Tag: In the News

TP set for his own French cartoon series

It’s been a busy off-season for Tony Parker.

First, there were all those nasty trade rumors. But after getting a chance to get back to France, he’s been participating in some non-playing pursuits.

His recent commercial for Body Axe spray where he plays God in ais getting heavy play back in his home country. (Hat tip Project Spurs.com)

And he’s also announced he will be a part of a new French basketball-themed cartoon called The show follows a group of young basketball players who travel the United States with Parker taking on rival teams.

During his recent trip to France, Parker appeared on French TV show “High 5″ and debuted the first scenes of his show. Here’s a .

I know a little bit about cartoons from my own recent fatherhood with my boy. Parker’s show looks a lot like the “Scooby Doo” shows my son likes with Parker in the starring role and plenty of basketball thrown in for good measure.  

But I especially liked !” After checking the set design and some of his co-stars, French television looks a lot like a Saturday Night Live sketch.

How Scarborough’s NBA’s ‘WAL’ rankings shook out

I’ve gotten a couple of e-mails over the weekend wondering how the Spurs’ “watched/attended/listened” rankings compiled by the Scarborough Sports Marketing Group compared to others across the league. 

These questions were a result of a story in Saturday’s paper where Bill Nielsen, Scarborough’s vice president of sales,  said the Spurs should be in position to endure the lockout better than other NBA franchises because of their traditional strong support.

The good folks at Scarborough were willing to share their most recent “WAL” rankings for the NBA and the other major sports.

It’s a ranking that determines what percentage of fans in a market have either watched a local team on television, attended a game in person or listened to one on radio in the last year.

The ranking provides a pretty accurate glimpse of the NBA’s best and worst American markets. Toronto isn’t included in their compilations.

Here’s a look at the NBA from 1 through 29 for their most recent figures of this season. The number is parenthesis is where the team ranked in Scarborough’s last rankings.

(1) San Antonio Spurs:            61%      (1)

(2) Cleveland Cavaliers:          58%      (2)

(3) Boston Celtics:                     50%      (6)

(4) Utah Jazz:                              47%      (3)

(5) Phoenix Suns:                      45%      (5)

(6) Los Angeles Lakers:           44%      (10)

(7) Oklahoma City Thunder: 44%      (17)

(8) Portland Trail Blazers:     43%      (7)

(9) New Orleans Hornets:      41%      (8)

(10) Denver Nuggets:              40%      (12)

(11) Dallas Mavericks:             39%      (9)

(12) Chicago Bulls:                    39%      (15)

(13) Detroit Pistons:                 38%      (4)

(14) Memphis Grizzlies:          37%      (13)

(15) Miami Heat:                        37%      (18)

(16) Houston Rockets:             37%      (11)

(17) Orlando Magic:                  33%      (14)

(18) Milwaukee Bucks:              33%      (19)

(19) Indiana Pacers:                  30%      (16)

(20) Sacramento Kings:           28%      (20)

(21) Atlanta Hawks:                    24%      (24)

(22) Charlotte Bobcats:             24%      (23)

(23) Philadelphia 76ers:           23%      (22)

(24) Golden State Warriors:     20%      (26)

(25) New York Knicks:               18%      (27)

(26) Washington Wizards:        18%      (25)

(27) Minnesota T’wolves:         16%      (21)

(28) Los Angeles Clippers:        12%      (28)

(29) New Jersey Nets:                 11%      (29)

These numbers indicate a couple of different findings. It can be argued that the markets at the top of the list have been the league’s best over the years. I’m also intrigued with the way that Oklahoma City’s market is getting excited about the Thunder for obvious reasons.

And as teams take these numbers to potential advertisers, even the larger markets at the bottom of the list like New York, New Jersey and the Los Angeles Clippers all have markets of millions of potential customers.

Here’s a listing of the best and worst teams in Scarborough’s most recent rankings for Major League Baseball.

The best:

(1) St. Louis Cardinals:       73%      (2)

(2) Cincinnati Reds:            70%      (7)

(3) Minnesota Twins:         70%      (3)

(4) Boston Red Sox:            69%      (1)

(5) Philadelphia Phillies:   69%      (4)

 And the worst:

(25) New York Mets:             36%      (26)

(26) Los Angeles Dodgers:  34%      (25)

(27) Washington Nationals: 33%      (28)

(28) Los Angeles Angels:      29%      (27)

(29) Oakland Athletics:         28%      (29)

 And here are Scarborough’s most recent WAL rankings for National Football League franchises.

The best:

(1) New Orleans Saints:      87%      (2)

(2) Green Bay Packers:       84%      (1)

(3) Pittsburgh Steelers:      82%      (3)

(4) Indianapolis Colts:        75%      (4)

(5) Minnesota Vikings:       73%      (5)

And the worst:

(28) Miami Dolphins:           43%      (28)

(29) San Francisco 49ers:  42%      (29)

(30) New York Giants:         40%      (30)

(31) New York Jets:              37%      (31)

(32) Oakland Raiders:          28%      (32)

These ratings show

Newman spurns Suns, will remain on Spurs staff

Spurs assistant coach Don Newman has turned down an offer from the Suns to become that team’s defensive coordinator and will remain on Gregg Popovich’s coaching staff.

Spurs general manager R.C. Buford confirmed Newman’s decision to continue his tenure with the Spurs, a choice first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of YahooSports!, via Twitter.

Only Mike Budenholzer has been on Popovich’s coaching staff longer than Newman. One of the most popular figures in the basketball organization, he has focused on coaching defense since being hired on June 28,2004.