell everyone else in Canada that I was on their team. Team Canada.

This was a “team” that overcame poor public support for the Games less than a month before they started.

This was a team that staged the longest torch relay in Olympic history.

This was a team that overcame the tragic death of a visiting young athlete, and later, the death of the mother of one our star athletes.

This was a team that overcame critics and Americans mocking our Own the Podium program.

This was a team that helped Alex Bilodeau and Brian McKeever become the first Canadians to respectively win Olympic and Paralympic gold on home soil.

This was a team that danced in the streets, partied ‘til dawn, sat glued to the TV and Internet.

Yes, I was a part of Team Canada.

Team Canada was put together by many special people. Thousands of volunteers, sponsors, workers, government officials, coaches, trainers, athletes, sports organizations and parents.

Oh amazing it must be to the parent of an Olympian.

All of us were led by an almost mythical father. John Furlong.

After the job he did I’m ready to anoint him the Father of a New Confederation. Team Canada.

Our heroic Father Furlong dropped by the Canadian Sponsorship Forum last weekend. He spoke for 18 minutes. I cried for 17.

He spoke of his organizing team bonding together after the tragedy on opening day. He spoke of a nation rallying behind our men’s hockey team and how Canada rightfully deserved that victory for all of its hard work. He spoke of how a volunteer from Moncton approached him to tell him she was dying of cancer. Her family didn’t want her to be away for the length of the Olympics. But she was so glad she did. Because for the first time in her ‘average existence’ (her words), she felt her life had meaning.

It’s too much to ask one man to keep Team Canada going. But I really don’t want to put away my jersey.

Can you give me a reason to bring it back out?

Can you organize an event that celebrates our country? Can you sponsor one? Can you participate in one?

I beg you to try. I need that feeling back. I need the passion I felt in Vancouver during the Olympics.

I need that emotion I felt in Whistler during the Paralympics. I want to keep wearing my jersey.

I exited the medals plaza in Whistler in Sunday following the closing ceremonies, I realized it was over. The lump in my throat was there.

This morning when I put my jersey away, that lump got even larger.

Truly I’m sad. So sad. I can only imagine the people who had a bigger hand in these events. I was just one little person. One tiny member of Team Canada.

But thank-you to those who made it happened. What a glorious month its been.

I am Canadian.

It’s exciting to see that the Federal Government caught Olympic fever and committed $31 million to sport and physical activity in last week’s budget.

As reported by Sport Matters, the government is providing money to fund the renewal of athlete development programs, provide training for high performance athletes, and funding for new initiatives from ParticipACTION and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Now its time for the rest of us to do our part, Sponsors, properties, agencies, NGO’s, PSO’s, NSO’s, CSO’s, professional leagues, you name it. We need to jump in… all the way in.

There has been a fair bit of speculation that post-2010, several corporate partners would withdraw their support for the sport sector. Of course with any domestic Games that is anticipated. But naturally the hundreds of millions of dollars that was splashed on VANOC will be hard to keep. Yet this blog is a plea to those decision makers, to keep as much of it as they can in the system.

This blog is a plea to all stakeholders in the industry to do the same. This blog is a plea to all entities seeking sponsorship to push even harder to ensure it doesn’t happen.

Why? I think Own the Podium proved unequivocally that investment could equal results. Great results.

I think the Games proved that investment can equal results. They united a country.

I think we may not get another shot if we don’t get this one right. This is the time for Canada to keep its momentum going forward on the world stage and on the local playground.

Because we aren’t out of the woods yet. Our kids are getting fatter. Our communities are getting more sedentary. Our belts are getting tighter… and that’s not an economic factor!

On the sport side we have leagues of work to do to become internationally competitive in soccer, basketball, and volleyball to name a few. (Here comes the hate e-mail!) Plus when was the last time we had any presence in the glory events like the 100 meters?

Yes Canada has a ways to go. We need to partner to get there. We need the sport community to understand they need to offer true value and results to corporate Canada. VANOC did it.

We need the corporate community to understand that their leadership and marketing acumen is absolutely necessary to assist those who don’t have the same experiences. Simultaneously we need corporate Canada to understand that building your brand will build your bottom line, so listen to the subject matter experts from the sport community.

Let’s become friends. Let’s become lovers. Let’s get married. Let’s create partnerships. Relevant partnerships. Responsible partnerships. Effective partnerships.

They can carry the day!