Catching up with CBS Sports director, Mark Grant, before Final Four 2024
This is the first post I’ve published here in months because of logistical issues with the gpublicity website (lesson reinforced: better vet vendors). Dates and unexplaineed repetition of previous posts may still not make sense but thanks to the welcome return of web king, Tim, they’re being fixed. Your comments (if not spam) have been […]
NFL, Hamlin emergency confirms need for crisis communications
People who work in or play football know that the sport comes with risks. I think, however, most of us have never seen anything like what happened to Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin on the field in Cincinnati Monday night. We were horrified earlier this NFL season when Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa experienced a seizure after […]
NFL misses positive publicity opportunity
The NFL had to know how its network’s decision not to renew reporter Jim Trotter’s contract would play among people who pay attention to the league’s business. I debated whether to tackle this, but this feels like another avoidable PR misstep for an organization that I beg to be better. Try to find anyone who […]
Former NFL QB talks draft process, life after football
During Super Bowl week in Phoenix, I enjoyed the chance to escort former NFL quarterback, Christian Ponder, around Radio Row to speak with reporters and show hosts. He spoke about his football career, his famous wife (Samantha Ponder is the host of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown), their children and life after sports. Christian Ponder, a […]
NFL misses positive publicity opportunity
A lot of people are connecting dots. Perception equals reality to them.
NFL, Hamlin emergency confirms need for crisis communications
People who work in or play football know that the sport comes with risks. I think, however, most of us have never seen anything like what happened to Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin on the field in Cincinnati Monday night. We were horrified earlier this NFL season when Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa experienced a seizure after […]
Uncomfortable PR events in Cleveland no surprise
The backdrop with team logos, microphones and team personnel sitting behind a curtain-draped table … looked like hundreds of other team welcomes, but this was no typical player introduction. In fact, if the Cleveland Browns intended for Deshaun Watson’s first press conference to be business as usual, it missed the mark. To be honest, there may not be any scenario during which someone who publicly accepts a job while facing 22 pending civil lawsuits for sexual misconduct would feel comfortable.
The end of BradyBall is a bummer
Have you ever had an awesome weekend that you wish would never end That’s the way I felt when now-former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady pretty much officially but didn’t say the word, “retired” from the National Football League. Tom Brady, pictured with football broadcast analyst, Charles Davis, won six […]
Endorsements are more than PR props
This was originally posted in the July 20, 2021 SIDEbar newsletter. To subscribe, visit gpublicity.com and click on the envelope in the lower right-hand corner of the page. George Clooney is true to his acting and tequila. Although Casamigos was acquired by Diageo in 2017, his story is of product lore because he and a friend did […]
Four years after his last NFL game, Colin Kaepernick’s protests appear in the “win” column
Protests against racism came to a ferocious boil this year after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery at the hands of law enforcement or others who had no right to put their hands on anyone let alone innocent citizens. In years past we’d hear only one side of similar stories. Today […]