It's Been That Long?

November 6, 2006.

That was the last post on the PSM blog, which is supposed to be "for our customers and partners who use our web-based software each day to manage their team sites." Well, despite the world of sports still going on and PSM still alive and kicking, we have neglected to do any updates here in over half a year. Sorry 'bout that.

So what's happened since we spoke to you last?

-The San Antonio Spurs won another NBA title, cementing their status as the greatest team of the '00s. Amazing play by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginboli combined with fantastic coaching by Gregg Popovich to create a championship contender. Shame on the sports public for not embracing what we claim we want all of our athletes to be like.

-One of our clients, the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, advanced past the first round of the Calder Clup Playoffs for the first time in their six-year history. This has special meaning to us as we have a great relationship with them and yours truly just left there after six seasons (more on this later).

-Red Sox Nation continues to dominate our New England region, but it was an STL-like summer as the Cardinals took home a championship, making it three straight seasons of legendary franchises (Boston, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis) winning titles. Now, how about those Cubs?

-Now that Peyton Manning won the title that the national (cough*ESPN*cough) media wanted him to win, can we go back to appreciating Tom Brady helping win three titles with no recieving corps? At least for a second?

-The NHL's Anaheim Ducks continued to deny the country of Canada a chance to celebrate a Stanley Cup. The league continued to deny the public a well-marketed sport.

-The Ultimate Fighting Championship has joined NASCAR as the biggest surprise success for a sport, fueled off the success of a reality show and slick marketing by my personal hero, Dana White. Some may call it brutal, but take a close look at the NFL or college football on any given Sunday. I would dare say more injuries come out of those games, but because of helmets and pads, people assume that it doesn't hurt. As long as the U.S. has a fascination with violence, UFC and its growing list of competitors (World Extreme Cagefighting, IFL, Bodog) are around to stay.

-I wish I could say the same for the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). As a past fan, I was saddened to hear the news of the Chris Benoit situation and now, befuddled at the media circus surrounding it. There's no defending what Chris did and as a fan, it'll be tough to watch some of his past incredible matches without thinking about the tragedy in that Georgia house in June. As of today's writing, a Fox report has stated that Benoit was taking a 10-month supply every steroids every three-to-four weeks. That is ungodly. To quote Wrestling Observer journalist Dave Meltzer, if the allegations are true regarding the doses that Dr. Richard Astin supplied Benoit, it is "beyond devastating for WWE." The company that has so proudly pointed to its wellness policy/steroid testing will no longer have a leg to stand on and should face public scrutiny for what happened under their watch. The days of pointing to an individual and saying "It's his fault" are over.

-On a much happer note, we continue to develop our PSM assortment of tools and should be announcing some new versions fairly soon. As always, we welcome thoughts on improvements and will be doing much more in the way of outreach as 2007 progresses. Big things ahead!

-Finally, who am I? My name is Josh Nason and for nearly six years, I worked for the Monarchs of the American Hockey League in the areas of ticket sales, marketing and game presentation. While it was an amazing time in my life that helped me grow as a person, I made the decision last November to move on and I found myself eventually working for the company that handled the team's online presence. Before that, I worked for the Portland Pirates (AHL) front office for a season and spent my college years as a sportswriter/sports editor for the University of Maine's school newspaper. So yeah, sports is in my blood.

And I promise you won't wait six months before hearing from me again.

Josh Nason is in his first year of New Business and Marketing for Pro Sports Media, a leader in online sports marketing. He still tries to square aside time for his book on Pedro Martinez' amazing 1999/2000 seasons.