Missing Marty Burns

A week before Christmas, Marty Burns announced that he was leaving SI.com. I haven't really seen many articles covering this, so I wanted to give full credit to him for all the great writing he's done over the years.

I always appreciated Marty Burns' writing at SI.com, yet I could not think of one particular article that truly stood out to me. Yet, every time I saw his column up on SI.com, I would instantly click the article. For most writers, I carefully check the content first to see if it was worth my time. Some of you probably don't know who he is, but you might recognize him by his SI.com headshot:



I was rarely disappointed. He always had something interesting to say. I enjoyed how he could write a good article without gimmicks. He didn't have to make references to popular culture or convince us how funny or brilliant he was. He was willing to let other people be the focus of the story. I struggle with doing this myself, so I greatly admired his ability to let the story speak for itself without making it overly dramatic.

Take a look again at his last column. It's his farewell column...and he waits until the very last paragraph to talk about himself! He instead talks about the great Jerry West and how hard-working all the NBA players and coaches are. Read his last paragraph:

These kinds of basketball conversations with the men who made the NBA great are one thing I will miss as I get ready this week to leave SI.com. To widen my court, so to speak. Whether or not I continue to write about the NBA in the future, I will remain a fan of the game and an admirer of those like West who care so much about it that they will never close their minds to ways of making it better.

It's very classy of him to say that. I encourage you to read some of Marty's old work in the archives of si.com. Thank you, Marty, for your consistently good writing about the NBA, and for your willingness to put the story first. Marty mentioned in his last column that he has a family, and I'm sure they've had to sacrifice at times so that he could do justice to the column. So I hope the lay-off is a blessing for them and that he can then soon find work again. Wherever he ends up, I'll read him there too.

Can't win with (without) choirboys

I'm not a betting man, but the Giants/Eagles matchup tempted me like few games have. The Eagles admitted after their second meeting that they were able to pressure the Giants much more easily without Plaxico being in the line-up. The Giants had no answer for this, and so the Eagles were able to shut down the Giants running attack.

I see some interesting parallels between Plaxico and Manny Ramirez. In both cases, a very talented minority athlete who was more of an irresponsible goofball rather than some sort of thug was ushered out by a championship-winning organization. And in both cases the teams fell short of the championship game because of it. I believe that with Plaxico, the Giants would have beaten the Eagles (6-2 against them with Plaxico in the line-up) and then thrashed the Cardinals (behind the Giants pass rush).

I was on several high school teams where the coaches were forever clashing with the best athletes. The best athletes often are stupid, ok? Let's not cover over this. Very few individuals are extremely talented athletically AND very smart AND socially/morally responsible. It's just rare that one person has all those skills, which is why the media fawns so much over the David Robinsons of the world.

However, the problem is that after a little success, coaches and managers get arrogant. They think that they can win with character instead of talent, and that their brains can scheme up plans to overcome the diminished talent. They are almost always wrong. Great accomplishments require great talent. It's one thing to jettison the over-rated Shockey; it's another to dump your only truly game-breaking receiver. It's funny now to read the NY or Boston papers around the time that the so-called "trouble-maker" was dumped. What's truly more responsible and ethical; to work with a complicated athlete who for the most part has broken no laws, or to give up on them and dump them? John Thompson had it right when he was saying Georgetown needed more "thugs." A strong program is able to incorporate some individuals who are quirky or a little off and make good use of their skills.

Now, you can't win with thug teams either. Go back and look at the 86 Mets...76 Raiders...95 (Barry Switzer) Cowboys...all of them one-championship wonders that could have instead have been dynasties. I can't help but think that those teams actually needed some good characters as well. For example, there was an interesting article on ESPN.com's Page 2 on how a critically needed Raiders defender was high for the 77 AFC championship game, and how that helped cost the Raiders the game.

Overall, though, the lesson is clear. In any walk of life, you have to be willing to put up with some headaches from your top performers. They must be punished for failings; fines and suspensions may be needed (see Steve Smith in Carolina). But this high-horse moralizing from sports reporters acting like a GM is courageous for getting rid of All-Star talent like Manny or Plaxico for little in return is completely inappropriate.

Love is a Game: "Wanna Kiss My Boo-Boo?"

So over Christmas break, I played as much basketball as I could. I got poked in the eye my second game out, and got some nice marks to prove it. It didn't hurt bad, but it looked kind of cool, except when my friend asked me if I was wearing mascara (ouch!).

I was talking to a girl on AIM (yes, I'm about 15 years old, ha, I still use AIM), and suddenly realized that I might be able to milk the injury. So I took a quick snapshot and sent it along, trying to play the "wounded warrior." It failed miserably, mostly because I look like I'm posing for my domestic violence lawsuit:

Your Honor, my client was merely asking his wife for another sausage from the pan when she maliciously and fervently ground the tongs in his eye! Just look at the photo of the damage!

So what about you all--have you ever tried to milk an athletic injury to get some attention from a crush, and did it work? Were you the type to get lots of autographs on your cast, or were you the poor soul who had to write on his own cast to make it look better?

Video: Terrell Owens Talks to ESPN

Hi all. Sorry, but I'm not yet ready to publish Part 2 of my Blogging for Dollars series. I got a lot of good responses, and I'm trying to figure out how best to present the material for your reading pleasure. So for now, watch the video of Terrell talking to ESPN (thanks to blog friend Modi from Sports on My Mind for finding it, make sure to read the Cowboys coverage there) and I hope to have Part 2 up tomorrow morning.

Blogging for Dollars in a Recession: Challenges and Opportunities

One story I haven't seen yet is how the economic downturn is affecting sports bloggers. There are conflicting reports on how the recession is affecting blog revenue so far. On the one hand, Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media (parent of Deadspin) is on record as saying "We were up 39% in the year to November -- but even we are planning on a 40% decline in the ad market over the course of the cycle," and ""We're not starting any new blogs--better to err on the side of pessimism." B5media and Gawker are both changing the way they pay bloggers to be less dependent on page views, and thus in many cases paying bloggers less.

However, studies show that spending on Internet advertising (and thus, blog revenue) will increase during this downturn. For example, Zenith claims that "online’s share of the overall market globally will go from 8.6% in 2007 to 13.8% in 2010, up from a previous prediction of 13.6%." So what will the actual economic effect be on blogs in regards to revenue, stories covered, resources, and traffic? I asked a few blog entrepreneurs and contract bloggers for their opinions on how this economic downturn will affect their business. Surprisingly, the overall mood was optimistic, but with a few caveats.

Part 1: Cautious Optimism from Blog Entrepreneurs
One of the biggest concerns for me is how this recession will affect the reader. For example, Jason from TheBigLead said the following:

"Outside of the obviously polarizing topics - hatred of the BCS, Kobe or LeBron, the Cowboys - I'm finding some of the most popular links to be the the economy-related ones I add to the roundup each morning. I've been trying to closely follow the economy for the last couple years, and when I began posting obscure doom and gloom links in January, the emails started to pour in from the casual sports fans who tune into the site for the humor more than the nuts and bolts." (emphasis mine)

The question is, do more concerned readers mean less page views? Overall, big blog sites appear to be meeting their growth targets. Brian from AwfulAnnouncing believes that because the Internet is so important to most readers, they'll cut the Internet (and their connection to blogs) last when looking to save money.

"I personally don't think that the recession will ultimately affect Sports Blogs on a whole...I do think that most readers check blogs at work to kill time, and in turn, a lot less when they're at home. If workforces are being trimmed across the Country, that could lead to less hits, but I don't see that as something that would hurt the more widely read sites out there.

Another side of things is with people losing their jobs, one of the necessary tools needed to find a new one is the Internet. So those who are looking to trim excess spending probably won't be getting rid of their connection. In the end, I think there might be a small downturn across the board, but Internet entities will be some of the least hurt by the economy." (emphasis mine)

Part 2: Contract Bloggers Anticipate Minor Challenges
Many bloggers who get paid do so as part of a larger site umbrella, whether that's Rick Chandler at Deadspin or one of the many contributors at AOL Fanhouse. I asked some of those bloggers for their thoughts on how the economic downturn would affect them.

Dan from Red Sox Monster , which is affiliated with Western Massachusetts news, seemed reasonably optimistic about the future of sports blogs, even though he also alerted me to Nick Denton's pessimism on the future of blogs in this market and the Zenith study I quoted above:

"Media of all kinds have taken a hit with the sour economy, and it stands to reason that blogs would be no different. However, there are plenty of reports out there that suggest Web revenue is still growing...If we can take those sort of reports seriously, it'd seem to me that blogs -- especially established blogs -- will still be OK."

Stephanie Stradley, who blogs both for AOL Fanhouse and the Houston Chronicle, told me it becomes even more important to write stories that bring in revenue and traffic--even if the blogger isn't particularly interested in a given topic. For example, I'm sure some sports bloggers may be bored of writing about Erin Andrews or the Burress story by now, but as long as the hits are there, the stories will get written. She said the following:

"All companies are looking to cut costs, so as a writer you have to be someone who is adding value. Value in blog terms means being a worthwhile destination and page hits. Different writers get page hits in different ways, but certainly some sorts of stories beg for page views, even if you don't really feel like writing about it." (emphasis mine)

Jon Pyle of pyleoflist.com has done contract work for sites such as Sports Illustrated and the National Lampoon. He was probably the most optimistic blogger I spoke to, as he felt that bloggers are already used to overcoming adversity and limited resources.

"But being accustomed to doing more with less, bloggers are poised to flourish in uncertain economic times while journalists struggle to adapt. Perhaps a case of Darwinism at its best (or worse, depending on your perspective). It's not that bloggers are better writers by any stretch of the imagination but they are uniquely equipped to survive in the impending "new" media environment."

Part 3: A Rise in New Blogs and Contract Blog Work?
The fact that intrigued me the most in my limited interviews is that all the contract bloggers I spoke to thought that there might either be more work for contract bloggers, or more blogs starting during the recession.

For example, Stephanie told me that

"One way the economic downturn can help blogging is that as a group, sports bloggers are much cheaper to employ than traditional sportswriters. AOL Sports, for example, has shifted in featuring its sports bloggers more and less on its contract sportswriters. Sports bloggers can provide tons of web-friendly content for relatively less money." (emphasis mine)

Dan mused if some of the readers who make jokes from their office chairs may finally take the plunge and become bloggers:

"One piece I am curious about is how many new bloggers will pop up due to layoffs. Journalists have made the jump for a couple of years, due to the weak newspaper job market, but what about all those other fields where frustrated writers are now being laid off.

The comment sections of blogs like The Big Lead and Deadspin and filled with lawyers and businessmen stuck at a desk all day wishing they could provide dime-store sports analysis and fart jokes and get paid for it. What better time to give it a try than when you have nothing better to do than look for a new job that could take months to find? " (emphasis mine)

Finally, Jon Pyle was the most enthusiastic of all the people I spoke to. He believes that the economic downturn will accelerate the trend toward using the web for news and information

"The impact of the economic downturn on blogs will be almost completely positive. Blogs should start to get more hits as people spend less money going out and more time at home in front of their computer. Not to mention all the unemployed folks sitting at home searching for jobs. People my age (26) probably value their internet service more than cable... especially now that your computer can essentially serve as your TV/DVD Player/Phone/Checkbook.

Since people are likely to spend more time on Al Gore's information super highway, the increased hits translate to advertising money for blogs. That means profitable blogs while newspapers and magazines are laying off staff wholesale, which will probably translate into better mainstream opportunities for bloggers. Bloggers are prolific writers, marketing/advertising savvy and cheaper than a "real journalist" which will give mainstream corporations a good return on their minimal financial investment without cutting content. To paraphrase the Simpsons, if you can't get a real writer get their "cheap [blogger] equivalent". By the way, if any big companies are looking for a blogger... I might be available." (emphasis mine)

Overall, then, it looks like paid bloggers are suprisingly optimistic about their future in the midst of this downturn. But what about bloggers who just blog for fun, and the many readers who make it possible for bloggers to get paid? On Wednesday, I'll publish Part 2 of this series. I'll focus on reactions from bloggers who blog as a hobby (i.e. for free) and from readers whose blog-reading habits may be affected by the economy, so feel free to e-mail me if you fall in either category and have an opinion to share.

Is Steve Nash a System QB?

I wrote out an expanded version of my video take on the Phoenix Football Suns over at Sports on My Mind. Comment there on the story--I'm just re-pasting it here because I like to keep a record of my writings in one place.
http://sportsonmymind.com/2008/12/12/the-phoenix-football-suns-starring-steve-nash-as-the-system-qb/

I’ve enthusiastically followed the Suns this year, because they have a fascinating cast of characters. They have four players who have been major stars at one point or another (Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Shaq, and Amare Stoudamire), and they just added the athletic Jason Richardson to their squad. The Suns finally have lowered expectations, as most prognosticators only picked them to finish 6th or 7th in the West. At one point they had the second-best record in the West. And yet this team has been surrounded by turmoil from the beginning. Why is that?

Quite honestly, I think that Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire are the problem here. Remember, Amare wooed Steve to Phoenix by telling him that they could win championships together. The two have become the NBA’s version of Manning to Harrison. Steve Nash is the perfect QB for the D’Antoni system. But is Steve Nash really a glorified system QB? His numbers this year are not that far off from his numbers of the last five years. But we have Grant Hill comparing Steve to a hummingbird trapped in a plastic bag. We have Steve moping around that Raja Bell was traded and complaining that the team is in a “dark place.” With all these budding poets on the Phoenix Suns roster vying for new metaphors to describe how bad things are, you’d think the team had started 2-7 or so like the Mavs. But instead, they’ve been north of .500 for most of the season. What gives?

And let’s not forget Amare Stoudamire’s sulking. Before the season began, I picked the Suns as my dark horse, because I thought Amare was due for a break-out year. He finally has his legs most of the way back from microfracture surgery, and he has Shaq to take off most of the pressure. But did anyone else read his column in the back of Slam magazine? He spent most of it remembering Mike D’Antoni like some college kid pining for his ex-girlfriend who went to study in Europe. Not one good word for Coach Porter in the whole thing–just a lot of “well, I’ll have to adjust to his system.” Come on, Terry Porter’s one of the NBA good guys–why is Amare moping like a wide receiver who isn’t getting enough touches?

And finally, we have Shaq. Terry Porter was wisely pushing the Suns to establish Shaq early on in games. This makes a lot of sense; establish Shaq in the low post early in the game, when he’s fresh. After he wears out teams in the half-court, spend the second-half pushing the ball. It’s just like NFL teams that run early to set up play-action later in the game. I love this strategy! It should work! But oddly, the Suns were turning the ball early at a huge rate while trying to do so (something like 9.7 turnovers in the first half, 6.8 in the second half, according to Henry Abbott of Truehoop.com). What’s the use of getting the ball to your “big back” if there’s just going to be fumbles and turnovers?

Ok, I’m getting carried away with my football analogy, ha. But it fits, don’t you think? Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire as the system QB and his talented but lazy wide receiver? (Defense? what’s that?). Shaq as the bruising Jerome Bettis-type back? Anyway, the question is, is Jason Richardson part of the solution or problem? Here’s another guy who wants the ball a lot; can he make this work in Phoenix? I say yes, it should work; Jason is hungry to win and he probably welcomes a move back to the Western Conference. But I thought Porter’s strategy for the Suns should work…and so far it seems like his stars are themselves sabotaging the strategy before it has a chance. It’s only been one-fourth of the season, and yet Steve and Amare appear determined to mourn the demise of the 7-seconds-or-less offense for 7 months or more!

Your Phoenix "Football" Suns

I love my analogies, and I think I finally figured out what the trouble is in Phoenix. Click the video to see just how badly I mix my basketball and football analogies.


I'm just starting out with video*, so I appreciate your feedback.

*Of course, I don't count my various starring roles in childhood home videos in the role of "Annoying kid with overbite", "Baby who won't shut up", and "Obnoxious sullen teenager", ha.