DailyNews.com – WALL: ESPN’s Jalen Rose takes part in social studies
June 7, 2010
June 6, 2010 — In an imperfect social media world, policing antisocial behavior can be as agitating as the messages flying across the computer screens.
Allow some of the big boys in sports to demonstrate.
Jalen Rose, the former NBA star now at ESPN who could be the most full-force social media machine in or out of his Brentwood neighborhood, goes on one of network’s chat shows and says Cleveland Cavs center Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t start for any of the last four teams left in the playoffs.
Shaq is tweaked enough to tweet. In his Twitter-speak, his giant thumbs write:
“Jalen rose cud neva say wht I am or what I am not, he was soft then, he’s softer now, respect yur elders, u rememba da finals, I saw yo eyes.”
Send.
Rose answers with his own Twitter-esque reply:
“I call it like I see it – U hv an AGAINST the LAW tattoo – but you are a registered police officer & twitter beef is LAME!”
Return.
Is this a double dribble in Twitter etiquette? While he rose to the occasion, calling Shaq out for a “lame” argument on this device, Rose seems to have lowered himself into the spat and inserted a new piece of ironic information about Shaq’s tattoo status.
Rose, using an old fashion cellphone, explained further:
“I have respect for Shaq. No one take away from what accomplished on the floor. With that said, I’m happy he watches ‘First Take’ and ‘SportsCenter.’ I basically said that Father Time is undefeated, he’s aging, and he wouldn’t start for the Lakers, Phoenix, Orlando or Boston. He took it personal and took his beef to Twitter. I didn’t, he did.”
Rose, the former University of Michigan “Fab Five” member who’s more in tune now with his T-Mobile Fave 5, employs his Blackberry and laptop to maintain his own website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube channel and Ustream.com portals to make himself seen and heard. Without his trial and error, someone like Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Johnson probably wouldn’t be able to launch his own Ocho Cinco Network.
Sure, there’s some backlash when your voice is heard on so many platforms, but Rose tries to parcel himself out. TV and radio (he frequently guests on KSPN-AM 710) are for sports. Ustream and YouTube is his take on lifestyle, fashion, current events. On Twitter, “it’s me raging about whatever’s on my mind.”
The 33-year-old Rose, the youngest of four in his family and the one savvy enough to set up his 90-year-old grandmother in Detroit with an email account, sees himself as a trend-setting product of the times.
“We live now in a multi-hyphen generation,” he said. “Before this society, everything had its own lane. Things were pigeon holed. It was Jay-Z the rapper, not the basketball team owner or clothing line. You see LeBron James doing interviews with Larry King.
“Now, gossip is often misconstrued as truth. News entities print things that may or may not be journalism. That’s where things are now. Times have changed.”
So has the NBA, perhaps the most big-picture and global minded of the four major sports in the U.S. In addition to Twitter and Facebook, it is testing during these NBA Finals more ventures into Foursquare and Gowalla to connect with fans, and its NBA Game Time apps for Blackberry and beyond bring in more from all sorts of distorted locales.
“We’re looking to be as nimble as possible and set up opportunities wherever we can,” Melissa Brenner, the NBA vice president of marketing told the Sports Business Journal, noting that the league, its teams and players have more than 38 million combined followers on Twitter and Facebook.
Rose has more than 94,000 Twitter followers. The Lakers’ Ron Artest, a true Twitter warrior no matter how he spells it, has 8,000-plus following his latest RONARTESTCOM account – the one he used a month ago to launch stories about how he was upset with coach Phil Jackson.
“Just because you have X-amount of followers doesn’t mean you’re popular,” counters Rose. “That’s a huge misconception in social media.”
Another misconception: Twitter must be cool if everyone’s doing it. Especially athletes. Artest, a perfect example.
“The fact that anyone can be seen and heard instantly without having to rely on anyone else can be a gift and a curse – it’s a dangerous combination,” Rose warns. “We have free speech. That’s the number one thing we love about this country. But it can expose ignorance. Bad grammar. Impact your name and your brand.
“When you allow us into your world, now we can judge you, for better or worse.”
And soon enough, you’ve got someone big bully like Shaquille O’Neal trying to unfriend you.
More on the multitasking Jalen Rose
By Tom Hoffarth on June 6, 2010
Jalen Rose, above, speaks about his role in the new movie “Just Wright,” on his YouTube channel.
“Think of how some athletes who came before us could have used social media,” says Jalen Rose. “Imagine Muhammad Ali. Maybe Wilt Chamberlain.”
He pauses to ponder how someone who estimated he had 20,000 sexual encounters could have either built his brand or tore his legacy apart with that kind of information to spread around.
Rose, the 13-year NBA player, former Michigan “Fab Five” star and current ESPN NBA analyst, has become such the social networking butterfly, we tried to pick his mind about etiquette and protocol with these electronic devices left to our imagination (today’s story linked here).
We’ve always liked what Rose has had to say about the NBA. Many others have as well.
The Detroit News’ Lynn Henning wrote this about him recently (linked here): “Every time Jalen Rose appears on ESPN with his NBA analysis, a thought occurs: The one-time Michigan guard is the best former athlete-turned-TV guy in my memory. Fluent, smart, charismatic — he is a premier mix of talents. And as likeable as anyone in front of a TV camera, anywhere. Some of the Michigan State camp will get apoplectic over any Rose compliments because of his attachment to the Fab Five-Ed Martin scandal. That was then. This is now. He is my favorite analyst on television.”
Back in 2004, when Rose was still playing for the Toronto Raptors, we tracked him down after seeing him given a microphone and cameraman and asked to cover the Lakers-Pistons NBA Finals for FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period.”
An excerpt of that story:
A show contributor during the regular season, Rose was so quick-witted and humorous that they gave him a media credential, a producer and a camera to collect sound bites from the Lakers and Detroit Pistons.
The funniest moment so far might have been when he stopped Lakers coach Phil Jackson trying to drive out of practice during Monday’s off day between Games 1 and 2, and Jackson called him “Jamal.”
“I’m going to remember that next time we play (the Lakers),” Rose said by phone before Thursday’s Game 3 in Detroit, his hometown. “I think I just surprised him when I stopped his car. He got the ‘J’ part right and knew I was from Michigan and once played for the Bulls. I think he was going to call me ‘Juwan’ and it just came out ‘Jamal.’ “
Rose, who majored in radio, TV and film at Michigan, thinks he’s a natural and says this gig has “given me an appreciation of what the media has to do, and the real media members haven’t given me a hard time about being a rookie. I appreciate that.”
Rose’s recent offbeat segment for “BDSSP” was interviewing Staples Center celebrities after Game 2, where he was at ease questioning the likes of Steven Speilberg, Jack Nicholson and Denzel Washington. But he froze up when NBA legend Bill Russell came by.
John Entz, the “BDSSP” senior producer, says Rose “speaks his mind and he’s a basketball fan who knows the game. When he goes to the players, you can see them light up.”
If you’d like to respond to Rose directly:
== Via Twitter:twitter.com/jalenrose. He lists his location: ÜT: 34.124125,-118.507559.
He tweeted Wednesday morning: #nbafinals I’m picking the Lakers to win in 7 games over the C’s only if Bynum is effective (not the 6pts/3rebs he avg last year)
== Via YouTube (where he’s been since Feb., 2007) www.jalentv.com
== Via Facebook.com: www.facebook.com/JalenRose
== Via Ustream (where his bio says “All American, ESPN Analyst, Multimedia extraordinaire. I’m here to connect with fans and give you my thoughts on a variety of topics, from music to entertainment to fashion to basketball and more): http://www.ustream.tv/channel/therosereport
== His personal website: jalenrose.com
