Imagine your client is hell-bent on connecting with sports fans. Now, let’s make the hypothetical specific. They’re trying to hit Mets fans based in New York City. You counsel them that your dazzling PR team can deliver a branded message that will splash across all the area’s major dailies, land interviews on the top-rated radio stations, drive in-studio TV appearances – plus more social media buzz than you could shake an ineffectual Jason Bay stick at – in a matter of days. What if you then told that same fictional client this could all be achieved for the cost of a t-shirt, some elbow grease and a few days of smart social media interaction? After checking your vital signs, they might mutter something about it sounding too good to be true. Well, perhaps we should all take a lesson from Darren Meenan.

Sadly, extended middle fingers, temper tantrums and mindless Twitter taunts are becoming more and more “par for the course” with today’s professional athletes. It’s against this dreary backdrop that last week’s communication from Roy Halladay to the fans of Toronto stands in blinding contrast.

The Phoenix Suns never achieved what they’d envisioned when the franchise traded for Shaquille O’Neal two seasons ago. They accomplished so much more. Sure, the Suns never made it to the NBA Finals (or the conference finals for that matter) during Shaq’s brief two-year stint in Phoenix, but that doesn’t mean his absence won’t be immensely felt within the organization. Shaq was an undeniable force in the valley of the Sun – a 300-plus pound marketing machine.