By Millie Takaki

Being one of the National Basketball Association’s elite teams this season isn’t quite entertaining enough for the Dallas Mavericks and their colorful owner Mark Cuban. The outspoken Cuban has a strong philosophy about Mavericks’ home games–namely that something must always be going on for fans, that the game is just one part of the total entertainment package.
    Thus during timeouts and halftime, standard intermission fare isn’t enough at the Arena. This has led to the production of 15 two-minute animation episodes of Mavericks Timeout Ticker, which are displayed on the Arena scoreboard.
    The episodes poke fun at Mavericks and opposing players throughout the league.
    For example, a newscast hosted by anchor “Jim Nasium” takes us around the NBA for the latest goings on, which include Mavericks’ center Eric Dampier rescuing a cat from a tree, answering a call for help from a little old lady; a charity golf tournament in which the feuding Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, former teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers, have apparently patched up their differences. However, deep down there still appears to be a rift as O’Neal uses Kobe’s head for a golf ball tee. And when Bryant objects, O’Neal literally puts his foot down, burying Kobe’s head below ground level. Picking at the O’Neal/Bryant scab gives Mavericks’ fans a bit of devilish delight in that during the Lakers’ championship heyday, the Los Angeles team was an arch nemesis of the Dallas club in the NBA’s Western Conference. (Bryant is still a Laker while O’Neal has since been traded to the Miami Heat.)
    Among other “stories” covered in the Ticker newscast are: a remarkable slam dunk contest in which Detroit Pistons’ center Ben Wallace navigates through various dangerous situations (hungry alligators, red hot lava) to jam the ball through a hoop; and a Wheel of Fortune game show takeoff in which the words “Technical Foul” are clearly spelled out, but Pistons’ forward Rasheed Wallace cannot solve the puzzle–the joke being that Wallace has committed more technical fouls than any other player this year, but in his mind’s eye, he’s never been guilty of even a single infraction.
    Another newscast reports on Houston Rockets’ center Yao Ming–whose height is well over seven feet–recently dunking the basketball without jumping. Anchorman Nasium explains that Ming was able to achieve the feat because he was wearing his mother’s stiletto high heels.
    Players aren’t the only source of comedy for the Ticker. Newscast in-the-field reporter Tabitha Liplock is seen at an Arena concession stand where a new menu is being introduced, the main entrees being opposing NBA teams for the Mavericks to at least figuratively devour. The new food items include Fried Raptors (a reference to the Toronto Raptors), the Denver (chicken) Nuggets and Timberwolf Stew (for the Minnesota Timberwolves).
    Liplock also reports on another “groundbreaking” exclusive–scientists’ discovery of a left-handed basketball. Film at eleven.
    Another Ticker correspondent is Oldandcrabby, a spoof of 60 Minutes’ newsmagazine commentator Andy Rooney who proceeds to drone on about different aspects of NBA minutia with his “Ever wonder?” queries.
    The ego of a local TV sports reporter is also on display as he interviews Mavericks’ star rookie Josh Powell. The budding NBA star can’t get a word in edgewise as the self-centered reporter asks and then answers his own questions, telling us about his personal life with Powell little more than an observer.
    Even Cuban enters the storyline as the airhead anchorman reads a bulletin that the Mavericks’ owner has placed a $100 bill under one of the fan’s seats. The anchor is quick to stumble about to see if the money is taped to his chair. Turns out it is but he doesn’t notice it. Forced to stand in order to search for the C-note, Nasium is revealed to not be wearing any pants, just some colorful boxer shorts.

TICKER TRIGGER
    The Ticker fare–which is funny, light and a bit over the top, while also offering a takeoff of sports on happy talk local newscasts–was produced by Dallas-based CG/motion design studio Janimation, which also did all the creative in house. Headed by chief creative director/founder Steve Gaconnier, Janimation deployed simple Flash animation for the series.
    Janimation senior producer Pete Herzog proved in retrospect to be a catalyst for the project. The studio contacted the Mavericks after seeing a smattering of animated shorts on the home arena scoreboard over the past few years. In 2005, Herzog dropped off some Janimation demo reels at the Mavericks’ headquarters, leading to a meeting between Gaconnier and Mavericks’ VP of marketing Matt Fitzgerald.
    The Mavericks liked what they saw and heard, deciding to ramp up their timeout entertainment content. This form of branded entertainment was justified on two prime fronts: being able to entertain the fans during timeouts; and animating the players and the Mavericks’ brand makes the team–and the NBA itself–larger than life.
    Of the Timeout Tickers, Cuban stated, “We love them, but more importantly our fans love them. Our mission is to provide a complete entertainment experience and the Tickers are an important component.”
    Underscoring their importance and how well received they’ve been, the Tickers have been placed on the team’s Web site (www.mavs.com) for fans to access. And word is that Cuban is contemplating sending a DVD of the Tickers to fans and prospective clients.
    Gaconnier and Herzog were part of a Janimation ensemble that included animators Steve Quentin and Rares Halmagean, concept artist Chris Gruska and operations supervisor Mike Duffy. Creative director Gaconnier and senior producer Herzog additionally served as copywriters on the job.

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