Greg Oden launches blog on Yardbarker.com
Soon to be NBA player Greg Oden, considered by many the NBA’s #1 pick in the draft, has launched a blog. Unlike Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling who started a blog on his own controlled domain name, 38pitches.com. Oden is blogging on Yardbarker.com, a social news site much like Digg.com focused on sports. My question, why would Oden blog on a lesser known, albeit cool, website such as Yardbarker? It seams to me he could build the Oden brand on his on site and still connect to Yardbarker. At least six other athletes blog on the Yardbarker Network along with Oden. In fact, news to me, Chargers return man Cletis Gordon blogs on Yardbarker. Is Yardbarker paying these athletes? I’m gonna find out. Pulled some quotes from the press release.
“The idea of connecting directly with fans made the Yardbarker opportunity very appealing to me,” Oden said. “No matter what happens in the draft I will be going through some dramatic changes in my life. I thought it would be fun to share those experiences with the fans and learn a little bit more about them too.“
“Greg Oden is pioneering the next wave of sports media,” Yardbarker Co-Founder Pete Vlastelica said. “The intimacy and sincerity of what he writes, and the access he gives his fans by actually responding to their comments, are unprecedented in professional sports. Greg is going to make it very difficult for anyone who reads his blog to root against him. We are very proud to be working with him.”
“We recommended the blog to Greg as part of an overall digital strategy,” said Bill Sanders, VP of Marketing at BDA Sports Management. “He understands the importance of connecting with fans and participating in the digital world. He’s very much into technology so this makes great sense for him.”
(via DigiSpo by Joel Price)
