As co-host of The Six, Jemele Hill communicates sports news to the public every day. For the past few months, that means she has covered a lot of LaVar Ball.
But in her mind, Ball hadn't done anything like what he did Monday night on WWE Raw with sons Lonzo (drafted No. 2 overall by the Lakers last week) and LaMelo. He made a dramatic entrance and took his shirt off in front of The Miz. Hill found herself enjoying the performance.
"I grew up a wrestling fan and I hadn't watched wrestling in years," she says. "Granted some of the wrestling purists told me what an abomination it was, but I was very entertained. And for me, I thought it was very smart for the WWE to have him there because it's kind of how we view our own show. Somebody may hear us talking about something that is not specifically extrinsically sports.
"Like, let's say we do have a conversation about James Harden and Nicki Minaj. They may be a Nicki Minaj fan and might say even though I'm not a big sports fan, I like the fact that they're willing to venture out a little bit and they may start watching the show. It's about bringing more people to the party, so the WWE with LaVar Ball brought me to the party because I'm a sports fan and I am interested in what LaVar Ball is doing in that medium because I think it's kind of bizarre and it's kind of funny, so that's the kind of cross-platforming you hope to achieve."
Hill had criticized his "Stay in yo lane" comments to Kristine Leahy, calling Ball rude and childish. She says Ball's WWE shenanigans may win over some of his haters.
"I think that WWE appearance has done more to reshape and maybe even get on board some of the people who are annoyed by him," Hill says. "He's fun, no matter what you think about his tactics, he's fun. He made a complete ass of himself and he did it in a fun way. When you're that self-deprecating and you don't take yourself that seriously, I think it appeals to people."
Adam Silver: "Let's put #NBAAwards the Monday after the Draft. They'll be no competition"
LaVar Ball: "BALL CONTROL" pic.twitter.com/PufFujIYxX— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) June 27, 2017
Hill spoke to ThePostGame after appearing at Hashtag Sports in New York City. Hill's panel, "The Evolution of SportsCenter," also included ESPN VP of Audience Development Nate Ravitz, ESPN VP of Content Strategy Michael Shiffman and Yahoo! writer Daniel Roberts.
.@jemelehill says @lavarbigballer on @WWE #Raw was "entertaining" and can help "reshape" his image among people "annoyed by him." #HS17 pic.twitter.com/GtKOYrzVTs
— ThePostGame (@ThePostGame) June 27, 2017
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