Thursday, September 13, 2007

Roy Jones Jr. attempts to save boxing by joining a frat

We all know boxing is having trouble these days. MMA is definitely kicking its ass. So the question of late has been, how does boxing save itself?

By joining frats. Uh, what?

Roy Jones Jr. - who I've very quickly forgotten about - has an upcoming fight against Felix Trinidad. Even though Jones and Trinidad are both a bit on the washed up side, Jones is intent on this being a megafight that gets people interested in boxing again. And his solution for how to accomplish this is bizarre at best.

According to East Side Boxing, Jones joined the nation's largest frat to increase his fan base for the fight.

To further his celebrity and broaden his appeal, in August, Jones became an honorary member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. TKE is the largest social fraternity in the world with a presence on almost 300 college campuses in North America, and an initiated membership of over 220,000.

This is a frat whose members include the likes of former President Ronald Reagan, Hilton Hotel founder Conrad Hilton, Terry Bradshaw, Phil Simms, Digger Phelps and oddly Eric Bloom - the lead singer of Blue Oyster Cult.

Here's why it'll work, again according to East Side Boxing.

This is an interesting marketing strategy for the self-promoted Jones—give the guys in college a reason to watch boxing. The “hey, that’s our fraternity brother” crowd could provide a buzz among a demographic that currently seems more interested in video games and drinking games—18 to 23 year old college students. Maybe more boxers should follow Jones’s lead. Affiliating with a fraternity that exists on hundreds of college campuses provides an established fan-base of men who likely already watch sports. This could lead to wide word of mouth advertising in university circles, and could generate more buzz and attention to the boxer and to the boxing in general in the United States, which could use the help.

I went to a college that didn't allow frats, so I don't exactly know how much the "hey, that's our fraternity brother" grab-assing works, but something tells me this won't do much.

It's not that people - specifically 18 to 23 year-old male college students - don't know that boxing exists and that it needs to be passed along by word of mouth. The problem is boxing stinks in comparison to MMA. And doesn't have nearly enough ring girl wet t-shirt contests.

Besides, just because Roy is now a part of TKE, I don't exactly think that's going to make David Jones (former editor of the NYT) and Marv Levy (worst Super Bowl coach ever) tune into the fight.

However if Jones and Trinidad engage in a best of five, 10-cup Beirut tournament, I'll definitely throw down $50 for that.

-WCK

7 comments:

Gern said...

If you can't go greek, go Teek. If you can't go teek, go home. Still as true as it ever was.

Anonymous said...

Still hurt from walking in TEKE's shadow for so long? Got the younger sibling syndrome? Or did a Teke just steal your girlfriend?

Jarrett said...

Or Groove Phis Groove Social Fellowship Inc. Whatever floats your boat.

djnumbers said...

no offense to teke, but why wouldn't he join a black frat? he coulda been an honorary Alpha Phi Alpha man. not kappa alpha psi though. u gotta earn KAPsi.

Anonymous said...

He joined a fraternity that has never discriminated in the terms of what race, religion or nationality it's members are. (It only discriminates in that women can't join)

From what I've read it started when one of the chapters asked him to help them with a philanthropic event, and the only way he felt right about helping was to find out more about them first. When he liked what he heard, he joined.

Anonymous said...

Ok here is the deal with Roy joining TKE. I am from the chapter that initiated him in Pensacola, FL. There are no black frats at the University of West Florida. Some fellow alumni and I made the proposition to him. We wanted to help promote TKE and to help promote RJJ and his brand. He does a lot of charity work in the Pensacola community and so does TKE. It only makes since to combine the two.

As for the quote, "If you cant go greek, then go Teek". Its TKE not TEEK!! Try showing some sort of education level here people! Dont open your mouth unless you can articulate what you are going to say in an educated fashion. That goes for spelling as well.

When the fight aired Sat, we had 300+ people there to watch! So how can you say that this "career move" may have not been the smartest move? You cant!

Frats are a brotherhood! We stick up for each other. Since RJJ's initiation, he has employed fellow fraters that are in school and is helping us put together a celebrity golf tournament.

So next time, try not to "knock" on RJJ. Maybe he is just trying to help out the community he lives in. Maybe that was his ultimate goal in this!

Anonymous said...

免費視訊聊天,辣妹視訊,視訊交友網,美女視訊,視訊交友,視訊交友90739,成人聊天室,視訊聊天室,視訊聊天,視訊聊天室,情色視訊,情人視訊網,視訊美女,一葉情貼圖片區,免費視訊聊天室,免費視訊,ut聊天室,聊天室,豆豆聊天室,尋夢園聊天室,聊天室尋夢園,影音視訊聊天室

威而柔,自慰套,自慰套,SM,充氣娃娃,充氣娃娃,潤滑液,飛機杯,按摩棒,跳蛋,性感睡衣,威而柔,自慰套,自慰套,SM,充氣娃娃,充氣娃娃,潤滑液,飛機杯,按摩棒,跳蛋,性感睡衣
情惑用品性易購,情侶歡愉用品

色情遊戲,寄情築園小遊戲,情色文學,一葉情貼圖片區,情惑用品性易購,情人視訊網,辣妹視訊,情色交友,成人論壇,情色論壇,愛情公寓,情色,舊情人,情色貼圖,色情聊天室,色情小說,做愛,做愛影片,性愛

情惑用品性易購,aio交友愛情館,一葉情貼圖片區,情趣用品

辣妹視訊,美女視訊,視訊交友網,視訊聊天室,視訊交友,視訊美女,免費視訊,免費視訊聊天,視訊交友90739,免費視訊聊天室,成人聊天室,視訊聊天,視訊交友aooyy,哈啦聊天室,辣妺視訊

A片,色情A片,視訊
網拍設計,網頁設計,徵信社,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣,情趣

Free Blog Counter