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It almost happened Thursday…almost. Robert Morris University almost threw Villanova a knockout punch in the first round of the NCAA Regionals in Providence, but in the end too many close calls gone the other way and one shot too few sent the Colonials back to suburban Pittsburgh. However, as pointed out in Thursday's New York …

As mentioned in a post earlier this week, Marc. could be a great jump starting point for several properties. One was IRL, the other really is soccer in North America. Although MLS certainly has made its solid and steady strides in the past few years, the opening of a new stadium in the New York …

Last year the brand of choice to fill displaced inventory on television and in stadia around the country was Spongetech. Their giant signs were splashed acroos all of MLB, their patches showed up on the NF.s.Hard Knock. show on Bengals jerseys, they appeared along the dasher boards at Madison Square Garden. Spongetech, and their pre-soaped …

Februar. was certainly one of the most intriguing months on the sports calendar in recent years. It began with a record Super Bowl, took us through a controversial Daytona 500, saw a very intriguing two weeks of Olympics, and a record setting NBA All-Star game. So now as we hit the ides of March, we …

The Los Angeles Dodgers, despite the messy divorce and internal politics going on with the McCourt breakup, remain one of the world's premier sports brands. The front office, led by Dennis Mannion on the business side, continues to cultivate new avenues to grow the brand of the team, not just its players, into a community …

For a while I have been involved with the upcoming dramatic play Lombardi, which producers Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser will bring to Broadway in November. The play is based on the best-selling book “When Pride Still Mattered” by Pultizer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, and is going to be a very intriguing mix of dramatic …

We have often talked about how minor league organizations often outpace the major league teams in terms of year round innovation and brand building. The minors, especially baseball, never have the big star to rely on for long and more than their major brtheren, have to rely on the core fan and the overall game …

Maybe in another life, 40 years ago, a political pundit like James Carville and a Super Bowl winning coach like Brian Billick would not have a lot in common. However these days, through the world of satellite radio, digital TV and social media, they now only can share ideas but can share the same stage. …

Thirty years ago we had the Miracle on Ice, and the sports world waited as Jim Craig, the triumphant U.S. goaltender, prepped for his NHL debut with the Atlanta Flames a week later. Coke made Craig the branding darling of the Olympics, and thousands of kids rushed out to buy hockey sticks across the country …

Over the next few days and weeks the debate as to who the biggest marketing “winners” from the Olympics will be played out…Shaun White, Apollo Ohno, Lindsay Vonn, Julia Mancuso, even Shani Davis…will all appear on the watch list, make the TV rounds etc etc. with all the requestite experts chiming in. Then spring comes …