Just My Thoughts: And Other’s as Well
Just My Thoughts
Mike Sloan Oct 7, 2005
“Tank on the mammoth tank to move when moving.”
I know what you are thinking after reading the opening sentence of this Internet hack’s story: “What the hell sense does that make?”
If you are confused, rest assured that all is well because that
exact string of words was actually penciled down many a year ago.
It was when I worked in the video game industry in the test
department when a fellow tester tried to express one of the bugs
within a game.
Naturally, laughter spewed across our QA department faster than a raging mudslide. But the funny part about “Tank on the mammoth tank to move when moving” is that one co-worker was able to actually decipher the meaning behind the grammatically handicapped bug report.
Nobody can decipher this riddle. When I first heard of UFC President Dana White’s decision, I simply asked my informant, “What the hell sense does that make?”
Unfortunately for the world of MMA and its fans, it makes no sense whatsoever. Who would actually spring the idea to eradicate free press and, basically, free marketing from Zuffa shows? To me, it seems like an act of lunacy to get rid of what essentially is the life force of the sport.
But I’m sure Mr. White has some logic behind his latest and, in his opinion, greatest decision to date. Stripping away the MMA media — Sherdog.com, Full Contact Fighter, a newspaper that has been around literally years before Zuffa purchased the UFC, MMAWeekly.com and countless others — was a bold decision.
Again the question to Dana is: where is the logic behind that move?
I can understand if the UFC was such a mainstream monolith that it simply didn’t need any press coverage whatsoever. But let’s face facts: the UFC is further from mainstream coverage than anyone believes it to be.
Being labeled as “mainstream” to me means that the sport is continuously highlighted on various sports shows, particularly SportsCenter. I watch ESPN’s Emmy-winning program religiously and I honestly can’t think of any UFC highlights ever shown on SportsCenter.
Even boxing is rarely shown on SportsCenter and ESPN regularly has Friday Night Fights as well as Tuesday Night Fights during the summer.
What is mainstream? Pro football. Baseball. Basketball. Golf. Even the WNBA. Not UFC.
White might not realize this right now but the media is more crucial than he thinks.
“A decision to ban all media from covering the events or the product is not what I consider sound business,” a publicist for one of the world’s top video game studios told Sherdog.com on the condition of anonymity. “The video game business generates literally billions of dollars annually. Without a video game media, I honestly don’t know if the industry would survive in this Internet-driven day and age. I don’t see how anyone can operate an entertainment company without press, even if some of the press is considered ‘bad.’”
“Sometimes, bad press is great press,” she continued. “We have frequently had our game demos reviewed and after the media got a hold of our product(s), we sometimes had to go back and correct our mistakes. It usually always was beneficial.”
And the video game industry is not the only non-fight-related biz to feel perplexed by the decision (and for the record, it was not revealed to the PR suits the motive behind such questioning or of Zuffa’s new media policy).
Another spokesman for a Major League Baseball team had a similar puzzled reaction.
“We get hammered by the press continuously for virtually everything under the sun,” he said, also on the condition of anonymity. “Having press cover our games and practices and what have you, greatly aids our team in bringing in fans both loyal and casual. If we are in a slump, as we certainly were this season, sometimes the media can spin views in a way, even if it of ridicule, that turned-away fans might buy tickets to check us out.”
And if that’s not all, another publicist for a major professional boxing promotional organization, who asked not to be identified, was befuddled about such a move that he simply couldn’t even begin to think of why such a decision was made.
“You threw me a curveball, Mike,” the publicist said. “I don’t know someone would do that. I don’t know what to say. We have restricted media passes to certain individuals at times, but never the entire boxing media. I don’t know if that is a good idea. Is somebody angry?”
Conspiracy Theories
I, like my boy Greg Savage, have heard countless conspiracy “reports” about Mr. White’s plans to eliminate all MMA press from attending UFC 55 and perhaps future events, but I can’t even begin to think why he’d construct such a hideous calamity.
Was it because Full Contact Fighter put PRIDE on the cover of their newspaper for three consecutive issues? Was it because White can’t bear to read another article or column that questions or targets some Zuffa decision? Is it because White truly believes that the UFC is the only MMA organization in the world and since not everybody praises him and actually does pay attention to other shows, that he’ll “show them”?
The sad truth about this predicament is that White and company have yet to offer a reason behind what seems to be an illogical and rash decision. If White came out and said, “I decided to do this because … ” then maybe I’d understand where he’s coming from. With that, then I’ll pull together with the rest of my Sherdog colleagues and figure out what we could do to help Zuffa in the long run, thusly being the much-needed catalyst to help MMA continue to grow.
But since White has yet to offer such rumblings, we can only scratch our heads as if we all had a scorching case of lice and try to figure out the logic.
I know what you are thinking after reading the opening sentence of this Internet hack’s story: “What the hell sense does that make?”
Advertisement
Naturally, laughter spewed across our QA department faster than a raging mudslide. But the funny part about “Tank on the mammoth tank to move when moving” is that one co-worker was able to actually decipher the meaning behind the grammatically handicapped bug report.
But what irks me just a tad is that the same cannot be said about
Zuffa’s dubious decision to reject every single media outlet from
the mixed martial arts world from covering Monday’s Ultimate Fight
Night and Friday’s UFC 55.
Nobody can decipher this riddle. When I first heard of UFC President Dana White’s decision, I simply asked my informant, “What the hell sense does that make?”
Unfortunately for the world of MMA and its fans, it makes no sense whatsoever. Who would actually spring the idea to eradicate free press and, basically, free marketing from Zuffa shows? To me, it seems like an act of lunacy to get rid of what essentially is the life force of the sport.
But I’m sure Mr. White has some logic behind his latest and, in his opinion, greatest decision to date. Stripping away the MMA media — Sherdog.com, Full Contact Fighter, a newspaper that has been around literally years before Zuffa purchased the UFC, MMAWeekly.com and countless others — was a bold decision.
Again the question to Dana is: where is the logic behind that move?
I can understand if the UFC was such a mainstream monolith that it simply didn’t need any press coverage whatsoever. But let’s face facts: the UFC is further from mainstream coverage than anyone believes it to be.
Being labeled as “mainstream” to me means that the sport is continuously highlighted on various sports shows, particularly SportsCenter. I watch ESPN’s Emmy-winning program religiously and I honestly can’t think of any UFC highlights ever shown on SportsCenter.
Even boxing is rarely shown on SportsCenter and ESPN regularly has Friday Night Fights as well as Tuesday Night Fights during the summer.
What is mainstream? Pro football. Baseball. Basketball. Golf. Even the WNBA. Not UFC.
White might not realize this right now but the media is more crucial than he thinks.
“A decision to ban all media from covering the events or the product is not what I consider sound business,” a publicist for one of the world’s top video game studios told Sherdog.com on the condition of anonymity. “The video game business generates literally billions of dollars annually. Without a video game media, I honestly don’t know if the industry would survive in this Internet-driven day and age. I don’t see how anyone can operate an entertainment company without press, even if some of the press is considered ‘bad.’”
“Sometimes, bad press is great press,” she continued. “We have frequently had our game demos reviewed and after the media got a hold of our product(s), we sometimes had to go back and correct our mistakes. It usually always was beneficial.”
And the video game industry is not the only non-fight-related biz to feel perplexed by the decision (and for the record, it was not revealed to the PR suits the motive behind such questioning or of Zuffa’s new media policy).
Another spokesman for a Major League Baseball team had a similar puzzled reaction.
“We get hammered by the press continuously for virtually everything under the sun,” he said, also on the condition of anonymity. “Having press cover our games and practices and what have you, greatly aids our team in bringing in fans both loyal and casual. If we are in a slump, as we certainly were this season, sometimes the media can spin views in a way, even if it of ridicule, that turned-away fans might buy tickets to check us out.”
And if that’s not all, another publicist for a major professional boxing promotional organization, who asked not to be identified, was befuddled about such a move that he simply couldn’t even begin to think of why such a decision was made.
“You threw me a curveball, Mike,” the publicist said. “I don’t know someone would do that. I don’t know what to say. We have restricted media passes to certain individuals at times, but never the entire boxing media. I don’t know if that is a good idea. Is somebody angry?”
Conspiracy Theories
I, like my boy Greg Savage, have heard countless conspiracy “reports” about Mr. White’s plans to eliminate all MMA press from attending UFC 55 and perhaps future events, but I can’t even begin to think why he’d construct such a hideous calamity.
Was it because Full Contact Fighter put PRIDE on the cover of their newspaper for three consecutive issues? Was it because White can’t bear to read another article or column that questions or targets some Zuffa decision? Is it because White truly believes that the UFC is the only MMA organization in the world and since not everybody praises him and actually does pay attention to other shows, that he’ll “show them”?
The sad truth about this predicament is that White and company have yet to offer a reason behind what seems to be an illogical and rash decision. If White came out and said, “I decided to do this because … ” then maybe I’d understand where he’s coming from. With that, then I’ll pull together with the rest of my Sherdog colleagues and figure out what we could do to help Zuffa in the long run, thusly being the much-needed catalyst to help MMA continue to grow.
But since White has yet to offer such rumblings, we can only scratch our heads as if we all had a scorching case of lice and try to figure out the logic.
