Sports and entertainment have blended for some time. Slowly however that blend has taken a stop once in a while towards the adult entertainment industry in recent years. There was the very public relationship between MMA fighter Tito Ortiz and former porn star Jenna Jameson (they have two children, twin boys.) More recently there was the incident where New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski spent his bye week last NFL season with porn star BiBi Jones (she also claims Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla among her sports conquests.) These events have been mainly found out through social media for the masses to enjoy and laugh about.
Then there are events like this.
On June 21 as Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder was less than an hour from starting Billy Corben, a well known Miami film director (his credits include ESPN's 'The U' and 'Cocaine Cowboys') tweeted a story from the website Busted Coverage. The story was about a promise made by two Miami porn stars (& noted Heat fans) Angelina Castro and Sara Jay. The two porn stars promised that if the Heat won the NBA championship they would provide 'oral services' to their combined Twitter followers, whose count stands at 328,758 as of June 23. They made the promise into a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #TeamBJNBA along with making an announcement video on Sara Jay's YouTube page (the video along with Sara's page have now been terminated by YouTube.) It is safe to say that as soon as Game 5 was over with the Heat clinching the title, the Twitter mentions of the two ladies regarding #TeamBJNBA exploded. Sara at one did complain about the mentions.
Now, one can look at this story and assume that #TeamBJNBA was just a publicity stunt by the two ladies to boost their follower count on Twitter. Logic would dictate that with Twitter being a global social media network there would be no way that what the two ladies promised would be dared to be attempted.
Surprise, the two ladies will ACTUALLY attempt to do this!
Both Angelina and Sara tweeted that they will keep their word and will fulfill their promise to their followers. On Tuesday they will announce the time and location where their followers can cash in on #TeamBJNBA.
This event is most likely going to be 1.) a social media bonanza, and 2.) a possible logistical nightmare. Either way the fact that the two ladies are going to do this is astounding. Can't really knock their hustle.
Just hope that they call the Guinness Book of World Records first.
UPDATE: The ladies have set a date for #TeamBJNBA along with a website stating the initial ground rules for the event. The website is www.teambjnba.com
UPDATE 2 (July 6): It looks like David Stern has caught up with #TeamBJNBA and is trying to stop it.
In a statement obtained by the website Black Sports Online the NBA has issued a cease-&-desist order claiming that Sara and Angelina have used the intellectual property of the league and violated their rights. The league points to the website www.teambjnba.com, the Twitter account @TeamBJNBA, and a photos shopped picture featuring the ladies donning Heat gear in front of the Heat Big 3 (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh) as some of their evidence. The NBA has demanded that the website and Twitter account for #TeamBJNBA be taken down from the Internet and for ownership of both entities to be transferred to the league.
As of 3 pm today both the website and the Twitter account are still up.
The NBA is within its rights in doing this. They, like other major sports leagues, will do whatever is necessary to protect their image. The NBA is especially sensitive to this due to events such as the infamous Malice in The Palace and the referee scandal set off by Tim Donaghy. This is also happening as Stern is polishing up his immediate and long term legacy. Stern has stated in various interviews that he won't be NBA commissioner when the time comes for a new collective bargaining agreement to be negotiated. The current CBA is a ten year deal with the option that the players and owners can opt out of it in six years.
More likely than not the event will go on as planned. It will just require more legal gymnastics than expected.
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