Thursday, February 25, 2010

A Lesson in Social Media

(100% not doctored)



Column A

Column B


scottdixon9



"During the 2nd practice today, Scott ran 42 laps with a top speed of 116.796 mph on lap 23."

JustinWilson22



"Well testing went really well. The team are great but I just screwed up and bent the car. Ego took a big hit!"

AJFoytRacing




(--crickets--)

RyanBriscoe6



"The Will Power and I just had a killer workout at the shop. I think our trainer thoroughly enjoys seeing us hurt!"

"Is playing Wii Golf going to help my real game? I hope so!!"





vitormeira



....

EJVISO



"Did u know that. If a driver seats 1.5 inches to the back. The % on the weight distribuition may vary up to a 1%. That's priceless !"

scottdixon9



"Scott took part in the Daytona 5K this morning and placed 3rd in the (30-34) age group, and 24th overall in field of 1,000."

tomasscheckter



"Went for good run....sun is out was not that cold at all....I was wearing my fireproof underwear though"
 
"Ok my cycle lasted about 2 miles before I lost feeling in my face, came back, now on indoor bike...."

danicaracing




Versus (Indycar partner) is a big supporter of Danica in NASCAR http://twitpic.com/14x5d2 www.versus.com/indycar - what a joke.

EJVISO



"Will donate a Helmet for an auction. For Haiti!! Please support this needed people."

paultracy3



"open wheel fans have been foolishly loyal over the last 15 years , as both series have dragged open wheel to the bottom of the ocean ."

"Bia figueiredo , in a 3rd car at drier and reinbold . It's so great to see guys from north america get a chance in the izod indycar series"

tomasscheckter



"This week is big week. Hope I have some good news for you guys. Been working my butt off."

"was in some good meetings today. i am not gonna stop working and been positive."

danwheldon



"@lancearmstrong Dude, freakin awesome win at Daytona, it is so nice to see great things happen to a good person, you deserve it!!!"
danwheldon



"@jamiemcmurray Dude, freakin awesome win at Daytona, it is so nice to see great things happen to a good person, you deserve it!!!"


Dear Column A,

...

You're doing it wrong.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Holy Cow: I like the Cubs AND the SOX

As the snow pours down here in Nashville, I am nonetheless getting excited about the upcoming baseball season! March Madness is great, but it really only serves as a distraction to get me through Spring Training and into the next Cubs season.

The past few years, around this time, I've started listening to 670AM ("The Score") out of Chicago to catch up on the latest Cubs info. Of course, I get to hear a lot about the Bulls and DePaul and, obviously, the White Sox. Having a brother who is a huge Sox fan, I've always kept up with the team anyway. And last night, I admitted that the inevitable has finally happened: I'm actually excited about the upcoming White Sox season as well. At this point, I'd say they're probably my #2 team and my AL favorite.

This is definitely rare and, if you listen to Chicago sports radio, pretty much non-existent in their city. And that makes me feel bad for the people in Chicago.

After just living through the greatest season ever accomplished by a professional sports team in New Orleans, it's really sad to know that Chicago residents will never really witness this. If and when the Cubs ever actually do win another World Series, the city's residents will never know the same kind of joy felt by the people of New Orleans this year. The city of Chicago is too divided. The callers I hear on the radio each night can't stand to even think about the other team having success.

I don't get it at all. They're in two different leagues! Why not look at it as having TWO chances at a title every year? Then during interleague play (or if by some miracle, you get a Windy City World Series!) you can pull for your team, knowing that either way, your city will come out on top.

I guess when it comes to this, my values are rooted in the DIY music scenes that Wedge and I have been a part of for the past 12+ years. In these situations, we're all about seeing each other succeed. And I know sports are not really set-up that way, but I don't see why it can't be. I never felt envy towards my brother when the Sox had success and the Cubs had another miserable season.

I know I'm in the minority here. But think about it. I'd be a pretty miserable sports fan if I only cared about the success of the Cubs and the Saints. While the Saints were always my team, I've enjoyed watching the Colts and Packers and a few other teams as well. It doesn't mean I don't like the Saints.

So why can't fans in Chicago accept both teams? Whenever we play with bands from Chicago there is definitely a class issue. DIY musicians (like me) are almost always Sox guys; the Cubs are for the rich kids who have never had to work and wouldn't know how to tour in a van for a month if they had to. Supposedly. But whatever, I don't buy that.

This year, I will support both teams from my second-favorite city. And I'm just glad New Orleans isn't big enough for more than one football team... because Chicago will never know what it was like to experience what we just went through, as a city.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Heading to New Orleans

Wedge and I have both been super busy. He's been doing his best to work through those snow storms and I've been trying to get as much work done as I could before heading to New Orleans tomorrow morning.

Just wanted to say it was a GREAT Super Bowl and our hometown team finally won something. The Mardi Gras celebrations I am about to witness will certainly be extra insane this year. This three-weekend stretch of Blogathon-Super Bowl-Mardi Gras is absolutely amazing.

I'll likely be out of the FW loop for the next week. NCAA Basketball is getting exciting, so I'll be talking a lot about that when I return. (Kentucky looks pretty great right now, huh?) And baseball is coming! Could my Cubs win in the same year the Saints finally did??

See you soon...

Sunday, February 7, 2010

New Orleans Saints - Super Bowl Coverage

This is a list of articles we have posted about the New Orleans Saints and this year's Super Bowl:

What One Victory Means to the City of New Orleans
Five Funny Saints Memories - (1) We Got Ricky
Five Funny Saints Memories - (2) Heath Shuler, Our Savior!
Five Funny Saints Memories - (3) Gleason's Groin Punch
Five Funny Saints Memories - (4) Turley Throws Robinson's Helmet
Five Funny Saints Memories - (5) Horn Phones A Friend
Super Bowl XLIV : The Tecmo Super Bowl Prediction
Ideas for New Saints Shirts
What I Want to See During Super Bowl... That Has No Chance of Happening
New Orleans Has Been Here Before

New Orleans has been here before...

You think Indianapolis has the advantage today because of experience? You think this is our first rodeo? Well, I'm here to remind you that New Orleans has been on the big stage before. While Super Bowl XLIV represents the first time the New Orleans Saints will play for the NFL Championship, the city's sports fans are in familiar territory... thanks to the 1968 New Orleans Bucs.

The New Orleans Bucs played in the American Basketball Association's first championship series in 1968. Led by stars Doug Moe, Red Robbins, Jimmy Jones, and a guy you may have heard of named Larry Brown, the Bucs finished first in the Western Division. They beat the Denver Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. If "Denver Rockets" doesn't sound funny enough to you, the other Western Division playoff match-up saw the Houston Mavericks lose to the Dallas Chaparrals, who New Orleans knocked off next.

While it was a hard-fought series lasting seven games, the Bucs were finally defeated by the Pitsburgh Pipers in the Championship Series.

It took 42 years, but now we're back to build upon that experience and finally bring a championship home to New Orleans. The Colts may have experience, but our city has been in this position before. Now it's time to win it all.

(For more info on the ABA, definitely check out this site.)

Friday, February 5, 2010

Five Funny Saints Memories - (5) Horn Phones A Friend

Every day this week, I will post one event that has taken place in recent New Orleans Saints history that the casual football fan may have forgotten about. We, the Saints fans, have not forgotten. Now that we've reached the Super Bowl, however, we can laugh about it.

On December 14, 2003, WR Joe Horn had nine catches for 119 yards and four touchdowns in a win over the Giants. While the four touchdowns is a team record (later tied by Reggie Bush), most fans only remember Horn's celebration after his second score when he grabbed a cell phone from the goal post padding and made a phone call.

In these years when our team seemed to constantly finish somewhere between 9-7 and 7-9 every year, most of the fans loved the excitement of shenanigans like these. Let's face it: an average team with some excitement and controversy is much better than the boring, terrible teams we were supporting 20 years before this.

Of course, many purists, including the announcers in this video, disagreed:



Thursday, February 4, 2010

Taking After IndyCar, NFL to Remove Passing, Computers Mandate Linux and Tecmo Bowl Now Only Football Video Game Allowed

The Art of Disappointment is not just an album by The Benjamins… It’s a practice that is hard to pull off. But before I get to the heart of what I’m talking about, let me preface this by saying I am a huge fan of the IRL, its racing and most of all its diversity in tracks and drivers. I like Randy Bernard as a CEO selection, I like the addition of Brazil; and I like that new chassis are being revealed by Dallara this week, and that the Delta Wing and Swift chassis are coming next week; and regardless of which one is chosen I’m going to continue to watch IndyCar racing.

Personally of the three Dallara chassis, I like #3 the best. It’s not only the most evolutionary, I like that it covers the wheels from the front and back which could hopefully minimize the possibility of cars climbing each other’s wheels, which is the exact thing that cause Ryan Briscoe and Pablo Perez’s horrific crashes. I also like #2 as well, I mean I would love to see both on the track, #1 has the crappy failed F1 shark fin and is too much like the current Dallara.


All that said, here is the important question? Why are they showing all of these to us? If my reading serves me correctly, We’re getting 3 designs from Dallara, 1 from Swift, 1 from Lola and 1 from Delta Wing. That is at least 6 different chassis for fans to get to know, form opinions on, and most importantly FORM OPINIONS ON!

That is not a bad thing at all; in fact diversity is what makes competition great; just look at the debate you get from fans based on driver backgrounds and track styles. Look at how fans identify with football teams based on their offense: shotgun spread throwing, strong formation pounding the ball with running; look at how much we value seeing a knuckleballer vs. a fastball heater vs. a guy who throws junk in baseball.

We’ve all got opinions, and the fact is, none of them are right; we simply have options we like better than others… and now we’re going to give IndyCar fans months to identify with the cars they like; some people hate the one I like and vice versa, and we’ll all have different favorites and then WHAM… too bad what you think, we’re only going to allow one of them to compete.

With 6 different chassis, what are the chances that even a majority of the fan base likes the one that is chosen as their favorite? So hey I have a good idea, lets split the fan base up and then piss the majority of them off by not choosing their favorite chassis. Why take the shot of choosing a chassis people hate?

So let’s talk economics, because that’s the most logical argument for mandating only 1 chassis. Competition drives up costs? Yeah let me know how that’s working in the auto, personal computer, cable, cell phone and hrmmmm how about every other free market in the universe.

Yes I realize very much that the reason theory for costs going up in IndyCar is because chassis designers would have to raise prices to meet their goal revenue. But that theory is slightly flawed, because the more important fact here… Delta Wing is run by team owners! They can keep their price low which would force other chassis designers to keep their prices low!

Then what happens when prices stay low? More teams can participate, Hemelgarn, Conquest, 3G, Rubicon and Sarah Fisher can suddenly purchase more chassis than previously meaning they can race for less, people with smaller budgets previously priced out of racing altogether can suddenly afford an entry. In all it means more chassis will be bought than are bought in a season right now.

What if one chassis outperforms the other? Then let the teams make the decision of budget vs. speed… PLUS you could mandate things on the faster chassis to even it out. But what I don’t get here… wasn’t that a large part of the beauty of Al Unser’s final Indy win? The car was old, and came out of a hotel lobby days before the race... instant underdog for people like me who want to see underdogs.

And all of this is ignoring one simple fact, it worked for 30+ years before!

But MOST important of everything here is that Brian Barnhart himself stated that one of the primary goals of a new chassis is to push technological development. That’s a great idea, but you know what happens once you sign an exclusivity contract with a chassis company? See: Dallara, IndyCar, 2005-2011.

Are all these designs going to be very different? Yes, and that’s why I think that they could pick the designs most likely to hold close with each other… Mandate a formula, base that formula off one of these chassis, mandate they have to be made in USA, mandate the fuel, but don’t mandate who is allowed to participate.

No you say… well fine then; while we’re cutting costs, we’re eliminating passing from football because it’ll save money so teams won’t need quarterbacks, wide receivers or offensive coordinators, for now on only Natty Light will be allowed to brew beer because they make some of the cheapest stuff and they can make it even cheaper if they get exclusive rights, but most importantly… E. Honda is now the only character allowed to be used in Street Fighter… suck it Ryu and Ken users.

Five Funny Saints Memories - (4) Turley Throws Robinson's Helmet

Every day this week, I will post one event that has taken place in recent New Orleans Saints history that the casual football fan may have forgotten about. We, the Saints fans, have not forgotten. Now that we've reached the Super Bowl, however, we can laugh about it.

Today was a very busy day, but this one is quick and easy. The summary on Kyle Turley's wikipedia is good enough:

"Turley is widely remembered for what occurred on November 4, 2001 in the Louisiana Superdome. The Saints were trailing the New York Jets 16-9 late in the fourth quarter, but were driving deep into opposition territory. After a scramble, quarterback Aaron Brooks was tackled at the six yard line where Jets defender Damien Robinson viciously grabbed his facemask and started to bend Brooks backwards. Turley proceeded to grab Robinson's hand's and forced him to let go of Brooks, before picking him up by the facemask and tackling him to the ground as referees and players from both teams tried to separate them. Turley emerged from the ensuing scrum with Robinson's helmet and proceeded to fling it across the field before giving an obscene gesture. Robinson and Turley received off-setting personal fouls for the initial incident, but Turley was ejected from the game and assessed an additional personal foul penalty for the obscene gesture, costing the Saints any chance at tying the game. Saints head coach Jim Haslett said he considered cutting Turley following the game but later rescinded his statement after discussing the incident with him and reviewing the game tape. Turley was ultimately fined $25,000 by the Saints Organization for conduct detrimental to the team while Robinson was fined $20,000 by the NFL. Turley said in his defense that he thought Robinson was about to break his quarterback's neck."


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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Five Funny Saints Memories - (3) Gleason's Groin Punch

Every day this week, I will post one event that has taken place in recent New Orleans Saints history that the casual football fan may have forgotten about. We, the Saints fans, have not forgotten. Now that we've reached the Super Bowl, however, we can laugh about it.



In December 2004, the Saints entered a game against Carolina with a disappointing record of 4-7. However, a season of frustration came to a peak just before halftime when special teams captain Steve Gleason punched a Panthers player in the groin.

There was really no reason, no explanation, and no benefit to the team. But sometimes in life, you just want to punch another man's groin. At that point in time, all Saints fans everywhere would've loved to punch someone's groin. Steve Gleason represented all of us, and with one strong jab, he did what we all wished we could do.

While we lost that game, the groin punch did inspire the team to end the season on a great 4-game win streak. We missed the playoffs at 8-8, but it at least gave us hope heading into the next season. (That hope was wiped out by Katrina, of course, as Jim Haslett's last Saints team finished 3-13 in 2005.)

But we know this: only a Category 5 Hurricane could kill the momentum of the punch heard around the Dome.

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Five Funny Saints Memories - (2) Heath Shuler, Our Savior!

Every day this week, I will post one event that has taken place in recent New Orleans Saints history that the casual football fan may have forgotten about. We, the Saints fans, have not forgotten. Now that we've reached the Super Bowl, however, we can laugh about it.

ESPN has named Heath Shuler both one of the biggest "flops" in recent history and one of the largest NFL Draft "busts" of all time. Of course his story includes a stop in New Orleans.

In 1997 we were led to believe that Shuler was going to help the Saints return to our winning ways of the early-90s. (Realize that for the second day in a row, my funny Saints memory involves a Mike Ditka acquisition.) Like always, we had faith in our team.

In 10 games Shuler managed two touchdowns and fourteen interceptions before a foot injury ended his season and career, as he never played in another NFL game. The 3rd overall pick in the 1994 Draft finished his career with 15 TDs and 33 INTs and the Saints ended the season 6-10.

The good news is that Shuler was 4th on the team in rushing (38 yards) and we got good looks at Billy Joe Hobert and Danny Wuerffel. OK, none of that is good news. It was a terrible start for a terrible Ditka era. But it's pretty funny now.

And it seems Shuler is actually good at real estate and politics.


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Monday, February 1, 2010

Five Funny Saints Memories - (1) We Got Ricky

Every day this week, I will post one event that has taken place in recent New Orleans Saints history that the casual football fan may have forgotten about. We, the Saints fans, have not forgotten. Now that we've reached the Super Bowl, however, we can laugh about it.

I was in my dorm room, watching the 1999 NFL Draft with so much hope. Like most fans, I had planned to spend the entire weekend watching the events unfold, hoping my team would use the next two days to mold the roster for the future.

Instead, our draft came to an abrupt ending quite early when it was announced that Mike Ditka and the New Orleans Saints drafted Ricky Williams. Before I could open a bag of chips, we had traded our entire 1999 draft and our 1st and 3rd picks for the next year. To get one player.

Sure this was not exactly a "bust." Williams had some good years for us and the fans instantly loved him. (My brother had one of those "We Got Ricky" shirts mentioned in that article and wore it with pride.) At least we didn't trade all of that to Cleveland for Tim Couch!

We went 3-13 that season. After winning the first game, we lost the next seven, including a 21-16 loss to Couch's Browns in Week 8 when he completed a Hail Mary at the end of the game for his team's first win.

It's not that Williams was bad, but the team felt the impact of that move well past that first year. A team that played a combination of Billy Joe and Billy Joe at QB could've drafted Daunte Culpepper. Or they could've drafted Champ Bailey and waited until the 4th round to get Aaron Brooks, who they eventually ended up with anyway. (But then we might not have played Danny Wuerffel at all that year and his playing alone could also make my Top 5 Funny Saints Memories.)

The rest of the 1999 draft could've netted names like Kevin Faulk, Joey Porter, Mike McKenzie and many others. The 3-13 record in '99 would've given us a high enough 2000 pick to grab Lavar Arrington, Jamal Lewis, Plaxico Burress, or Brian Urlacher.

But no. Ditka got to play golf for two days. We got Ricky.

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