There is something about writing, especially on your own site, that keeps your mind fresh. I've been pathetic at doing it the last 6 months and I hope to get back in the groove now. It's been far too long.

To get back on a roll I present to you the future of sports journalism in Damon Weaver who caught my eye on the The 700 Level. Damon's a pretty good interviewer and fires a diverse assortment of questions in a sporadic manner. Below he interviews Donovan McNabb and specifically asks McNabb if he has ever cried after a game (1:30 in).

McNabb proudly states that he has and its not a big deal. Other interesting moments include "Everyone knows you're good at football, but what are you horrible at?".

While McNabb staunchly defends men crying, his NFC counterpart Tony Romo chimes on the opposite side of this divisive issue stating "Men Don't Cry". Damon also probes rumor on if he likes Duke of Hazzard and who he prefers as a singer between Carrie Underwood or Jessica Simpson.

Maybe I'm a sucker for cute kids being hilarious, but this was a nice change of pace for Pro Bowl coverage. Damon does these interviews for his school and has a bunch of other interesting interviews including one with Obama. Sadly he tones down it down for our president in chief.

There are a lot of interesting people on the Internet. For instance check out the comments on my article about how Tyler Hansbrough commercial is awful. When you google "Tyler Hansbrough commercial", look what happens.

While you would think this is a good thing, my blog mocking how terrible that commercial is pops up for every fan of his and or North Carolina who wants to watch it. They want to gawk at Tyler getting his own commercial. Instead they get my article saying how much it blows. This leads to awesome comments like this:

"With a last name like Koo you shouldn't be calling anyone else "ridiculous".."

"ben koo is a poo poo. he said it all when he said hansbrough is the most despised for basically working hard???? are you kidding me. ben koo must be one of those people who sue mcdonald's for spilling coffee on himself. get a life, and a job, you should be fired for writing this article."

Luckily this comment was not seen by my boss at benkoo.com. Here is another gem.

"To Mr., uhhhh KOO? What is it with you punks who are just jaded for the sake of being jaded, like by being that way you have hit on some profound life philosophy? Your guy is President now so why so perpetually pissed off?
If you want some real life philosophy, read The Bible. Get happy ya idgit. BTW, you have no writing talent either, so take down this website. Loser."

That's enough of that, but now I want to introduce you to my source of entertainment. Allow me to introduce you to Peter Myers, who during a Twitter tantrum got a little frisky with Mizzourah blog. Just a quick note, its not a good idea to piss off those guys.

So lets start with some background info on Peter. He has only 2 followers and out of his 200+ tweets about 10% of them are to Taylor Swift. Per his Twitter page here are some things he likes and dislikes. Its at this point, I'll insert the jump as from here on out its NSFW. Clich read more to follow along.

A couple weeks back, Yardbarker announced a partnership with Fox Sports that seemed to pique a lot of people's interest.

"FoxSports.com, MSN.com and independent blog aggregator Yardbarker have struck a three-year content syndication and advertising sales partnership that deepens an existing relationship between the three hubs.

Building on a smaller, content-for-distribution deal struck in June 2008, the new pact creates a structure in which FoxSports.com and MSN.com gain the ability to sell Yardbarker advertising inventory. Yardbarker content widgets and individual stories will appear throughout FoxSports.com and MSN.com, and Yardbarker editors will work in regular collaboration with their FoxSports.com counterparts."

Despite the great writeup by the SBJ which is a subscription only publication, a lot of people seemed to want to know more about the partnership and what it meant for both parties as well as the general sports 2.0 industry.

Lucky for me my former boss and Yardbarker CEO, Pete Vlastelica, wanted to share some more details on the deal.

Although there are a handful of companies that look to help sports properties monetize through advertising and sponsorships, Yarbarker is now the first of these companies to have a sales partnership with a major media entity in Fox. When asked about what this new built bridge between sports focused start-up and mainstream media entity meant for the industry and the companies involved, Pete was optimistic that a younger Yardbarker audience and overall content quality was an attractive addition to help Fox augment their content and advertising packages.

"I do think we're entering a new era for sports blogs that's characterized by an acceptance and acknowledgement that the content on sports blogs can be really high quality. This partnership is very good for both sides, and the bloggers in the Yardbarker Network will benefit directly. Yardbarker benefits from Fox and MSN's reach and coverage of the ad market; our bloggers get more traffic and higher CPMs; and Fox/MSN get the ability to sell custom ad programs targeted at a younger audience, which is what every brand advertiser wants right now."

One of the caveats of the partnership that wasn't clear to me was if Fox was taking over full ownership of monetization of the Yardbarker's network which Pete gave some more details on.

"It's actually a shared responsibility. It's a non-exclusive deal, meaning we'll still be selling the Yardbarker Network ourselves, but the intent on both sides is to dive into a truly collaborative partnership where we're working together to grow the pie that we're both going after. Our offerings are very complimentary and we each stand to benefit from selling together, so the collaboration should be a natural one."

Yardbarker athlete blogs will continue to housed on Yardbarker.com but will get more attention on foxsports.com as well as msn.com. I was always of the opinion that ESPN had a roundabout way to not really source some of the great info found from Yardbarker blogs. Myself and the awesome Alana G have both successfully chided ESPN on this issue, so I think its extremely exciting to see larger web properties working directly with Yardbarker to really push this content more aggressively and sourced accurately.

Another interesting note from the Fox deal is the fact its a 3 year deal, which is really the equivalent of 9 years in start-up years. I have always been really intrigued by some of the bigger sports 2.0 partnerships with larger companies as its been my belief that these partnerships could serve as corporate foreplay for a possible future acquisition. Bleacher Report is working closely with CBS who previously bought Sportsline.com for 30 million dollars while SB Nation has very successful partnership with Yahoo Sports and who purchased the Rivals network of sites for somewhere around 60 million dollars. The acquisition of Rivals came a couple of years after Fox purchased the competing Scout network for around 50 million dollars.

With all this in mind, you wonder if these companies are taking a good look at the next wave of sports media entities and are utilizing various partnerships as a first date before bringing the start-up home to Mom and Dad (CFO and CEO).  Pete really didn't embrace or dismiss that possibility.

"I guess that's one way of looking at it. You mentioned some great start ups there -- as long as we all stay focused on creating value, the rest will take care of itself."

Although Bloguin and Yardbarker overlap a bit, it was reassuring to hear Pete's thoughts on what key to improving monetization of sports would be innovation and collaboration rather than competition.

"The key is growing the pie. We can't all keep fighting for the same small piece of the digital marketing pie, and if all we're doing is selling banner ads, we're going to lose a lot more than we win. We have to invent a new category and convince brands to allocate dollars to it. It's starting to happen. I completely believe that sports blogs can be the backbone of the next generation of all sports marketing."

My Take:

While its nothing new that a large sports media entity has taken an interest in the content of a sports 2.0 company, it says a lot that this partnership carved out an opportunity for Fox to augment Yardbarker's sales efforts.

I think what's most important is that Yardbarker got some level of a guarantee. Regardless of what type of guarantee Yardbarker will receive, the guarantee will effectively serve as a motivation tool for Fox's sales team as well as an insurance poicy for Yardbarker. If Yardbarker is guaranteed any amount of revenue from Fox, the partnership brass and sales management will be motivated to close sales partnerships that would ensure the partnership would be profitable rather than paid out of pocket. Obviously they felt comfortable enough and confident enough that they'll be able to deliver here and are likely excited to diversify their packages and inventory.

I would also imagine that Fox felt a need here to have some inventory that skewed to a younger audience due to some feedback from clients. A lot of advertisers have began to embrace sports blogs and companies like Yahoo, Brash, Yardbarker, and FSV have been able to cash in here. Fox now has put themselves in a strong position compete for ad dollars that are meant to go to a younger audience through access to Yardbarker's network. More than likely there is some type of mechanisms that will remove channel conflict between Fox and Yardbarker in sales opportunities as Yardbarker will still be hitting the pavement trying to secure ad dollars independently of Fox.

Kudos to Pete and my YB peeps who I miss like crazy for making this happen. While it may not have an overnight effect in the sports blogosphere, I think other larger media companies will watch this partnership and begin taking a more serious look at working with sports bloggers.

In the video below, you tell me what Mark May is doing about 15 seconds in. Yeah I know you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I am pretty convinced it was the more hilarious possibility.

I am not the only one who interpreated that way.

So to recap, a typically cynical bitter commentator on ESPN who has ALWAYS been at odds with whomever his counter part is (Trev Alberts and now Lou Holtz) decided to mock his opponent in the weekly Final Vertict segment which usually sucks.

Whether it was the worst yawning gesture ever or mocked fellatio of Clausen via Holtz (ewww) is up to you. I hate to draw attention to something so sophomoric, but its pretty damn hard to ignore.

Given May's reaction a minute later upon losing his case, I think it only reinforces that May has had it with his aloof counterpart. Note to Mark May, Holtz's bizzare yet entertaining commentary is only there to make YOU look normal and like you know what you are talking about.

ESPN has a LOT of great college football talent but given the amount of games they televise and the fact that they use the top talent (Corso, Fowler, and Herbstreit) on the road every week, what you get is Reece Davis doing community service with Holtz and May.

Regardless of how this interpreted, its hard to see this talent lineup staying the same.

May continues to lose his shit......(Does he not recall the terminations of Stephen A Smith and Harold Reynolds?

Today the puck dropped on the 2009 hockey season. Yes, hockey is the youngest smallest brother of the major 4 sports but its still a major sport.

Just not enough to be ESPN......or actually on DirectTV.

Local fans can find their games on a local sports provider, but the national television rights are split between NBC (broadcasts very few games only after football season), Versus, and the new and mostly unknown NHL network.

I often find myself extremely interested in these network vs. cable/satellite provider pissing matches for distribution. I closely followed the Big Ten Networks push onto Comcast and Time Warner after a year of missing out distribution on those providers. Found myself awed by the politics involving Comcast and the NFL Networks ongoing pissing match.  Of late have been surprised yet enlightened by the emmergence of league owned channels like MLB Network, NHL Network, etc.  Click Read More

Athletes can make great spokespeople for products and brands. That's nothing new.

However they can be divisive considering sports fans often dislike various athletes for various reasons. Also sometimes the actual of act of doing a particular commercial can be offputting to some (remember the Charles Barkley, I'm not a role model commercial). Other examples are Carson Palmer's hot dog ad and Michael Phelps joining the lame party with Jared at Subway.

Anyways today I saw a new AT&T commercial that pretty much blew my mind. It featured, Tyler Hansbrough, probably one the most despised college basketball players of the past decade along with Joakim Noah. Hansbrough was extremely productive and a great team player, but just seemed to irk fans with his sometimes ugly/foul dependent offensive game as well as his very high strung/energetic demeanor. Basically, fans don't think he's the real deal and grew sick of the college basketball world showcasing him for four consecutive years.

Hansbrough went to the NBA and was drafted in the mid first round by the Indiana Pacers. Most people thought it was a stretch as Hasnbrough's game is not believed to translate well to the NBA. Despite the fact that basketball fans tend to dislike him, he has yet to play in the NBA, he plays for one of the smallest NBA markets, and his limited ability to be recognized , AT&T has put Hansbrough front and center in their new ad campaign.

I shit you not it involves puppies, a cute girl who is sad her puppy is missing, and Hansbrough saving the day via his phone. Its atrociously bad.

My guess is that only 1 out of 8 people who see this commercial will recognize Hansbrough. Out of those 7 people who don't recognize its him, 5 will think this commercial blows even with the puppy. Besides that, probably anyone who does realize that Hansbrough is in this commercial will most likely a) hate it b) laugh at how lame it is c) wonder why the ____ , Hansbrough is in this commercial. Yeah he went to school for four years, stayed out of trouble, and is known for monster effort and intensity, but really is this going to push AT&T or just irk sports fans with its lameness?

First off, I am back.

I moved, I went to Seattle, I went to New York, I launched Bloguin.com and so on...It was a very busy month but I'll be back more often. Now back to blogging....

From the moment the Super Bowl ends to first college football games, I yearn for football. Yes, I seriously yearn for it. I could list a million reasons why I love it so much and why its probably either number 1 or 2 of favorite thing in my life. Sheesh, that short list of my favorite things is a all over the place and probably NSFW.

From February- June I survive off of March Madness, the draft, NBA, NHL, and thinking the A's might contend. All of those things end in June and then its just torture. Nascar, golf, and tennis are all sportscenter things for me unless Nadal is playing Federer or there is some type of playoff in a Major. MMA and boxing is getting traction, but you're not going to find me with gel in my hair and an Affliction shirt on at a bar anytime soon.

Then all of the sudden, it's back........College football kicked off today, with a myriad of big games on the horizon for Saturday and the NFL only a week away. To put it in perspective today was essentially the equivalent of being released from prison and then immediately being taken to the Playboy Mansion for a 4 month calendar shoot in which you are photographer, casting director, and oil boy.

Even though I unveiled a new addition to my life (to the left below), the sheer crappiness of the 6 hours of football I watched was pretty disheartening.

I'll get to the football in just a second, but unless you live under a rock you know that the major news from college football was Oregon's Running Back, LeGarrette Blount, sucker punching a Boise State player (Byron Houtt with his helmet off) after the game. He followed this with taunting Boise State players concerned for their teammate, trying to fight people in the Boise State crowd, and then seemingly getting overly aggressive with 3-5 different personnel who were restraining him. His last name is Blount, but on this night he seemed high on PCP.

Head Coach Chris Peterson telling his player not to taunt Blount and is treated to a up close and personal look at Blount's right hook

I'll post a video at the end of this article/after the jump (although it will probably be taken down by espn at some point). Click read more...

I go to the movies maybe 3x a year since college. I wish I could go more, I just never do. One day I hope that changes, but here is a movie that is on my radar that I want to see badly.

Similar to my obsession with Point Break Live, this just seems like something that need to be crossed off the Bucket List.  Behold, the worst movie ever made.

I've been bad the last week and posting this upcoming week will not be good either. In a 17 day period I have these things going on. Right now is day 5....

- A birthday

- A wedding outside of Seattle

- A business trip to New York

- A move

- Completion of a consulting job

- Continued awesomeness

I will return.....

ESPN today announced that they will be launching destination sites like espnchicago.com in LA, New York, and Dallas. The article made the front page of the New York Times and has peaked the interest of many in the blogosphere.

The NYT article doesn't pull punches clearly making the connection that this is another blow to print media and their online properties in these cities.

"In less than three months, ESPN Chicago has become the city’s top sports site, attracting about 590,000 unique visitors in June, according to data from comScore, an Internet measurement company. Second place went to The Tribune’s online sports section with 455,000 unique visitors.

ESPN Chicago does not seem to have cut into The Tribune’s online sports audience as much as it has slowed its growth, according to a review of the traffic data."

My first reaction is that I doubt ESPN Chicago actually had more page views then the Tribune despite the UV number but that still doesn't do much for Tribune or other newspapers who see the ominous shadow of ESPN behind them. ESPN promoted their Chicago microsite so vigorously on air the past 4 months that the advertising alone probably accounted for a good portion of the unique visitors with many of the visitors not sticking to the site.

Regardless of that fact, ESPN has made a bold move to grow their audience by launching region specific hubs. With local radio stations providing advertising/promotion air cover as well as a talent pipeline for the new sites, I think its safe to say ESPN will have further success in this new region niche . (More after the jump, including my ESPN theory)