Transcript
NBA Funk
June 14, 2002
BOB GARFIELD: The NBA season ended this week after what's now become a typically drama-free finals culminating in [YAWNS] L.A. Laker championship. It's the third straight season which ended with the Lakers as champs, and television ratings were the lowest in years. But don't let that obscure the overall strides the NBA made this year. Through the regular season and through the playoffs up until the finals, TV ratings actually increased for the first time since Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls. A big reason is that the league has hit on a marketing strategy that celebrates what once was seen as the league's biggest liability --Leon Wynter reports on why basketball is bringing back the funk.
DAVID STERN: In L.A. there's not a lot to say--
LEON WYNTER: In New Jersey this week, National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern addressed the press.
DAVID STERN: -- the entire playoffs have been sort of a good coming together for us--
LEON WYNTER: Meanwhile, in another part of the hoop universe, the coach of the Roswell Rayguns was also taking media questions. Unlike Stern's corporate blue suit, he wore a loud plaid sports jacket that hasn't been seen since the Carter administration. [CLIP FROM NIKE COMMERCIAL PLAYS]
REPORTER: Coach, you were 5 and 79 last year. Why the playoff talk?
COACH: Well we made a couple of key trades-- and we got the funk.
MAN: OH, WELL-- GLORY BE, THE FUNK'S ON ME, BABBO-- CHORUS OF MALE SINGERS: KEEP THAT FUNK ALIVE-- [MUSIC]
MAN: --WELL IT'S 1975, AND-- WE JUST BE KEEPIN' THE FUNK ALIVE, BABY-- CHORUS OF FEMALE SINGERS: DO THAT FUNK-- [MUSIC]
LEON WYNTER: The Rayguns only exist in the fictional universe of Nike commercials. Nike, an NBA marketing partner and pre-eminent arbiter of sports marketing fashion, created the spots as an homage to the funky, freestyle play of the old American Basketball Association which was folded into the NBA in 1976. The spots fused the music of funkmasters George Clinton and Bootsy Collins with images of current NBA players transported back into the days of big hats, hot pants and slamdunking with a red, white and blue ball.
JIMMY SMITH: Man the ABA was the funk league.
LEON WYNTER: Jimmy Smith of the ad firm Weiden and Kennedy wrote the Dr. Funk commercials. Why let the funk out' the trunk now?
JIMMY SMITH: You know why? The reason is -- that was the last era where it was just the coolest! If you just look at hip hop culture, those cats don't sample from the '80s. They don't sample from the '90s. They go back to the '70s. Everything was real then.
LEON WYNTER: Many traditional fans still have a problem with the state of the game since the tattooed heirs of the ABA took control of the sport. You might expect to find them at a place like The Black Duck, a bar in affluent Westport, Connecticut that had 6 TV screens going during the playoffs. Manager Mike Connors has mixed feelings about the young stars' stewardship of the league.
MIKE CONNORS: You're going in between you know the old time basketball to the new time basketball. What k-- what they're trying to prove, I don't understand. You know what? I don't think everybody needs all that ink on their body and all that stuff but-- it's a different time, you know, and we all gotta sit there and you know - we look at it - but-- if I had my own way, I'd be back the old time way.
LEON WYNTER: As Laker guard Kobe Bryant vaults over 7 foot Net center Todd McCulloch and slams the ball home, Lenny Zouk exults -- He flushed it!
LENNY ZOUK: Well to see something like that, is-- to me it's a - it's a sign of sheer emotion. It's -it has nothing to do with the dunk. It has to do with emotion, and I love to see passion come out in any sport.
LEON WYNTER: For Zouk, keeping that funk alive means respecting the evolution of the game.
LENNY ZOUK: Basketball started out as a sport that was meant as an exercise. As soon as it got into the urban culture it took on a life of its own, and that's really where basketball was born, was more out of the urban culture because they were able to make it their own, personalize it and be able to make it more of an art form.
LEON WYNTER: Zouk is older than the Nike commercial's target audience. Credit David Stern for the fact that he still gets it. When he took over the league in 1982, Stern took what was perceived as the league's liabilities -- too black, too improvisational, too funky -- and turned them into assets. He legitimized the slam dunk by giving it a showcase at the annual All Star Game and brought the ABA 3 point shot into the NBA. And as for the grumbling from older fans that sounded like fear of an all-black league, Stern simply ignored it.
DAVID STERN: Because the very kids of those fans who grew up with Dr. J were totally focused on a combination of skill and fashion and not on race. We've had it come back again in some ways. You know when we went from Afro to Corn Row -- and my reaction to that was the same --hey, it's about fashion.
LEON WYNTER: It's proved to be a smart strategy according to Bob Williams, president of Burns Sports, an Evanston, Illinois firm that advises big corporations on using athletes to build their brands.
BOB WILLIAMS: Unlike its predecessors who were once under 40, this under 40 group is far more difficult to maintain as a, a loyal NBA-watching fan.
LEON WYNTER: Besides Nike, this year's funky hip hop-inflected commercials depict NBA players doing their thing for brands including Burger King, Nestle, Sprite, Reebok and Gatorade. Even George Gervin, once a funkily prolific scorer from the ABA glory days, now sells business solutions for IBM. Funk sells because it's about the essence of having a unique style of expression. That's why it works to reach a generation that seems to prize individuality above all things, even race.
MICHAEL WILBON: There's no homogeneous society now and you say well, the society at large won't accept this.
LEON WYNTER: Washington Post's sports columnist Michael Wilbon.
MICHAEL WILBON: It doesn't work that way. It's far too fragmented. There are far too many people with various tastes, whether they're musical, whether they pertain to sports or business or entertainment, and so I don't think that's bad. I just think it's something that we have to recognize and we have to stop looking at situations where we expect one person to be all there is. I think we've seen sort of the end of that craze. I don't know that Michael Jordan wasn't the final situation where we can look to one corporate pitchman and say this guy can get it done on every level. We may not see that again.
JIMMY SMITH: Can I say one more thing?
LEON WYNTER: Jimmy Smith of Weiden and Kennedy has 4 words for all those who aren't feeling the full expression of the old ABA DNA in the NBA.
JIMMY SMITH: Get over it, man. That's one of-- another reason why we went back to the ABA instead of, you know, reminiscing on the NBA -- the ABA was that rebel league that people loved to hate. They didn't like the big Afro's, they didn't like the goatees. It's the same thing now with the corn rows, with the tattoos. Few years down we'll be looking at that and we'll be going man, wasn't it great back then in the 9-- late '90s and-- those players - Vince Carter - jumped over a man! Don Ton [sp?] --it was the bomb! It was, it was great!
LEON WYNTER: And when that day comes, we might see Allen Iverson, tattoos, corn rows, attitude and all selling business solutions for IBM. For On the Media I'm Leon Wynter. [SONG PLAYS] [DRUM MUSIC]
MAN: STOMP THE FEET -- [...?...]! [DRUM BEAT] Huh! Huh Huh! Huh Huh! [ELECTRIC GUITAR, CYMBAL] Ha ha!
MIKE PESCA: That's it for this week's show. On the Media was produced by Janeen Price and Katya Rogers with Sean Landis and Michael Kavanagh and engineered by George Edwards and Dylan Keefe. We had help from Dan Bobkoff. Our web master is Amy Pearl. Thanks to the Culture Desk at WGBH and the Public Radio Web Site Transom.org.
BOB GARFIELD:Arun Rath is our senior producer and Dean Capello our executive producer. Bassist/composer Ben Allison wrote our theme. You can listen to the program and get free transcripts at onthemedia.org and e-mail us at onthemedia@wnyc.org. This is On the Media from National Public Radio. I'm Bob Garfield.
MIKE PESCA: And I'm Mike Pesca.
June 14, 2002
BOB GARFIELD: The NBA season ended this week after what's now become a typically drama-free finals culminating in [YAWNS] L.A. Laker championship. It's the third straight season which ended with the Lakers as champs, and television ratings were the lowest in years. But don't let that obscure the overall strides the NBA made this year. Through the regular season and through the playoffs up until the finals, TV ratings actually increased for the first time since Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls. A big reason is that the league has hit on a marketing strategy that celebrates what once was seen as the league's biggest liability --Leon Wynter reports on why basketball is bringing back the funk.
DAVID STERN: In L.A. there's not a lot to say--
LEON WYNTER: In New Jersey this week, National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern addressed the press.
DAVID STERN: -- the entire playoffs have been sort of a good coming together for us--
LEON WYNTER: Meanwhile, in another part of the hoop universe, the coach of the Roswell Rayguns was also taking media questions. Unlike Stern's corporate blue suit, he wore a loud plaid sports jacket that hasn't been seen since the Carter administration. [CLIP FROM NIKE COMMERCIAL PLAYS]
REPORTER: Coach, you were 5 and 79 last year. Why the playoff talk?
COACH: Well we made a couple of key trades-- and we got the funk.
MAN: OH, WELL-- GLORY BE, THE FUNK'S ON ME, BABBO-- CHORUS OF MALE SINGERS: KEEP THAT FUNK ALIVE-- [MUSIC]
MAN: --WELL IT'S 1975, AND-- WE JUST BE KEEPIN' THE FUNK ALIVE, BABY-- CHORUS OF FEMALE SINGERS: DO THAT FUNK-- [MUSIC]
LEON WYNTER: The Rayguns only exist in the fictional universe of Nike commercials. Nike, an NBA marketing partner and pre-eminent arbiter of sports marketing fashion, created the spots as an homage to the funky, freestyle play of the old American Basketball Association which was folded into the NBA in 1976. The spots fused the music of funkmasters George Clinton and Bootsy Collins with images of current NBA players transported back into the days of big hats, hot pants and slamdunking with a red, white and blue ball.
JIMMY SMITH: Man the ABA was the funk league.
LEON WYNTER: Jimmy Smith of the ad firm Weiden and Kennedy wrote the Dr. Funk commercials. Why let the funk out' the trunk now?
JIMMY SMITH: You know why? The reason is -- that was the last era where it was just the coolest! If you just look at hip hop culture, those cats don't sample from the '80s. They don't sample from the '90s. They go back to the '70s. Everything was real then.
LEON WYNTER: Many traditional fans still have a problem with the state of the game since the tattooed heirs of the ABA took control of the sport. You might expect to find them at a place like The Black Duck, a bar in affluent Westport, Connecticut that had 6 TV screens going during the playoffs. Manager Mike Connors has mixed feelings about the young stars' stewardship of the league.
MIKE CONNORS: You're going in between you know the old time basketball to the new time basketball. What k-- what they're trying to prove, I don't understand. You know what? I don't think everybody needs all that ink on their body and all that stuff but-- it's a different time, you know, and we all gotta sit there and you know - we look at it - but-- if I had my own way, I'd be back the old time way.
LEON WYNTER: As Laker guard Kobe Bryant vaults over 7 foot Net center Todd McCulloch and slams the ball home, Lenny Zouk exults -- He flushed it!
LENNY ZOUK: Well to see something like that, is-- to me it's a - it's a sign of sheer emotion. It's -it has nothing to do with the dunk. It has to do with emotion, and I love to see passion come out in any sport.
LEON WYNTER: For Zouk, keeping that funk alive means respecting the evolution of the game.
LENNY ZOUK: Basketball started out as a sport that was meant as an exercise. As soon as it got into the urban culture it took on a life of its own, and that's really where basketball was born, was more out of the urban culture because they were able to make it their own, personalize it and be able to make it more of an art form.
LEON WYNTER: Zouk is older than the Nike commercial's target audience. Credit David Stern for the fact that he still gets it. When he took over the league in 1982, Stern took what was perceived as the league's liabilities -- too black, too improvisational, too funky -- and turned them into assets. He legitimized the slam dunk by giving it a showcase at the annual All Star Game and brought the ABA 3 point shot into the NBA. And as for the grumbling from older fans that sounded like fear of an all-black league, Stern simply ignored it.
DAVID STERN: Because the very kids of those fans who grew up with Dr. J were totally focused on a combination of skill and fashion and not on race. We've had it come back again in some ways. You know when we went from Afro to Corn Row -- and my reaction to that was the same --hey, it's about fashion.
LEON WYNTER: It's proved to be a smart strategy according to Bob Williams, president of Burns Sports, an Evanston, Illinois firm that advises big corporations on using athletes to build their brands.
BOB WILLIAMS: Unlike its predecessors who were once under 40, this under 40 group is far more difficult to maintain as a, a loyal NBA-watching fan.
LEON WYNTER: Besides Nike, this year's funky hip hop-inflected commercials depict NBA players doing their thing for brands including Burger King, Nestle, Sprite, Reebok and Gatorade. Even George Gervin, once a funkily prolific scorer from the ABA glory days, now sells business solutions for IBM. Funk sells because it's about the essence of having a unique style of expression. That's why it works to reach a generation that seems to prize individuality above all things, even race.
MICHAEL WILBON: There's no homogeneous society now and you say well, the society at large won't accept this.
LEON WYNTER: Washington Post's sports columnist Michael Wilbon.
MICHAEL WILBON: It doesn't work that way. It's far too fragmented. There are far too many people with various tastes, whether they're musical, whether they pertain to sports or business or entertainment, and so I don't think that's bad. I just think it's something that we have to recognize and we have to stop looking at situations where we expect one person to be all there is. I think we've seen sort of the end of that craze. I don't know that Michael Jordan wasn't the final situation where we can look to one corporate pitchman and say this guy can get it done on every level. We may not see that again.
JIMMY SMITH: Can I say one more thing?
LEON WYNTER: Jimmy Smith of Weiden and Kennedy has 4 words for all those who aren't feeling the full expression of the old ABA DNA in the NBA.
JIMMY SMITH: Get over it, man. That's one of-- another reason why we went back to the ABA instead of, you know, reminiscing on the NBA -- the ABA was that rebel league that people loved to hate. They didn't like the big Afro's, they didn't like the goatees. It's the same thing now with the corn rows, with the tattoos. Few years down we'll be looking at that and we'll be going man, wasn't it great back then in the 9-- late '90s and-- those players - Vince Carter - jumped over a man! Don Ton [sp?] --it was the bomb! It was, it was great!
LEON WYNTER: And when that day comes, we might see Allen Iverson, tattoos, corn rows, attitude and all selling business solutions for IBM. For On the Media I'm Leon Wynter. [SONG PLAYS] [DRUM MUSIC]
MAN: STOMP THE FEET -- [...?...]! [DRUM BEAT] Huh! Huh Huh! Huh Huh! [ELECTRIC GUITAR, CYMBAL] Ha ha!
MIKE PESCA: That's it for this week's show. On the Media was produced by Janeen Price and Katya Rogers with Sean Landis and Michael Kavanagh and engineered by George Edwards and Dylan Keefe. We had help from Dan Bobkoff. Our web master is Amy Pearl. Thanks to the Culture Desk at WGBH and the Public Radio Web Site Transom.org.
BOB GARFIELD:Arun Rath is our senior producer and Dean Capello our executive producer. Bassist/composer Ben Allison wrote our theme. You can listen to the program and get free transcripts at onthemedia.org and e-mail us at onthemedia@wnyc.org. This is On the Media from National Public Radio. I'm Bob Garfield.
MIKE PESCA: And I'm Mike Pesca.