Mediaboss Marketing

Soon after Joel Ward's Washington Capitals teammates swarmed him after his game-winning goal in overtime of Game 7 against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, a number of people unleashed racial comments about Ward on Twitter. Ward, one of the few black players in the NHL, was called the N-word in a number of posts. According to CNN, Chirpstory, a site that can aggregate other people's Twitter posts, noted the posts, included the following: --- "Haha that (slur) actually did something." --- "The fact that a (slur) got the goal makes it ten times worse." --- "We lost ... To a hockey playing (slur).... What kind of (expletive) is this." Ward, 31, told USA Today that he had never heard racist remarks during his four years in the NHL, and he was not aware of the comments and until teammate Jeff Halpern told him. He said the comments were "shocking to see, but it didn't ruin my day." "The racially charged comments distributed via digital media following last night's game were ignorant and unacceptable," the NHL said in a statement Thursday. "The people responsible for these comments have no place associating themselves with our game." In their statement, the Bruins called the Tweets "classless, ignorant views are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization." Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was more outspoken in his comments in his blog. "What these people have said and done is unforgivable. I hope they are now publicly identified and pay a huge price for their beliefs," he said. "There should be zero tolerance for this kind of hate mongering. We will as an organization support Joel Ward. He has been a great teammate and a great citizen. "He is now the star of stars in our city for his heroics (Wednesday) night. He is a friend and a fantastic player -- who delivered -- as advertised for us and our fans in the playoffs." -- Boston's Zdeno Chara, Ottawa's Erik Karlsson and Nashville's Shea Weber were named finalists for the Norris Trophy, which is awarded to the league's top defenseman. The winner will be announced at the NHL awards ceremony June 20 in Las Vegas. COLLEGE BASKETBALL ---Former Syracuse associate head coach Bernie Fine has landed a job with a team in the Israeli Basketball Super League. Maccabi Bazan Haifa announced Thursday that Fine will serve as a basketball consultant for the team. This is Fine's first employment since he was fired in November amid sexual molestation charges. Fine will offer input on player personnel decisions, and assist in team's coaching search for next season, though he will remain in the United States. ---Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich has agreed to follow Larry Brown at SMU. Jankovich accepted a coach-in-waiting position at the school, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN.com Thursday. He's expected to earn about $700,000 per year, the source said, and there is no timetable on when he would become head coach. COLLEGE FOOTBALL ---While conference commissioners continue to develop a 2014 playoff structure for college football, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has proposed a way to distribute the hundreds of million dollars in new BCS media rights revenue. CBSSports.com obtained a copy of the Knight Commission's report, which suggests rewarding individual schools -- not the conferences -- based on academic standards, rather than on-field performance or market value. The proposal was sent to the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision commissioners, BCS executive director Bill Hancock and the FBS presidents. --- Weber State has named Jody Sears as its interim football coach to replace John L. Smith, who was named the Wildcats' head coach after the 2011 season but left earlier this month to become the interim head coach at Arkansas. Sears joined the Wildcats staff this spring as defensive coordinator and will continue in that role as well. NBA ---Reigning MVP Derrick Rose is also the most popular name when it comes to jersey sales. The Chicago Bulls point guard has the top-selling jersey at the NBA Store and nbastore.com since April 2011, the league announced Thursday. New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin came in at No. 2, despite the fact that his merchandise wasn't available until his February breakthrough. Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was third and the Miami Heat's LeBron James came in fourth. New York's Carmelo Anthony rounded out the top five.

Here is the original post:
Press Box: Racial comments directed at Capitals' Ward through Twitter