Filtered Access Produces Colorless Product

By now you're likely to have heard and/or read about ESPN's lockdown of their cavalcade of stars from social media such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. Marry that to NFL, NBA, and other pro leagues beginning to take money away for such personal expression that the leagues/teams deem outside their own personal conduct code and we look like we're beginning to see a (hopefully temporary) embargo of conversation coming from those in the sports arena.

Teams and companies do have rights to control such behavior, especially when they are doing so in representation of said teams and companies. But to lock down all traffic and communication with the very audience they attempt to reach on an hourly basis is counterproductive to that cause.

ESPN won't be able to reach me every minute of my day if they rely strictly on old media avenues (website, TV/radio, print), but they can if Ric Bucher, Mark Stein, Chris Mortensen, etc are tweeting little nuggets and links. Not only that, but the chat-like responses that Bucher has given me in the past has made me MORE likely to read his material, stay tuned for his segments, etc. Bucher never made it through to me as a consumer until I saw the kind of guy he is through Twitter. It elevated his personality with me, added some depth to who he was, and made me interested in what he had to say.

Take Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for another example. Bradley has long been perceived in the ATL as a sourpuss/negative writer, causing many to believe the long time scribe sneered at the area's sports franchises when writing, showing attention only to level his subject with rotten vegatation. But a funny thing happened in the last few months. The paper opened Mark up to the public via a 3-a-day blog habit, turned him loose to comment on the site and through Twitter, and viola! It turns out that this guy is a good cat after all and, surprise, knows a lot about what he is covering. Mark is among the few newspaper columnists who actually reply to tweets and comments and not just use Twitter exclusively to peddle their work. And, like Bucher above, this changed understanding of Bradley has inspired many people to seek out and participate in the thoughts that Bradley presents on the AJC.com site, gains traffic and attention, and new readers who may have never participated if not for removing the filter of control and limiting Mark to a file photo on a website.

As for the athletes themselves, it can truly be home run or strikeout. Some athletes, like Zaza Pachulia and Dwight Howard come out looking great and becomes even more of a fan favorite through their personable personas on Twitter. Others have shown themselves in well publicized and less flattering light. Yes, teams may cringe when they see what's online, but it makes the whole experience more alive and colorful to see who these guys really are. It has given more reason to be excited about the upcoming season and personalized these players in a way that will enhance the game experience even more. There is a lot more love and appreciation for Delonte West after his lightheared KFC joint a few days ago, and there will be people who won't see West as another name on a jersey next season, they'll see a person, and along with other players that have invested with the public this offseason, that may increase enthusiasm to watch the NBA product this year.

So ESPN, the NFL, and others can attempt to limit, suppress, or even co-opt the technology for themselves, but there will be an unmeasurable impact to their cause, especially if what is trickled out to the public is a sterilized version of what was once real, vibrant, and unfiltered. It's not going to break them by any means, but they won't be getting into the mindset of this viewer as often as they would like, and therefore, they won't be able to reap the benefits from that quest.

The people aren't stupid, they know they like and want--and taking away something they want and replacing it with a washed-out version of it or even replacing it with nothing won't fly. And they leave themselves open to the corners of the space that will.

Everyone Is Taking Notice of the Hawks

Watching PTI after the Hornets game (HHB Tivo'd that as well), we were treated to a segment of their "Over/Under" game which posed the question of whether the Hawks would be over or under 41 wins for the season (to those of us who went to the University of Florida, that would be .500).

Both Tony and Dan Le Batard said that, based on the Hawks finish last season, their run against the Celtics, and their impressive wins on the road at Orlando and New Orleans, that yes, why shouldn't they be a good bet to do this.

Also, Tony added that while the Hawks did lose Josh Childress in the off-season, "He's not Magic Johnson." More ESPN love.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Raptors and their new shiny Twin Towers frontcourt of Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'Neal rolled into Philips Arena and got treated to the new and energized Hawks. The same defensive effort, the physicality, and the hustle was on display for the Raptors, who got frustrated by the fact that, surprisingly, the Hawks were allowed to play as Physical As They Wanna Be, though not cheap shots, and before they knew what hit them, the Hawks were up 12 at the half.

Unfortunately, during that first half, the Hawks watched as Josh Smith came down wrong on his ankle, rolled it, and is now going to miss a month with the dreaded HIGH ankle sprain.

Now, immediately, Hawks fans had to wonder how the team would respond to their game changer on defense not being able to return. After all, as the fine research at Peachtree Hoops (also linked in the HHB Bird Feeds area) has shown, the Hawks have been a very good defensive team thus far (Top 5 in fact), but they are sinister when Smith is in the game---top of the line good defensively. And there is no doubt, as the HHB has written already, that the key to this good start has been 100 percent related to the defensive effort. Even in the PHL game, when the Hawks were sloppy defensively was when they got down, and it took them the whole game to get back on top after just ONE poor defensive effort.

Now, with Smith out, what would the Hawks do? If one quarter of poor basketball with Smith was enough to drop the Hawks 20+ points behind the Sixers, what would the team do with Smith now out?

The verdict was this: Though the Hawks definitely missed Smith's shot blocking presence, the combination of extreme effort and taking care of the defensive boards kept the Hawks afloat, even with both Horford and Pachulia limited by foul trouble. Solomon Jones and Randolph Morris (still with that new player smell!) picked up the slack, though their +/- numbers were alright at best, and the Hawks ended up cruising to a fairly uncontested 110-92 victory.

Afterwards, everyone took notice. ESPN, NBATV, and even the Official Dad of the HHB sent an email to jump on the bandwagon, demanding a Hawks hat while remarking "4-0!!".

Smith will now be out a month's worth of games, though if we know him, we believe he'll make the usual youthful error of trying to come back too soon, but in the meantime the Hawks have to try and rise up, even in his absence.

HHB Prediction? The team will valiantly try to perform to the same levels as they have with Smith, but will fall short a few times. It's only natural. Josh Smith, who has had plenty of detractors, is a game changing force for the Hawks, and no amount of heart, which this team definitely has shown thus far, will be able to replace that.

But still----4 and 0---they have that going for them, which is nice.

ESPN Still Loves Them Some Childress

It seems like 1999, but it was only a few months ago that Josh Childress took his game overseas to Greece. ESPN promptly put Chilldress on PTI, a show that he would likely have never been asked to give Five Good Minutes for had it not been for the Greek's fat cash.

Even a 3-0 start from the good guys hasn't gotten the story off the ESPN radar as Outside the Lines has decided to catch up with our favorite renegade.

The whole show is featured on Sunday morning, but there is a story already featured here and there is a video preview of our missing Hawk.