Hazlehurst’s Blog
Insight and commentary from John Hazlehurst

A PR opportunity for the USOC

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Even my pals, The Coffee Shop Geezers, occasionally come up with worthwhile insights, despite their advanced age(s) and incipient senile dementia.

So it was yesterday, when one of ‘em offered these sour thoughts on the USOC.

“The USOC is loathed in this community, just loathed,” said Mr. X. “They’ve never really been involved in the city anyway. The execs are in the community, but not of the community. They don’t belong to boards, they don’t support local non-profits, they don’t really hire locally. The organization may make a big contribution just by being here, but no one sees that-all they see are the stories about the city closing parks, museums, community centers, swimming pools, and youth sports-and then handing the USOC $30 million. If they just left town and gave the city that damn building back, I think most people would welcome that - even though it’d just be another kick in the butt for the city.”

Mr. X has a point.

The USOC is currently accepting applications for a “Managing director-media and communications” (a fancy way of saying “assistant P.R. director”). It’s a position that any of the scores of experienced sports reporters, editors, and P.R. professionals currently resident in our fair city could easily fill - but none of ‘em will be hired.

That’s because one of the qualifications calls for “a minimum of 8-10 years professional experience in sports public relations or sports marketing environment.” Also, “prior experience within the Olympic movement (is) a plus.”

Well. I guess that disqualifies everyone who’s not already a member of the dysfunctional little club that feasts at that particular trough. Too bad, because the pay’s pretty good. According to the job description (read it & weep, all you employed/semi-employed/unemployed editors/journalists/PR pros) “Salary 131,000-167,000 U.S. Dollar (USD).”

Talk about an incoherent job description!! ‘A minimum of 8-10 years’? Does that mean a minimum of 8 years, 9 years, or 10 years? And ‘salary 131,000-167,000 U.S. Dollar (USD)? That reads like the “Nigerian letters,” which occasionally pop up in your inbox, giving you the good news about your latest lottery win.

Enough carping! Clearly, the USOC needs better PR-and here’s some free advice.

Guys, it really doesn’t do much for your image to scam off $30 million from a broke municipality and appear to give nothing back.

Consider Las Vegas casinos, which are not exactly famous for their generosity. If you spend a weekend there, gamble away tens of thousands, and end up penniless, the casino manager will usually front you a few bucks for a bus ticket home.

In the same spirit, you might offer to pick up the tab for keeping the municipal swimming pools open this summer. Good PR, not all that expensive, and who knows-there might be a budding Michael Phelps out there, with size 16 feet and double-jointed ankles. But unless he learns to swim, he won’t be around for Chicago-oops, I mean Rio-in 2016.

And isn’t that what the Olympic movement is all about-helping America’s kids to be fit and healthy? That’s the line, anyway-and it’s up to you to show us whether you actually believe in your own slogans.

So if you do, just give city council member Sean Paige a call. He’s trying to raise enough money from private sources to keep the community centers, the pools, the Pioneers Museum, and Rockledge Ranch open, and I know that he’d be delighted to hear from you.

Here’s his contact information:

P.O. Box 1575
Colorado Springs, CO 80901Phone: 385-5470
FAX: 385-5495

E-mail address: SPaige@springsgov.com

I know he’ll get right back to you … after all, he was once a professional journalist!

Posted by John Hazlehurst on December 1st, 2009 :: Filed under Blog
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Leader luncheons and the 6035 plan

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“Community Leader Lunches” follow a familiar script.

They take place in one of four venues: the Antlers, The Broadmoor, Cheyenne Mountain Resort or Penrose House.

You arrive, park, get your name tag and table assignment, spend a few minutes schmoozing and sit down.

You eat your salad. You eat your bread. You make polite conversation with your fellow sufferers. In desperation, you eat your faintly repellent chicken. A prominent person comes to the podium. He/she introduces the politicians in attendance. Polite applause. You listen to the featured speaker. You are subjected to videos, slides and a PowerPoint presentation. More polite applause. You leave.

Yesterday’s luncheon at the Cheyenne Mountain resort was intended to kickoff the implementation of the “6035” plan for regional economic development, prepared by Angelou Economics.

Angelos Angelou, the company’s founder and CEO, gave a thankfully brief and notably lethargic presentation outlining the challenges and opportunities that face our community. He concluded by saying “Ask not what economic development can do for you — ask rather what you can do for economic development.”

Somehow, paraphrasing President John Kennedy’s eloquent call to action to serve such a pedestrian and parochial goal seemed inappropriate. It reminded me of some particularly tasteless commercials aired during the Broncos-Redskins game, during which shots of our greatest national icons (the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial) were overlaid by images of beer bottles.

But that’s OK – now it was time for action. 6035’s organizers pledged that this particular community planning process would be very different from any previous iteration! It’s time for action, not words! And here’s what we heard.

An “implementation committee” had been created. The six folks named thereto are all, as Mick Jagger might have put it “men (and women) of wealth and taste.” And what would the committee implement?

With the help of a $100K grant from El Pomar, they plan to hire a “leader” by the first quarter of next year, to move forward and, like, implement the plan.

The luncheon concluded with a puzzling sequence of cheesy-but-inspiring video clips from Braveheart, Patton, Mr. Smith goes to Washington and a dozen other films, in which selfless leaders exhort their followers to persevere and conquer. It was a sad commentary upon the power of YouTube to add yet another layer of awfulness to already awful events.

OK, I’m being snarky and negative, making fun of my betters who are striving against the odds to keep this dull-witted city afloat. I plead guilty — but suppose that the organizers of this luncheon had opted for action, instead of stasis. Suppose that they’d taken a risk, and tried to show the city that its leaders can act, not just agree to hire someone to figure out how to take action.

Suppose that all the members of the implementation committee had stood before the 300+ attendees and said something along these lines:

“El Pomar has pledged $100,000 to the Pioneers Museum, on the condition that the people in this room collectively pledge $50,000 right now. Show the community that we can act, not just talk. We’re putting up a thousand bucks apiece. This isn’t a test — the media’s right here, the TV cameras are running. If the folks in this room can’t do it, who will? Success or failure — it’s up to you.”

Now that would have been something to behold — and instead of making fun of the  ”lads and ladies who lunch,” we media bottom-feeders would have something fun and uplifting to write about. And who knows — if I’d been horsecollared by one of the implementers, I might have written a check myself.

Is it OK if I post-date it?

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Posted by John Hazlehurst on November 18th, 2009 :: Filed under Uncategorized
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