Who whoulda thunk that the first place I'd hear about this new technological advance would be from across the pond?
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2003/tc20030415_3555_tc109.htm
The article is from about 4 years ago, so I probably should have heard about this long before now. Better late than never though, so I'm still going to talk about it.
Apparently, Oxford, despite their rowers being all smaller than Cambridge's, won an extremely close race, and then attributed their success to OmegaWave. OmegaWave being a "high-tech diagnostic tool that monitors an individual's cardiac, energy, central nervous, and hormonal systems" (Black, 2003). I won't go into great detail, I'll let ya'll read the aticle youselves, but the primary appeal of OmegaWave definitely seemes to be that it takes a lot of the guesswork out of how hard coaches can push their athletes. That is, until the software falters, and someone gets hurt. Personally, I think this product is still a great idea; had my high school used it, I may have been saved from a 3-night stay in the hospital my senior year.
The other cool product is the DartTrainer, which is a much simpler software that runs on any laptop hooked up to a digital camera. All it does is digitally record an athlete's movements, so the coach can then go back and watch it in slo-mo instant replay to see what's going wrong. Pretty cool.
The big issue I see with both of these products is that it may increase the gap between the haves and have-nots. Cost is clearly not an issue here, UF can buy whatever it wants; but at a smaller school like West Florida or Campbell (in North Carolina), the budget may not allow for an expense like this. With that said, they're both pure genius.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Can Anyone Say Overkill?
For the second consecutive year, if you cell phone service provider is Sprint, you have the option of watching NFL Network's draft coverage from your mobile phone. Read all about it here: http://www2.sprint.com/mr/news_dtl.do?id=15980.
I, for one, think this was completely necessary. I mean how could we be expected to live with the coverage on multiple TV stations, streaming media onto espn.com, expanded wire service from the Sports Network (here: http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=Sportsnetwork&page=pr/news/release_2004_4_21.htm), 2 straight days of more than 12 hours of coverage on Sirius satellite radio, and who knows what else? Heaven forbid you should have to leave your home and not see every pick live. Sprint seems to think that its customers will go into withdrawals if they don't get to hear that the arizona cardinals took wide receiver Hoss McHoss from South Alabama A&M with their 5th round pick. Not just the name though; they need to know that he's got good hands, runs a 4.6 40, scored highly on the Wonderlic, and may have been a slight reach at this point. And you know what, Sprint is right; people are going to be watching the draft on their cell phones all over the country. Amazing.
One last thing, I THOROUGHLY enjoy how one of the places Sprint mentions you may unfortunately having to be rather than on your couch is the park; a place that we immediately associate with nature, the outdoors, running and getting exercise, etc.... Doesn't the picture of a family enjoying a nice day at the park; the kids throwing a football around, the mom going for a jog, the grandma opening up an enormous vat of delicious potato salad; and then you see some guy staring at his cell phone and cursing because he's a Packers fan and he wanted his team to get McHoss the receiver in the 6th just crack you up?
I, for one, think this was completely necessary. I mean how could we be expected to live with the coverage on multiple TV stations, streaming media onto espn.com, expanded wire service from the Sports Network (here: http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=Sportsnetwork&page=pr/news/release_2004_4_21.htm), 2 straight days of more than 12 hours of coverage on Sirius satellite radio, and who knows what else? Heaven forbid you should have to leave your home and not see every pick live. Sprint seems to think that its customers will go into withdrawals if they don't get to hear that the arizona cardinals took wide receiver Hoss McHoss from South Alabama A&M with their 5th round pick. Not just the name though; they need to know that he's got good hands, runs a 4.6 40, scored highly on the Wonderlic, and may have been a slight reach at this point. And you know what, Sprint is right; people are going to be watching the draft on their cell phones all over the country. Amazing.
One last thing, I THOROUGHLY enjoy how one of the places Sprint mentions you may unfortunately having to be rather than on your couch is the park; a place that we immediately associate with nature, the outdoors, running and getting exercise, etc.... Doesn't the picture of a family enjoying a nice day at the park; the kids throwing a football around, the mom going for a jog, the grandma opening up an enormous vat of delicious potato salad; and then you see some guy staring at his cell phone and cursing because he's a Packers fan and he wanted his team to get McHoss the receiver in the 6th just crack you up?
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The Media Equation
Alright, so our assigned reading this week was absurdly interesting. I'm not going to be able to watch anything on TV anymore or go through any online tutorial without thinking about this article. Since ya'll obviously already read the thing, I'm not going to take the time to summarize it for you, that would be pointless. However, I will share with you how it applies to my work in a collegiate athletic association, mainly the ticket office (even though CJ thinks my work is going to be irrelevant in a few years anyways).
What immediately struck me about people relating to media as if it were human, was how I'm sure people respond to the voice recording from one of my bosses, Mark Gajda, on G.A.T.O.R.S, our automated ticket ordering system over the phone. He records that thing for every major sporting event that requires its help (i.e. if we didn't have it our employees would be swamped with phone calls) such as football and basketball season tickets, the florida-georgia game, the NCAA tourney, and bowl games. He records a response for every option that the caller may select and then he goes on about his day. Clearly, he's not on the line when these people are calling, yet since it's a human voice, I have no doubts that subconciously these people think they're actually talking to someone. I know I've talked to a voice recording before, normally out of anger, but I have honestly gotten upset at it when its told me that something didn't work.
The media equation will also seriously apply to the ticket office when computers eventually replace me. With the amount of people who do not feel comfortable in front of a computer, the program should be designed to have one of those helpful dogs, or paper clips, or whatever. Sure, it's an inanimate object on a computer screen, but like the article said, people still respond to it. There could also be a tutorial about how to go through the entire process with my bosses' voice narrating it, or even better, a camera recording of him talking to you and telling you what to do. And if we really want to get high-tech, build a key-stroke and mouse-tracking element into the program so when you do, or are about to do or click, something wrong, Mark would warn you. OK, I'm rambling now, but there are almost too many possibilities to wrap my mind around. That's all I've got for now.
What immediately struck me about people relating to media as if it were human, was how I'm sure people respond to the voice recording from one of my bosses, Mark Gajda, on G.A.T.O.R.S, our automated ticket ordering system over the phone. He records that thing for every major sporting event that requires its help (i.e. if we didn't have it our employees would be swamped with phone calls) such as football and basketball season tickets, the florida-georgia game, the NCAA tourney, and bowl games. He records a response for every option that the caller may select and then he goes on about his day. Clearly, he's not on the line when these people are calling, yet since it's a human voice, I have no doubts that subconciously these people think they're actually talking to someone. I know I've talked to a voice recording before, normally out of anger, but I have honestly gotten upset at it when its told me that something didn't work.
The media equation will also seriously apply to the ticket office when computers eventually replace me. With the amount of people who do not feel comfortable in front of a computer, the program should be designed to have one of those helpful dogs, or paper clips, or whatever. Sure, it's an inanimate object on a computer screen, but like the article said, people still respond to it. There could also be a tutorial about how to go through the entire process with my bosses' voice narrating it, or even better, a camera recording of him talking to you and telling you what to do. And if we really want to get high-tech, build a key-stroke and mouse-tracking element into the program so when you do, or are about to do or click, something wrong, Mark would warn you. OK, I'm rambling now, but there are almost too many possibilities to wrap my mind around. That's all I've got for now.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
If This Ever Gets Really Popular.....
.....I may have the world's easiest job or the world's most difficult job search. Check out one of the NUMEROUS websites I found trying to sell their online ticketing system: http://www.blackbaud.com/products/ticketing/onlineticketing.aspx.
At the University Athletic Association at the University of Florida, currently, we mail out all season and single game tickets to those who order them. This, after we've ordered the paper tickets themselves from our ticket printer in Arkansas. The process of filling the ticket orders, checking the ticket orders, checking the ticket orders again, checking the ticket orders a third time, and then mailing the ticket orders out is even longer and more tedious than this sentence. I couldn't even begin to estimate the number of man hours (correction, human hours, sorry Sam) that go into this process. A service like Blackbaud would simplify it to an amazing degree.
Luckily, this change is not yet feasible, too many season ticket holders are old and don't give a crap about computers. So, for the moment my job is safe. Here's to hoping it doesn't truly catch on until I'm an athletic director somewhere.
At the University Athletic Association at the University of Florida, currently, we mail out all season and single game tickets to those who order them. This, after we've ordered the paper tickets themselves from our ticket printer in Arkansas. The process of filling the ticket orders, checking the ticket orders, checking the ticket orders again, checking the ticket orders a third time, and then mailing the ticket orders out is even longer and more tedious than this sentence. I couldn't even begin to estimate the number of man hours (correction, human hours, sorry Sam) that go into this process. A service like Blackbaud would simplify it to an amazing degree.
Luckily, this change is not yet feasible, too many season ticket holders are old and don't give a crap about computers. So, for the moment my job is safe. Here's to hoping it doesn't truly catch on until I'm an athletic director somewhere.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Applying For Jobs Online.....
.......takes a lot of the possibilities for creativity out of the process. Here's a job I'm looking into applying for..... https://www.dujobs.org/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1176334858911.
I have to submit the application, cover letter, and resume online through the university's human resources department? Now where's the fun in that? About a year ago, espn.com writer darren rovell came and spoke here. He talked about a variety of subjects that I have since forgotten (he was NOT a gifted public speaker), but the one that's stuck with me is how he applied for his job with the worldwide leader (that's code for ESPN). He said he sent them his resume in a slightly oversized box. "Anything to stand out" (Rovell, 2005) he said, and apparently it worked.
With everything being done online, there's barely an opportunity to put your own personal stamp on the application. You may be perfect for a position and you personality may show that (this is especially true in sports because so much of your job is dealing with the public). But if all the organization has is your resume and cover letter, where you can only be so creative, and someone's experience is slightly more impressive than yours, you may never even get the chance to interview for it.
I have to submit the application, cover letter, and resume online through the university's human resources department? Now where's the fun in that? About a year ago, espn.com writer darren rovell came and spoke here. He talked about a variety of subjects that I have since forgotten (he was NOT a gifted public speaker), but the one that's stuck with me is how he applied for his job with the worldwide leader (that's code for ESPN). He said he sent them his resume in a slightly oversized box. "Anything to stand out" (Rovell, 2005) he said, and apparently it worked.
With everything being done online, there's barely an opportunity to put your own personal stamp on the application. You may be perfect for a position and you personality may show that (this is especially true in sports because so much of your job is dealing with the public). But if all the organization has is your resume and cover letter, where you can only be so creative, and someone's experience is slightly more impressive than yours, you may never even get the chance to interview for it.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Blogging = Weight Loss?
While searching through the SportDiscus internet database, I came across a very interesting article: http://web.ebscohost.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=104&sid=9dcc2b6f-2488-4615-942f-4868e7765e28%40sessionmgr106. (Note: you will most likely have to remote logon to the UF Libraries site to view this).
It's about a woman who lost 100 pounds and credits blogging for helping her keep her focus and not cheat or give up. Not just that, but apparently other "thinly-challenged" individuals heard about said blog and were inspired to diet as well. Apparently these Diet Weblogs have become somewhat common as an alternative to medical advice or diet organizations. I, intrigued, searched for them and found this: http://www.starling-fitness.com/archives/2006/05/26/you-can-eat-anything-you-want/. (Note: you can click on archives to see a lot more discussion topics).
What really interested me about this blog was that unlike the woman who lost 100 lbs. and did all the blogging herself, this one was like a discussion board. It was almost like an online support group for big eaters. Imagine if they started doing these for gamblers or alcoholics. The possibilities are endless.
One more thing, I know this doesn't particularly tie to sports, but dieting ties to fitness, and fitness ties to athletics, so it counts.
It's about a woman who lost 100 pounds and credits blogging for helping her keep her focus and not cheat or give up. Not just that, but apparently other "thinly-challenged" individuals heard about said blog and were inspired to diet as well. Apparently these Diet Weblogs have become somewhat common as an alternative to medical advice or diet organizations. I, intrigued, searched for them and found this: http://www.starling-fitness.com/archives/2006/05/26/you-can-eat-anything-you-want/. (Note: you can click on archives to see a lot more discussion topics).
What really interested me about this blog was that unlike the woman who lost 100 lbs. and did all the blogging herself, this one was like a discussion board. It was almost like an online support group for big eaters. Imagine if they started doing these for gamblers or alcoholics. The possibilities are endless.
One more thing, I know this doesn't particularly tie to sports, but dieting ties to fitness, and fitness ties to athletics, so it counts.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Sports & Leadership
A friend of mine recently brought up this interesting, relatively new sports-related camp: The Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy. You can check it out here: http://juliefoudyleadership.com/site4.aspx.
It got me thinking about leadership in sports. We constantly hear about players as leaders, coaches as leaders, and even administrators as leaders. How often have you heard phrases like "he's such a vocal leader" or "she leads by example" to describe a team's quarterback or star point guard. We're completely led to believe that a team without one clear-cut, natural-born leader is doomed to failure (the 2005-06 and 06-07 Gator basketball team notwithstanding). However, we rarely hear of TEACHING these leadership skills, and I don't know why. It could be because everyone has their own unique way of leading that's tailored to their strengths, so it's impossible to teach someone to lead YOUR way. Or, it could be because we believe that the ability to lead is something you're born with, and that it can't be learned. Either way, even if the camp is a fraud, I think it's an interesting and smart idea and I'm not sure why I haven't heard about more camps like it.
It got me thinking about leadership in sports. We constantly hear about players as leaders, coaches as leaders, and even administrators as leaders. How often have you heard phrases like "he's such a vocal leader" or "she leads by example" to describe a team's quarterback or star point guard. We're completely led to believe that a team without one clear-cut, natural-born leader is doomed to failure (the 2005-06 and 06-07 Gator basketball team notwithstanding). However, we rarely hear of TEACHING these leadership skills, and I don't know why. It could be because everyone has their own unique way of leading that's tailored to their strengths, so it's impossible to teach someone to lead YOUR way. Or, it could be because we believe that the ability to lead is something you're born with, and that it can't be learned. Either way, even if the camp is a fraud, I think it's an interesting and smart idea and I'm not sure why I haven't heard about more camps like it.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Paul Shirley Is Awesome
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=shirley_paul&page=Journal-43&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2
First of all, I didn't put this link in here specifically for this article. I put it in to introduce ya'll to one of the great writers of our time: Basketball Player Paul Shirley. I can't believe I forgot about him and have subsequently missed the first 42 installments of the Paul Shirley Journal on espn.com. He's been a journeyman basketball player who's bounced around different NBA teams and international leagues. I'd also be willing to bet he's one of the most intelligent, candid players we've had in the NBA in recent years. He really gives you a great inside perspective on life in the league.
My favorite quote from him came a few years back when he reminiscing about how he used to be smarter: "As I spend more and more time around basketball players, my brain power continues to diminish, which is not helping. I have been on a slow burn since college, where I was at least encouraged to spend half the day around semi-studious (okay, in my case, uber-studious, with the whole engineering thing) types, and my brainpower probably benefited. After four years of professional basketball, with the expected level of intelligence seeming to drain from the ranks as the don’t-go-to-college-since-you-can-get-the-guaranteed-money-now trend has taken hold, my brain is a veritable mush. The only thing left up there are a few quotes from Tommy Boy and a dozen ways to cover a pick-and-roll." I never thought I'd hear something about the NBA so uncensored from someone who was currently in the NBA. Maybe they didn't appreciate that comment and that's why he's no longer in the league.
First of all, I didn't put this link in here specifically for this article. I put it in to introduce ya'll to one of the great writers of our time: Basketball Player Paul Shirley. I can't believe I forgot about him and have subsequently missed the first 42 installments of the Paul Shirley Journal on espn.com. He's been a journeyman basketball player who's bounced around different NBA teams and international leagues. I'd also be willing to bet he's one of the most intelligent, candid players we've had in the NBA in recent years. He really gives you a great inside perspective on life in the league.
My favorite quote from him came a few years back when he reminiscing about how he used to be smarter: "As I spend more and more time around basketball players, my brain power continues to diminish, which is not helping. I have been on a slow burn since college, where I was at least encouraged to spend half the day around semi-studious (okay, in my case, uber-studious, with the whole engineering thing) types, and my brainpower probably benefited. After four years of professional basketball, with the expected level of intelligence seeming to drain from the ranks as the don’t-go-to-college-since-you-can-get-the-guaranteed-money-now trend has taken hold, my brain is a veritable mush. The only thing left up there are a few quotes from Tommy Boy and a dozen ways to cover a pick-and-roll." I never thought I'd hear something about the NBA so uncensored from someone who was currently in the NBA. Maybe they didn't appreciate that comment and that's why he's no longer in the league.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Coaching Carousel
Ya'll have undoubtedly heard all the rumors about our beloved men's basketball head coach, Billy Donovan, leaving to coach Kentucky. But this post isn't going to be just about that; it can't be, it'll make me too upset. No, what this is about is coaches changing jobs in general. I was reading an Andy Katz article about the coaching carousel rumors flying around right now (http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2814569&searchName=katz_andy&univLogin02=stateChanged) and then I read Pick's post about players who transfer and I was struck by how little sense it all made. Sure, this argument has been around for decades, and it will rage on for centuries after we're gone, but really; why do coaches get to leave a job whenever they feel like it when players (both collegiate and pro) are stuck in their respective places? Now I'm not saying that a college basketball player transferring from one D-1 school to another should be able to play immediately, that would be carnage, but why don't coaches have a similar penalty. I mean, sure, there are clauses in most contracts that make coaches pay back some of the money to the school they're leaving, but there's about a 0% chance that the school they're going to doesn't pick up that tab. I don't know, it just seems like coaching contracts are just for show, and in the end, they don't actually represent a lasting commitment. What do ya'll think?
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
UF Swimmer Dominates
In keeping with Sam's theme of stealing topics that Pick could be posting on his blog, I'd like to talk about one of my bowling students, who just happens to be a dominating swimmer at this university. Freshman Gemma Spofforth of England travelled across the pond (she didn't swim it, but I'll bet she could have) to do two things: dominate collegiate swimming and learn to bowl. Step 2 has already been accomplished and Step 1 is coming along nicely. Here, read up.
http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=11816&html=swimmingdiving/women/news/20070310112200.html&sport=swimw
and
http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=11803&html=swimmingdiving/women/news/20070309114200.html&sport=swimw
The first article talks about how she won a national title in the 200m backstroke, breaking a UF record in the process. The win made her the first UF swimmer to win an individual national title in a backstroke event in 17 years and "the first UF freshman to win an NCAA crown since Allison Wagner won the 400 IM in 1995" (Gatorzone.com, 2007). The second article details how she broke the UF record in the 100m backstroke 3 times in 2 days. Yes, you read that correctly, she just kept beating the time herself. Amazing
I'm aware that this article doesn't particularly raise any sociological or legal questions, but I feel it's necessary to recognize true greatness when it comes along. Especially, when it's one of my students.
http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=11816&html=swimmingdiving/women/news/20070310112200.html&sport=swimw
and
http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=11803&html=swimmingdiving/women/news/20070309114200.html&sport=swimw
The first article talks about how she won a national title in the 200m backstroke, breaking a UF record in the process. The win made her the first UF swimmer to win an individual national title in a backstroke event in 17 years and "the first UF freshman to win an NCAA crown since Allison Wagner won the 400 IM in 1995" (Gatorzone.com, 2007). The second article details how she broke the UF record in the 100m backstroke 3 times in 2 days. Yes, you read that correctly, she just kept beating the time herself. Amazing
I'm aware that this article doesn't particularly raise any sociological or legal questions, but I feel it's necessary to recognize true greatness when it comes along. Especially, when it's one of my students.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Recruiting.....
While conducting my daily cavity search of any article I may find mildly interesting, I came across this.....
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2811417&sportCat=ncb.
It talks about the path of two basketball players from a Detroit high school to the University of Oregon. Forde, the writer, makes some not-so-subtle implications that an assistant coach was hired solely because of his connection to a guy nicknamed "Worldwide Wes" who is firmly entrenched in the Detroit basketball scene. The article goes into more detail, but I'll let you read ir for yourself.
The issue that this brings to light is that of college recruiting. It seems as if every big program has some sort of recruiting-related scandal in their history: the Fab Five for Michigan basketball, Auburn football being on probation in the early-to-mid 90s, and SMU football getting the death football back in the day. But it's not even those instances which make the most interesting stories; it's the "legal" things coaches do that make the best stories: Billy Donovan flying to North Carolina to stand in the parking lot after one of Shavlik Randolph's high school games just to wave to him and then getting back on a plane and flying home, Arkansas football hiring Mitch Mustain's high school coach to be their offensive coordinator so they could get Mustain and some of his highly-regarded teammates, and whatever Donovan did to get South Dakota-native Mike Miller to Florida that sent Roy Williams (who was at Kansas at the time) into conniptions.
There's no real reason to believe that it will ever clean up. And for the sake of stories like these, I don't want it to, I just want UF coaches to continue to be good at playing the game.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2811417&sportCat=ncb.
It talks about the path of two basketball players from a Detroit high school to the University of Oregon. Forde, the writer, makes some not-so-subtle implications that an assistant coach was hired solely because of his connection to a guy nicknamed "Worldwide Wes" who is firmly entrenched in the Detroit basketball scene. The article goes into more detail, but I'll let you read ir for yourself.
The issue that this brings to light is that of college recruiting. It seems as if every big program has some sort of recruiting-related scandal in their history: the Fab Five for Michigan basketball, Auburn football being on probation in the early-to-mid 90s, and SMU football getting the death football back in the day. But it's not even those instances which make the most interesting stories; it's the "legal" things coaches do that make the best stories: Billy Donovan flying to North Carolina to stand in the parking lot after one of Shavlik Randolph's high school games just to wave to him and then getting back on a plane and flying home, Arkansas football hiring Mitch Mustain's high school coach to be their offensive coordinator so they could get Mustain and some of his highly-regarded teammates, and whatever Donovan did to get South Dakota-native Mike Miller to Florida that sent Roy Williams (who was at Kansas at the time) into conniptions.
There's no real reason to believe that it will ever clean up. And for the sake of stories like these, I don't want it to, I just want UF coaches to continue to be good at playing the game.
Friday, March 23, 2007
online sportswriters
So I'm back again with another opportunity to take up the precious few hours of your day with sports entertainment. I present, Bill Simmons' (better known as the Sports Guy on espn.com's Page 2) running diary of the NCAA tournament......
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/NCAA/dayone&sportCat=ncb
......Yes, I know, it's ridiculous to think that a human being typed out their random thoughts during a 12+ hour day of basketball, but it happened. And his readers, myself included, loved it. But I'd like to go a step beyond and look out how editorial-style sportswriting has evolved. I'm not talking about the game reports where the action is summarized and stats are given, I'm talking about some guy's opinion on some aspect of the sport's world. When I was a kid, it was a column or two in the local paper (Martin Fennelly owns, by the way), now there are an innumerable amount of "sportswriters" giving us their opinion across the internet. Sports Illustrated actually wrote an article about the phenomenon that online sportswriting has become a few years back (Mr.Simmons was the cover boy). And it's only getting bigger. Want proof? I just gave it to you. This link doesn't take you to a thought-out, researched, intelligent article. It takes you to a guy's random thoughts while he's watching the same games as you are. That's just absurd. And what's worse, I've sat down and read all of it. Imagine if you had a court-reporter style situation going on in your living room during a big football game that you and a few buddies were watching. This person would just sit there and type everything that each of you says, and then, after the game, they'd post it on the internet. Do you really think anyone in their right mind would ever read that? Of course not, but that's just what we're doing. Absurdity abound.
By the way, me and 4 buddies uncensored watching any game would be entertaining reading. You cannot tell me any differently.
Grant
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/NCAA/dayone&sportCat=ncb
......Yes, I know, it's ridiculous to think that a human being typed out their random thoughts during a 12+ hour day of basketball, but it happened. And his readers, myself included, loved it. But I'd like to go a step beyond and look out how editorial-style sportswriting has evolved. I'm not talking about the game reports where the action is summarized and stats are given, I'm talking about some guy's opinion on some aspect of the sport's world. When I was a kid, it was a column or two in the local paper (Martin Fennelly owns, by the way), now there are an innumerable amount of "sportswriters" giving us their opinion across the internet. Sports Illustrated actually wrote an article about the phenomenon that online sportswriting has become a few years back (Mr.Simmons was the cover boy). And it's only getting bigger. Want proof? I just gave it to you. This link doesn't take you to a thought-out, researched, intelligent article. It takes you to a guy's random thoughts while he's watching the same games as you are. That's just absurd. And what's worse, I've sat down and read all of it. Imagine if you had a court-reporter style situation going on in your living room during a big football game that you and a few buddies were watching. This person would just sit there and type everything that each of you says, and then, after the game, they'd post it on the internet. Do you really think anyone in their right mind would ever read that? Of course not, but that's just what we're doing. Absurdity abound.
By the way, me and 4 buddies uncensored watching any game would be entertaining reading. You cannot tell me any differently.
Grant
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Someone Made A Lot Of Money
Last semester, I was doing an assignment that required me to research several universities' campus recreation/intramural sport websites. As I went from one school to the next, I noticed something, see if you notice it too....
http://recsports.ufl.edu/intramurals/leagues.html
http://www.uwf.edu/recreation/IntramuralSports/imtrack/leagues.html
http://www.campbell.edu/sl/Recreation/IM/IMTrack/leagues.html
....There, you see it? It's the EXACT SAME PROGRAM. Whoever designed and sold this thing is doing backflips into pools of money right now (keep in mind that I have no earthly idea how much they charged for it). If they were able to peddle this computer program to a university as large as Florida, as small as Campbell, and everywhere in between, how many schools must use it? I remember seeing at least half a dozen when I did the assignment, and that was out of about nine websites that I went to. I highly doubt that the creators of this program are batting .667 across the nation, but they must be doing pretty well for themselves. I really should have taken a computer program writing course in high school, I could have easily thought up something like this, but I could never have executed it. Weak.
Grant
http://recsports.ufl.edu/intramurals/leagues.html
http://www.uwf.edu/recreation/IntramuralSports/imtrack/leagues.html
http://www.campbell.edu/sl/Recreation/IM/IMTrack/leagues.html
....There, you see it? It's the EXACT SAME PROGRAM. Whoever designed and sold this thing is doing backflips into pools of money right now (keep in mind that I have no earthly idea how much they charged for it). If they were able to peddle this computer program to a university as large as Florida, as small as Campbell, and everywhere in between, how many schools must use it? I remember seeing at least half a dozen when I did the assignment, and that was out of about nine websites that I went to. I highly doubt that the creators of this program are batting .667 across the nation, but they must be doing pretty well for themselves. I really should have taken a computer program writing course in high school, I could have easily thought up something like this, but I could never have executed it. Weak.
Grant
Friday, March 16, 2007
Mark Cuban's Blog
The next time you're sitting in your office and you either a) have nothing pressing to do (but honestly when does that ever happen) or b) really don't want to do any of the work that you need to (much more likely), check out Mark Cuban's Blog: http://www.blogmaverick.com/.
I've always thought a little bit of Mark Cuban can go a long way, and that I didn't need to read more of his whining about NBA refs and how Dirk should have won 8 straight MVPs. However, his blog is entertaining, insightful, and surprisingly educational. He made his fortune through the idea of broadcasting live games and events on the internet, and since then has diversified his interests; purchasing Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters and co-founding HDNet, the first high-definition satlellite television network, among other things.
Now what does this have to do with his blog? It means that he has at least a decent knowledge base in many different areas, which makes for very interesting writing. Clearly, I scan for the basketball-related articles first (he went to Indiana, so I hope he'll have some posts about the tourney soon), but I definitely take the time to read his technology-related articles as well. They're normally related to internet technology (he thinks Google was crazy for buying YouTube), so they're in an area where my knowledge is lacking, and I feel like I've learned quite a bit just from reading it for the past few days. I strongly suggest checking it out.
I've always thought a little bit of Mark Cuban can go a long way, and that I didn't need to read more of his whining about NBA refs and how Dirk should have won 8 straight MVPs. However, his blog is entertaining, insightful, and surprisingly educational. He made his fortune through the idea of broadcasting live games and events on the internet, and since then has diversified his interests; purchasing Landmark Theatres, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters and co-founding HDNet, the first high-definition satlellite television network, among other things.
Now what does this have to do with his blog? It means that he has at least a decent knowledge base in many different areas, which makes for very interesting writing. Clearly, I scan for the basketball-related articles first (he went to Indiana, so I hope he'll have some posts about the tourney soon), but I definitely take the time to read his technology-related articles as well. They're normally related to internet technology (he thinks Google was crazy for buying YouTube), so they're in an area where my knowledge is lacking, and I feel like I've learned quite a bit just from reading it for the past few days. I strongly suggest checking it out.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
NBA Marketing in China
In a recent "Sunday Conversation" on ESPN, the interviewee was Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. He spoke about a number of things: his fines being money well spent to make sure his point was heard, how he "almost" sold the team after the finals last year, how he and Stern are cool with each other as long as they don't talk about touchy subjects (in Cuban's words; sex, religion, and politics with NBA officiating falling under the category of religion), and other entertaing stuff. However, the topic that really caught my attention was when he said that the NBA's biggest problem was marketing, that "the league is doing more to convince a kid in Bejing to watch the NBA, than they are a kid in Louisville" (Cuban, 2007).
First of all, he's absolutely right; the NBA hasn't truly trumpeted its product since Jordan retired in '98 (the second time) and the lockout of '99. It's almost as if they feel that the league will never recover from those two marketing nightmares in the span of about a year. Either way, I was intrigued by Cuban's comments so I decided to search for information about the NBA's marketing campaign in China. I haven't found a whole lot yet (I'm definitely not done investigating this), but I did find a somewhat recent article that reported that the NBA now has an "Official Dairy Product of the NBA in China." Not just that, but the Iceman George Gervin was in Bejing to help make the announcement. Ridiculous. Check out the article here: http://www.nba.com/news/mengniu_070121.html?rss=true.
First of all, he's absolutely right; the NBA hasn't truly trumpeted its product since Jordan retired in '98 (the second time) and the lockout of '99. It's almost as if they feel that the league will never recover from those two marketing nightmares in the span of about a year. Either way, I was intrigued by Cuban's comments so I decided to search for information about the NBA's marketing campaign in China. I haven't found a whole lot yet (I'm definitely not done investigating this), but I did find a somewhat recent article that reported that the NBA now has an "Official Dairy Product of the NBA in China." Not just that, but the Iceman George Gervin was in Bejing to help make the announcement. Ridiculous. Check out the article here: http://www.nba.com/news/mengniu_070121.html?rss=true.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
This blog is going to be about sports. More precisely, me showing off how much I know about sports. Or, more accurately, ya'll worrying about how much I like sports. I'm going to try to tie everything we do in this class to sports, no matter how much of a stretch it is. I will try to bring every conversation that we have back to sports, no matter how little they apply.
Clearly, a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek, but behind every joke there is some truth. And I probably will do what I just said more often than not.
Enjoy.
Grant
Clearly, a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek, but behind every joke there is some truth. And I probably will do what I just said more often than not.
Enjoy.
Grant
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