As teased in my last blog entry, we’re going Around the Horn this month covering MLS, Jersey Sponsorships and Networking.

One piece of advice I always give is that when it comes to mascots, you get what you pay for....find out why this edition of Walk & Talk.

This month’s column is all about taking care of yourself. We work in an industry that is a constant grind, one game to the next, one season to another, with projects overlapping the entire way. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the constant nature of work.

So Walk & Talk is back and this time around we’re going to focus on the details. Not necessarily the details themselves, but the attention that they deserve.

With the arrival of the New Year, many of you have made personal resolutions with new goals. So I decided to stick with the theme and wrote a list of resolutions specific to our workplace…with specific focus on those long-term items that often slide down the list. Whether the right time for these projects is January or July, plan a time for each throughout the year that works best for your team.

Throughout the nation, there are a wide variety of approaches to showcasing the game entertainment…for some, it’s merely a blip on the radar and others have dedicated large portions of their site to the fan experience. Each team has their reasons for the method they selected and I’m not here to judge what’s right or wrong…but I think it’s important to look at the technology of the Internet lending itself to be a strong marketing asset for game presentation.

For the first time in my life, an NBA season was beginning and my team, the Seattle SuperSonics, was not there for me to be a part of and support. This was the team that I began following at eight years old, despite spending the second half of my youth living in Northern California. This was the organization that I had spent seven years entertaining the fans and developing lifetime friendships.

Pat Walker Column - Let’s face it, when you’re producing a game, sometimes things happen that are simply beyond your control…it’s how the game director and their supporting staff handle the situation that can turn a potential disaster into just another story that the fans talk about after the game.

Game operations staffs have a huge impact on what traditions are created and how they become integrated into the game experience. The crowd initates some in organic fashion, others are prompted by the players on the video board, and many are created by the antics of our favorite mascots.

Pat Walker looks at the Fine Line Between Entertainment and Oversaturization.