LeBron & JJ, Shannon Sharpe, Real Madrid, Lewis Hamilton and more.
Business and culture news from the world of Sport.
Basketball: LeBron & JJ Redick’s Mind The Game
I finally got around to watching the Mind the Game podcast this week and thought it was a great insight into the minds of two professional basketball players. Unlike most other podcasts from celebrities that discuss all things around life, this is a deep dive into the game from tactical plays, the mindset that goes into scenarios, and a discussion around what makes great basketball players and teams. It’s less for the casual sports fan and more for the avid basketball fan or aspiring professional who wants to improve their game knowledge.
The first episode is titled “What Makes a Great Basketball Player?”, and one particular element of this discussion that caught my attention was the difference between good and great basketball players.
LeBron and JJ discuss how there are many players who “just want to play”, and they’re more focused on the physical aspect, showing up, and putting in a performance. They are less interested in before-and-after game preparation or learning the ins and outs of opponents and things like that. LeBron acknowledges that there is no issue with that, but the ones who become great often have that extra desire to “squeeze the lemon” for everything they can to elevate their game and careers to the next level.
I’m not a basketball tactician so several things went over my head, however, it gave me a much better perspective of how players and teams approach the game. I thought it was very interesting and definitely worth a watch if you like this type of conversation.
Check it out here.
In other basketball news
Ice Cube offered Caitlin Clark $5,000,000 to join the BIG3 league in the WNBA offseason.
Football: Shannon Sharpe: Dominating Sports Media
Shannon Sharpe has been a media personality for some time now but it certainly feels like the last few years his stock has risen further and everything he touches seems to be successful.
Many former athletes step into the media world and do it very well, but Sharpe has found a groove and a way to connect to popular culture that very few others have managed to do at this level. He’s done so well that as he says in the following quote, people forget he was a great football player.
“I think more people probably know me now, in this space, than when I played professional football,” “I think that's a true testament for me to be able to transition from one career to another and do so well at it that people actually forget that you were pretty good at the other career.”
For me, I think what I notice is that his approach is very much ‘I am who I am’ and people relate to that. He stands by what he says, and whether you agree or not, at least you know he believes it and isn’t pandering.
The quote was taken from a recent interview with Complex Sports that you can read here.
Football/Soccer: Y-3 & Real Madrid: March Collections
March has been a strong month for Real Madrid and Y3.
At the start, we saw the Y3 and Real Madrid travel collection, a streetwear-inspired collaboration featuring Jude Bellingham and Zidane as the face of the campaign. Roll on to this week and the club have just announced their Matchwear Collection.
The travel collection campaign was shot by the talented London-based photographer Gabriel Moses and it’s a great example of today’s approach to promoting sportswear.
I wrote about both collections on BrandStrat.
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton has made the right decision to join Ferrari
Guenther Steiner, the popular personality from Netflix’s Drive to Survive has stated he thinks Lewis Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes after a very successful decade to join Ferrari is “the right decision”, with Ferrari outperforming Mercedes this season.
Steiner, who is an ambassador for the Miami Grand Prix, told Sky Sports News.
"He did it when he left McLaren to go to Mercedes, so maybe he got this one right as well.” “But I think for him it's more about the new challenge. He has been at the team for 11 years, won six championships, good relationships there.”
I tend to agree. Although Lewis had an amazing career with Mercedes, he has struggled with their cars in the last few years (no fault of his own). For some reason, Mercedes can’t seem to get it right and hasn’t provided a good enough car to support a driver of Lewis’ ability.
At 39 years old, he hasn’t got a lot of competitive years ahead of him and with Max Verstappen firing on all cylinders at Red Bull, Lewis will surely want to add more titles to his joint record of 7 Diver’s Championships. Not only would that make him the solo record holder with 8 Championships but also keep a big enough gap between him and Max who has 4 titles, and is likely to make that 5 this year. He’s still only 26 years old.
Golf: Full Swing 2 - An Evening With Chad Mumm
I had the privilege of attending an exclusive event hosted by the TGLs LAGC (Los Angeles Golf Club) at the head office of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in the heart of Los Angeles.
Chad Mumm, the producer, revealed that creating both series of Full Swing was no small feat, with the team having to sift through a staggering 900 hours of footage to craft the second series. I believe he said 700 hours for series 1. That is a monumental task.
A stat that grabbed my attention was that it took 9 years from first approaching the PGA to getting the show on Netflix.
If you want to read more, I wrote about it on Baller Golf.
Thanks for reading, David Skilling.
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