catlover79
05-14-2010, 11:05 PM
http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/we-are-lebron-video-a-tongue-in-cheek-plea-from-cleveland/
May 14, 2010, 5:44 pm
‘We Are LeBron’ Video: a Tongue-in-Cheek Plea from Cleveland
By LYNN ZINSER
At one point in the waning N.B.A. season, Mike Polk, a lifelong Cavaliers fan and video producer, had an idea to produce a video to help convince LeBron James to stay in Cleveland after he becomes a free agent on July 1. He convinced Break Media to go along with his idea, and when the Cavaliers were unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs Thursday night, the video had its opening.
The result: on Break.com, the video hit the Internet, filled with Cleveland celebrities — everyone from a famous local furniture pitchman to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland — singing “We are LeBron” to the tune of “We Are the World.”
It is part earnest pleading to the city’s biggest star, part tongue-in-cheek poke at Cleveland itself — including offering to name all the streets after James. Polk said even the choice of song was part of the joke. “We Are the World” was originally used to raise awareness for hunger in Africa. “We’re just trying to convince a guy who’s really good at throwing a ball through a circle to stay in our city,” Polk said.
In a way, the way the Cavaliers lost may have added to the appeal of the video.
“Not that we could have foreseen that their season would end like this — although if you study the history of Cleveland sports, we should have foreseen that it would end like this — but at first we worried that it would hurt the video,” said Polk. “But actually I think it helped the video. I think it was kind of a catharsis for people. It does represent what a lot of people in Cleveland are thinking.”
The video made sense at Break Media because, as Polk said, “we make funny videos.” He said it was surprisingly easy to convince the local celebrities to participate. “For the most part, people were happy to respond,” he said. “People were good sports about it.”
Polk said the governor’s security team swept the site and then he got the humorous duty of introducing Strickland to “the Norton Furniture guy.”
According to Break Media’s Jonathan Smalls, in the first two hours the video was posted, it had more than 80,000 views, was shared on Facebook 5,100 times and re-tweeted on Twitter more than 500 times. A Cleveland sports failure might be a cliche at this point, but still a popular one.
“This is just like the other disappointments in Cleveland sports history, except unlike The Drive and The Fumble, this was more of a slow burn through two rounds of the playoffs,” Polk said. “But I’m always overwhelmed by realizing that, we’re so used to these things by now that we just deal with them. I’ve seen a lot of disappointed people around town but not one surprised person.”
And some may even be laughing at their own earnestness.
May 14, 2010, 5:44 pm
‘We Are LeBron’ Video: a Tongue-in-Cheek Plea from Cleveland
By LYNN ZINSER
At one point in the waning N.B.A. season, Mike Polk, a lifelong Cavaliers fan and video producer, had an idea to produce a video to help convince LeBron James to stay in Cleveland after he becomes a free agent on July 1. He convinced Break Media to go along with his idea, and when the Cavaliers were unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs Thursday night, the video had its opening.
The result: on Break.com, the video hit the Internet, filled with Cleveland celebrities — everyone from a famous local furniture pitchman to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland — singing “We are LeBron” to the tune of “We Are the World.”
It is part earnest pleading to the city’s biggest star, part tongue-in-cheek poke at Cleveland itself — including offering to name all the streets after James. Polk said even the choice of song was part of the joke. “We Are the World” was originally used to raise awareness for hunger in Africa. “We’re just trying to convince a guy who’s really good at throwing a ball through a circle to stay in our city,” Polk said.
In a way, the way the Cavaliers lost may have added to the appeal of the video.
“Not that we could have foreseen that their season would end like this — although if you study the history of Cleveland sports, we should have foreseen that it would end like this — but at first we worried that it would hurt the video,” said Polk. “But actually I think it helped the video. I think it was kind of a catharsis for people. It does represent what a lot of people in Cleveland are thinking.”
The video made sense at Break Media because, as Polk said, “we make funny videos.” He said it was surprisingly easy to convince the local celebrities to participate. “For the most part, people were happy to respond,” he said. “People were good sports about it.”
Polk said the governor’s security team swept the site and then he got the humorous duty of introducing Strickland to “the Norton Furniture guy.”
According to Break Media’s Jonathan Smalls, in the first two hours the video was posted, it had more than 80,000 views, was shared on Facebook 5,100 times and re-tweeted on Twitter more than 500 times. A Cleveland sports failure might be a cliche at this point, but still a popular one.
“This is just like the other disappointments in Cleveland sports history, except unlike The Drive and The Fumble, this was more of a slow burn through two rounds of the playoffs,” Polk said. “But I’m always overwhelmed by realizing that, we’re so used to these things by now that we just deal with them. I’ve seen a lot of disappointed people around town but not one surprised person.”
And some may even be laughing at their own earnestness.