Bringing design, music, fashion and sports together

Amanda Clower’s art, from a Scout reception last year, has nothing to do with this rather unusual post, but I love it none the same.

There have been great divides between peoples throughout American history.  North vs. South.  Catholic vs. Protestant.  Soccer moms vs. burlesque biker gals.  But none so frivolous, nor more potentially lucrative nor as mysterious as that of artists vs. jocks, which crosses seemingly every other demographic.  They’re archetypes really, Breakfast Club avatars.  Ally Sheedy’s come and go, but archetypes are here to stay.  Although rare, some jocks have an artist’s heart, their muscular arms painting late into the evening, their legs aching from football practice, and I can only imagine how difficult their life must be, the inner conflict they must feel.

Let’s face it, the arts crowd has always mocked by the sports crowd (and also, the intellectuals and those in power and the masses until it’s too late).  But we must try again to create the conditions necessary to negotiate a durable solution for this schism. The stakes are high.  Because it’s when America stands united that we stand the tallest (at least one of the tallest, although not nearly so tall as the Danish).  One America.  Fashion designers and decorators working side by side with wrestlers and ball players, all laughing at the band until they pull a Susan Boyle, leaving the judges and more importantly, the fans at home, feeling inspired enough to vote for them.  Which is why I’ve asked you here today.  I’ve come to you as a reverse metaphorical Moses, my idea powerful enough to bring together sports people and arts people (and more importantly, two audiences with almost completely different demographics) in the pursuit of a greater common wealth.

To make this work, we must engage those with a vested financial interest in the current silo system where sports, fashion, music and art intersect only occasionally.  If we don’t get their buy-in (i.e. buy them off), they’ll no doubt do everything in their power to kill it.  At the same time, the solution should engage both the casual Elle Decor reader and the Sunday football fans.  Finally, the fashion designers, artists and interior designers must be as invested in the final outcome as the players themselves, the forwards and the fine men and women who handle the other positions on the board.

It seems impossible; the interests are entrenched, the parties too different.  But it happens all the time.  Just look at smart phones, which offer email, text messaging capabilities, telephone reception, games, music, a camera and much more, all via one device.  And just as the IPhone represents the promise of convergence actualized, my plan will fulfill the promise of people convergence.  My solution is the IPhone of TV Reality shows, and my first application is a real money maker.

The new show will be called Designing the Game, a reality show ala Top Chef or American Idol.  But much much more ambitious with a much much larger audience and many many more possibilities for product tie-ins.  Picture multiple teams of designers and artists working hand-in-hand with players and managers to create a new game with new rules, new sports costumes and new entertainment options.

People watch the Superbowl just for the half-time show.  So let’s have bands play throughout the game (American Idol).  Pump up the volume, design the rules so that the music becomes integral, and guess what?  Even I’m going to sporting events (lighter in hand).  Heck, let’s just flip things, the half-time game replacing the half-time break.

And advances in nano-technology now allow sports uniform’s to be ultra-stylish as well as breathable, aerodynamic and comfortable (Project Runway).   But shouldn’t something that has this much promise and peril be tested first?  Of course, and I believe we need look no further than the 80′s cinema classic Teen Wolf.

Yes, Teen Wolf.

The classic Michael J. Fox film should be reinvented as a musical, but the basketball game should be all too real.  Bring in a band and a choir to perform a new Bon Jovi score, and I’ll wager even those who prefer Pintor to Rogers and Hammerstein will show up.  Cast Ryan Reynolds as down-on-his-luck high school student / teen wolf Scott Howard and Scarlett Johnassen as Boof, the friend who pines for him, and the kids will no doubt be lined up around the block rather than attending an ill-advised basement party, which will result in one of their mothers embarrassing them during an apperance on the Oprah Winfrey television show.  Finally, put Michael Jordan on stage shooing hoops again.

And that’s just one play.  Now imagine what might come out of Designing the Game.  Throw in a little Glee, some NASCAR, a new game that plays like a cross between football, tennis and figure skating (Dancing With the Stars) and all the tie-ins money can buy: music, fashion, star power and think of the spin-offs, which could literally be sports teams for crying out loud. We’ll finally have a game that will engage and entertain Americans of all stripes.  If this were a movie, this sentence would be the musical montage, a slow motion scene of stadiums across America erupting into a wave.  We owe it to ourselves; indeed, we owe it to the world.

I’ll take questions now.  Otherwise, have a great weekend.

Not so good. Never a fan of the "Too" movies.