Archive for July, 2007
I don’t know why I’ve been thinking about this the past few days, but I have. Do you think, in our lifetime, we’re going to see an athlete sign a one billion dollar contract? I do. I think we’re headed in that direction. That’s a pretty amazing number- a billion dollars- but I think you’ll see a billion dollar contract sooner rather than later.
Someone will come along, kind of like a David Beckham, and sign a contract with a sports franchise that will include more than just playing for the team. Imagine an owner like Mickey Arison… he owns the Heat and several cruise lines. What if he had the opportunity to sign someone like Lebron James to a $50,000,000 contract for the course of 20 years. That contract would include not just basketball, but commercials for the cruise line, a set number of personal appearances on behalf of the cruise line for 20 years, etc.
50 million dollars a year over the course of 20 years will happen. That’s a billion dollars! Some owner, an owner that owns a sports franchise, restaurants, movie studios, and recording studios will sign someone to a “multi-services” contract for 20 years and we will see that billion dollar contract.
David Beckham is reportedly making a quarter of a billion dollars in his contract… and that’s soccer. Imagine when there’s someone as marketable as Beckham in one of the major sports. An owner would be able to lock him up to play for the team, represent the team, act in movies, do TV specials, make personal appearances, all on behalf of the owner’s properties. That day is coming. A billion dollar contract. Some young athlete in middle school or high school right now is probably going to become the world’s first billion dollar man.
July 23rd, 2007
I’m finding it annoying how many people blast ESPN for their “Who’s Now” segments. It’s so easy to criticize. I’m not saying it’s the best segment on ESPN… I actually don’t think it’s that good at all. But I do know that ESPN has a hell of a lot of programming time to fill, and “Who’s Now” fills some of that time. Not everything ESPN does is going to be a winner. But to hear caller after caller and blogger after blogger complain about what’s wrong with ESPN drives me crazy.
ESPN does just about everything right. It’s so easy to say “Chris Berman’s act is old…” or “Stuart Scott is annoying…” (I happen to agree that Stuart Scott is annoying.) I just find it so easy to sit there and criticize things over and over again. Everybody loves to jump all over ESPN the moment they find a summertime segment like “Who’s Now” to be terrible. Just listen to Miami sports radio in the summer… There’s not a whole hell of a lot to talk about, so you have to try and fill time. I watched the “Rock Paper Scissors” championships on ESPN 2 yesterday. Think that’s better programming than “Who’s Now?” I don’t.
Again, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan of “Who’s Now.” I think it’s ridiculous. But it is what it is: summertime filler. ESPN isn’t slighting you on NFL coverage to make room for the “Who’s Now” segments… ESPN is not cutting away from the 9th inning of a game to bring you “Who’s Now” updates… They’re just trying to fill time and be entertaining. (It’s the same thing we try and do on our show; except we fail more often than we succeed.)
I’m not the biggest sports fan in the world. I haven’t ever done a fantasy league. I don’t know who is leading the MLB in triples right now. But I know I’d be complaining if Directv took away my ESPN. And my ESPN 2. And ESPN News. (They can take Classic away. Not my thing.)
I’m not blogging a defense of ESPN, because they don’t really need me to come to their defense. They seem to be doing pretty well for themselves. I’m just saying that I’m getting annoyed by how everyone just wants to blast away at this “Who’s Now” segment, like it’s the beginning of the end for ESPN. It’s not.
I’m sure the executives at ESPN have bigger things to worry about than “Who’s Now.” Like, who’s going to take over the 1-4pm slot that Dan Patrick is vacating on ESPN Radio? I wonder if there are any good radio shows that would fit well in that slot? Hmmmm. Howard David? Nah. Rick and Suds? Probably not. Well, I’m sure the powers over at ESPN will find a quality show to replace Dan Patrick. If they don’t, then SUEY to them.
July 16th, 2007
It’s summertime, and I don’t usually give out assignments in the summer, but this time I’m going to.
Assignment number 1 is that you must watch “Big Brother” on CBS all summer long. You’re reading that right. Don’t question it- just do it.
Big Brother is consistently a compelling reality show- one that you will crave the nights that it’s not on.
(Big Brother air 3 times a week; I believe on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.) I know it sounds like a big commitment, but it’s worth it. Great reality show… Great twists… Great surprises… It’s the perfect summer show to get lost in.
This is the 8th season of Big Brother, and I (proudly) have seen all 8 seasons. There’s also a little bonus this year… if you have Showtime. 7 nights a week, on Showtime 2, they are a live feed from the Big Brother house from Midnight til 3am. That’s uncensored, unedited access. I am seriously considering ordering Showtime to get in on this.
Before you start responding to this blog about what a loser I am, just give Big Brother a shot. (We Big Brother fans just call it BB. Now you know the
secret.) I won’t steer you wrong. I’m telling you that you’re going to enjoy this show, and at the end of the summer you’re going to thank me for having turned you on to the show. Let’s say it together: “I promise to watch every episode of Big Brother this summer because Hoch says it’s great.”
There, doesn’t that feel good? Now, on to part 2 of your assignment…
You must watch “Coma” on HBO. It’s a two hour documentary about four people who have suffered head injuries, and are trying to awaken from their comas.
I, like most people, picture someone awakening from a two week coma, and then regaining their life back in a short period of time.
This documentary shows (candidly) just how difficult it is to come back from a major head injury. No one just “awakes” from a coma and is sitting around playing X Box in bed the next day. This documentary is one of the most emotional, eye opening shows I’ve seen in a long time.
I had a difficult time going to sleep the other night after I watched it, because I felt so bad for the people and families that were going through this.
It’s called “Coma” and it’s airing on HBO. Set your TiVo.
There you have it… 2 assignments. Watch Big Brother. Watch Coma. Trust me on these.
July 9th, 2007
We held our highly anticipated VIP screening of “Live Free or Die Hard” last week and it was a resounding success. And the movie was one of the five worst movies I’ve EVER seen. No joke. It was an unspeakably bad movie from beginning to end. If we weren’t conducting a radio promotion that night, I would have walked out of the theater.
Other than the movie stinking, it was a great night. We rented an entire theater at The Muvico in Davie, and hosted 290 people (give or take a few.) All the special guests that were scheduled to show up did, which was cool. The special guests were Uncle Luke, Kimbo Slice, and Reagan Mauia (the juggernaut, bitch.) And as an ultra-cool surprise bonus, Terrell Owens showed up halfway through the movie, and stayed afterwards for a good half hour signing autographs and taking photos with anyone who wanted one. (You can see all the photos of our movie night right here on the 790 website.)
I want to do more field trips with listeners like that. It’s a great way to meet everyone and get a chance to hang out in a casual setting. My guess is that we’ll do another movie screening sometime at the end of the year for Rambo IV. I can’t think of a better way to see that pile of crap other than in a theater full of LeBatard Show listeners.
I’d love to hear your comments if you were at the Die Hard screening with us. If you weren’t, you missed out on free, limited edition “Make It Rain, McClain” t-shirts, along with free bottles of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce. (I sometimes think the only reason we do these movie screenings is to give away our stockpile of BBQ sauce.)
I also put a 10 minute video of the entire night’s festivities on our MySpace page. You can watch the video at http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=11838670
That’s about all I have this week… Excellent promotion… Terrible movie… Terrible blog.
July 2nd, 2007
