Posts tagged espn

Athletes Recreating Iconic Album Covers

As ESPN The Magazine’s music issue hits the stands they’ve recreated old album covers with current day athletes.

Here we have:

Click through for slideshows of each photo shoot. Select to embiggen.

Oksana Masters ESPN the Magazine’s annual celebration of the athletic form hits the stands this week with six different covers (Rob Gronkowski, Jose Bautista, Tyson Chandler, Daniela Hantuchova, Candace Parker and Ronda Rousey). Says Deputy Editor Neely Lohmann about pulling the issue together: I can’t begin to imagine how many images we shot for this issue — thousands, certainly. And whittling down those images to our favorites is both tremendously fun and incredibly difficult. But the photographers do the first edit; they send us the ones they are most happy with. From that group, I work closely with the photo editors, Karen Frank and Nancy Weisman, creative director, John Korpics, and Editor-in-Chief, Chad Millman, to select the ones we feel best represent the athlete. But even then, we have some tough calls. That’s why we include exclusive extras in our online photo gallery. And that gallery would be here. Image: Oksana Masters, Paralympic rower from the Ukraine. ESPN the Magazine: Bodies We Want 2012.

Oksana Masters

ESPN the Magazine’s annual celebration of the athletic form hits the stands this week with six different covers (Rob Gronkowski, Jose Bautista, Tyson Chandler, Daniela Hantuchova, Candace Parker and Ronda Rousey).

Says Deputy Editor Neely Lohmann about pulling the issue together:

I can’t begin to imagine how many images we shot for this issue — thousands, certainly. And whittling down those images to our favorites is both tremendously fun and incredibly difficult. But the photographers do the first edit; they send us the ones they are most happy with. From that group, I work closely with the photo editors, Karen Frank and Nancy Weisman, creative director, John Korpics, and Editor-in-Chief, Chad Millman, to select the ones we feel best represent the athlete. But even then, we have some tough calls. That’s why we include exclusive extras in our online photo gallery.

And that gallery would be here.

Image: Oksana Masters, Paralympic rower from the Ukraine. ESPN the Magazine: Bodies We Want 2012.

We’d wonder what they were thinking but that would assume they were thinking. Via ESPN: Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.

We’d wonder what they were thinking but that would assume they were thinking.

Via ESPN:

Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.

Visualizing Football Player Media Coverage Player height is scaled to number of mentions he received on ESPN’s Sportscenter or Sunday NFL Countdown during the 2011 season. Via the New York Times. Click to embiggen.

Visualizing Football Player Media Coverage

Player height is scaled to number of mentions he received on ESPN’s Sportscenter or Sunday NFL Countdown during the 2011 season.

Via the New York Times.

Click to embiggen.

What’s taking preference now is to try to get as ubiquitous as possible. Program and design from the mobile standpoint first, then extrapolate what could be applied for the PC, television and print experience.

Michael Bayle, VP and general manager of ESPN Mobile. ESPN Deems Mobile First Screen.

In a keynote at MediaPost’s Mobile Insider Summit, Bayle said that users spent 45% more time with ESPN mobile content in 2011 than 2010, with 150,000 people using the networks mobile products at any one time.

Via MediaPost:

One of Bayle’s initiatives since joining ESPN last fall has been to reduce its focus to a handful of apps from the scores of titles released in recent years. That means the strongest focus on apps would be dedicated to Sports Center, collegiate sports, sports fantasy leagues, ESPN the Magazine and international sports like soccer and cricket.

He noted that apps overall still account for the vast majority of the company’s mobile usage, although the embrace of HTML5 programming should swing the balance back in favor of the mobile Web in the coming years.

ESPN’s mobile strategy is seen in terms of “bridges,” connecting people to its broader digital offerings, TV and mobile commerce. Mobile is the gateway to other screens and media formats. It also embraces social properties, like Twitter and Facebook, to distribute content more widely and allow fans to connect around live sporting events and hometown teams.

When it comes to TV, part of the goal is to capitalize on two-screen viewing and the gradual shift toward interactive television. As an example, Bayle pointed to a new partnership the network unveiled today with Shazam that allows Winter X Games viewers on ESPN to use the Shazam smartphone app to access video highlights, photos and even music from the event.