Bouncing back against Charlotte: Hornets-Cavs, Behind the Box Score
February 24, 2016Football Outsiders: Browns should sign Kirk Cousins
February 25, 2016Happy Thursday, Blawg Pound. The Cleveland Cavaliers buzzed their way back into the win column against the Charlotte Hornets thanks to a bushel of fastbreak points, but there’s not much legitimately interesting happening in sports right now unless you care about the self-perpetuating mock draft industry1 or which aspiring rookies have the hots for their mother. February has always been the lousiest month by a mile (my apologies to the Aquari-ies and Pisceses out there), but at least baseball’s on the horizon.
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This piece by Leigh Buchanan that appeared in Inc. on the cheerleading business was a piece of solid reporting and a surprisingly entertaining read (even though the republished version on Slate undoubtedly had the catchier title: “The Battle for the Cheerleading-Uniform Industry Is Surprisingly Cutthroat and Appropriately Glittery”).
I didn’t anticipate being so thoroughly fascinated by an article about cheerleading, partially because I’m a little creeped out by the whole sport. I’ve had younger cousins involved in it, so I know the cheerleading competition circuit is a little like gymnastics meets a preteen beauty pageant — so you’d have to be a little suspicious if I, as a 20-something-year-old man, was like really into competitive cheerleading. That’s not to demean the incredible athleticism and fitness required to thrive at competitive cheerleading either, but just to say I’m not the target demo for things with that much glitter and pep. Though Bring it On is okay.
But the business side of the cheerleading costume … err, I mean uniform, industry, is riveting and rife with the same challenges of any other industry. Buchanan’s piece focused on Rebel Athletic, a “challenger brand” in the industry taking on the mega-conglomerate Varsity Brands, a “$1.2 billion company owned by the $3.5 billion private-equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners.” Rebel was founded by Karen Noseff Aldridge, a compelling character and law school dropout with startup experience running a “super-premium jeans brand” that eventually bottomed out in the recession even after gracing the buttocks of Jennifer Aniston and Eva Longoria. Here’s an excerpt.
It’s another chance for Rebel to play the “challenger brand”: an upstart using unexpected tactics to tackle an entrenched player. Mark Barden, a partner in the consulting firm Eatbigfish, which coined the term, says Rebel is among the purest examples of a challenger brand he has seen. Noseff Aldridge “is incensed by the way Varsity works and wants to fix it,” he says. “You need that sense of righteous indignation to fuel a small group of people up against formidable odds to go back and back and back again to try and win.”
A challenger brand can’t do something just better: It must also do something that’s different–dramatically so. “Our focus is to do everything 180 degrees different from Varsity,” says NoseffAldridge, who is intense and smart, her rapid speech interrupted by occasional sizzles of irritation.
While reading, I couldn’t help but think of the Cleveland Browns, due to the similarities shared with Rival, and my duty as a blogger to relate everything to Cleveland sports. Like Rival is in cheerleading, the Browns are a challenger brand in the NFL. Noseff Aldridge’s intent to “take an outsider’s view by applying insights from other industries” sounds like exactly the same rhetoric espoused by new Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta — same with the talk of “find[ing] synergies and efficiencies” and “turn[ing] constraints into opportunities.”
Noseff Aldridge and Rival are doing anything they can to get an edge over their cheerleading robber baron competition, such as having a dedicated team of designers for one-off uniforms, taking direct control of Chinese manufacturing, putting together an alliance of marketing, legal, and financial consultants to attract customers, producing proprietary fabrics, employing a medium-quantity, high-quality production model that differs from their competitors, and ripping off moves from Kenneth Cole, who broke into the shoe industry in the 1980s using some creative tactics.
It’s a good read, even just to find out wtf a “locked skirt” and “bodyskort” are. The Browns are already being run by a baseball executive, computer scientist, and lawyer. Maybe they should add a cheerleader into the mix. They don’t have any on the sideline, so why not the front office?
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“Working at work is a thing of the past,” according to Chris Plante at the Verge. He had some interesting thoughts on the changing ideas of (and settings of) “work” and mobile, ubiquitous media.
The bored-at-work machine gained such pull in the last decade that entertainment and corporate drudgery have, in an effort to appease the dissatisfied worker, wed themselves in the form of our most precious tools. Google Hangouts, Slack, and Twitter are designed to be small, low-impact, and businesslike, while producing an endless stream of potential distractions. The tools are so good at concealing their business purposes that they’ve wiggled their way into evenings and weekends, bringing both the fun and dread with them. A work day may end at 6PM, but Slack and Twitter never stop.
And for that reason, I wonder if we are gradually surrendering our free time to work duties in exchange for work becoming a little bit more like free time.
It’s an interesting conundrum. The future brings the possible freedom of not having to be “at work” to work, but also the oppressive reality (and expectation) that there’s never a time to not be doing work. That’s the tradeoff. I think it’s important to ditch all connections for stretches of time — allow the brain to perform some maintenance; reboot, you know? But does the rest of the world … and does your boss? Anyway, this edition of “While We’re Waiting…” has been brought to you by Reading Things by Jerks on the Internet: It’s better than work!
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Your Calvin and Hobbes strip of the day. Social media, in totality.
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And now for the random 90s song of the day. Relying again on The People v. O.J. Simpson for inspiration (and to play some hip-hop for the first time in a while), today’s 90s song is Above the Law’s “Black Superman.” The song has a vintage West Coast-beat fit for an Eazy-E tune2, and the lyrics and album title (Uncle Sam’s Curse) are consistent with West Coast hip-hop’s history of social protest and distaste for the police/the government.
“Black Superman” made a fantastic appearance in The People v. O.J. on Tuesday when O.J. Simpson and the defense reacted as if to say, “What, they have a black guy now!?” when the prosecution added Chris Darden as its third chair. It’s a comical moment enhanced greatly by the presence of “Black Superman,” with a possible sideways allusion to O.J. with the line “loose juice.”3 (Warning: language.)
I hit the loose juice and pulls up in the deuce
He gives me the scoop about the fake ass troops
https://youtu.be/CDMsP4BU0A0?t=32s
- I thought Craig, linked to above and here, nailed the idiocy of the draft season well. Really? McShay’s new mock draft differs from the one he released a few days ago? He must have some new incredible insights, because it’s definitely not because he’s making it up because that’s his job! [↩]
- And sampled in-part from the Ohio Players’ “Funky Worm.” [↩]
- This montage of David Schwimmer saying “Juice” and “Uncle Juice” is my favorite thing the internet has done in some time. [↩]
24 Comments
1. I spent one autumn watching high school jayvee football games on Saturday morning. There weren’t many people in the stands, but that never bothered the jayvee cheerleading squad. Bless their hearts, but those little girls were relentless in their nonstop top-of-their-lungs enthusiasm, to the point where I wanted to yell, “Just shut up for a few minutes and give us some peace and quiet!” But I didn’t. Eventually, I just began sitting around the 30-yard line where the cacophony wasn’t so annoying. But I have to admire their persistence and spirit.
2. The money-making factory known as The National Football League pays its cheerleaders squat, and they have to fight just to get that. I wonder why they bother. What do they get out of it?
good post …
Maybe bosses are bosses because they work when not “at work”.
Just saying.
So many times have I wished “law school dropout” was my sobriquet . . .
bring on the Dawgettes !! …
no offense to these fine ladies … big girls need lovin’ too.
hmmm … then what would you be ???
Instead of dropout, you become law school debtor. Or law school survivor?
If we can’t start a multi million dollar business, are we too old for med school? Just spitballing.
Like an idiot, I decided to finish. Because, “I’ve never quit anything.” Idiocy.
I’ve decided that when I retire (sooner rather than later), I’m going to own a food truck in some beach town. I’ve given up on “wealth” or “professional success.” I just want to make delicious breakfast foods and tasty sandwiches for people on vacation.
I love how those law schools are constantly calling for more money. Did they not get enough from us?
So, should we refer to you as GO Esq, now?
I’ll cyber punch you if you do.
that is admirable & a lot less stress … my wife & i own a seasonal restaurant & it’s a lot of work , man … a lot of work.
I believe it, and admire those that do it. That’s why I just want the truck. No rent, no utilities, keep my own hours – and if I hate it, I’ll just drive it off a cliff.
“sobriquet” ??? … WTF !!??!! … i don’t think i’ve ever heard that word used in a sentence before. i am honored to be in the presence of such educated folks.
maybe you could’ve been an english teacher … maybe you still can. it’s never too late to try new things.
good call … LMAO !!
Any kid in college who tells me they’re thinking about going (we know a lot), I tell them don’t. They laugh thinking I’m kidding, but then I do my best serious tone to disabuse them of the notion. It’s a sucker’s bet, much like a lot of the educational machinery. But I digress. The year after I graduated, the market went to S, so I was lucky. New grads…serious poor bastards. I feel for them.
Or, Saul GOodman? 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzyCi1BFATA
We’re living parallel lives. I give the same advice, and it’s actually sad to see the crushed look on their faces when they realize I’m being serious. I also consider myself lucky to have landed where I did when I did.
Slippin’ Garry.
I know you’re a music fan, and this thread reminds me of this song. Hope you enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaZGHcFTTHw
thanks CB … i never heard this song before. i’m a dinosaur , stuck in the 70’s . i thought the vocal harmonies were pretty good in this song.
I would imagine their motivation is not dissimilar to amateur musicians who play to sparsely populated crowds: you perform because you believe in the craft.
We’ve had a few cheerleader-related conversations on WFNY and I’m always surprised at the vitriol people aim at the profession, as well as the continuing belief that NFL cheerleaders are undeserving of a fair wage and benefits. As I understand it, the argument seems to be some combination of (1) cheerleaders add nothing of value to sporting events (2) they are over-sexualized (i.e. “glorified strippers”). As regards the NFL, both arguments strike me as particularly ironic. Compared to the brutal nature of football, which imposes long-term physical and mental toll on players, cheerleading, with its gaiety, conviviality, and relative innocuousness, would appear a much more socially-productive form of entertainment. And as far as the “glorified stripper” argument goes, we fail to see football players – with their skin-tight pants, enhanced shoulder pads, exposed and bulging biceps, and sanctioned displays of aggression and masculinity – as being equally if not more sexualized than cheerleaders.
As such, criticism of cheerleaders always falls a bit flat, and I think we’d do well to question some of the assumptions and biases that color our understanding of the profession.