Web 2.0 Bites Clintons

The unfortunate remarks by Hillary Clinton regarding the 1968 Democratic campaign are a teaching moment for the media and news sources. Today's Washington Wire -- one of the note blogs of the Wall Street Journal -- gives the play-by-play of how her quote from an editorial board meeting in South Dakota became a world wide story.

This is a cautionary tale of technology. Just because you can stream something live does not mean you should. Clinton's meeting was made available to any media to listen in. These settings are often informal and somewhat off the record for exact comments. Often, they function as backgrounder opportunities for a candidate.

Not when the whole wide world is watching. Or not watching in the case of the media caravan with Clinton. They were shuttled off to a nearby location with WiFi to listen. The combination of poor bandwidth and dull content sent many of the journalists to the pasta bar for lunch. That is, until their Blackberrys started going off with references to a New York Post story that was already up on Drudge.

Seems the remote journalists weren't having issues hearing the Senator loud and clear, and she had uttered the assassination reference. This sends the in-country pack rushing up to the Clinton campaign for reaction. Let the clean-up begin.

Here's a payoff from the story:

And while a couple reporters — who had managed to stick with the streaming press conference — mentioned that they found her assassination reference slightly strange, few on the trail thought it would be the lead on any of their stories that day.

The fact that it did become big news is illustrative of journalistic competition in the Internet age. The entire pack of reporters sent to watch Clinton’s every move had somehow gotten beat, and forced into following a New York Post reporter who was nowhere near the campaign, but who, apparently, had a much-better Internet connection.

(A personal aside: There are some days I link the article for reference to those who want more, and certainly to provide a citation to quotes I've copied. Today my colleagues, this article is REQUIRED reading. So much so, here's the link again if you missed it at the top.)

The uber-moral for SIDs? Just because you can stream that post-game press conference live doesn't mean you should. And if you do, make sure your coaches and athletes understand they are live not just to the room of familiar faces that may or may not use their words against them.

The subtle lesson here may be the most important. For the Senator, it was a Post reporter that posted the story that launched a thousand links. It easily could have been one of those Cheetos people. Sure, it would have taken longer for the pajama media to be taken seriously and reposted by regular media -- but one a gaffe like this one they would have. Just ask Dan Rather.

I know the term Web 2.0 gets tossed around a lot at times like this -- it really wasn't the social web that caused this event. However, it was Web 2.0's enabling advanced technology -- streaming media, portable access, immediate messaging and hyperlinked media sources -- that caused it.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Nice to Get Noticed

This humble space got noticed by Eye on Sports Media with some positive comments and a critique. Fair on most points. As I said in my comments, I'd answer point two over here.

The main reason why I have not enabled comments, other than emailing them to me UARK account, is to protect myself. This is an important project, but as those that blog know, you may go a few days between posts either due to work or lack of intelligent thoughts. Let's be clear -- I don't have tenure -- and the last thing I need is to have someone shellaced the blog with questionable or actionable content that I would be responsible for.

But Chris is right -- I need to fix the key word tagging and the RSS -- that's coming this weekend.

Sorry -- Chippy headlines to continue.

Trying Out a New Theory

Why do sports information directors (and athletic directors and coaches, for that part) have such near universal disdane for bloggers and message boards? Aside from the obvious rumor mongering and anonymous sniping, I have a theory.

They don't know how mad the fans really are.

For the past 19 years, I have had the luxury of sitting in the stands at almost every home Razorback football game. While considering the future in which I will likely be in the press box, I began to associate the behavior of the fans with the behavior of the posters. Aside from lingering prose and far deeper detail, I don't think I read anything on-line terribly different in general sentiment about the previous football coach than I heard in the stands. Maybe that's why it didn't shock me to read things on the boards after sitting among fans -- anonymous to me and most of the people sitting around them -- through these games.

Second guessing plays. Second guessing personnel moves. Rumoring what was going on along the sideline based on body language (and occasionally, oh-too-clear to discern salty language). From the reads, it was obvious fans that shared the feelings and emotions of the ones sitting around me would go home and post (excuse me, vent) those opinions on boards and blogs.

Here goes the theory: no one screams and yells like that in the press box. The athletic officials don't hear the crowd during the game, and those they might hear are not likely to be the average fan -- a skybox owner or a low, 50-yard-line seat holder.

This follows up on my theory of the function of the message board as the perpetual coffee shop. Personally, message boards are filled with the same gossip that swirled around the local college hangouts with one very, very important difference. You had to be at the coffee shop at the same time the rumor was passed, or the athletic department official (or coach) was shooting their mouth off about something. If the rumor was juicy enough, it would circulate, but not far and not for long.

Today, you can walk into the digital coffee shop at any time and from anywhere. By the miracle of the cached file, you can catch up on all the talk -- it never goes away. Thus, if you knew how mad they were in the stands, the kind of things they anonymously said out loud for all to hear, would what they wrote later be so shocking?

Feedback on this please at the email address.

What Good is it to Have it All?

Once upon a time, time and space had more meaning. Drop into the house, on the sat is one of my favorite movies, Stranger than Fiction. Harold Crick knows one song, and he sings it to Ana. It catches my ear. Is that on the soundtrack? Don't remember the name, but iTunes awaits. Nothing quite makes sense, so a quick google of "one song Harold Crick knows" -- yeah, longshot. No, spot on. A Yahoo! Answers query pops right up with Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric.

Consider that not that long ago, I could not just sit down and get the instant gratification of finding a song and just buying it from my home desk. What do you do with that kind of access and power? Seriously. It's no wonder we are a culture obsessed with now. It can happen now. It can be discovered here.

Perhaps it reveals both the attraction and the impatience of the sports fan. When you go to the stadium, you have certain expectations, but it is after all the only true reality program (or Speed Racer, the Grand Prix has been fixed for years). The inability to know or predict is what brings people in. But, when it doesn't work out they way they want -- both result and style -- the fan can have immediate gratification in the form of lashing out with opinion.

Interesting Nielsen Online Numbers

The Newspaper Association is promoting how strong digital circulation is for their members, accounting for just over 40% of the unique visitors in the first quarter. For all those horrible cost numbers we've recounted (and budget cuts), on-line has a 12.3% increase over last year. A very remarkable change. You can read more on the study here.

At the same time, there are some really interesting inside baseball. Notice that Gannett Newspapers is No. 12 -- is that an aggregate of all their papers? I see USATODAY stands at 29th by itself.

Equally relevant -- of the top 30 sites, only nine are print media traditional newspaper. Two of the top ten are text media content creators (and that's stretching it for Daily Kos, as much a political SNW). Three of the top 10 are TV networks (Fox, CNN, MSNBC). The big leaders -- Drudge, AOL News, Yahoo! News, Google News, etc. -- are only repurposing content that comes from . . . . oh yeah, those AP and traditional newspaper journalists.

The Good (and Bad) News on Community

A random thought while waiting . . .

Community is the big thing on the internet, and people spend a lot of time building profiles and finding community. That's a powerful, and positive force.

I'm afraid what drives it is a growing lack of community in the RealLife. No one keeps a job for the length of a career. Mobility within the culture is the rule; not stability. We seek others of like mind and the internet allows that. Good, but at the same time it allows us to not relate with those we see daily.

Aggressive Tactics in Politics?

Somehow, a candidate that is quick to send his campaign workers out to correct perceived errors in the media is being A) aggressive or B) new. At least, that's the impression at the Washington Post today about John McCain. Some interesting quotes from the pros involved, but the tone of the whole article begs the question -- do you not remember the War Room? Does the name James Carville ring a bell? How about Karl Rove? Really, this isn't rocket science. But, to the hot quotes:

"If stories are wrong, we have an absolute obligation to say so, and to say so as loudly as we can," said Mark Salter, McCain's longtime confidant, who writes the rebuttal letters. "It's not working the refs. It's just correcting things when the refs blow a call."

That's a lovely mix of sports metaphor with politics; except we really don't get to correct the ref, even if he does blow a call. Nevertheless, nice to see someone else recognizing that if there's a factual error, there's no shame in calling (or in the case of a board or blogger -- emailing or posting) the correction out. Tactically, here's one to keep in mind as you build an overall strategy.

The McCain camp also circulates these letters to conservative radio hosts and bloggers, hoping to provide an alternative narrative for the press. "There is no point in calling the reporter," said McCain strategist Steve Schmidt. "There is no point in calling the [story] editor." When confronted with untrue accusations, he said, "we will use that to communicate with our supporters and donors to take advantage of the unfairness."

An interesting take -- one used often by sports media relations on the radio host part, but not particularly exploited to date in the new media realm. More on that concept later.

Bad News for PigBoy14

You may be aware of the Lori Drew case. The 49-year-old created a fake MySpace 16-year-old to cyber-bully and terrorize 13-year-old Megan Meier in her Missouri hometown. Meier eventually hung herself. The state could not find a way to charge Drew for her behavior even though most media accounts point to an almost direct impact on the suicide. The feds, however, have a new angle.

By creating a fake name, Drew is being brought up on federal hacking charges. From the AP story:

Prosecutors alleged that by helping create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist, Lori Drew, 49, violated the News Corp.-owned site's terms of service and thus illegally accessed protected computers.

Legal experts warned Friday that such an interpretation could criminalize routine behavior on the Internet. After all, people regularly create accounts or post information under aliases for many legitimate reasons, including parody, spam avoidance and a desire to maintain their anonymity or privacy online or that of a child.

This new interpretation also gives a business contract the force of a law: Violations of a Web site's user agreement could now lead to criminal sanction, not just civil lawsuits or ejection from a site.

More to come.

Happy Birthday, Will

17 years old today, my not-so-little boy. Still, he and his friends stayed up until midnight to open up his main present (RockBand -- but that might be more the friends who knew what it was driving that decision process).

It seems like yesterday he was sitting down on the press row as a precocious second grader, eager to score games and run errands. A part of working the games since that time, I hope that continues with the new administration.

Anyway, hope you got the text message about your birthday, which the newspaper reports tell me you share with Isreal. Knowing your respect and fascination with your GramGram's side of the family, I'm sure that's something you'll be proud of for years to come.

Bill Smith's Day Off

Well, not really. More like three hours between the end of the JumpTV conference and heading to O'Hare. By the way, if one must connect through Atlanta on the way to heaven, O'Hare is the purgatory you may be sentenced to prior to getting to that connecting flight.

Ah Farris. Workday downtown Chicago retains its Bueller-like charm. The stores change -- Ernie Sucheck couldn't name off the waterfront today. But the Billy Goat is still here, and a great power walk takes me past the Weber Grill Resturant -- kind of a high alter of all that is guy with all the cooking being done indoors on, yes that's right, Weber kettles. Harry Carey's. The House of Blues. And without a doubt one of the largest mega McDonald's (I know the one on Broadway is larger, but it's not true to the arches, which are golden yellow and huge in Chi-town).

As if on cue, John Edwards has provided the Clinton-Obama drama I so expected being in the bifurcated home of these two political rivals -- sitting in the airport Edwards has endorsed Obama. A patently obvious counter to Clinton's crushing WVa win (quick, Rich Rod isn't the only connection between WVa and Michigan, the state Hillary needs back in play to keep this thing going now).

Did anyone catch the Monday reference? Bueller? Bueller?

Elmer of eBay

In my favorite hobby -- amateur radio -- there's a term for a wise mentor: Elmer. Ironic the new major domo of the JumpTV group we're meeting with goes by the name of Elmer. From the very feng shui powerpoint to a fierce commitment to community, he cuts an impressive swath through the event. Of course, when you hear someone echoing your own theories, why they must be a genius.

He should know a little about communities, having spent the past five years with eBay. For the immediate future at UA, it is reassuring to hear white is the new black in color scheme (better to let you school color through), that white space (not to be confused with the color) is not waste, that we have turned the corner to where clarity of message is more important than cramming something into every last corner of space. Too often in the past we've seen this with an interior decorating motif best expressed as no wall goes "un-hogged".

Elmer has graciously agreed to share a pair of his PPT slides that hit home on Fan First -- that the rising generations go to the internet and their friends for their opinions and news and the fastest growing segment of domain visit in the past year was social networking. The first is not that surprising, but it's great to get some numbers to support. The second note bears a follow up. Consider that SNW holds 16% of the traffic -- a category of website that did not exist in the surveys three years ago.

If You Have the Means . . .

. . . I highly recommend Chicago. Arriving here today for the first of two days of meetings hosted by the JumpTV folks on the programs and tool-set driving our website. Gino's East remains the king, the Watertower is always this oasis of 19th-century Americana plopped in the middle of the corporate 21st century. Is it no small coincidence it is catty-cornered from Macy's, nee Marshall Fields before the shotgun wedding?

There should be an interesting sideshow -- Hillary's hometown and Barak's home district -- with the West Virginia primary on the horizon.

Interesting Twist on What Makes the Internet

Lee Smith's essay in this week's Chronicle -- The Wealthiest Colleges Should Acquire "The New York Times" -- has several pithy and useful insights into journalism today. The gist is Smith believes the elite colleges should take a small percentage of their endowments and create a private for-profit of the NYT to keep the Grey Lady afloat in its current form.

This is a lot of the usual "who will pay for the journalism we need" screed, but at least he admits that what could be worse for the Times -- that people accuse it of being influenced by East Coast Liberal bias? Like they don't now? Good point, Lee Smith. His plan is not to make it a non-profit, but relieve the pressure of stockholders for short term profit, or rates of profit not consistent with "good journalism."

Enough -- here's the key quote:

". . . the Internet is not a source of information; it is a means of distributing information in bewildering bulk -- true, false, significant, trivial, timely, old, brilliant, maniacle -- from an endless array of sources. Some of it is wonderfully rich in detail, reliable, and level-headed; some of it is fantastical and malicious."

That has to be one of the best definitions of the InfoWeb 2.0 I have seen. He continues to point out that most of the "reliable information" on the net comes from reporters paid for by traditional media sources. True, and the crux of the monetizing eyeballs problem of InfoWeb 2.0.

Smith's column in whole is well worth a tumble. I'd like to give you a link, but of course, it is a subscription item (ironic, no?). Those that have a Chron subscription can jump here.

Convention is Coming

For those that attend CoSIDA, this is a shameless promotion of my panel New Media & College Sports: Understanding the Impact of Citizen Media and the Blogosphere. We're lucky that Dan Gillmor from the Center for Citizen Media and Arizona State's Cronkite School will present along with the man behind Every Day Should Be Saturday, Spenser Hall.

I'll try to follow those titans with a perspective of how we in the college sports community must reach out and be a part of this new media -- both as a participant from our institution with our own new media platforms and interact with this brave new world.

I'd be a shameless hypocrite if I didn't take advantage of this platform to vet and collect feedback on my part. So, watch this space for topics out of the talk for feedback. You can send that or suggestions direct to me at UA (bismith at uark [dot] edu).

Well, When the Paper Names You POTY

An item from the Palm Beach, Fla., paper was forwarded by a colleague with the exclamation -- why in the world would they care, it's softball. A tough lesson for a young woman headed off to college as the paper dredged up a week-old arrest for DUI. According to the story, it was her second driving violation.

At first glance, well, it did seem a bit excessive even if she is the best softball prepster in the state. On re-read, the payoff is in the second paragraph. "Jane Doe, named the two-time Palm Beach newspaper player of the year, . . ." -- yep, if the paper's invested in your career on the good side, the police blotter reporter probably will remember your name.

One of those unfortunate good times-bad times publicity moments.

More on the E-Mail Frontier

You may recall how student email became a central part of the Mitch Mustain business at Arkansas, and that private commercial email could not be used as a means to circumvent public record university emails in the Pokey Chatman case at LSU. Florida weighs in today with a search of student emails in pursuit of a leak regarding admissions to the university's College of Medicine. Here we see some interesting new twists -- the UF accounts can be searched but the Google or other private email account of a student carries some level of FERPA protection. This will be a case to watch.

iPodder

Usually, I'm an early implementor on technology, particularly software and technique. The one place I just wasn't impressed, wasn't moved was the iPod. Why do I need another level of complications? As a veteran of the Broadcast.Com to RealPlayer to Real to Windows Media -- what could possibly make it worth it to move my MP3s once again. I could copy them straight to players, like the old Axim V51 and now my ATT Tilt. Who needed another system, another device.

Of course, all the Dell DJs weren't enough for my oldest, he got his iPod a couple of months ago. My wife had complained about the difficulty of moving files (what, honey, you just drag and drop) on her various MP3 players. My 11-year-old daughter, she's a Napster plays-for-sure swapping fool.

But, the breakdown of Juice and Vista has driven me to try iTunes and a Classic for podcatching.

My co-workers were shocked to overhear my conversations with our New Media director and Kyle Kellams over at KUAF as I was deciding between a Nano and Classic. After listening to my rants about iTunes jacking up desktops (which, lets be frank, it use to do in a corporate environment), they were stunned to learn I was crossing over. A week of fitzing with the interface on the iPod, I have something to say:

I

Was

Wrong

Oh, so, incredibly wrong. How much of my life was waisted on learning the ins-and-outs of various Windows-based players? I have learned one thing -- only old people have Classics. When I bought it, the 17-year-old at the checkout looked at the box with some kind of twisted nostalgia and proclaimed, "Huh, it's been forever since I've seen one of those."

Yeah, but I've got 80 gigs of jams, dude; a lot of it the original versions of the things you're banging your head on you Nano.

Chalk this one up for all those people who've said I was inflexible. Hah!

Speed of the Net

Once again, proved with today's press conference announcement. And yes, there is one today regarding John McDonnell. That note went out around 9 a.m.; general department staff at 9:24 a.m. Back through the Google News Alert chain by 10:21 a.m. off a posting at USA TODAY that at this moment (10:40) is showing 45 minutes old.

The boards had it almost immediately upon the press alert -- first found post at 9:10 a.m. That's because the media is a part of the boards, and the blogs.

The Bad News Fit to Print

New York Times Company reports today in its flagship publication that the group posted a first quarter loss.

The company’s main source of revenue, newspaper advertising in print and online, fell 10.6 percent, the sharpest drop in memory, as the industry suffers the twin blows of an economic downturn and the continuing long-term shift of readers and advertisers to the Internet.

Meanwhile, Google's first quarter was up 30%.

Solving the Mismatch

File this under thought for the day. As I was sipping my morning brew and reading over some of the local sports and news on the internet, I realize that because of the ability to see more detail, to read commentary and to interact, I'm probably more connected with local issues than when I simply read the newspaper each day.

Same can apply to college sports -- folks are now "insiders" that do not fit the traditional definitions. They are not giving at the levels that once gave them access. They often aren't in the same town as their school of interest. The medium both brings in new faces and dilutes the position of the old guard. The mismatch comes when the newcomers believe their opinions have the same strength as the contributions of the supporters. That's a huge challenge.

Ideas are suppose to have force, particularly ones that are for the good. Lot of frustration when they aren't heard.

Then again, it seems all the new book deals are going to the innovative bloggers. Today's print edition of the Chronicle speaks of the $300,000 book deal with the 29-year-old internet copy writer who started Stuff White People Like. Reminds me of Will Leitch's book, and the growth of Mental Floss on-line and magazine items into published works.

A Few Words on Surveys, Blogs and the News

Funny as it folds in on itself, there's a note on the Chronicle's wired campus blog that reading blogs can be habit forming. Goes on to detail a study at Cal-Irvine, but when you hit the bottom you realize that:
A) 15 people studied at one college
B) That's not a sample worthy of mentioning
C) Wasn't the concept (that people will read the same blogs habitually) a foregone conclusion?

Strikes me the same as if I asked 15 people at UA if they read the newspaper each day. As blogs -- a term I'm increasingly sick and tired of using -- become news sources, why would be be surprised at all if people feel compelled to check them each morning.

Could we now say that ESPN SportsCenter is an addiction? Looking up the forecast through Local on the Eights on the WeatherChannel is habit forming?

People seek information. They gather it through the easiest method to their particular circumstance. They value it in proportion to the proven ability to provide what the end user sees as truth. A person with computer skills would use on-line sources. A news-o-phile picks it up in print on the doorstep. A radio fan hears it through a talk show.

In this case, the new versions of a medium get confused with the truism running through time.

Hyper-Local Tabloids?

What's next? The end of the world? No, the regrettable next step in new media is to bring you the local version of the Enquirer. Welcome to TheDirty.com. Yes, it's the home of Matt Leinart photos, but as the current top guy at the website said, it's really not about the rich and famous (although, they're not above using them go get publicity).

"Ninety-eight percent of our stuff is through submissions from a regular person of just funny stuff someone was doing, or stuff maybe they shouldn’t have been doing," said The Dirty's COO, Ray Levine

So, instead of the local newspaper, you'll check your Google alert feeds on news items, read through the local bloggers on politics, check out the local music scene with the on-line version of the old free entertainment paper and now, get your local dirt -- both at TheDirty and, if you're like a lot of smaller areas without a lot of contributors, the hyper-local coverage via Topix.

Good to See Coaches Aren't the Only Ones

How often has this happened -- coach rolls out to a booster function they believe is "closed" only to have off-the-cuff remarks posted on the internet and taken as gospel.

Barak Obama, join the head coach's gaffe circuit. At a closed fundraiser in San Francisco, he made some comments about rural voters. Now that might come back to haunt him, but at least I'll give credit that he hasn't tried to say he didn't say them.

It serves as a constant reminder that if you're in the public eye, you never leave it.

The World is Flat

Periodically, I spend quality time perusing the periodical racks of the local stores. Want to know the trend? See what these other folks have spent tons of money deciding what was hot.

The discovery? Flat is in. No more layered text mastheads. No faded overlays. Drop shadow is dead. Shockingly, not even stroked text.

Don't believe me? Even the Photoshop magazines are doing the non-Photoshopping of the logos, mastheads and text.

This is no big surprise. The layout work reminds me of the late 1970s, early 1980s with a very minimalist look, a reaction to the psychedelic overlays of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Bauhaus is back, baby.

It's all about the font once again. Good news for someone who can tell his Futura from his Univers, knows that Helvetica is just for the squares and Arial -- yeah, maybe as a Disney character but not the characters on my publications.

Big test coming up for some folks on this. It will be interesting to see if they are hip to the trend.

One Great Day

Today was spent helping my wife set up her garage/estate sale. Aside from battling unseasonably cold weather and gusts to 32 (as measured on ye olde anemometer), this was a fantastic day. I'm helping the wife. We're clearing out the house of a lot of old stuff [and committing to the fact that once it leaves the house, it isn't coming back].

Part of that was a visit by Dickson Street Books to see if my deceased mother-in-law's old books had any value. They're quite patient with the junk, helping me separate the wheat. While waiting, I turn to see not one, but two Menken first editions (Prejudices, Second; Prejudices, Third). Um, yes, I'll take that as store credit; and with that Second comes home to bring my collection to almost complete. If anyone out there has the First they'd like to part with . . .

Standing there with Menken in hand -- it just feels good to handle the old books of a master. At the end of the day, it is about classics. Starbucks found that out the hard way. For all the marketing, the research, the product placements, the collateral items -- Starbucks lost its way because it forgot what made it Starbucks. Good coffee, and a coffee-shop atmosphere.

Read the other day they're going with this Pike Place "revival" to have more coffee beans handled and ground in the store. The result? The Starbucks smells like it should. An inadvertent huge error by the corporation -- when you go to vacuum sealed products, and pre-ground items you might save a little coin, but in the process you lose the soul of the coffee house.

There's a lesson in my cup of coffee today. Sometimes, the way to your future is through remembering what got you to where you are today. Lot of folks forget that. If passion got you there, keep it. If your fan base got you there, remember them. We'll see.

Start Your Day Refreshed

Every time I get that "Noli nothis permittere te terere" kind of day, I am vividly reminded it can be worse by Randy Pausch. The former professor who has added incredible grace and dignity to his departure from this life has managed to live long enough with pancreatic cancer to see the publication of his book based on his famous "last lecture."

In other internet news, our good friends at Center for Citizen Media have a pair of stories.

One is not so good for TV as CBS adds to its public woes. After acknowledging talks with CNN to "outsource" its national coverage, huge cutbacks are on the way for its 27 company owned local stations.

But, if you jump across the digital divide, according to the New York Times, blogging will kill you. The story starts by describing the digital-era sweatshop -- your home -- and relates the unfortunate coronary demise of three bloggers. I also find the counterpoint from ZDNet compelling, and reassuring in a Pausch-like way:

Let’s put a little perspective on this blogging thing. You could be getting shot at in Iraq. You could be a single mom working three jobs to stay afloat (Happy Birthday mom). You could work in a coal mine. You could be in a life and death battle with Leukemia. You could be doing any one of thousands of high-stress jobs. Sure, the Web has a lot of stress but let’s get real: If you’re stressed out over 5,000 RSS feeds chances are good you’d be stressed by any profession you chose.

So what's that phrase at the top? Oh, you thought I meant Illegitimi non carborundum, but of course, being connected citizen I was able to discover that old chestnut is at best dog-Latin, bastardized (all pun intended) by "Vineger" Joe Stillwell. The Second World War general was a constant nemesis of Claire Chennault. It does my heart good to learn how illegitimi his Latin was, since in regard to many issues Stillwell certainly was a bastardes himself.

More Things You Shouldn't Do on Facebook

As college athletes in particular and students in general complain that their freedom of expression is being stifled by people looking at their Facebook pages, this just in from Michigan as the East Lansing PD is looking into a student's page that launched a 3,000-4,000 street party and riot. The originator of the event is being considered for charges -- doubt that happens -- but the groups that were created to celebrate the event (notably, I got Gassed at Cedarfest 2008) are being looked at for potential legal issues. There is more here at the Chronicle of Higher Ed.

On Crisis Management

Today, we'll be covering crisis policies in the SID class. Having a plan and working on media relationships before the crisis are the big keys to success. Consider last night's national championship -- did Kansas win it in overtime, or back in October when they were working on conditioning and free throws?

There's quite a shift in the approach by colleges toward the media, and a lot of resistance to change in being open during a crisis. Christine Syme of Montana State had an excellent piece in the NCAA News a month or so ago about "aggressive disclosure." The text for our class has an absolutely golden quote about the old-school duck-and-cover mentality:

"The silent organization sets itself up for a public flogging in the media."

I'd only add, that it won't be the three newspapers, four TV stations and a couple of radio hosts warming up the cat-o'nine-tails. It's more like the classic scene in Airplane as the entire cabin lines up to take a slap at the program as the average anonymous fan on the message board, the citizen media bloggers and the established media bloggers will join into the fun.

You're Missing the Better Final Four

After taking in the men's blowouts, can anyone doubt that the women's battles tonight were the better games? The Candice Parker-Sylvia Fowles battle has been titanic tonight. Physical, gutty as both fight injury. The essence of championship basketball.

Now tomorrow night, the men's final might be something really special.

By the way, how in the world can a major venue not be able to control the floor clocks? All night the "right" goal to the broadcast position has been off. It had 8.0 seconds left when the horn went off at halftime of UT-LSU; it was off a full minute during the UConn-Stanford game.

Hooray Caffine

A tip of the hat to Andrew Sullivan's blog which turns up this British study on the positive effects of a daily cup of coffee in regard to Alzheimer's.

We Have Met the Blog, and The Bloggers Better be Us

Henry Jenkins is a new media theory guy at MIT. So, why should athletic departments care? From one of his many Chroncle of Higher Ed essays, the payoff quote:

Prospective students. A rising percentage of the students we admit list these blogs as the primary way in which they learned about the media-studies program. New students come to us with a much sharper understanding of the strengths of our program and how their interests might align with our continuing research efforts. The blogs thus raise the number and quality of applicants, and may have had some impact on our yield — the percentage of accepted candidates who enroll. New students are increasingly integrated into the life of the program well before they arrive in September.

Do I really need to translate? OK, right in the middle -- blogs thus raise the number and quality of applicants -- re-read that with the word recruit for applicant.

If you need more sources, check out the Chron's companion piece on whether or not Marshall McLuhan matters anymore by Jenkins -- it is filled with links to the people he thinks are the vital bloggers in this area.

A Beautiful Two-fer Today

A brilliant pick-up on brieibart.com today about angry journalists venting about the future of their profession. Current and former scribes carry on about layoffs, websites and management at angryjournalist.com.

OK, this is just too delicious. We constantly hear from the Fourth Estate (and the Leadership -- be it athletic or political) about the low-life nature of anonymous posters. They'll say anything cause they have nothing to lose, cowards hiding behind screen names.

Guess what -- all the posters at angryjournalist.com are simply numbers? Et tu, media?

The story has several rants on each side of the new media world -- joining in one one of our local columnists today who decries Al Gore's invention as the bane of serious journalism -- but one of the payoffs is accidental.

I have always said that one of the keys to understanding the blogosphere is accepting the fact that it fundamentally is a negative medium. No one goes on-line to praise; they only take time to vent. Snark is driven by bile. So, quoting from the story:

Since then, his website has inspired an imitator, happyjournalist.com, which has much catching up to do with only about 100 "pieces of happiness" compared to the more than 2,600 gripes so far on angryjournalist.com.

Yes indeedy -- hate beats love 26:1.

More for on More Signs of the Apocolypse

All we need now is a zombie movie, Night of the Dead Newspaper. The New Yorker adds its touch to the fin de siècle literature. A good read, nothing really new here.

Interesting Research on the Next Market

The Millennnials -- not a bunch of tattooed, pierced, boomerangs according the J. Walter Thompson. The venerable adverting agency released its findings of surveys of the 21-29 year olds. Read the whole thing in the Washington Times. One quick quote:

Among the findings: 94 percent said they respect monogamy and parenthood, while 84 percent revere marriage. Eighty-eight percent respect the U.S. Constitution, 84 percent respect the military and more than three-fourths believed in the proverbial "American dream." Fewer than one in four, however, said they have any admiration for Hollywood.

Sounds like a huge future for college sports, that ever-so-old-school hobby.

Thanks for Catching Up

The local student newspaper, The Traveler, has discovered that corporate recruiters may be looking at your Facebook.

More Signs of the Apocolypse

For the traditionalists, the news from Editor and Publisher isn't just bad; it is epic. The lifeblood of the industry is advertising revenue, and it dropped precipitously in 2007. On-line grew, but not even a 10th of what it takes to make up for the print loss. The worst loss in 50 years is how the story characterized the drop. I await the analysis that says this really doesn't point toward a change. Right. Like global warming becomes climate change when one year's winter temps wipe out the statistical rise over the past several.

At the same time, this very clairvoyant entry off the blog of one of the true gray ladies of the industry, TIME, about where the industry is headed. I particularly like the part about how the package we get our news is changing. It reminds me of a quote I heard this week on NPR talking about someone needing to figure out how to "monetize eyeballs" as they harvest news from lots of free sources (that reference at the bottom of the TIME piece on the individual atoms of news). That's spot on -- and it is where those dollars leaving the E&P story are waiting for someone to tell them where to go.

Former IU Gets Digital Lesson

Somebody decided the world needed to see an Indiana 's private photo shoot. A night of fun? An amateur tryout for ? Who knows. Her name's been tagged to several threads promoting the photos. From those indications, she was a senior in 2007, so no news stories about her being dumped from the team. One would think you would not have those kind of photos readily available anywhere on-line to be harvested by breaking security, but I've been surprised before. This time, the lesson likely is that an ex or the photog got ed and decided to out the images. Then again, maybe she did it to get publicity for a new career. Either way, before digital, it was a lot easier to get the negatives back from a night of indiscretion and believe that at least it would have taken more time and effort to copy them than point and click today.

Cuban, blogger update

Once again, Deadspin brings out the latest on the Mark Cuban vs. bloggers in the Mavericks locker room. The cliff note: NBA has ordered bloggers back in and Cuban counters by inviting EVERY blogger in the world to apply.

You know, I haven't been in the Mavs locker room since 1984 at Reunion Arena . . . . .

Once Again, SNWs Not Always Secure

Once posted, always vulnerable as Facebook is forced to admit that there were significant holes in its privacy functions. A hacker gave the keys to the kingdom to the Associated Press, and they were able to quickly replicate the entry into several private "friends only" photo albums, including some of Paris Hilton.

From the AP story:
The latest lapse serves as another reminder of the perils of sharing sensitive photos and personal information online, even when Web sites pledge to shield the information from prying eyes.

Here's where I do the smug dance: I told you so.

Memories Should Always Match the Video Tape

That's the payoff line of a CBS report that is making the rounds on the internet about Hillary Clinton "misremembering" her visit to Bosnia as First Lady. There are two lessons here. The obvious one is when you are a public person, stick with the truth and don't embellish it. Someone, somewhere will have evidence to the contrary, and in this digital media age, probably video or audio actualities.

The second is more subtle. So how many people really saw this live on the CBS Evening News? No where near as many as have seen it now -- your correspondent included -- because the reference was picked up by new media aggregators like Drudge and blog sites like Politico. Thanks to YouTube, the clip itself lives forever -- far more damaging than a thousand editorials.

When You Get to the End, You'll Get it

Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post has a very funny, but cuttingly insightful piece on what it would be like to attempt to soak in the complete news cycle -- the whole 24. Or as he titles it, Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Many gems about the blogosphere within this story, which came to me via Arts and Letters RSS feed. And now gets regurgitated here. That cycle of birth and recycling is a part of the opening, and you'll see what I mean in the title once you think about how he follows some idea genesis.

Weingarten hits a lot of the right buttons about the pundistry, but here's where I wonder if he gets his own joke -- he's calling out himself. Or, cleverly, is the joke on us. Nevertheless, a good read on the world outside sports. It won't be too hard for a mental search and replace the names of the politicos with the names of coaches to see how it applies to us in the college sports industry.

The Future Draws Closer; and the Future is Free

A very interesting perspective on CBS' coverage of the men's Final Four from the Canadian media.

The move to a no-charge, ad-supported model pushed the online audience to more than a million, almost immediately. This year, the network has unshackled things further by eliminating blackouts that were in place to protect local CBS stations. The company doesn't expect TV ad sales will be cannibalized. (BOLD MY EMPHASIS)

Contrast this with the shackles other networks have attempted to put on conferences, and in turn, conferences on schools. It is absurd to restrict universities from streaming live sports against network windows. All it does is reduce the potential to expand interest in the sport. It seems if interest grows, the value of the TV contract increases.

The narrow-minded see live content as a zero sum game. There are lots of very high-paid smart people at CBS that figured out they were not taking away from their affiliates, but instead opening up the games to new audiences.

And if you think it's stopping with the online video streaming:

CBS is also pushing the games further onto the Internet this year, allowing social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to link to the games directly. The network expects to shatter last year's record of 1.4 million unique users, which will also drive up ad rates for next year.

Meanwhile, Texas has taken all the subscription cost off its streaming video, turning to an advertising model to pay the freight.

The future is free.

Isn't There Health Care, Something Important Going On?

This is embarassing politics. Sen. Robert Singer of Ocean, N.J., introduced a resolution in the New Jersey legislature to call on the NCAA to investigate the final second clock operation at the Tennessee-Rutgers game.

The REPUBLICAN state senator obviously has not heard about the concept of limited government.

Meanwhile, I'd like to have a few other things investigated. Perhaps the Arkansas state senate could vote a resolution to review the film of the 1969 Great Shootout? Maybe the city of Fayetteville could vote that the laws of gravity should be suspended.

Look, Rutgers and head coach Vivian Stringer has moved on. Sen. Singer might do the same.

Tell Me Again Why You Can Ignore the New Media

Fourth quarter loss for Tribune Corp -- almost $70 million.

In story, now saying they may start selling off some of the core group newspapers.

Costas Responds

Bob Costas elaborates on his comments published in the Miami Herald with a direct call to Deadspin. On so many levels, interesting read -- above all, Bob Costas called Deadspin.

Revenge of the Blog-i

Deadspin squares off on Bob Costas' screed on bloggers. One must read it to appreciate.

I will lift only one passage:

But -- with all due respect, sir, from a fellow Cardinals fan and a longtime admirer -- why are you the only one who gets to talk?

Costas was speaking in Miami when he launched the broadside against those with keyboards and opinions. The starting point of this whole controversy is the Miami Herald coverage of the event. Part of this began with Mark Cuban's move to toss bloggers from access to his Dallas Mavericks, which of course is being called out considering his own blog.

This is the next frontier. Two years ago, it was the rise of the SNWs. Now it's the bloggers, and they're more than ready to bring their rebel alliance against the traditional media empire. OK, that's a two minute penalty for excessive geeky-ness.

Still, as Dan Rather learned the very hard way, where once one did not get into pissing battles with people who bought ink by the barrel, Costas -- and others -- might want to avoid calling out the masses. Next thing you know, somebody's posting your outtakes on YouTube.

Seriously, hit the links.

Standing Corrected

While watching the event, I had my doubts about a tornado touchdown in downtown Atlanta. High wind damage; absolutely. Here was the spotter coming out in me; don't use the "T" word unless you see the funnel on the ground. That's for the NWS to confirm after the fact. Well, today they did and I'd be terribly wrong to not say I was mistaken. More here.

Never Know When Your Profile Will Go Bigtime

Preached and preached about when you post on your profile, you never know how it may be used. Today, we know far more than we ever needed to know about Elliot Spitzer's friend -- all courtesy of the traditional media grazing over one Ashley Youmans' MySpace pages.

From the continuing and insatiable coverage of the New York media:

Sultry pictures of Dupre, referred to as "Kristen" in federal affidavits, were splashed across the front page of every paper in the city and broadcast around the globe, thanks to the girl's MySpace page, which remained accessible to the public far longer than anyone would have imagined.

In the space of 36 hours we went from Client #9's unknown lover to complete photo galleries, audio clips of Youman's singing (complete with snide commentary about the "tired" cultural references in her lyrics by, of all people, the New York Times), and her entire family tree.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Ashley.

More Changes on the Video Front

The YouTube delivery direct to TiVo later this year comes on the heels of Texas announcing free streaming off its new TexasSports.TV. Add in the Olympics deal to use the new SilverLight to present content on NBC's site, and there is a wave of content creation change just around the corner.

They Said it Couldn't Be Done

Two years ago when SNW was just breaking into the consciousness of athletic departments, the civil liberties crowd wailed that ADs could not tell their athletes to not be on websites like Facebook. It violated their rights. My counter argument was that we already restrict the freedom of speech and association of college athletes at every level, from league bans on comments regarding officiating to NCAA restrictions on association with agents and gambling interests.

Big story this past week in the Birmingham News about the bans and curfews now becoming common practice across the SEC. Just one of the many examples in the story:

For the Tennessee men's basketball team, "there are places we don't want them to go, there are times we don't want them to go out, and those are rules that are confined within the team," coach Bruce Pearl said. "That's why they're called team rules."

And where is the outrage? At least in this story, there isn't any.

Kerry Kenny, vice-chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, said he personally has no problem with coaches placing restrictions on free time, even though it may seem politically incorrect.
"A lot of times coaches are put into positions to do something to get messages across to their team," Kenny said. "Before it even reaches that point, student-athletes need to hold themselves accountable. A lot of times student-athletes think they're invincible to some of the situations that have arisen over the years."

How about that -- a voice of reason speaks. It only reinforces the point -- whether they are places student-athletes should not congregate in person or on-line, athletic departments by virtue of the privilege of participation and representation of the institution has the power to enforce restrictions.

The Bicentennial

Happy 200th post to the blog

So What's It Like

People always think man, you've got the best seat in the house. Granted, when you're calling the game on radio -- yes. Even working the stat crew, you get to see the game up close. But, as is the case with the SEC women's hoops, I spend a lot of time right next to the court looking two computers -- one sending the data stream out and one on-line watching the download to monitor if its still running. Nevertheless, there's no better week of work.

Today I saw a first. I've been to plenty of tournaments where you have an alternate official available, but this was the first time I've ever seen a change during the game. That's 23 years of women's hoops.

Back to work.

Samantha Power Redeux

The Chronicle of Higher Ed's Daily Blog has an interesting take on the "Monster" quote.

According to the The Scotsman, Ms. Power interrupted an interview to take a telephone call from another Obama adviser. When she returned, she reportedly volunteered that the call had been about the Obama campaign’s missteps in Ohio over the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“In Ohio, they are obsessed [with Nafta], and Hillary is going to town on it because she knows Ohio’s the only place they can win,” Ms. Power had told the reporter before the results of the state’s Democratic primary were known. “She is a monster too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything.”

Later on, the Chron offers classic media training 101:

“Off the record,” as every eager young journalism student knows, is a contract of sorts: The interviewer must agree to the arrangement before the interviewee proceeds. Under no circumstances can someone make a comment and then declare it off the record.

Meanwhile, in other media news, it seems according to a recent Harris poll that radio is the most trusted news form. Of course, this tidbit comes from a story on NPR's news coverage -- hmm, wonder it that colored the placement. Nevertheless, I can anectotally support that survey conclusion. An internet rumor often first becomes a media truth when it appears on the local talk sports show, and generally goes there before TV or print. Here's the quip:

A Harris Poll of 2,300 adults conducted Jan. 15-22 and released Thursday found that radio trumped television, Internet-based news sites and journalists in general — with 44 percent of the respondents saying they trusted radio. Online sources came next with 41 percent, followed by TV with 36 percent and the overall "press" with 30 percent.

Travel: Best Libraries

Last weekend, I saw a travel section story about the best libraries to visit on the road. Several in the story were quality, but the two glaring omissions were Seattle and Nashville. And of the two, there is little comparison to Nashville's downtown public library. Just to reconfirm, I strolled over again this morning. A great building, a nice collection, a very solid cafe.

Considering the armageddon snow storm had shuttered most of downtown (I kid -- two inches, tops and mostly melted by the time I walked over), the library was quiet and a great place to read. I've found some great pieces of research for my professional work there on previous trips.

One aside, it bothers me how our public libraries have changed. I grew up in the library as a child, wandering the stacks. My mother-in-law was a librarian, and she also lamented the shift from public place to loitering place. I put a lot of that on the new wave of book stores that are quasi-libraries with reading areas. Combine that with high-speed internet and a growing scanning of research works and fewer people go to the public library.

Let me rephrase that -- those with means don't go to the public library as much, and only when something can't be acquired on-line or browsed at Barnes and Noble. Call it the privatization and tonying of the library.

That's a shame. We lose yet another place of public interaction when we stay behind our screens and don't interact. Now that's the pot calling the kettle black as I type this blog from the confines of the Sommet Center media room.

Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time joining the locals at the library. You should too.

When SNW Meets the NCAA

Elena DelleDonne and her family is finding out the hard way the the new media is not welcome in the corporate sports world. At the same time, exactly what was she thinking by cutting an endorsement for anyone.

Everyone wears some blame here, but the whole business begins with, well, business. And if you have to start calculating whether or not something will be kosher -- that's your first warning that it just might not be OK. The money quote here, from the USA TODAY account, by the website owner thinking it was permissible -- "They are still student-athletes. There are no rules on that."

What? Maybe you mean high school athletes, cause you just used the association's definition.

Here's my future advice: If you need to parse, you better pass.

After Thursday's USA TODAY on-line story (which is much shorter than the printed version), the local Delaware media has followed with a more interesting recount of the events. I highly recommend reading both -- there are some significant variances between the accounts.

The nugget from the local paper:

Ernie DelleDonne pointed out that Elena often is approached by videographers, representing various media organizations, after showcase games, which are designed to attract college recruiters and scouts. He said he was standing with Elena when they were asked by one videographer what they thought of mybasketballprofile.com.

Elena responded that she liked the site, Ernie DelleDonne said.

"The video had Elena and I mentioning the entity," Ernie DelleDonne said, "but it was not an endorsement."

The video has disappeared from the original site, but one has to think it will YouTube soon.

Remember the old SNW advice. Once posted, easily distributed -- especially when it is within a tightly knit community.

CCM Weighs In

More on the Samantha Powers "monster" story from the Center for Citizen Media blog.

For those of you scoring at home, did I mention this is one of those required reading RSS?

Media Training Reminder

As we tell our coaches, administrators and student-athletes, there is no such thing as off the record. Just ask former Barak Obama staffer Samantha Power. The money quote:

Power's interview Monday was published Friday in a Scottish newspaper, even though she tried to keep it from appearing in print.

"She is a monster, too—that is off the record—she is stooping to anything," The Scotsman quoted her as saying.

If that wasn't bad enough:

"You just look at her and think: ergh. But if you are poor and she is telling you some story about how Obama is going to take your job away, maybe it will be more effective. The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive," she said.

Oh, and just because you said it to a media outlet that's out of town (or out of the country), there are those pesky internets. More here and here.

Bookmark This Blog

Sometimes if forget -- but today in the course of reading several pertinent entries it reminded me to post a link and promo for the Center for Citizen Media. This particular link is about how journalists are their own worst enemies on censorship, but the blog as a whole is a daily must read for those interested in the new media wave.

On-Line Media Restrictions

Major League Baseball joins the NCAA this week by putting serious restrictions on the re-use of material gathered by the new media. In some ways, they are reasonable and understandable. It blends the growing restrictions on TV stations as the leagues look to protect their own channels. Still, no one tells the New York Times they can't run pictures every day in print -- only on-line. The mode of transmission should not matter.

For more on the Online Media Association response to MLB.

Some Things Don't Change

The opening day of the SEC tournament is always filled with excitement and quality basketball. Day One -- except for a 10 minute early hicccup -- went just fine from our end. Much better than previous years, and kudos to the Sommet Center staff for solid connectivity.

Welcome to the SECs

Set-up night for the 2008 SEC Women's Basketball tournament. Nice and quiet in the arena as we load in the monitors and computers for this year's event. Once again, the Lady'Back stat crew is providing services.

Lots of folks ask what that means and why Arkansas. First, all the official stats that flow from the floor come from our stat crew. This year, the Sommet Center (and say it so-MAY, otherwise is sounds ominously like the coach of the big Orange machine -- something one does not do in Nashville) has a new Daktronics center-hung scoreboard. That means we'll touch everything -- arena scoreboard stats, press row stat monitors, truck feed for Fox Sports and the internet streams. Most of the recent venues have not had the scoreboard interface. So, credit or blame if the steams aren't up.

The second one -- well, nobody else can do what we do on the women's side. The good part about separate in the past was having the ability to bring in the right people and control the software and equipment. Over time, we have harvested through surplus a complete set of flat screens, VGA distribution units and low-loss cable to have one set that stays at Walton and one set that can travel. I can only hope that we don't get harvested by the new combined department.

While having the equipment is important -- some schools don't have press row monitors, arenas that aren't set for pro basketball either -- the big difference is our people. No students or interns -- they are computer IT professionals ranging from Fortune 500 to higher ed. They live for this week, and it costs them more in missed wages and vacation days than any league could afford to pay (but don't think we don't appreciate it).

I've heard in the past from other schools -- why can't we do the tournament? Look, there are lots of keyers and callers that are great, but this gig isn't about sitting down behind the keyboard that you use in your home arena. It's the knowledge of how to rig the systems in other venues AND trouble-shoot it when problems happen (they always happen). It's the ability to pace for four straight games on consecutive days. And, above all, its about having a team that is as driven and success-oriented as the teams on the court. They respect the game. They know the game. By virtue of our home schedule and the annual trip to the SEC, they work and stat more college women's basketball than almost any other university-based crew.

They are the best in the business, and I'm privileged to work with them. Tomorrow marks the 13th time in the past 16 years Arkansas has crewed the stats. I hope that continues in the future.

And Somehow You Don't Think It Applies to Sports

A recent Zogby poll found roughly half of the Americans surveyed went to the internet for their news; 70% thought the media was out of touch. Story from Reuters.

During the past year, it would be incredibly hard to not say that bears out at Arkansas with sports. I still hear colleagues both near and far say that the blogs, the internet chat, the new media are not impactful.

People -- wake up. Do you somehow think that a go get the info from the traditional media gene keeps fans from only using the internet for political news?

Sir, Your Spoon

We've never had a lot of luck with food at Auburn. It's a small town, and you need to know the lay of the land. We bet the wrong horse tonight -- very average. I'm loath to dog out a local eatery, so we'll leave it at that. Nevertheless, it prompted a stop by the convenience store for a little ice cream to settle the entree. On check-in, I asked the restaurant for a spoon. That proved a production, with the single spoon carried across the seating area to me as if the person were the cross-bearing acolyte at the head of a church procession. Here sir, is your spoon.

That probably should have been a sign. The ice cream at least brought back memories of the cheaper grade ice cream of my youth, and my father's disdane for it. "It's nothing but whipped air," he would grouse. "They're pumping air in rather than cream." He'd know, farm boy and early life restaurateur.

Travel Karma

When you go on the road, you never know what you'll get for a rental. Particularly with one company that tends to work well with the FBOs where charter planes arrive. Never had a bad car, but I have certainly had cars that gave me the chance to know I'd never buy them.

This very well may be the last road trip -- period. Certainly with the rumors of travel rule changes, the last one where we have anything that resembles the freedom to be flexible. So, what a great piece of karma to receive the key to a Mercedes-Benz -- at the same low cost of the compact that we booked.

Keep an Ear to the Sky

Usually, the local talk radio doesn't catch our attention, but this afternoon on the way to the PMAC there was SHOCKING events and BREAKING NEWS on one of the locals. They had some fellow on "who runs a web site" that said one of the LSU players was "engaging with agents" and other comments about this kid coming out early. That in and of itself was humorous as the hosts went from possibility to closing the segment that you heard it here first and began to speak of the player in the past tense. Cue the dirge music as the Star Player era is over. Again, based on the opinion of the guy "who runs a web site."

The clincher was heading to break, when the host said -- no lie -- that he had kept "an ear to the sky and was shocked to learn" about this news.

Next time, maybe an eye to the ground would keep him from being scooped.

The Young and the Wrasslin'

Road trips bring you to unique eateries, and there are few as colorful and delicious -- both culinary and culturally -- than Louie's. Located in the TigerTown district since 1941, it is a diner meets granola fixture of the LSU landscape. No trip to Baton Rouge is complete without breakfast at Louie's. This year the pancakes are smaller (go for the three-stack; the two won't do anymore) but the atmosphere is consistent. Waitresses with more piercings than "hiya doin' hon," and always, always a lead cook prone to Tourette's-like pronouncements. Hence, the spirited discussion with his sous chef (I use the term generously) over professional wrestling that prompted a patron to declare he'd just as soon watch the Young and the Restless as "wrasslin".

No, on to The Caterie for sandwiches on the way to the PMAC.

Just When You Thought SNW was Passe

On the heels of a news report today that domestic traffic numbers for Facebook and other key SNW were on serious decline, this just in from the political front. It seems if you pose in lingere on your MySpace page, it can effect your job security. Just ask Carmen Kontur-Gronquist of Arlington, Oregon. Former Mayor Kontur-Gronquist was recalled by three votes (142-139) after furor over her pose with a city fire truck. The news report is here.

I Hate the Sound of Birds

Don't get me wrong, I love my feeders and backyard aviary. But in late February and early March, bird song means only one thing -- the end of basketball season is near. The days are warmer, and the smell of rain and ozone hangs in the morning air.

The flip side comes when you are still working games in short sleeves and summer slacks -- those are truly good times. That means you're deep in the tournament. Today after a fourth straight last-shot, final minute loss, the signs of spring are only the death throws of a season almost done. Here's to a good snowstorm.

There's Always the Hobby

Six contacts, two callsigns, three bands from my little simple radio setup in Fayetteville to the other side of the world and Ducie Island.

Lot of friends and colleagues wonder why in the world I spend time with that geeky, "old man" hobby of amateur radio. Look, I love working with digital technology, but there is something distinctly magic about the simplicity of a radio, a string of wire and the skill to communicate effectively directly to someone that is literally half the globe away. (Ducie is about 500 kilometers from Pitcarn Island -- yes, where the HMS Bounty crew landed).

When you've watched a fourth straight heartbreaker -- the last second heave came up short again -- and it's the end of an era, it's nice to come home and just do something different.

So, huzzah for DX country number 135 for K1ARK. Tomorrow, back to the grind.

The End of the World As We Know tIt

Today marks the end of an era. It is Senior Day, our final home women's basketball game. We've had those before, but for me personally it is the end of a 19 year run as the person in charge. Who knows what next year brings -- maybe very little changes -- but it is pretty obvious that my run as the captain of the ship ends today.

It's been a good run, and change isn't bad -- but change for change's sake concerns me. I'll call in the crew today to thank them for their service. The one thing that I appreciate the most about the people I have worked with at Arkansas Women's Athletics events is that they worked the events for the love of the game and the support of the women's teams. There wasn't a sole who was here because they were required to do their service at a women's game; or was trying to "move up" to the men's games by training at the women's games. With few exceptions around the country, that is the norm, and you can tell it from the level of professionalism and performance.

But not here these last 19 seasons. For that I am grateful and thankful to a staff of people who have been a part of it. It was women's basketball that brought computers to courtside; brought remote monitors to press row; women's stat crew that got the nod to do the conference, then three Final Fours; women's crew with the first live stats, the first live audio stream, first live video stream, first internet presence, first Spanish language.

That wasn't me -- that was a dedicated staff of workers and volunteers that believed in women's basketball. Thank you all for the years of hard work.

Is This Microphone On?

Occasionally, I am wondering if anyone is out there listening. If so, what ever became of the Disgruntled SID blogsite. Just being curious.

Events of Today Will Affect You in the Future

Ed Wood's words from Plan from Planet Nine echo true today. More from the blog entry about the victory of Talking Points Memo:

220 heads are better than one. Jay Rosen, a press critic and a journalism professor at New York University (NYU), famously called the passionate blog readers “the people formerly known as the audience.” That’s because they are not just passive readers – they react, they mobilize, they comment and write “diaries,” and they make their voices heard. Sometimes they help do the research and reporting.

I am firmly convinced that they are also the people formerly known as the fans.

And class, the Indiana, Tennessee, UNC and Duke SIDs better be ready to go tomorrow.

Future of Journalism

The Talking Points Memo received a George Polk Award -- one of the great "old school" journalism awards. Who would have thought a blogger would take such an award. Recall, he is the one that took Trent Lott to task with his remarks.

Via the Center for Citizen Media Blog, this from Will Bunch about the significance of TPM and the Polk Award:

Since 2002 Marshall has moved to New York and — thanks to increasing ad revenue — made Talking Points Memo into a new kind of journalistic enterprise for the 21st Century, hiring a staff of a half dozen talented young journalists and rewriting the rules with a mix of commentary and original muckraking while highlighting the work of other to focus like a laser on the big political questions.

Again, how long until sports follows politics?

There's Rough, Then There's Gainsville

A travel related entry today. Without a doubt, the roughest hotel towels I've ever experienced. Big thick ridges that look nice and fluffy. The reality? They were the functional equivalent of an abrading loofah. Something around a 80 grain grit. If every single towel wasn't the same style, I'd swear someone was playing a trick on us by switching out the bath towels with floor mats.

That's Going to Leave a Mark

The class was divided into six "universities", and each had to handle a letter of inquiry arriving about Bob "The Turkey" Abrahamowcz's Enormous State University bowling team facing NCAA investigation. The results were, interesting. It appeared none of the class thought the furious questioning and pinning back of the ears by our "media" -- the staff of the WCO -- was realistic.

Bet you Kelvin Sampson thinks it would be realistic. Better yet, athletic director Rick Greenspan, who was put on notice by IU chancellor Michael McRobbie through a spokesperson that he had "seven or eight days" to figure out what to do.

So class, compare your 10 minutes before five media to this:

Before a group of more than 100 media, faculty and students at the Indiana School of Law on Friday, McRobbie read a prepared statement and answered questions in a news conference that lasted less than 15 minutes.

McRobbie didn't take any questions, but there's always someone who will talk. The Indianapolis Star found an IU board of trustee member and some lawyers.

The real world is always worse, and be glad you've had a chance to get a taste of it without blood in the water.

Well, until we see the packages put together for the 6 o'clock news on K-BLAIR.

Don't Think About Elephants

No. I told you not to. But, more than likely, you are, if only in a curious way. Is that suggestion? Likely. Or is it the concept of the meme, also referred to as a mental virus.

There is lots of pop-sci on the idea of an idea that burrows into the subconscious and gets replicated and spread throughout a culture. Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" (pronounced like dream or gene) to refer to these terms, thoughts and concepts. Stealing shamelessly from one of the many Dawkins' inspired websites:

Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leading from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passes it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain.

Thus, by creating the idea of the meme and sharing it with others, Dawkins becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy -- his concept gets replicated. Folds in on itself rather quickly, doesn't it?

What does that mean for the sports media professional? Ever wonder why certain catch phrases become a part of the sporting culture, to the point they become cliche? Maybe they were the successful memes that permeated the collective sports consciousness.

If you want to read more, Richard Brodie gets deeper (and creepier) into the concept in his book and on his website.

There are plenty of adherents that twist the meme concept to their personal belief system -- that religion is a meme or that science is a meme -- with the implication that you're infected by belief in either. There's also a good bit of internet stuff pointing to genes, nano-level biological function and relating that with the meme. OK -- way too deep.

But, the next time you're curious, ask yourself this question: Boo-yea. Cute catch phrase or insidious meme?

There is a Market for the Truth

Never let it be said there isn't room anymore for truth. You find it today on-line, but of course, you have to know the truth to know it. Now, if that isn't a zen line . . .

Seriously, one of the great truths of the internet is there is a place for everyone. The downside is the fragmentation of community in the physical location, but the unification of communities across the virtual location.

The longer we stay in this "web 2.0" -- which is a horrible marketing term -- the greater the value for clear messages. The person who can carry a message and get it through to the constituencies is the winner. They are the greatest enemy of those who obfuscate, distract or detract.

The end result is the numbers are there for those persons and sites that generate truth. The only thing that brings that down is a lack of hope. For all the straight talk, no one really wants to know there is no way out, or no uplifting future.

Thus, it doesn't take a lot of work to tear something down, and for a short period, one can get plenty of attention for that negative message. In the long run, people will burn out on the negative. What people want is a reason to believe.

More Security Worries in the SNW

Of course, if you've already put your whole life on line, not to worry. But, if you think running privacy will help you, here's some more bad news. Facebook says they have it covered, but it is not reassuring. Read more here via The Chronicle of Higher Ed. It also talks about some research projects into how these new plug ins are being used in marketing and the possible security exploits.

Here's one of the money quotes:
Most Internet users these days seem far less concerned than Ms. Felt about the information they share online. In a survey conducted last year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 61 percent of respondents said they did not feel a need to limit the amount of information that could be discovered about them online.

Once again, digital assets, once posted, are extremely portable and persistent.

Tough Day

Hard to watch, tough to write and even more so to update with web service winking out. Get back to Fayetteville, and guess what? No Super Bowl for Dish customers due to local outage. Great.

What is Worse -- The Truth or Spin?

We had an interesting exercise question from the book this week, and very interesting student responses. What do you do when you have negative news? First, understand that something negative to one person isn't negative to all. Player departures often appear negative, but there isn't a coach in the country that won't say sometimes you get addition of team unity through subtraction of a player or two.

Be concise. Be honest as you are legally allowed to be. And understand when you do not say what happened, often the perception will be much worse than the reality. Case in point: Athlete is leaving program due to a family situation. If you take the "positive" road and try to ignore that the athlete is leaving, when it is discovered it immediately looks suspicious. Suppose you literally say "family situation," but the truth is she's pregnant. Unless that athlete is about to disappear from the face of the earth -- 1950s-style -- in six to 12 months it will be really obvious what happened. In the meantime, people will wonder -- did she flunk out, is she on drugs, is she fighting with the coach/team, is she a quitter.

Meanwhile, all the sunshine statements in the world won't fix the problems avoiding or hiding the truth caused. Reputation of the school and individual are at stake. Look, people make mistakes. And people forgive those mistakes when they are dealt with honestly. Don't compound the mistake with an obfuscation that makes the situation worse.

This was one of the class' money answers:
"A sports information specialist should be honest when dealing with a negative situation. The SID should establish its credibility by alerting the media as oppose to the media finding out on their own. After alerting the media, they should focus on upcoing and current positive issues to take focus from the news-making negative issue."

+1 to you for that answer.

And part of another that elaborated on what that release should say: "It would probably be smart for the SID to also include a quote from the coach on the matter, that way, once you give out the relase, the subject doesn't have to come up any more."

There is faith for the future here. But not everything is not good. One answer encouraged the release of bad news only internally as a way to keep the media from making a matter worse. Um, there's this thing called the internet -- and you're department (regardless of who or where) leaks like a sieve. Maybe I need to revisit this in class on Tuesday.

Have to add this one, in which the student adds a great angle to being up-front: "The SID should announce with the negative information a plan of action, or a way they are already solving the problem." Nice.

And to the class -- you are getting ready to cover the men's basketball game in 30 minutes, correct?

Calhoun Said it Best

The not-so-merry pranksters turned out to be nothing more than crass opportunists. Morning call-show shock jocks who hit the Big East men's basketball conference call. More on the men's event from the Chicago Tribune.

Jim Calhoun sums it up:

'I wish some people would get a life'

The Cabinet Never Opens

One of the profound changes in my travel is the emergence of high-speed internet. Over the past couple of years, the TV in the room is used less and less. The computers, that's a different story. Last night here in Knoxville before the UT game was a perfect example. The doors on the chest were never opened, but the laptops for Kyle Kellams, our play by play announcer, and myself were on the whole night. I'm working on projects and reading news; he's working on iTunes and gathering sound bites for his day gig with KUAF.

Not once did we consider turning on the local news. I'd already read the local forecast for today, checked out a place that we plan to visit to kill time this afternoon. This has become the standard for our trips. Through the whole five days in New Hampshire, the Patriots game and a couple of bowl games were the only thing that caused the TV to be turned on. Even then, it was background to the clatter of keyboards.

At home, I find myself watching more and more TV with the computer in my lap. I can google things that happen in the show (hey, wasn't that guy in some other movie), I can fill time during the commercials when the event is live and not TiVo'd, I can find something interesting when the show gets boring.

When IPTV emerges as the legitimate competitor to terrestrial and satellite programing, the argument becomes who gets to use the big screen on the wall and the surround sound, and who has to watch with the small screen and the earbuds.

Predictable National Reaction

Well, there you have it from Deadspin about the infamous phone pranksters.

Lead with People

Heading into class Thursday, let's see how many students are paying attention yet. Part of the assignment is to think like a modern information gatherer. The semester assignment project on becoming a school's "SID" for the class involves monitoring that school's various media platforms. How many of you in the class have taken the time to google the teacher? Or find this blog?

Be kind to your guest lecturer Thursday. The assignment for next Tuesday is to read chapter 4, discussion question two.

See you Tuesday.

Not so Merry Pranksters

Here's one of those days where the blurring of the lines between citizen and media causes more walls to be thrown up against the citizens. For lack of any other way to put it, the SEC conference call was hacked by pranksters this week. To read more, look here.

This is where the new media must turn and police itself. Those who made the calls ruin the opportunity for legitimate new media persons to become a part of the process.

The flip side is how little respect the pranksters had for women. Would they have jumped on the men's basketball or football conference call and asked the kinds of scatological questions they did of several coaches? I have a bad feeling the answer is no.

Every time you think we've escaped some of the Neanderthal times of the 1970s, a day like yesterday reminds you it takes a long time to change attitudes.

What Was the Point?

For the students -- so you struggled to write your first post-game story from the point of view of the institution. It was a reality check. When you're in the business, many schools will not have the funds to send you on the road with a team. Sometimes, the sport won't be at a high profile to allow for travel. Still, stories must be distributed on the results.

There are some nights that you will only get a box score, or the raw stats. Sometimes, the opponent SID can help you with some more details. Many nights, the coach won't call either.

In this case, the website went out for most of the day. That was an unplanned unfortunate coincidence. Still, there was the radio broadcast -- which really should have been the easy default. It was a bonus that it was on cable as well.

But the story must go on. We'll work more about how to deal with these problems in class, but there is no better way to simulate the real difficulties, the panic, the deadline.

Protect Your Good Name on Facebook

While this is old advise -- probably a year too late for many -- but if you have not claimed your name on your campus Facebook, here's yet another example of why that's a problem.

Seems the students wanted to create a fake Facebook with some malicious content about a professor. The story details it took a while to correct.

From the Chronicle of Higher Ed.

And now, off to Tuscaloosa -- class, are you listening tomorrow?

And the Course Begins

The question becomes, how long until and how many students discover the blog?

We'll wait and see but 30-odd students were on the room today for the start of Journalism 405V -- Sports Media and Publicity -- here at the UofA. For fellow SIDs, here's your most telling results. When asked to show hands, how many had read the paper edition of a newspaper sports section today, six of the 30. How many didn't already work for a newspaper? Hands drop to two out of 30. How many had read the newspaper sports, but on-line today? About 11 out of the 30. OK, how many in the last 24 hours had been on-line looking for sports from "non-traditional" sources (ie, bloggers, message boards or internet-only sports media). That was about 16 or 17 out of the 30.

The future is on line.

Words Mean Things

OK, that's a Limbaugh quote, but they do. We'll just put that down as the thought for the day.

Regret the Error Pickup

I see that the Regret the Error website has noticed the recent unpleasantness of Mike Conley and KARK. They classed it as a "major error."

Good Luck with That

The NCAA has issued its new blogging restrictions for official credentials. There is more on the Chronicle of Higher Ed website, and the PDF for the blogger part of the credential form is here.

Two things come to mind. First, this means the NCAA is planning to issue credentials to bloggers during the coming year. That would be a bit of a change. Second, I'd hate to be the GA assigned to monitor that kingpin.blogspot.com had made its 11th post of the day and get its credential pulled.

CNET probably had the best to say on this; not surprising that the bloggers are teeing up Myles Brand.

What Do You Do When The Rumors Are Wrong?

Rumor starts to run that Mike Conley was trying to be, or was, Darren McFadden's agent. They were spread far and wide. Those darn internets at work again against Arkansas? Well, it spread on the internet, but what do you do when it's the traditional media?

Within 24 hours, hardly any of the details stood up to scrutiny. Some of them should have been obvious from the get-go. Former Razorback track star Conley is not registered with the NFL, working instead the NBA for his son and friends. He hasn't lived in Fayetteville in years, and by all accounts was in Chicago the past week.

The car first came from a dealership in Fayetteville that didn't sell the brand. Then it changed to a correct dealership, but in Little Rock. It was registered to his mom. Then his step-mom.

ESPN bit, and sunk the hook deep because of "multiple" media sources reporting the troubles. Problem is, two of the stations are really one when it comes to the hybrid combined sports department.

Much time has been spent decrying the blogger, the new media, the citizen journalist; but this was at best a two source -- more likely one source -- story that the media began to multiply without a lot of time spent on verification. That is a fact that one TV station in its apology and retraction has admitted as much.

Reminds of the multiple coaches hired by Arkansas -- men's basketball and football -- reported by media thanks to unnamed sources. Being first appears to have completely overtaken being right.

And how was this behavior any different from the folks who blindly post rumors on line? At least on this one, it's hard to see it.

The story isn't over, and it still could turn out with McFadden missing the bowl. That would be a tragic outcome for the media. What would be remembered is that taking a chance on a rumor -- and getting almost all the key supporting facts wrong or severely twisted -- led to a scoop.

New Hampshire Travel Notes

One spare day to take a little time off . . .

The one good thing that comes from an all-day flight thanks to a "mechanical" 'ed first flight, a lying series of airline managers and a redirect to Vermont was stumbling onto Art's in Burlington. Anyplace that sells frys (note the spelling) by the cut, pine or quart should be good, and indeed Art's lives up with the closet thing to In-and-Out french fries. They obviously are using fresh spuds cut on the site and properly fried up. And the pepper burger wasn't bad either.

The Red Arrow in Manchester is far hipper, much edgier and quite small compared to the piece on Food Network. Don't miss it, and maybe you took can sit in the booth where BareNakedLadies sat.

Basketball Hall of Fame -- another must see if you are a hoopster, but there are some disturbing little errors (letter soon enroute to BHOF -- one preview, the Supreme Court can't pass legislation [it reviewed the Nixon administration's legislation on Title IX]).

And, it was great taking in a 70 contacts in a single hour in the studio at ARRL. By the way, for the guy in Florida who took the time to CALL and complain about the signal, sir, the ARRL tech did check, and you were the only one in 70 folks to have splatter. Thanks to you for ruining the day for those other 69 folks who were just happy to get a contact from W1Aw.

Game day tomorrow

Wii're Having Fun Now

OK, another post off the beaten path, but Nintendo scores again with Wii. The wife surprised all with snagging one for Christmas, and the games are -- well, something you must experience. One media colleague said that his staffer's poker night has now degenerated into a Wii bowling league. Another of my former students who works for one of the major game companies admitted that initially they put very little in resources into the platform, but now it is second only to XBox360 -- forget PlayStation.

What caught my eye today was setting up the wireless, which opened up a weather and news channel. This is iPhone for the home TV. Sure, the selection is highly filtered for a national audience, but I was on top of the mauling tiger before anyone else in my circle; plus I even found a story related to my field -- more later on the feature on the director of the sports security group at Southern Miss. My son could get EPL scores. My wife can get weather easier than our DirecTV setup (which is the one thing she regrets of terrestrial cable).

In the constant battle for content, wonder what it takes to create a channel on Wii? The Razorback Channel goes Wii, hmm?

Feliz Navidad for Mexican Coca-Cola

This is decidedly off topic, but I've rediscovered a bit of my youth with imported Mexican Coca-Cola. I've had friends that went out of their way to find Mexican Dr. Pepper, or kosher Dr. Pepper, claiming that the cane sugar product was that much better than the domestic high fructose corn syrup.

There was a story in one of the local Sunday papers about this import, and how much fans were saying it tasted like the Coke of their youth. Predictably, the official spokesperson said there was no difference in taste at all.

This reminded me of the infamous New Coke fiasco. I was working at my first job as a reporter, and noted in my column how much I disliked the new Coke and once we ran out of the Real Thing would be switching to Nehi Grape. If you didn't know, Monroe was the town in which the first Coke bottle was used to produce by a bottler, and the Biedenharns were not amused. They came down on the publisher, and he came down on us. We were forced to do a blind taste test to "prove" that we couldn't tell the difference. After the third time of getting it right -- telling New Coke from Real -- the Coke reps finally gave up and the publisher got off our case.

So after paying quite a premium price for a case of Mexican bottled Coke at the local Sam's, I was a little curious if there was something to the old cane sugar formula. Oh. My. I'm sorry to tell you that you can't get Mexican Coke outside of Texas and Arkansas unless you find it through a third-party reseller. Guess why? Yep. To protect the local bottlers.

As Ferris said, if you have the means, I highly recommend it.

Thank You Pat Forde

Certainly the genius of a 10:30 PM press conference to reveal Bobby Petrino as the next Razorback football coach was revealed by the full house and the 24-hour news cycle nce of Arkansas football.

It did become the classic "just-spell-my-name-write" publicity as the national media hammered both Petrino and Arkansas. But for the last day, you could not escape the Razorbacks.

The hire of an aggressive coach like Petrino was set to unite the Razorback Nation, and the near universal reaction by fan sites, bloggers and general fans was positive. The Arkansas fans are ready to unite and head forward.

Enter Pat Forde. I single him out only because he's been quite vocal with his issues over Petrino. OK, they have history. Forde does us a tremendous favor. Make all the fun you want, but this is the South. Speaking globally, I can call my coach a SOB, but by god, just like my brother, sister, cousin, mother, father, YOU can't say that about my family.

Meanwhile, my favorite blogger post: For coaches, the NFL is a stepping stone to the SEC. Think about it.

More Facebook Disasters

Beacon, the advertising delivery platform in Facebook, has a dark side. As it harvests your sales information, it can mate that with your friend lists and use that to target others. Fine, as long as your purchases are those that you want to share with friends.

Think that new commercial with the voice activated MP3 player in the car that gives up the embarrassing info that you have Michael Bolton in your artists. Except all your friends without your permission know you just bought MB's greatest hits. An alert -- hey, Dr. BS just purchased MB's greatest hits -- with the hope that your friends will want to join in with your trend.

More likely, things you don't want others to know are revealed. From the , the gift you just bought your significant other is outed. To the creepy, that the gift came from Frederick's, and perhaps you have a liking for French Maid outfits.

Remember, you volunteered for this when you signed up for the SNWs. Ooh la la.

No, You Didn't

While the world turns in the pursuit of a new Razorback football coach . . .

This just in from the Facebook world. Penn State students busted out for photos of a relatively tasteless Halloween party themed on Virginia Tech victim costumes.

One of the students caught in the story, of course, puts the blame on the system. "They were suppose to be private," he says. How many times does it have to happen for people to understand there is no such thing as "private" once it appears in the server farms of others.

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