SPORTSMAN of the YEAR
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been selected as Sports Illustrated 2005 Sportsman of the Year. Brady is known as the ultimate teammate. The Super Bowl rings are nice, but his greatest achievement grows out of a generosity of spirit that makes him a leader in the toughest times. Who else do you think deserves this award?

Madison Square Garden Field Trip
The rescheduled Sports Marketing field trip to MSG will be on Wednesday December 21st. There were no available openings next week. That was the only date we could book before the holiday break. We will still be meeting at the train station on that date and following the same format we discussed in class. Students will receive a new permission slips on Monday.

Sports Marketing and Sports Management classes make sure you take a good look at the NFL this weekend and watch closely at your players performances. Since starting lineups were due today and school is closed, every team will have the advantage of starting their best performers after watching the results. Have a nice weekend.

About Teacher Salary Schedules
Our union president Pete DeFina wrote an amazing informational editorial discrediting the mavens who spread misinformation with regard to teacher pay. His facts were intriguing, insightful and hammer home many fine points that Newsday and other media sources fail to take the time to understand. Here is an excerpt from his witty editorial.

Here's an anecdotal example of the reality facing teachers. My stepdaughter Karen is in her 5th year of teaching--doing a great job and loving it, by the way. If she were in Smithtown, her earning would have increased from a starting salary of about $42,000 to around $59,000. On the surface that looks lide a hefty 40% increase. However, most of that increase is simply her employer doling out a couple of percentage points each year as Karen slowly move toward "top step." Actually reaching top step is still wellover a decade away. Karen's sister, on the other hand, is set to graduate college at the end of this coming summer in the field of physical therapy. In all likelihood, she will not be working under a salary schedule. She'll enter her field making somewhere in the neighborhood of $80,000. She will not be getting those "nice" little built-in salary increments each year like her sister, because she will get the vast percentage of her full earning potential, up from and in her pocket--where, quite frankly, it belongs. This fact is the exact point that these private-sector geniuses consistency ignore and don't bother to understand as they yammer away about teacher salaries. From a salary perspective, Karen will eventually catch her sister, but not until she nears the very end of her teaching career. She will never even come close to her sister's career earnings--the salary schedule will have done its job well!

Bulls Hand Cross-Town Rival Cougars First Loss
Great stage set, great game--The Bulls of Smithtown West managed to win an exciting home-opener against a talented Commack team. The game was fast-paced and leads were hard to sustain. In the end it came down to clutch free throws provided by senior captain Victoria Ewing. Lindsay Salt kept the Bulls alive in the first half where she scored 13 of her 19 points. Positive contributions came from senior Michelle Rapp and eighth grader Shneeka Center. But the surprise of the night came in the form of sophomore guard Nicole Redding who had dare we say her "coming out party." Congratulations to the Bulls. Keep working hard and success will find you.

COACHING PHILOSOPHY
Based on the amazing New York Times article 'Coach Leach Goes Deep, Very Deep' regarding the refreshing new coaching philosophy of Texas Tech's Mike Leach write a one page synopsis of your feelings on coaching styles and more importantly philosophy. Give examples of coaches with whom you are familiar with and whether you argree or disagree with their styles. Use the internet to research traditional as well as trends in coaching methods.

FANS
Fan's commitments to their favorite athletes often spill over into fan club activities. When they join a fan club, fans have access to athletic statistics, personal facts, schedules, and other information about the sports figure. The World Wide Web has increased access to fan clubs and information about favorite players.
Choose a sports figure who has a fan club on the internet. What features does the club offer to its members? Do you think it is worth joining? Why or why not? Discuss you findings by posting a comment. Hyperlink the site in your comment.

College Football's Billy Beane?
Michael Lewis writes in today’s New York Times Sunday Magazine about Mike Leach, the innovative coach of the Texas Tech football team. As Lewis describes it, Leach takes a totally different view of football and is on the cusp of revolutionizing the game.

No longer 'Under' the radar
There comes a point in a company's history when it clearly begins to transition from gutsy start-up to edgy competitor. That's the position that Under Armour now finds itself in, just a decade after founder Kevin Plank started the company.
All the big sports apparel makers were beaten to the punch when the company invented the moisture-wicking clothing market. But many officials at the complacent giants were likely more shocked by the fact that they have been unable to make much progress in cutting into Under Armour's share.
If you need evidence that Under Armour has great brand affinity, look at its entry onto the stock market (NASDAQ: UARM) a couple weeks ago. The shares doubled on the first day, making it the first American company to accomplish that feat in five years.
Now, UA is about to tread on the bread and butter of the Nike and Reeboks of the world. They are now getting into shoes. And Plank -- whose company took not-too-subtle shots at Nike in a recent ad -- (the Under Armour team played against a team whose colors were the exact same colors as the Oregon Ducks, the team of Nike founder Phil Knight) is not afraid to tell you how good his company's shoes are going to be.
"There has been very little innovation in cleats over time," Plank said. "The cleats that the athletes are wearing today are basically the same cleats that I wore in the mid '80s in the Pony League. We're going to do something different."
The Under Armour cleat, which will debut on June 3, 2006, will have the company's moisture wicking material inside the shoe.
"If you finish a morning practice and they're soaked, by the time you come back in the afternoon, they'll be dry again," Plank said.
Plank also said that going public won't change how Under Armour markets or produces its product. "We've been operating as if we were a public company for the last two or three years."
On Thursday, Under Armour announced a five-year shoe and apparel deal with Auburn. Under Armour will spend a total of $10.6 million throughout the life of the deal on cash, product, marketing and advertising. It's only the second school, after Plank's alma mater, the University of Maryland, that the company has signed with.
"We're not going to sign as many teams as we can and just go deep into our bank account," Plank said. "We chose Auburn right now because we think they are in a good position to win a national championship next year."
To be fair, Auburn was also ripe for the picking.
After the 2004 season, Auburn announced the school was dropping Nike because head coach Tommy Tuberville refused to oblige to the shoe company's request that players not tape up their shoes. The common practice, done to avoid ankle injuries, was hurting Nike's chance at getting exposure. This year, Auburn struck up a deal with New Balance, which promised to fit players individually and wouldn't mind the taping of the shoes.
But insiders knew that Auburn had enough success on the field to eventually get a money deal. With Reebok virtually pulled out of the collegiate game, Under Armour easily gained access to a football program that has gone 22-2 in the last two seasons.
"We will have a cleat that the players will not want to tape up," Plank said.
Shares of Under Armour closed on Thursday at $23.15.
Despite critics who say that the company should not tread into Nike territory by making shoes, Plank says that Under Armour has plenty of credibility with the sporting goods manufacturers that sell its products. Cleat allotment, he said, is already accounted for, as orders have been maxed out.
Under Armour also is expected to attack other categories. Plank wouldn't speculate on the potential of sports nutritional products with Under Armour branding on it, but he did say that football face shields made by Under Armour will be in play next year.
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=rovell_darren

The Next Dumb Sports Drink Entry
About two to four times a year, a group of people full of personal pride and plenty of cash decide that they are going to unveil a sports drink. The joke is, they think they are going to be moderately successful. Unfortunately, due to distribution and market power, even if a drink tastes better and does more, no one is going to take down Gatorade and POWERade. It's just a bad market to get into. Nonetheless, this year has seen an entry called Tuff Guyz, a sports drink with a "blast of vitamins," and now -- get ready for this -- a company called Global Beverage Solutions is taking a crack at the market using none other than former Notre Dame walk-on Rudy Ruettiger as its main spokesperson. The company says their product has one-third of the sugar that a Gatorade or POWERade has, but a market study would have shown the company that there have been plenty of lower sugar sports drinks that have failed. According to their press release, one of the sports drinks helps in "ridding the body of antioxidants." Umm, why would anyone want to get rid of antioxidants? Antioxidants could prevent heart disease and cancer and I know of no data that suggests that antioxidants hurt a workout. The drink is currently trying to market itself to mass retailers, including Costco, but I'd be surprised if you see it on shelves anytime soon.
www.firstinthirst.typepad.com

FANS
Fans are the customers of all sports and entertainment events. In addition to having a winning team, sports and entertainment marketers must know what other elements please the fans. The Sports Fans of America Association (SFAA) focuses on improving sports from the fans perspective.
Go to this website and click on student activities chapter 5-lesson 2. Type your name in the the appropriate box and answer all questions completely. Use this site to answer (SFAA) to answer the questions. When you are finishedd answering all three questions click continue. A page with your answers will appear. Please print out that page and submit to teacher for a classwork assignment grade. Also look at the post below about the new PSP commercial. View the commercial and make a comment. Comment as other and use your first name only.