You have the Razzies, you have the Oscars, but what do you give out to people that are absolutely “PR Nightmares?”  That is the question– I was trying to think of a name to for “PR Nightmare of the Week.”  So, what did I decide on?  I am going to call my “PR Nightmare” Awards– L&O Award.  Huh?  What is that?  Well, I consider myself a foodie, and so I was thinking that the one food that I feel that no matter it was “spinned” to me, I wasn’t going to change my mind about it– it’s going to be bad anyway!  L&O stands for liver and onions.  There is no hope to make liver and onions taste better, no matter what you do– like PR Nightmares! 😀  I thought that this was an appropriate name to select. 🙂

never an end to athletes, coaches and former athletes having PR nightmares!

When you look at the news, there seems to be a lot of stories out there– and a ton of PR Nightmares.  So, here are the top five PR Nightmares (in athletics) that are in the news presently:

  • OJ Simpson arrested in Las Vegas:  Need I say more?  I’m definitely not a fan of OJ, and so when I saw this happen in the news, I wasn’t too surprised.  It seems that he is just a walking PR Nightmare, 24/7.
  • Floyd Landis & the Tour de France Doping Crisis:  It was announced recently that Floyd Landis, the Tour de France winner in 2006, lost his case.  Are we surprised?  No.  Both of his tests came back positive for testosterone, and what makes this case a PR Nightmare is the fact that he was trying to do his own publicity and say that he was innocent (on his web site, through press conferences, etc.)  Overall, it was just not a pretty thing to witness.
  • Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas being involved in a sexual harassment suit by a former employee:  IT seems that the NFL and the NBA both have had their fair share of PR nightmares this year, and this just adds to it.
  • Auburn & Notre Dame Football:  I would consider both of these teams to be a PR Nightmare situations because of the fact that Notre Dame this year is 0-3, and they have a lot of answers to provide to their alumni, fans, and student body.  And Auburn lost to Mississippi State– I know what happened to Coach Zook (who is a really nice guy & great football coach) at Florida when he lost to them in 2005– he lost his job.  So, I guess we will have to see what happens!
  • Patriots Cheating Scandal:  This has been a huge issue for the NFL because it seems as time passes,  more information is coming out about Bill Belichick and other issues in the league.  Cheating is wrong, plain and simple– and it seems to me that the NFL is in for a tough road ahead of them– they had to deal with the Michael Vick case, and now this– it will be interesting to see how this evolves.

One thing for sure about Sports PR & Crisis Management– you will always have a job!  Because there are always crises to deal with and PR Nightmares to be addressed.  So, all of these cases are in the news right now, and I will be interested to see how it all ends up.

I hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen