AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 20
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Image is everything!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CHICAGO - No complaints from the Windy City people.
Sure, the Las Vegas airport was on severe OVERLOAD with Monday morning’s post All-Star Weekend traffic clogging more space than should be humanly possible.
But other than that, the shift from west to Midwest was an easy one. And to make things even better, the snowstorms that had this place and many others under siege a week ago, had blown over.
Me, I blew into town Monday afternoon, headed south of the city with a college friend to my brother’s house. I had a great dinner and visit with the fam (my retired parents were up visiting as well) before heading back to the city for some much needed rest.
So you can imagine my surprise Tuesday morning when I woke up to TV ads touting “Atlanta Hawks All-Star Joe Johnson and the resurgent Hawks” in town for tonight’s game against the Bulls.
In my nearly three years of following the Hawks, I’ve never heard them hyped in a visiting town on game day. Sure, they’ve been mentioned as the opponent (or the entrée on that night’s menu back during the 13-69 season). But never have they been considered part of the featured attraction.
Can a guy making the All-Star Game change a team’s perception that easily? I wrote about this last week when JJ was named to the All-Star Game (a little newsroom trick called spinning a story forward. Editors love it. Cats like me don’t always get it at the time, but I always see the wisdom later). The Hawks become less and less of a joke as they continue to gain respectability with their improved play and the accolades that come along with that.
I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal. But if you could have seen the ad. It was something I would expect to see in Atlanta (come to think of it, I rarely see ads like this in Atlanta. But that’s something for the Atlanta Spirit marketing folks to worry about). It began with all these highlight clips of JJ with a voiceover about the Hawks’ All-Star and then finished with a couple of Josh Smith dunk highlights and the specifics about tonight’s game.
Now, I’m not trying to tell you that one commercial means the Hawks have arrived. Not by any stretch. But just the slightest jump in the Hawks’ profile, even as an opponent, is progress to me. It’s interesting. That old saying about image being everything really rings true.
Well, at least until 7:30 p.m. After that, rebounds, assists and made shots is everything.
