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Times reporter Bob Condotta keeps the news coming about the Montlake Dawgs.

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July 31, 2008 1:32 PM

July questions, take seven

Posted by Bob Condotta

A few more:

Q: Can you give a realistic perspective on who will be the center --- Matt Sedillo or Ryan Tolar --- and strengths and weaknesses of each?

A: With the increasing possibility that Juan Garcia may be available for much of the season --- though I caution that there's still no certainties on that front --- I would think the best guess is that Matt Sedillo will start camp as the starting center and then they'll evaluate how that is working. That would allow the rest of the line to stay intact, causing as little disruption as possible. Other than Garcia, Sedillo is the most experienced center (obviously, I'm talking mostly about practice here as he has seen little action in games). Tolar apparently played little center in high school and hasn't done much of it at UW. What might allow a move of Tolar to center is the progression of Jordan White-Frisbee at the other guard. However, it might be better for UW is Sedillo can handle the center duties while Garcia is out so that JWF can rotate in at guard, giving UW some depth there and keeping players fresher than in past years, when the Huskies have rarely been able to sub much. Sedillo's strength is obviously that he has played a lot of center and knows the position well. Tolar looks like a future all-conference player, but he hasn't played much at center. And don't overlook the presence of walk-on Greg Christine, who was a recruited walk-on to UW and has spent two years learning the position at UW.

Q: Who are the true freshmen with the most likelihood of being in the two deep
roster this season?

A: The most obvious candidates are the three who were there in the spring --- WR/RB Chris Polk and WRs Anthony Boyles and Devin Aguilar. I think each can pretty much be penciled into playing situations this season due to the lack of depth at their positions and that they are already ahead of the game in learning. Of true frosh coming in this fall, I think WRs Jermaine Kearse and Cody Bruns have very good chances of playing immediately, due in part also to depth questions there. Given the depth at RB, I think one or two of the RBs coming in has a chance, as well. But until they arrive, I think it's pretty hard to pick between any of them. I don't think any of the incoming OLs will play. TE is another position where depth could be an issue, which also could open the door for Kavario Middleton to play a lot immediately, though I would figure it would be more as a receiver early on than in blocking situations. Defensively, we've talked a lot about the DL depth issues, and I think one or two of the frosh coming in could play immediately. Craig Noble was probably the most likely but it sounds as if he won't be around for most, if not all, of camp, which would put a big dent in those plans. The most likely of the others is probably Alameda Ta'amu, whose listed weight of 348 gives him a size dimension that could prove valuable immediately. UW doesn't have needs as urgent at LB or DB, so frosh at those spots are more likely to earn immediate playing time via special teams. Most likely candidates figure to be LB Kurt Mangum (who was also here in the spring) and Adam Long, who may be the fastest player in the class.

Q: What are the ramifications if LeGarrette Blount gets injured/ineligible? Who are his backups? Do they have any experience? I have to think that would have a significant impact on this game (as well as Oregon's season), given the inexperience of Oregon's quarterbacks.

A: Yeah, another crowd-pleasing LeGarrette Blount question!! In all seriousness, one reason a lot of observers like the Ducks is their depth at this spot. Blount actually is likely to enter fall camp as the backup at RB to senior Jeremiah Johnson, who averaged 6.4 yards per carry last season before suffering a knee injury in the sixth game against Washington State. Johnson is said to be fully recovered. He had 644 yards and 10 TDs in 2006, so he has a lot of experience. And third on the depth chart is Andre Crenshaw, who ran for more than 100 yards against UW last year. So Oregon has more than just Blount lurking in its backfield, all of which figures to make for a stern test for UW's defense Aug. 30.

Q: Any talk of scheduling a "Home and Home" series with one or two of the better teams from the Big-East or ACC in the future?

A: UW is always on the lookout for good games, but I haven't heard of anything specific with teams from those two conferences. Remember, UW does have a current deal with Syracuse, which included last year's game and a return trip by the Orange on Sept. 11, 2010.

Q: Have you heard if we may get to see a "Power" running formation with Paul Homer (FB) and Luke Kravitz (RB) in a two TE set? Old-fashioned "Smash-Mouth" football?

A: That's not something we've really ever seen so I wouldn't anticipate ever seeing a whole lot of that, if any at all. There was a lot of talk they would be used more heading into last season and they were, getting 39 carries combined, about three a game. They might get a few more this year as they rank as two of the more experienced ball carriers on the team now. But I wouldn't anticipate either would ever be a primary threat.

All for now.

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Quinn’s First Appearance, 17-7 Browns

Quinn got a standing O coming into the game. On his first snap, he was blitzed and the ball was tipped on at the line of scrimmage. Derek Anderson is warming up on the sidelines. On television, they showed Anderson taking some drugs, probably a pain killer. They announced on KNBR that Strickland (ribs) is out, so the 49ers are down to two cornebacks. For the past two games, the 49ers have been unable to guard the middle of the field. Mark Roman is having to play cornerback and it looked like he didn’t see the ball being thrown outside to Edwards, which got the ball to the 49ers’ 6. Strange. Quinn, by the way, looks good. The Browns dropped two passes in the end zone by Edwards and Winslow. The Browns settled for a 23-yard field goal. Even if Anderson is healthy, they should let Quinn play.

Categories: Game Updates
Kevin Lynch

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Movers and Shakers

Bill Walsh was named general manager of Zebra Technologies Corp.’s Enterprise Solutions Division in Oakland. He previously was an executive at PeopleSoft and chief executive officer at Velosant and Open Harbor.

Stephen Milligan was promoted to president of San Jose’s Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. He will also retain his duties as chief financial officer.

Daniel Farrar was named chief executive officer at Menlo Park’s Openlane Inc. He previously was a general partner at Morgenthaler Partners.

Andrew Cheng was promoted to senior vice president for development operations at Foster City’s Gilead Sciences Inc. He previously was vice president of clinical research.

Michael Ricci was named chief executive officer at Fremont’s Optichron Inc. He previously was president and chief executive at Ikanos Communications and succeeds Perry Constantine, who remains chairman of Optichron’s board of directors.

Kevin Jones was named vice president of engineering at San Ramon’s Green Plug. He previously was director of engineering at Rambus.

Tom Smallhorn was named senior vice president of marketing at San Francisco’s Popchips Inc. He previously was an executive at Pepsi-Cola.

Categories: Movers and Shakers


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Outside Lands gets nod from BOS

Outside Lands is a go.

In a rare show of togetherness, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to approve the three-day Golden Gate Park concert.

Among the acts slated to perform at this year’s event are the Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam and Modest Mouse. The concert will take place Aug. 28-30 and will raise an estimated $1.7 million for the Recreation and Parks Department.

Categories: Rec and Parks


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Film Festival Brings Surfing and Conservation to the Mission

Mission Local

By: Jessica Hamel

The Mission District may be several miles from the ocean, but this evening the Save the Waves Film Festival will bring the two together.

A handful of short films loosely themed around surfing, the marine environment, and conservation will be shown at the festival.

The films range from four to 25 minutes long and are as varied as the ocean itself. Big wave surfers charging down 50-foot mountains of water? Check. A beatnik-inspired ode to California? Yup. A story of a guy paddling on his belly and knees down 250 miles of the California coast? Yes, there’s that too.

The movies were shot all over the world—from Alaska and British Columbia to Chile and Brazil.

Click here to read more about the film festival.

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Swagbucks Is Here To Help – faronheights

by Team Swagbucks on Fri, June 7th, 2013 at 12:00 pm

Here at Swagbucks, we pride ourselves on the ability to help our members.  Whether it’s using Swagbucks to save money on groceries, pay your bills, get your holiday shopping done, or just kill your boredom, we are happy to assist you in any way we can.  We love hearing from our Swaggernauts as they express their gratitude to us, because it reinforces why we are here in the first place.  Here is a wonderful testimonial sent in by one of our Swaggernauts, faronheights:

I came upon Swagbucks just a matter of months ago, back in late August of 2012. Back then, I had no idea how good it was. I had seen several offers for them elsewhere, and finally decided to dive in.
From the start of September, I went full-bore, trying everything I could to rake in Swag Bucks. Being unemployed like I am, it was a nice way to earn while simultaneously, as you guys have so eloquently put it, “killing my boredom”. SBTV, Games, the Mobile App, Search… It’s very easy to kill off boredom with so many options.

But, there is more to it than just killing boredom. Swagbucks saved Christmas last year for me. I would not have had money with which to purchase presents for my friends and family, thanks to the whole unemployment thing. But, in those few months, I snagged $200 which I was able to use to get everything I could ever want for everyone on my list. This year is looking even better than last year, and not just because I am going to be with Swagbucks for a year as opposed to 4 months.

This year, I discovered something which instantly resonated with me: Twitter Trivia. I love trivia and trivia games for a start, so I was always going to be a big fan of this. After refining my skills, I have managed to become a regular contender on the game. In fact, this month I have earned 625 Swag Bucks from this contest alone! For those getting discouraged, keep trying! You may hit a streak like this, too!

One thing that I absolutely love about Swagbucks is the fact that there are so many ways to earn without boring yourself doing the same thing over and over again. SBTV allows me to learn about the world around me while earning for it, which is fantastic. The cute animal videos under Uzoo are a nice bonus as well.

Games are another great source of Swag Bucks. Just 10 games will earn you 10 Swag Bucks a day. That’s an extra 300 per month, which is nearly enough for another GC. Think about it. Search is another favored place. You just search for things and win that way. It’s always a nice surprise when it happens, too.

For those of you with an Android or iPhone, I would highly recommend picking up the Mobile Apps. For watching videos on your phone, you could earn up to 76 SBs per day. That’s 2,280 per month for those of you wondering.

Taking advantage of all of these, and some more, allows me to net over 200 SBs per day, and I’m aiming for my first $75 month in June. All you need to have is time and patience and you can achieve this as well.

I wish I would have found Swagbucks sooner. Now, boredom equals stuff, which is awesome in every sense of the word. You will always have my gratitude and a Swaggernaut for life!

Congratulations on all of your Swagbucks success, faronheights!  Here’s to many more years of rewarding Swaggin’!

If you want to share your story, e-mail us at Contests@Swagbucks.com.  If we share your story in the blog, we’ll hook you up with 200 Swag Bucks!  Be sure to include your Swag Name, as well as a picture of yourself you wouldn’t mind sharing with the community.

We’re looking forward to hearing from all of you.  Happy Swaggin’!


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February 13th, 2014 | By | 1,348 Comments

The Return of Bad Billy’s Billabong's Skate Collection Inspired By Youth in Revolt

The crossover between surf and skate not only drives  the progressive maneuvers, but the core clothing styles as well. Team Billabong has always led the charge and Occy in particular embodied savage style that inspired the Bad Billys collection.

 Gordon Merchant founded the Bad Billy’s  line in 1987 back when Occy was reaking havoc on the world tour, and nobody would tame his bullish behavior. Its time to bring back badass Billy! billy

The new from the Bad Billys line calls upon original Sk8 (skate) style with silhouettes that will soon add include cut off muscle tees, ringer tees, and short leg cotton boardshorts. Yardage prints also play influence in the collection with a variation of original skull and crossbones patterns plastered on statement pieces. And as boardshorts continue to be a hero product of the Billabong brand, in the mix, is a unique boardie that is set on poly cotton stretch fabrics and is combined with all the technical properties of our performance boardshorts. The Skull & Crossbones logo now embodies Occy’s grom surf contest, a fitting representation for the gnarly surf that he’s pushing the groms into. Check out a decade of Occy’s Grom Comp, and pick up a pair today.

Thank you for visiting the Swell blog. Visit us on www.facebook.com/swell for more exclusive fan offers, giveaways and more.
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Usher's 11-year-old stepson declared brain dead after jet ski accident

Geoff Herbert | By Geoff Herbert | The Post-Standard
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on July 09, 2012 at 8:49 AM, updated July 09, 2012 at 9:26 AM
ent_070912_usher_raymond.jpgUsher performs at the BET Awards on Sunday, July 1, 2012, in Los Angeles.

R&B singer Usher Raymond's 11-year-old stepson has been declared brain dead after an accident on Georgia's Lake Lanier Friday.

MTV reports Kyle Glover, whose mother is Usher's ex-wife Tameka Foster, was floating on inner tubes with a 15-year-old female friend when a jet ski struck the two kids. Glover was struck in the head and knocked unconscious and the girl also suffered serious injuries -- both were airlifted to Children's Healthcare at Egelston Hospital in Atlanta.

Sources tell TMZ that Glover has not experienced any brain activity since he was admitted to the hospital. Those same sources say the family has not made a decision yet as to whether or not to take him off life support.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation and reportedly could take months to complete.

Officials for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (Wildlife Resources Division) tell the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that alcohol doesn't appear to be a factor and the man on the jet ski was part of the same group as Glover during the lake outing. TMZ adds that authorities will try and recreate the crash with computer images and based on those results, Usher could choose to press charges.

Usher, who's currently in the middle of a heated divorce battle with Foster, hired a private jet to bring her to her injured son. The pair has two children together, 4-year-old Usher Raymond V and 3-year-old Naviyd.

Celebrity friends of the "Climax" singer shared their support on Twitter.

"My prayers go out to Usher and his family!" actress Tia Mowry tweeted.

"My prayers go out desperately to Tameka and Usher Raymond. May God shine light on your entire family," media personality Wendy Williams added.

"My heartfelt prayers for Tameka and Usher. Can't even imagine..." hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons added.

» WSB-TV Atlanta: Usher's stepson injured in Lake Lanier crash
» New York Daily News: Usher's stepson declared brain dead after being hospitalized after boating accident, celebs take to Twitter with prayers


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June is Dairy Month trivia

calf.jpgFormer Onondaga County Dairy Princess Mary Burgett with a two-day-old Holstein calf on her family's farm.

June 20 -- When a calf is born, it is either a bull calf (male) or heifer calf (female).

At about the age of six months, the female calf becomes a heifer, which is a female that has not yet given birth to a calf. After having a calf, the animal is called a cow.


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Here are reviews, songs clips from The Action!, Rocko Dorsey and Mat Burke

Mark Bialczak, The Post-Standard By Mark Bialczak, The Post-Standard The Post-Standard
on December 28, 2008 at 5:59 AM, updated December 28, 2008 at 6:15 AM

I hope you get the chance to read my reviews of the new CDs from The Action!, Rocko Dorsey and Mat Burke in the Stars section of today's Post-Standard.

Here's a song clip from The Action! It's "Dooleytown."

Here's a song clip from Rocko Dorsey. It's "Curtis."

Here's a song clip from Mat Burke. It's "Born to Shine."

Here's my Post-Standard review of "Exploding Radio" by The Action!

Here's how to explode a radio, according to The Action!

Take two trumpet and two trombone players. Turn them loose.

Add hard rock guitar, bass and drums. Set them free.

Allow the singer to express himself.

The Syracuse band exudes energy on "Exploding Radio." Recorded at SubCat Music Studios in Skaneateles, the ensemble work of Mike Gibson on lead vocals and guitar, Chris Nolan and Brandon Hall on trumpet and vocals, Dave Piwinkski and Dan King on trombone, Adam Carkey on bass and Craig Chamberlain time and again builds to a peak of excitement.

They start with the title cut, a 38-second acoustic intro stark and full of old-time vinyl ticks and pops.

That jumps into the warm glow of "This Is Gonna Hurt," swimming with slightly mysterious horn work that'll make you want to take a look around to see if Bond, James Bond, is lurking around the corner.

The 12-original-song journey rolls from good times and reggae sweetness in "New Old Friend" to a stolid piece of denial in "I Don't Love You" to the 1940s-feel of "Louie the Lounge Singer." That last one rings of Cab Calloway's gem "Minnie the Moocher," full and flattering.

And who can't smile at an ode to a favorite pooch? In "Dooleytown," Nolan sings, "You will always be my dog." Now that's a love song with a bark.

On the Internet:

Here's my Post-Standard review of Rocko Dorsey's "Nightmares."

With the 11 original songs on "Nightmares," Rocko Dorsey spins a sticky rock 'n' roll web.

The singer and guitarist from the Cayuga County town of Niles starts with a snarl and a siren wail in the title cut, singing, "Take it with you when you go-oh. I won't be here anymore."

His power trio includes Dave "D.D." Mancuso on drums and Jeff "Danger" Walker on bass. The threesome can sound like Cheap Trick, with more of the rock-fire side and less of the silly-antics side.

Andy Rudy adds honey-sweet keyboards and cello on "Wax Over My Heart," and Fritz Scherz contributes Hungarian-bent accordion on "Curtis" and "Right Is Right."

Dorsey is comfortable as a storyteller, too. In "Sophisticated," he spills the chilling tale of a 40-year-union man who kept to himself ... until his blood was spilled.

On the Internet:

Here's my Post-Standard review of Mat Burke's "How Do You Like Me Now?"

Mat Burke sings his heart out on "How Do You Like Me Now?"

The words practically tumble from the 20-year-old from Philadelphia.

His collection of 13 original songs rings with the sincerity of a singer-songwriter who means what he writes and sings what he means.

Take "Just One of Those," with the lyrics "the sky starts gray from the break of morning 'til the evening comes. You had one of those days when you just want to lie in bed, cry all morning and wish you were dead."

Andy Rudy produced the recording at SubCat in Skaneateles and played five instruments. He also enlisted the able stable of Central New York musicians , including Robbie Spagnoletti and Ron Keck on drums and percussion and Jake Capozzolo on bass.

But Burke's guitar, voice and harmonica provide the sturdy skeleton.

On the Internet:


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Making a Difference: Fairmount church on a mission to help orphans in Kenya

By Ken Sturtz

Contributing writer

For many years, Mary Ellen Masterpole watched television commercials asking for assistance for poor people overseas. She always wished she could travel to Africa to help the poorest of the poor.

She decided to do the next best thing.

Masterpoledonated money to an organization to sponsor a child in another country, but eventually became suspicious of how much money was being used to help the child.

holyfamgroupchurch1.JPGMembers of the Holy Family Church in Fairmount are raising money to help an orphanage in Kenya. Meeting recently are (from left) church social justice committee members Nancy Scheutzow, of Camillus; Fran Comuntzis, of Camillus; the Rev. Cleophas O. Tuka, a priest from Kenya and the director CDN Mission Catholic Diocese of Nakuru; Mary Ellen Masterpole, the social justice chair; and Bishop Maurice Makumba, of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru. Makumba, who oversees the diocese for Nairobi, Kenya, was visiting several parishes in Central New York.

Then, she met the Rev. Cleophas Tuka, a Catholic priest from Kenya visiting the church she attends, Holy Family Church in Fairmount. He gave her a brochure and convinced her to sponsor a deaf child in Kenya through a reputable organization.

“I’ve always had a desire to do something like that,” she said. “It’s just something I had inside me.”

The experience was so rewarding that she asked the priest if he knew of an orphanage the church could support. Tuka, who is now a priest at St. Margaret’s Church in Mattydale, had an orphanage in mind near his hometown in Kenya. Masterpole brought the idea to the church’s Social Justice Committee, which she chairs, and the church began a sponsorship program.

The orphanage — now called Holy Family Children’s Home — made improvements last year that allowed it to house more than 80 children, but it could afford to care for only 18 children. With one-time donations and sponsors from its parish and beyond, the orphanage was able to bring 23 more children off the streets. The church was also able to help finish building the Abandoned Home for Infants next to the orphanage. It currently cares for 12 babies.

patrickchurch3.JPGPatrick Nganga, 8.

The majority of the children have known nothing but abject poverty, Tuka said. Many lost parents to AIDS, while others have been abandoned because their parents couldn’t afford to care for them, he said. The orphanage offers the kids a chance at such necessities as food, clothing and a safe place to sleep.

“With the support we’ve received, it really has helped bring a lot of joy to the kids,” Tuka said. “Somebody somewhere is concerned and taking care of them.”

About 80 sponsors donate $10 a month to help pay for food, clothing and school supplies. The sponsor and the child often exchange letters and become pen pals. Each sponsor is given a picture of the child they are sponsoring.

miriam.JPGMiriam Wairimu, 9.
“People think, ‘What can I do? I’m only one person,’” Masterpole said. “It’s just been very rewarding for people sponsoring these kids.”

But the children in Kenya aren’t the only ones benefiting. Masterpole said sponsors like knowing 100 percent of the money goes directly to help the children. There also is a tremendous satisfaction that comes from helping some of the poorest children in the world, Masterpole said.

One woman used sponsoring a child to teach her three children about the importance of giving. Each child donates a portion of his or her allowance every month and their mother adds enough to the total so the family can sponsor an orphan.

Now the church has set its sights set on a new goal for the orphanage. The church wants sponsors to fill the rest of the orphanage’s beds.

Mary Ellen Masterpole, the social justice chair at Holy Family Church in Fairmount, shows a photo of Miriam Wairimu, 9, and a letter written by the orphan in Kenya. They church has raised money to improve the orphanage and sponsor dozens of children. The church’s current goal is to raise $12,000 to improve the kitchen and buy an extra plot of land for a playground and a vegetable garden.

The church also is raising $12,000 to make the orphanage’s kitchen more functional and to purchase a small plot next to the home. The land, Tuka said, will be used for firewood, a vegetable garden and chickens, and a playground for the kids. The church has already raised $3,000 toward its goal and has plans for a large fundraiser in the fall.

“You have a community in Syracuse, N.Y. making a difference across the world in Kenya,” Masterpole said. “It makes a real difference in these kids lives.”

The committee

These are the members of Holy Family Church’s Social Justice Committee:

MaryPat Hughes

Nancy Scheutzow

Mary Walsh

Fran Comuntzis

Mary Ellen Masterpole

How to donate

To make a donation to the Holy Family Children’s Home in Kenya, make checks payable to CDN Mission, Inc., c/o the Rev. Cleophas O. Tuka, 406 Spencer St., Canastota 13032. Indicate “Holy Family Children’s Home” in the memo section of the check. For more information about sponsoring a child, contact Mary Ellen Masterpole or 430-2712.

Contact Ken Sturtz at or 470-2259.


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ELECTION 2012 - Representative eager to meet with constituent

Your Letters By Your Letters The Post-Standard
on September 12, 2012 at 3:00 AM

To the Editor:

My career has been in the world of highways and aircraft and, like it or not, that means that I spend a fair amount of time in Washington. Fifteen years ago, when these trips first started, I began making a point of dropping by the office of my congressional representative. At that time the 25th District was represented by Jim Walsh, and while I didn't get to meet him on the first visit, over the length of his term I met with him a number of times and worked with him on a couple projects.

In 2009 and 2010 I made a couple of stops by Dan Maffei's office. I never got any of Maffei's time; I was always handed off to an aide.

A week or two after Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle took office, I called her office and asked for a chance to introduce myself. In a few minutes Buerkle stepped out of her office and was stormed. Her receptionist whispered in her ear and she politely told the crowd that she had an appointment with a Mr. Sheckler and couldn't speak to everyone at that moment.

I introduced myself and apologized for taking her time on a busy day. She sat with me for the better part of an hour and picked my mind about business, government and life in Central New York.

I have known a number of members of Congress and even more bureaucrats in Washington. I have never completely agreed with any of them. But most significantly, I have never met a representative who so eagerly and pointedly questioned me about my business and my views. I can't think of any better reason to support her.

Ross Sheckler


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Scotto In DC (But Why?)

Just an hour or so ago, Scott Brown suggested to the press that he might be unable to attend tonight's big debate with Elizabeth Warren, because he's stuck in Washington waiting for possible votes tonight. These would be votes relating to a continuing resolution, that is undergoing some wrangling.

Well, there are no more votes tonight. And in case there was any confusion, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just took to the floor and said this:

Madam President, I'm so sorry. We have no more votes today. It's obvious to me what's going on. I've been to a few of these rodeos. It is obvious there is a big stall taking place. One of the Senators who doesn't want to debate tonight, won't be in debate. Well, he can't use the Senate as an excuse - there will be no more votes today."

As they say in the hallowed and august chambers of the world's greatest deliberative body: OH SNAP!

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Planet of the Apes

The 10 best adapted screenplays ever?

          ******************************************** Great Britain’s The Guardian, as list happy a media organization as any, has just released what they think are the top ten films adapted from books and short stories. Let’s get right to it: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest from the novel by Ken Kesey The Conformist based […] [Read More]

Tim Burton, Mark Wahlberg … this is how you make a “Planet of the Apes” movie

Count me among the chorus of surprised boosters of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” I saw it last night and it’s a damn fine entertainment. It brings me back to a time, if not exactly the time of the original “Apes” movies, when blockbuster-y movies were not overstuffed action and special effects extravaganzas, […] [Read More]

Weekend box office: “Apes” win again, but “The Help” is huge

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” continued its surprising, well, rise to the top with a second week at number one. It made another $27 million this weekend to bring its total to $104 million. This is how fast-paced the world we live in is: We are already talking about the comeback of James […] [Read More]

The damned dirty apes might have done it right this time

Thanks to my fellow TU blogger Kevin Marshall for passing this one along. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” with James Franco – yes, go ahead and snicker – might actually be, you know, good. Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere thinks it could be the case and presents the “evidence” here. Gotta say, that warms the […] [Read More]


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Joni is 70

I was watching Parenthood on TV, and a young college freshman, upon learning that a coed he liked enjoyed a Joni Mitchell song, was coached by his uncle to immerse himself in Joni’s music. As it turns out, it was the only Joni song she knew.

Me, I know LOTS of Joni songs. Lyrics, plus snippets of all of her songs can be found at

Favorite songs -album on which it first appeared:

20. Shadows and Light – The Hissing of Summer Lawns
A moody song, even more so on the live album named for this tune.

19. Come In From The Cold [LISTEN] – Night Ride Home
“Back in 1957
We had to dance a foot apart”

18. Ray’s Dad’s Cadillac – Night Ride Home
I may like this for the pair of possessives in the title.

17. Woman Of Heart And Mind [LISTEN] – For the Roses
The contrast of the music and some of the lyrics makes it very effective.

16. Trouble Child [LISTEN] – Court and Spark
Nice bass line, plus I like the way it segues into Twisted

15. All I Want [LISTEN]– Blue
“I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling”
And I definitely got that sensation.

14. Free Man in Paris [LISTEN] – Court and Spark
“I felt unfettered and alive”
That’s how it made me feel.

13. You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio – For the Roses
The radio references I found quite clever, such as:
“If there’s no good reception for me
Then tune me out, ’cause honey
Who needs the static”

12. Raised on a Robbery [LISTEN] – Court and Spark
Atypical for Joni, this rocks.

11. Help Me [LISTEN] – Court and Spark
In a rebound relationship, I made an unfortunate reference to this song. The relationship last six weeks and I wasn’t in another for nearly three years.

10. The Jungle Line [LISTEN] – The Hissing of Summer Lawns
I first heard this album at the house of my friend Jon and his girlfriend at the time, Sue. She was a huge Joni fan, but wasn’t sure she liked this particular album. I said, “Well, then, give it to me.” I liked it, especially this song. She ended up keeping it.

9. Blue [LISTEN] – Blue
My late friend Donna George’s nickname for herself was Blue.

8. Court and Spark [LISTEN] – Court and Spark
I often go back and forth trying to decide whether Court and Spark [LISTEN], or Blue is my favorite Joni album.

7. Woodstock [LISTEN] – Ladies of the Canyon
I’m pretty sure I heard CSNY’s take first, but I prefer this more plaintive version.

6. The Circle Game [LISTEN] – Ladies of the Canyon
This is an early song that became a hit for Tom Rush, but I always preferred Joni’s.

5. Twisted [LISTEN]– Court and Spark
This is that Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross song from 1962 that was such a hoot when done by Joni, plus Cheech and Chong.
“So why should I feel sorry
If they just couldn’t understand
The idiomatic logic
That went on in my head”

4. Big Yellow Taxi [LISTEN] – Ladies of the Canyon
“They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot.”
Still true, unfortunately.
Love the giggle when she ends the song.

3. The Same Situation [LISTEN] – Court and Spark
Always thought this was one of the most devastating lyrics ever:
“You’ve had lots of lovely women
Now you turn your gaze to me
Weighing the beauty and the imperfection
To see if I’m worthy”

2. A Case of You [LISTEN] – Blue
“Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet.”
Love the guitar here.

1. River [LISTEN]– Blue
One of Donna George’s favorite songs. She was a huge music fan, so I was truly mystified one day when she said she had never heard the ‘Jingle Bells’ motif in this song until I mentioned it in passing.
Watch: Joni Mitchell in a Rare, Career-Spanning Interview from June 2013 (105 minutes)

Categories: music
Roger Green

3 Responses

  1. Ellen says:

    After all these years… Court and Spark has always been one of my favorite albums.

  2. Magpies says:

    Not sure if I’m shocked she’s 70…I guess not.

    Would be great to see Joni Mitchell in this area, prior to 8 p.m. when some of old goats are already in our jammies. GF Civic Center? Cohoes Music Hall? 3 p.m. some Saturday or Sunday perhaps?

  3. whoareyou says:

    From the days of good female folk artists – Joni, Judy, Joan – and Carole.


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Rich Tehrani : Communications and Technology Blog -
Rich Tehrani
| Communications and Technology Blog - Latest news in IP communications, telecom, VoIP, call center & CRM space

Ken Camp

June 4, 2007

iPhone Release Date

June 4, 2007

The Merger Satellite Radio Needs

June 3, 2007

Talks of XM and Sirius merging seem to be an on and off affair with many groups against and some even for the proposed merger of satellite radio companies. For my part, I think it is bad for consumers to merge the only two satellite radio companies but there are others who say the price of content would come down if only a single entity emerged. The theory is lower prices for content translate into lower prices for subscribers.   While this may be true, why would any publicly traded company lower prices on anything on a volunteer basis? Generally it is a competitor causing you to lower prices.   Wal-Mart is an exception to this rule it seems as even after it has obliterated local competition it seems to keep prices extremely low.   As I live in southern New England – Connecticut to be specific, I think there is a better merger for satellite radio companies to consider.

Tom Wheeler

June 1, 2007

Communications Optimism

June 1, 2007

Google Gears

May 31, 2007

Google’s announcement that they have launched Google Gears is significant as it means the plethora of web-based applications which once were not able to run without internet connectivity can now function without a connection. The technology is available as open-source meaning there will likely be great interest in using it to develop applications.   When you add the words “open-source” to anything it seems to get people interested.   What does this mean? Simply stated, the one major Achilles heals of web-based applications is their inability to function properly when there is no internet connection.

Palm Foleo

May 31, 2007

I love gadgets and I love what Palm has done for the handheld market. I love the concept of Palm rolling out a new laptop-sized device. But that is where it ends. The new Palm Foleo has a fraction of the functionality of a Windows computer but is priced just under an equivalent laptop.   It syncs nicely with your mobile device but then again so does your laptop.   I haven’t had a chance to use this new product but in my mind I can think of virtually no one who needs it.

Dragons at Your Door

May 30, 2007

How Chinese Cost Innovation is Disrupting Global Competition I just received Dragons at Your Door from the Harvard Business School Press and I was going to put it on the bookshelf but for some reason I started to skim it. The timing was perfect as a well-respected PR director made a comment yesterday about an acquirer for Avaya. They said Huawei might be the best company to pick them up.   I wasn’t so sure when he mentioned this idea but the more I think about it the more it makes sense.   I skimmed the book for a few minutes and it is rife with a examples of our dealings with China and other countries and it discusses the similarities between competition from China and Japan.   I haven’t spent enough time on it to say it is good or bad but the book has whetted my appetite to a point where I will put it on my list of books to read. When free time allows of course.

Post for Technorati

May 26, 2007

Thank You Google

May 26, 2007

It has been months since Google somehow started to omit TMCnet blogs from their BlogSearch service. Since the service is so popular we wanted to find out we were delisted and se if there was a technical problem.   After months of writing to Google to ask what the problem was, Tom Keating wrote a blog entry titled Google Blog Search Sucks where he mentioned he loves Google but the BlogSearch service leaves much to be desired. His concerns centered around MFA (made for Adsense) sites being listed and other non-blog sites such as EE Times and even a Wiki.   Thankfully the blog entry caught the attention of Google and an engineer responded a few days later to tell us there was a bug in their system and they have fixed the bug and TMCnet blogs are now listed.   Interestingly, my blog hasn’t been showing up on Technorati for about a year and we don’t know the reason. We have sent many e-mails to Technorati and there seems to be no way to solve the problem.   Similarly we have been trying to get TMCnet news added to Yahoo! News and normal channels haven’t worked.   A very important point Tom makes is that the dotcoms have horrendous customer service.
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Home » Interview with Horror Author Jonathan Maberry, Part One

Interview with Horror Author Jonathan Maberry, Part One

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I recently had the pleasure of talking with horror author Jonathan Maberry, whose first novel, Ghost Road Blues, just won a Bram Stoker Award. In part one of this fascinating interview, Jonathan talks about his book, writing habits, and what lies inside the mind of the horror author.

What was your inspiration for your first novel, Ghost Road Blues? What’s it about?

It got started in a couple of different ways. My grandmother (who died in 1978 at 101) told me as a boy about the myths and legends – or as she called them ‘beliefs’ – of the supernatural. I grew up knowing a fair bit about the folklore of supernatural and occult beliefs, and while writing several nonfiction books on the subject I got the idea for a novel in which the characters encounter the supernatural as it appears in folklore, which is substantially different from the way it is most often portrayed in popular fiction and film.

Ghost Road Blues deals with a small Pennsylvania town whose industry and tourism is built on its long-standing haunted history. They have hayrides and a huge Halloween Festival… but they discover that the town is far more haunted than they think, and that turns out not to be a good thing for the residents or tourists.

It’s the first book of a trilogy, informally known as the Pine Deep Trilogy. The series continues with Dead Man’s Song and will conclude with Bad Moon Rising in June of 2008.

For most writers, having their first book published by a big New York publisher is a dream come true. How did this come about? Did you initially find an agent?

Ghost Road Blues is my first novel, but not my first book. I’ve been a nonfiction author for thirty years. I’ve written over a thousand magazine articles, plays, short stories… the works. I served as my own agent for selling the nonfiction books — and this is not something I recommend. My first books were textbooks I wrote for a number of college courses at Temple University (Judo, Self-Defense for Women, Introduction to Asian Martial Arts, etc.). Then I did some martial arts books for a small press. When I decided to try my hand at fiction – which was totally new territory for me – I decided to look for an agent.

I made a wish-list of the agents who worked with the authors I most admired, particularly those writing in the same genre where I wanted Ghost Road Blues placed. I wrote a heck of a query letter and approached the top agents I could find. When I got go-aheads to submit my book, I gave each some time to read the material and then I invited them out to lunch, one at a time. I like face-to-face book pitching, and over lunch we talked about my book, other books I wanted to write, and about the book world.

From those encounters I was able to choose from a couple of agents who offered to represent me. I believe I made the best choice for me. My agent, Sara Crowe of the Harvey Klinger Agency (formerly of Trident Media Group) has sold eleven books for me since April 2005. Six novels and five nonfics. She sold Ghost Road Blues to the second editor who read it and Pinnacle Books has done a marvelous job with the series.

Ghost Road Blues just garnered the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel of the Year. How does this make you feel as a writer?

On top of the world. It’s a somewhat surreal experience to try something totally new — book length fiction — and then have it become a celebrated book. I would have been happy just to see it in print; but the Stoker win was terrific. It’s supercharged me, too.

Tell us a bit about your other books. What was your inspiration for these books? Which themes obsess you?

Since I come from a background of magazine feature writing I have the writer's knack of becoming obsessed with a topic for a while. Aside from the martial arts books I’ve written, I’ve also written articles about dating, mixology, jazz, blues, film, gastropod farming (no, that’s not a typo), business, parenting, writing, technology, folklore, and dozens of other topics. When I’m in research mode I want to know everything I can about a subject, and then I find that one element – the hook – that will give me something unique that I can pitch.

For books, I feel that I’ve kind of ‘been there, done that’ with martial arts. I’ve been an active jujutsu practitioner for 46 years now and I’ve written extensively about it. In 2002 I ‘moved on’ from that topic and became more fully enmeshed in folklore, which has always been a passion of mine. I suppose it’s the closest thing to an abiding ‘obsession’ with me. There’s so much to say on the subject, even within my area of specialty, which is the folklore of the occult and paranormal.

My first book on that subject was The Vampire Slayers’ Field Guide to the Undead, which is the only book I ever did under a pen name (that of Shane MacDougall). It started me in that direction, and after I landed my agent I gave her a proposal for a new book on vampire folklore, Vampire Universe, which she very quickly sold to Citadel Press. Before I’d finished writing that book the deal got tweaked and expanded so that I was now under contract to write three more books in the same, ah…’vein’. The second in that series, The Cryptopedia (co-authored with David F. Kramer) just debuted on September 1. That one is an occult/paranormal dictionary covering thirteen different subject areas (from divination to UFOs). The final two in that series are tentatively titled They Bite! (which discussed supernatural predators) and Vampire Hunters and Other Enemies of Evil, scheduled for release in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

In 2008 I’m diverting from folklore for a pop culture monster book, Zombie CSU: The Forensic Science of the Living Dead, also for Citadel, in which I ask real-world experts in forensics, law enforcement, medicine, and science how they might react and respond to zombies (of the Night of the Living Dead variety). All lots of fun.

What are your writing habits? Do you work on an outline before starting the actual novel?

I’m a very disciplined writer, but I allow for a lot of flexibility. I write an outline first and character profiles. Then I sit down and draft out a very rough ‘preliminary synopsis’ of what the finished book might be like. I like complicated storylines and deep-reaching character development, and that has to be planned to some degree. However I have never finished a project that bears much resemblance to the original outline. Books are organic and they’ll change in the telling. The outline allows me to remember the underlying logic of the story, but I often let the characters drive the car.

Also, as you develop a scene there is an internal logic that often necessitates story changes you did not initially predict. This is cause and effect as applied to writing, and that allows the story to take on a pattern closer to reality.

I write every day, and I did that long before writing became my 9-5 job. I’m a believer in that saying: “If you write every day you get better every day.”

I roll out of bed around 7:30 and by 8-ish I’m at my desk. I set goals for myself – usually 4000 words per day. If I write more, that’s great, but it doesn’t mean I can write less tomorrow. On weekends I scale it back to about 1000 words.

Which element of fiction writing comes more naturally for you — plot, characterization, description, and dialogue? Which one gives you the hardest time?

Character development and dialogue are easiest, though all of it takes work. Complex plot is the hardest because you have to both entertain the reader and keep him guessing. You can’t make the puzzle too hard for them to grasp but at the same time you have to be aware that readers are smart, savvy and experienced, which means that they’ll be thinking two or three steps ahead. Balancing plot development and its twists and turns requires a lot of thought, and most of that occurs when you’re not at the keyboard. For some bizarre reason I get my best plot twist ideas while I’m in the shower. Who knows, maybe by shampooing my hair I’m stimulating brain cells; and it’s a much happier result than when I sing in the shower – which I do badly and at great volume.

What goes on inside the mind of the horror writer?

It’s not cobwebs, bats and spiders. Writers, particularly horror and thriller writers, spend a lot of time in their own heads. We poke into old closets and dusty attics, places where we’ve stored our fears and the memories of hurt and trauma. Horror writers generally start out by taking what scares them and writing about it so that they can watch it from a distance, gain some perspective over it, and then resolve it. It’s great therapy; but more importantly it allows others (readers) who have had similar experiences to see that these are things that happen to a lot of people. We write about loss, heartbreak, abuse, neglect… and we build horrific elements around them to make the tales less overtly individual (to ourselves) and therefore more widely accessible. It’s a fascinating process.

We also listen to the voices in our heads. For most people this is a red flag and medication and restraints might be involved. But for writers – and not just horror writers — our characters are, to some degree, alive in our heads. We allow them to talk to one another. Very often the best scenes and dialogue come from the characters inside the writer's head being given license to talk and act. Then we go write it down. I believe it was Bradbury who said that writing is 99% thinking about things, and then the rest is typing.

Why do you think so many people enjoy horror fiction while at the same time loathing death and violence in real life?

Because horror fiction provides us with safe chills. We love the adrenaline rush on a rollercoaster, especially when it feels like it’s about to go off the rails, but we really, really need to believe that it won’t. Horror fiction is a rush. It satisfies the need to experience the whole range of human emotions. That’s why horror often has romance, humor, and other emotional qualities in it.

And for many it’s a way to reinforce the belief that monsters can be overthrown. In real life there are real monsters: abusive parents, violent criminals, rapists, hostile governments, terrorists — and for most people this is all way beyond their control. They feel disempowered by these threats. In horror fiction we can feel the same intensity of fear but in the end (usually) the good guys win and the monster dies. Never underestimate the power of closure, even if it’s escapist closure.

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About Mayra Calvani

Mayra Calvani writes fiction and nonfiction for children and adults and has authored over a dozen books, some of which have won awards. Her stories, reviews, interviews and articles have appeared on numerous publications such as The Writer, Writer’s Journal, Multicultural Review, and Bloomsbury Review, among many others. Represented by Serendipity Literary.


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Home » Culture and Society » Know Senate Health Reform By Its Opponents

Know Senate Health Reform By Its Opponents

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The Senate's health reform package has become an ugly perversion in the eyes of many on the left. And, certainly, there are so many reasons why the legislation deserves to be unloved.

And, yet, as the bill moves this week toward final passage,
progressives could take some small measure of comfort from the beating it is taking from its opponents elsewhere on the political spectrum.

While the devil is more in the details in this legislation than in even most others, progressives generally have two overarching arguments against the Senate bill.

One is that the abortion provisions within the bill further erode a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy.

The other is that without a public option, federally run healthcare plan, the coverage mandates amount to a big payoff to the insurance industry.

I'm not going to pretend to be a technical expert on the actual legislative language of either of those two aspects of the reform package.

What I can do is offer some political calculus that may offer some perspective that may have gotten lost in the forest for for the trees.

First, on the abortion question, I've been unable to find a single anti-abortion group that is even a bit cheered by the Senate bill.

Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life Action, is fairly typical in calling it "a first-ever mandatory abortion tax on the American people."

"A 'yes' vote is a solid 'yes' to the expansion of federal funding for abortion," Yoest adds.

Meanwhile, on the matter of the insurance mandate, the insurance industry sure doesn't sound like it's looking for a big haul.

The president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Missouri released an open letter to the Show Me State's senators — one Democrat, the other Republican — urging them not to support the bill.

Dennis Matheis complains about the tax to be levied on the health insurance industry, and he claims that tax will hurt the 3 million Missourians who have health insurance provided by for-profit companies.

Even more broadly, the Washington trade group AHIP continues to fight the Senate bill tooth-and-nail. The head of the organization, Karen Ignagni, claims that the Senate package "will create significant disruption and instability for individuals, small businesses, and seniors."

Admittedly, these attacks on the Senate bill don't answer progressive's concerns most directly.

Also, as it relates to abortion, advocates on that issue do tend to paint everything in fairly absolutist terms such that anything in the Senate bill short of an explicit repeal of Roe v. Wade would likely result in condemnation.

What is most telling, though, is the strong language used by the insurance industry in their attack.

While certainly inclined to be more conservative and Republican-leaning, business interests tend to be more pragmatic in dealing with Washington.

Recall, for instance, the stream of major corporations that bailed out on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier this year for a position taken by the chamber on the climate issue that was broadly seen as too ideological and doctrinaire to help business actually resolve the issue and make money.

Likewise, if the insurance companies are smart enough to know that they were truly getting a sweetheart deal out of this bill. They would be keeping their collective mouths shut and let it come to them.

That they continue to object so strongly indicates just on a "smell test" that maybe the Senate bill isn't so business-friendly as we might fear.

Finally, of course, the ultimate "smell test" is in the fact that Majority Leader Harry Reid did succeed in holding together all 60 Democrats.

That includes a number of highly progressive senators who fought quite strongly for the public option, including, most to the point, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

You could argue that ultimately Russ Feingold, Patrick Leahy, Jay Rockefeller and other progressives fell into line with Reid out of some larger party loyalty.

But not Sanders. Although he caucuses with the Democrats, Sanders is strictly a left-leaning independent who owes no higher alleigance to the Democratic Party in order to get re-elected.

His progressive bona fides are not to be doubted as he introduced the first attempt in the Senate to move the nation to a single-payer health system.

So in the end, perhaps it's a case of: If it's good enough for Bernie Sanders, it's good enough for me.

None of this is to say that you should suddenly love this Senate bill; only that perhaps you might come to hate it a little less and that it might not be as bad as we fear.

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  • Silas Kain

    Inasmuch as it may be “good enough” for Bernie Sanders, I get the feeling that Senator Sanders has taken the Ted Kennedy approach: half a loaf is better than none. I would argue that half a loaf is better, provided the bread is not stale or moldy. This bill is both.

    At this stage, I have no use for insurance companies. The mere fact that insurance interests have invested $635 million in the health care bill fight is the last straw. Again, I ask you — when will we recognize that all of those who have died for lack of a “considerate” insurance industry were the ultimate victims while members of Congress enjoyed the perks of insurance lobbyists. It’s tantamount to involuntary manslaughter.

  • Dave Nalle

    What I love is that the Democrats are still claiming that they are passing this despite opposition from insurance companies, when it’s quite clear that the insurance companies have bought their votes and are ready to rack in the profits.

  • Arch Conservative

    Know it by it’s opponents?

    Gee when you have Keith Olbermann and Ron Paul opposing the same proposed legislation it can be difficult to figure out what’s going on. We must examine the reasons why each man opposes it.

    One opposes it because he believes in the Constitution and does not think that the federal government running every aspect of our lives is the way to go while the other is angry because there isn’t enough of the federal government running our lives in the legislation.

    Either way, the scumbags in DC, with very few exceptions, don’t give a damn about the American people.


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Home » Gaming » PC Game Review: Omerta: City of Gangsters

PC Game Review: Omerta: City of Gangsters

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Never has a game frustrated me so much while still making me want to play. Normally when a game is rubbish, as a reviewer, you can’t wait to get it over with and write the damn review. Or, if it’s a great game, you don’t want to write the review because it means you have to move on to the next thing.  Here we have a game that isn’t good, but one I still have trouble putting down.

Omerta is a turn-based strategy game set in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the prohibition era of the ’20s. You play a “just off the boat immigrant” trying to make his way in the New World. Naturally, you opt for making a killing as a mobster and aspire to run the city as a Capo. This should be a winning formula.

Unfortunately, the execution is less than perfect in so many ways. But, let’s start off with positives. The soundtrack is stellar and I found myself playing the game longer than I originally planned because of catchy period music. In fact, at least at first, the music has a soothing effect when you are frustrated. Graphically, it isn’t bad either and it loads from map to map fairly quickly. The plot is clichéd, but interesting enough to cause you to proceed through it. The graphic novel style, think old Max Payne, cutscenes are well done. There is enough there to make me want to like the game.

Now to the bad. The turn-based combat is appalling in its execution. The gunplay is annoying and the AI “cheats” all the time by firing through walls, doors, and at very odd angles (ones you can’t use). The UI during combat is clunky, unresponsive, counterintuitive, and stiff. I find myself avoiding all but the mandatory combat by using the automatic function. You really wish they hadn’t bothered and just stuck with the “management” part of the game and expanded on that a bit.

Other problems include the fact that many of the maps are so small that you finish them too quickly.  You then have to start over, establishing your properties and income from scratch. This quickly becomes tedious and frustrating. Frustrating enough that I found myself swearing in Italian and other languages under my breath.

Yes, there is a sandbox mode which allows you to expand on one map to your heart’s content, but why break up the main campaign so much? Oh and there are things left out of the tutorial that are crucial. Nowhere does it explain where to get “unique” weapons and it takes a bit of research on Google to find that out. Consequently, it is possible that if you aren’t paying uber-close attention, you could get far into the game having missed some very helpful weaponry for your “forced” combat.

Also on the downside, the catchphrases for your gang are lame and repetitive. They even use them if it is irrelevant to the task at hand. This gang is made up characters you pick up along the way and most of them are useless. You equip them with weapons and even choose their skills if you get them at lower levels. Most of the skills on offer are utterly useless and at least one of them is broken. The weapons are unimaginative and generic, adding to the vapid combat that you try to avoid at all costs.

The game comes across as a rushed product that is half-finished and not properly tested. It is a half-baked con job for fans of turn-based strategy and Mafia games. Unless they seriously patch it or you are buying it heavily discounted in a Steam sale, I would avoid this like I would avoid getting into the garbage hauling business in New Jersey. This is definitely an offer you should refuse.

Omerta is to good turn-based strategy what Jersey Shore is to quality TV.

Omerta: City of Gangsters is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Alcohol Reference, Blood, Language, Violence. This game can also be found on: Xbox 360.

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Today on Blogcritics
Home » Tag Archives: savings

Tag Archives: savings

The 401(k): the Best and Easiest Way to Save for Retirement

401(k). Save early and often.

Run, don't walk to sign up for your 401(k). Because of the exponential growth of compound interest, the best time to start saving for retirement is yesterday. Read More »

Social Couponing: The New Way to Save

The new trend for companies to encourage consumers to share coupons and deals by being social with their mobile apps. Read More »

Book Review: Dollars and Uncommon Sense: Basic Training for Your Money by Steven Repak CFP

Dollars and Uncommon Sense is about how to keep more of what you earn. Read More »

Personal Finances: A Look at CD Rates and Forex Trading

Various types of CDs have been developed in response to investors' many needs, such as bump-up, liquid, variable-rate, brokered, and callable CDs. Read More »

Book Review: Your Money: The Missing Manual by J.D. Roth

Roth talks to his readers as if we were friends who need helpful advice. Read More »

Dancing With Debt

Have we already lost the chance to teach future generations about choosing a life over a lifestyle? Read More »

Book Review: Where to Put Your Money NOW by Peter Passell

Is it too late to bullet-proof your savings? Read More »


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I had the pleasure of going to an SMU Basketball game this past week. It wasn’t a huge game from a standings perspective. It wasn’t a big rivalry game.  It wasn’t a game between 2 powerhouse teams. It was an important game as every game is for an up and coming team like SMU.  But there was no one outside the two teams that were really paying attention to the outcome. Bottom line, it was a game on the schedule.

It was a game on the schedule for every one but SMU basketball fans.  For SMU basketball fans it was their chance to show off to any and all newcomers who walked into the gym.  President Bush (43) was there.  Dejuan Blair, Jae Crowder, Casey Smith and others from the Mavs were there (I had no idea they were going to be there).  I ran into friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Mavs season ticket holders. It was a fun night to see and be seen. All in an arena that sits 7k .

I love watching any basketball game where I want a team to win (SMU), but will still sleep well if they don’t. I truly get to be a fan. (And no, I don’t scream at the refs. Thats for Mavs games only !). As I watched the game and people came up to me they all asked the same question.  They didn’t ask me what I thought of the team and how it was playing. They didn’t ask me what I thought of the coach, Hall of Famer Larry Brown (although the media did ask me about him ). They didn’t ask me about the pro prospects of any player on either team.  They didn’t ask me if I thought the team “Played basketball the right way”, a Coach Brown hallmark. They all asked me what I thought about the atmosphere at the arena.

They all wanted confirmation that this was truly a fun atmosphere. That it was now fun to go to an SMU game.  They had a student section that was standing, yelling , taunting and cheering. Loudly. Continuously.  They had fans that chanted defense.  They went nuts as SMU broke open a tight game when their point guard came alive and starting hitting big shots.

Atmosphere. The electricity you feel when you walk into an arena. The uncertainty and anticipation of what will happen before , during and after the game, and most importantly the communal feelings that can only happen when thousands , if not tens of thousands of people share their emotions. That is what makes going to a game special and the smart people at SMU knew it.

There were no special apps that some programming whiz at SMU created. Nor was anyone asking for advanced stats.  There was not a single consideration for any unique technology anywhere that I could see. None was suggested or presented to me.  There were promos and replays and stats on the high def jumbotron. No one complained that it wasn’t enough.

While I saw plenty of instagrammed pictures from the game, they all seemed to come from before and after the game.  The entire time the student section was standing up cheering I looked for phones. Was anyone using one ? Were they holding them up like they might do at a concert to get footage ? Nope. It’s hard to look at your phone or hold it up when you are clapping, stomping, screaming  and pointing the entire time

Everyone in that arena knew exactly what was going on. They knew what the Seahawks fans knew. They knew what Mavs fans know. They know that they are not just observers, they are participants.  Teams take pride in their “6th man” or their “12th man”. The fans that cheer them on and provide energy to help them rally through fatigue.  The only people who take more pride than the teams in their 6th man are the fans themselves.

So how can sports marketers learn from all of this ?  Here are some guidelines.

1. Know where your team is in their “lifecycle”.

Not every team is up and coming ala SMU.  Not every team only has to fill 7k seats.  When a team is first turning the corner, fans tend to not trust it. They expect that their team will revert to their past .  I know it drives everyone in pro sports crazy when their team finally does well and fans don’t immediately respond.  It is easier to engage fans when the team is turning a corner and winning is new, but you have to work hard at selling the fun of coming to an arena. The more seats you have to sell, the harder you have to work.  Fans want a reason to get out of the house and have fun. But they are not going to find you. You have to find them.

If your team finds itself struggling, or if its expected to win you are in the same boat.  Your hardcore fans are going to come. But you have to work harder than ever before to create value for you fans. It is during these times, when you can’t control what happens on the court, that you have to work hard to improve the game experience.  Not by providing apps or stats. Fans who like those things know where to get them from other sources already.  Not by focusing on creating online communities. Online communities are like talk radio. The same 200 people call and participate in both.

You have to invest in things that are universally fun for your customers and prospects.  EVERYONE remembers their first game. EVERY parent gets unlimited joy from watching their child enjoy a sporting event.  You have to make sure that the entertainment that you provide is not only family friendly, but also engaging for all the 6 to 12 year olds in the audience.  If you think those kids care about basketball you are delusional. If you think those parents care more about basketball than keeping their kids entertained for 2 hours, you are delusional and should quit your job immediately.  All you have to do is remember this – EVERYONE STANDS UP FOR T SHIRTS.

2. Know who your long time fans/customers are.

The delta between sell out and empty is typically 5k fans.  You have to know who your ongoing season ticket holders are and  respect and appreciate them. You can not do enough to reward them.  It is hard to personally respond to 5k or more account holders, but it is something you have to work at. The greater the renewal rate the fewer the tickets you have to sell next year.  Fans know when you care. You can’t fake it. It is hard work, but it has to be done. Know your customers and treat them like gold

3. Price to the market, not to maximize revenue.

The sports industry is changing. TV is becoming a growing revenue source while ticket sales are a declining percentage of total revenues of TV sports.  IMHO, it is far more important to know the price points that will enable you to fill the arena than to know the price points that will max out your total revenue. Why ? Because winning matters. It is important to have fans in the stands. They impact your winning percentage.  And personally, I believe that winning increases long term profitability.

It is also because fans know the pricing trends of your tickets better than you do.  THey know how to use travel sites to get best pricing. They know how to use ticket sites to get best pricing. Teams try to be democratic when it comes to game pricing. Thats an inefficiency that some fans and many ticket brokers know how to take advantage of. We hired a full time Data Analyst to continuously examine and review online pricing for us. It has resulted in us changing pricing for 7k season tickets for this coming year.

The market told us that for season tickets we need to price to the current actual pricing market in order to attract new season ticket customers and to maximize our  season ticket renewals. We paid attention . We did it only for season tickets because those are the tickets we have to price in anticipation of the next season.  Our hope is that for single game tickets the game experience, our team performance and big games  will push our prices even higher and make our season tickets and even more attractive value .

4. Fans buy  tickets where they like to buy them

The Mavs have found that some of our customers prefer to buy from a given secondary provider than from our site.  They have a credit card set up there. They buy not just Mavs, but other Dallas teams, concerts and other events from a single source. That convenience, from their perspective make it a better choice.  Yes, we try to offer better service, premium value, etc. But just like I buy from Amazon just because that is where I buy most of my stuff from, some fans have a preferred source of tickets. You have to be there and make it easy for them to buy.

5. Selling is the most important job at a team

Everyone majors in sports marketing. There is no more worthless major.  Every school seems to have a major in sports management .  Why do the schools and kids think that across the tens of thousands of graduates from these programs there is going to be a job than even comes close to paying off their student loans. Do the math.

Lets say there are 120 top pro teams.  This article says there are about 12k sports marketing grads each year.  The competition for jobs at pro teams is so brutal that we don’t have to pay much. Yet schools keep signing up kids. If schools want to have any value to sports teams they should offer degrees in Sales.  Not sports sales. Just sales.  Teach kids to sell and they can get jobs anywhere anytime.  Teach kids sports management and you improve their chances of getting a job at Fridays.

At the Mavs we value customer satisfaction and sales.  We want you to have an amazing time at a game. We want our advertiser/sponsors to get amazing value from their Mavs partnerships.  We want to have enough great salespeople to reach out and communicate all of the above. Every team can not have enough great salespeople.

6. Spend money on fun.

No team is going to go undefeated every year.  You have to make sure that even during games that don’t go the way of the home team that your fans feel like you are doing all you can to entertain them. At the Mavs we spend a small fortune on entertaining videos and in game entertainment. From the Mavs Maniaacs to special half time shows, to Seats for Soldiers, we want our Mavs games to be special occasions. We NEVER cut corners on in game entertainment.  In fact we probably spend more on in game video and entertainment than the rest of the NBA combined.

If you have a limited budget and the choice is between fun or anything else, choose fun every time.

7.  Why I wrote this blog post now

I decided to update my thoughts on sports marketing after a great experience at the SMU game and being part of this very condensed Businessweek article .  The article was a response to 2 blog posts I had written on the topic in 2010  and 2011 and included a counter argument from the owner of the Sacramento Kings. To make up for the article’s brevity, I have included my entire response to the reporter’s questions below

From the reporter:

Hi Mark,

I am working on a story for Bloomberg Businessweek ahead of the All-Star Tech Summit on Friday about what fans what from mobile technology in-arena. The idea is to dig a little deeper into the contrast between your thinking and that of Vivek Ranadive that came up in this Wired story:
I’ve spoken with Vivek already and would like to get you response to some of what he said. There are basically two parts to his argument. The first is that there is a generational shift happening in consumer habits with mobile and, like it or not, the cohort coming of age now will be checking their mobile screens constantly, including while they are at basketball games and other live events. Not to try to serve them is to fail to deal with reality. As he put it, “the fact is Cuban’s kids are looking at their cell phones 300 or 400 times a day. That’s what they are going to do.”
The second part of his argument is that, if you create the right mobile experience, it is not a distraction but an enhancement. It not only makes the experience more efficient (using a phone to have a hot dog delivered to your seat saves time) but richer. Ranadive: “I completely reject the notion that a fan looking at his mobile device is not an engaged fan. I would argue that I look at my device and I am more engaged because I want to know play by play, I want to know every metric. I want to know everything that is going on.” He believes, with the analysis of his customers and their habits that Tibco allows, he can build a tailored experience that fans will want and appreciate. “Mark’s a very smart guy obviously and he’s done amazing things,” he says, “but I completely disagree on this. I think that it adds to the experience and it’s a fact of life.” And fans that want to opt out, of course, still can.
He also joked that he looks forward to getting a picture of your mobile habits when the Mavericks come to play the Kings.
Is Ranadive falling into the “lookdown trap?” What do you think fans want from an in-arena experience? Any and all comment or response from you is appreciated.
My response:

When i first got t0 the nba in 2000 i felt the same way as vivek does today. we had the first wired arena.    Then i learned what our product really is and why people come to games.  It hasn’t changed.

Tell him to watch what happens at college games.  Tell him to watch a Duke or Pitt basketball game. kids are jumping up and down.  They are participating.  Look at event driven entertainment like tough mudder. go to a fun wedding. People are looking for reasons to put down their devices. There is no shortage of reasons for people to use their devices. They want reasons to not use them. That is why I’m investing in eventized entertainment like LA Slayride. that’s why attendance is going up.

No question people use their phones and devices at games,  but they use them when they are bored. They don’t want more reasons to use them. They want fewer

With all due respect to  vivek, the nba isn’t cricket. cricket is boring and there is a ton of down time. The nba doesn’t have a lot of down time. and during that downtime it is our job at the mavs to create entertainment that makes people forget to check their phones. And if you really want to piss off a parent who brought their 10 year old that doesn’t have a phone and the parent doesn’t want them to have a phone, push the use of a phone and make the kid feel like he or she is missing something !

People come to games because they want unique experiences. no one remembers the shooting percentage of their favorite players. They don’t remember jump shots or dunks. They remember who they are with. They remember how they feel.

They also remember the energy in the arena. what makes Sacramento special is that their fans take pride in being loud. They work hard at it. It’s tough to clap when you have a device in your hand. it’s tough to yell when you are talking on your phone. think the seahawks 12th man would be a point of pride if they asked them to tweet rather than blow out each others eardrums ?

Sure fans will always use devices. And yes its smart to remove the friction in any business process, but you have to understand what makes going to an nba game unique. it’s the energy. it’s the participation , it’s being the 6th man and supporting your team. its high fiving or hugging the person. next to you that you dont know, because your team just hit a big shot . Most importantly it’s the look on the face of your child , or your date and the everlasting  memories that are created from games. Doesn’t everyone remember their first game with a parent ? Has anyone in the past 5 years ever supplemented their memory of that event with a device mention ?

The mavs use as much if not more tech than anyone. But we use it in creating advanced animations that we premiere on our huge high def screen in the arena and post and promote to kids on youtube and our website. Look at the. mavs website and compare It to any other team. We always look to push the tech envelope where it makes us more valuable to our fans and customers

  We use technology to tell people of all ages what they are missing when they are not at a game.  Not to remind them that they can do the same stuff at home on their phones while watching the game on tv

fyi. I will probably use this in a blog post.

58 thoughts on “My 2 cents on Sports Marketing and what I learned from SMU Basketball this week

  1. Dear Mark,

    I recently launched *How to Get Rich; Without Winning the Lottery* *-*A Guide to Money and Wealth Building.

    You are referenced in the book (Chapter4) and I wanted to make sure you have the latest copy. Iâm attaching a PDF copy for your enjoyment.

    Have a wonderful week and best regards,

    Barbara *Barbara Friedberg, MBA, MS*

    *Personal Finance; An Encyclopedia of Modern Money Management *(publisher, ABC CLIO), Jan., 2015

    *How to Get Rich; Without Winning the Lottery, *available at Amazon

    *Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance *

    *linkedin , twitter , facebook , google+ *

    Comment by Barbara Friedberg -

  2. Reblogged this on sportsmangement and commented:
    I have read several articles on stadium attendance, whether it is the NBA, NFL, College, etc. and what the organizations are doing to have a more fun atmosphere. I believe if an organization puts a good product on the field than the atmosphere will be exciting. If you have a bad product, no one is going to have fun and no one is going to come to the stadium.

    Comment by dewitt76 -

  3. Great info !

    Comment by Balazs Rau (@jomagam) -

  4. Thanks for the tips for sports new yamaha golf carts blog writer club from Tampa.

    Comment by Andres Patrick -

  5. Pingback: APG – newsletter #3 – is it March already (finally)? – stuff for track owners and motorsport event organizers to ponder | APG

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  9. Please Mark, take a look at the New York Islanders… A once proud franchise with a zealous and hardcore fan base that, in better times, sold out every single game. Unfortunately, nearly 30 years of MISMANAGEMENT has resulted in apathy at best and for many of us, anger and frustration at managements ability to screw up such a wonderful thing. I know basketball is your thing but please check out some YouTube of Isles in the early 80’s when they one 4 cups in a row. The fan base was electric. The Brooklyn move is a non-starter. A new owner could work a deal to keep isles in Nassau County as new developers there own the Barclay Center. You could turn this club around. The foundation of young talent is there with Tavares and others…. Please, take a look….

    Comment by edpalermo13 -

  10. Great insights! Done “correctly”, sporting events can continue to evoke our gut-level, competitive instincts in a positive way like no interactive technology can even approach. (BTW, I just watched Mark on the spiced honey Shark Tank episode – very nice!)

    Comment by Bill Brocker -

  11. I’m a bigger guy and one of the most annoying things is the tiny seats and generally how uncomfortable the arena’s typically are. Also, let’s say you get food – where are you going to put the food? I’m fat, so that means, guess what? I’m probably gonna inhale a hot dog, okay, probably two. But that’s okay though, because “I’m covered”.

    But at most games you have to sit in uncomfortable tiny chairs made for elves, holding an ice cold beer/soda in one hand while you have a stale hot dog in other attempting to feed your food addiction and mask psychological disorders developed from your childhood. During this process, you basically can’t move, cheer or do anything until the food has been completely consumed. As a result I NOW have a tendency to NOT EAT OR DRINK now when I go to games because I want to be free.

    Thinking about it, I would suggest that a big (haha) part of recognizing your audience would be to weigh them. Are they huge? What kind of seats would accommodate them? As a growing portion of Americans are getting fatter, this has a lot of implications for events in general. Fatter people are typically more lazy than their thinner counterparts. It can also be genuinely painful for these large Americans to walk for long distances, let alone up 100 flights of HARD, CONCRETE stairs. Combine this with having to sit on a tiny rock, while you hold an over-priced hot dog in your hand – and is it any wonder why the lazy, fat Americans just decide to stay home?

    Whew, that was tiring. I’m gonna go warm up a hot dog and watch tonight’s Thunder game!

    Comment by Robert Timsah -

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  18. Really ironic article considering I have been to 6 different NBA arenas in the past year and BY FAR my worst experience was at a Mavs game. Took my brother in law to his first game and he had the opposite experience that you are trying to create. He was super excited for the game, but between having to print mobile tickets at the window (and being charged $10 PER TICKET), awful selection at the Team Store and mediocre food, it wasn’t too long until the inevitable “I’m Bored” came out.

    Not exactly how to cater to young fans.

    Comment by packerbreakdown -

  19. Pingback: Great read by Mark Cuban on stadium sports marketing

  20. Mark what is in your DNA? How are you this force of entrepreneurial nature with instinctive and ambitious skill with your every breath and thought. How does one become the business beast you’ve become?

    Comment by Tim Fisher -

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  25. People go to a game for an EXPERIENCE. It also helps for your team and team members to have PERSONALITY. This is what humans want, to connect. Humans connect with other humans through shared experiences and exciting, interesting personalities.

    The alternative is to give your fans the same old thing with no human expression and see what happens to your fan base then.

    If you have a losing team, at least let the fans see you fighting to your death. Fans can respect that. Fans don’t respect a team that doesn’t care and doesn’t play with “ganas.” Humans respect desire, passion, heart.

    Comment by Kevin Woolsey -

  26. This is interesting, I operate Ticket Monster, a secondary ticket marketplace, that sells Mavs tickets among all other events across the country. Some interesting points here. I am also a huge fan of Shark Tank.

    Brian L

    Comment by TicketMonster (@TicketMonster_) -

  27. “No one remembers the shooting percentage of their favorite players. They don’t remember jump shots or dunks.” – Mr Cuban do you feel you are taking the sport out of the game? I must admit I don’t know the NBA too well but I am a big soccer fan, and no half time show videos or entertainment will ever match the elation of my team smashing it into the back of the net, and jumping up and down with the stranger next to me.

    Comment by Nilan Jethwa (@NilanJ) -

  28. Pingback: International Association of Venue Managers 6 Guidelines from Mark Cuban on Sports Marketing » International Association of Venue Managers

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  31. I bookmarked this post when I saw you first wrote it and just came back to it today. Not disappointed! Great insight from somebody who actually knows.

    Comment by alissajean -

  32. Reblogged this on and commented:
    The minute you charge admission you are in the entertainment business….everything Mark Cuban says here is applicable to your league and games. And you can let Brown Paper Tickets do a lot of the work for you.

    Comment by Jerry Seltzer -

  33. Pingback: Mark Cuban Gets What Many in Higher Ed Don’t « Finding My College

  34. Love your business wisdom and sales is probably the most important skill you can learn out of college (or even before). The experience factor is exactly correct. It’s the reason why people pay big money for concerts vs. downloaded the song on iTunes. Technology will continue to improve, but actually “connecting” doesn’t.

    Comment by Scott Asai -

  35. Pingback: How Businesses Should Be | One Event At a Time

  36. Cuban! This is great stuff. You have provided me with ways to help sports promoters think about the kids too!

    Comment by Ellen Kelley -

  37. Hey Cuban-

    Great stuff… your mini-Mavs DO need entertainment. I have something for YOU!

    Comment by Ellen Kelley -

  38. Hey Cuban, it’s Ellen Kelley! THANK YOU. This blog provided me with great quotes for sports marketing from “the great Mark Cuban”… really. So now, here’s something for you…

    Comment by Ellen Kelley -

  39. Many schools offer sales degrees. Come up to Western Michigan University (where I teach) or go down the road to Baylor as we are the #1 and #2 ranked sales programs in the country by one recent ranking. We don’t teach people about selling, we teach them how to sell and then they go achieve amazing things in just about every industry! Your post was sent to me by an alumnae who works for a MLB team. Does community relations now, started in sales.

    Comment by Jim Eckert -

  40. Mr. Cuban- I am the coordinator of the sales certificate program at the University of Missouri and I appreciate your passion and appreciation for sales. I was a traveling sales rep before “retiring” to academia and stress always that selling is a noble pursuit that will lead to a world of adventure and fulfillment. The ability to sell has lead me to every success I have had. I still “sell” every day in my classes. While our program is only in its third year, I have former sales students with the San Diego Padres and the Charlotte Hornets to name just a few sports teams. You have an open invitation to visit my classes at any time to convey your take on sales.

    Comment by Wayne Keene (@SalesProfKeene) -

  41. Reblogged this on Aardvarksports’s Weblog.

    Comment by aardvarksports -

  42. Reblogged this on Colorado 2 California and commented:
    Say what you will about Mark Cuban but he absolutely gets it as a businessman/sports marketer.

    Comment by blucas85 -

  43. I don’t agree so much with number 6. Mavs Maniacs and every second filled with entertainment/noise gives me tired head. A good tennis match can be filled with just as much excitement and drama as the light/sound overloaded typical NBA game. The SMU presentation is more about the setting and crowd noise than the same old timeout giveaway contests that they have been running all season long.

    The turning point for SMU was the UConn first home game where they had the opening of the new arena and demonstrated that they were a tournament contender. As far as NCAA BB goes in the area, there has for a long time been a large pent up demand for a nice setting and a team with a chance to enter postseason.

    The same goes for the large pent up demand for big time NCAA football. Look at Ford stadium. Its a nice setting. The two most memorial games in that stadium have been high school playoffs. One involving a fox on the field and the other involving a 4-down game ending goal line stand. These were playoff games where the winners had a chance to win it all. The stadium would fill up for SMU games if NCAA football had a similar type playoff system and SMU had a good enough team to be considered a playoff contender (we are talking 16-32 playoff teams in that scenario).

    Comment by ben carver (@druglesfarbanks) -

  44. I think a lot of the discussed value of the smartphone applications has been primarily driven by developers, and not by need or want. If it drives business, that is great, but has the research shown that it does? The fan at the game differs from the fan at home. And both sets probably have differences within it. It has changed the atmosphere at college football as well. Every break in time, students are pulling out smart phones, especially when the arena or field lacks other entertainment.

    BTW, I bet the Sport Management department at SMU and athletic administration at SMU, which has several sport management alums, loved your thoughts on sport marketing degrees. If any university has access to a sport marketing/administration department, and isn’t using them, then they don’t understand the best way to use resources. That goes for using the journalism, communications, and marketing departments as well.

    Comment by W. Anderson Mack -

  45. I couldn’t agree more, I recently brought my 6-year old son to his first Celtics game, and (partly because the Celts are not so good this year) I don’t think either of us remember a single play from the game. What we’ll never forget is getting a chance to sit in floor seats for the 1st quarter, and being close enough to reach out and high-five the players. I’m not sure which one of us was more awestruck by the experience, but I know he couldn’t stop telling his friends at school the next day how awesome those seats were. I might have told a few folks at work too…..

    Great insight Mark, thanks for sharing!!!

    Comment by Jim Sampson -

  47. I, for one, sure am glad I had my mobile device with me when my Saints won the Super Bowl! My mobile device is what I use to capture those special moments with family & friends…it just so happens that it’s also how I share those memories. It isn’t the technology/device that’s the problem…just how some people use it.

    I’d also like to talk to you more about #5 and ways I/we can help you showcase the amazing time fans can have at your games. We may also be able to help your advertisers & sponsors find even more value from their Mavs partnerships. Cheers!

    Josef Holloway

    Comment by Josef Holloway -

  48. Forget hoops, or sports for that matter….this is a priceless marketing piece for any entrepreneur.

    I just published a post on my blog explaining why I post so many travel pictures on a blog aimed at online entrepreneurs. Like you said, I am spending on fun. I have spent plenty of money on fun and also time and energy on fun, selling the atmosphere around what I do, and helping to inspire folks based on my dreams and life.

    People want a feeling. In sports they want a winner more than anything but if you can make them feel good, win or lose, you will never, ever lack for fans. In business terms you will never lack for customers or clients if you package and sell a fun experience.

    Love how they are doing things at SMU. Even though I live all over the world I follow the high school basketball scene in NJ, where many great players ball, and LB and SMU are making serious inroads with a number of All Americans. Why? They are selling LB of course but the experience you speak of at the arena and on the campus.

    Mark, thanks man! Helps me to see that I am on the right track.

    Comment by Ryan Biddulph (@RyanBiddulph) -

  49. It was great to see you at the SMU game. I know you were rooting for us then, I’ve love to see you there as a fan in the coming home games. Maybe you can make it to the UCF game this Saturday at 3PM.

    Comment by Jordan Taylor Mathis -

  50. Mark, great article. Definitely agree with you regarding all the sport marketing jobs. You are right. At the end of the day you better know how to sell: tickets, shirts, concessions, 50/50 draws. These are tangible things that actually drive revenue. All that other stuff you can learn. Thanks for telling it like it is; I wish some of these colleges offering these programs would do the same.

    Comment by Craig CHRISTIE -

  51. Mark, since you are went to Indiana University do you think that you could get an Indian SMU match-up at the American Airlines Center?

    Comment by dfw175 (@dfw175) -

  52. You didn’t even mention the charity tickets that you provide to High schools that help fill the upper seats with young, energetic fans that seem to dress alike and will most likely become lige long and paying Mavericks fans when they are of income earning age. That, my feiend, is pure genius.

    As a season ticket holder (and thanks for the metal plackard we just received) I appreciate the new price point and am using it to bu more seats this coming season as a marketing expense for my company.

    I’ve always been a huge Mark Cuban fan and you continue to impress us.

    Comment by schaun4 -

  53. Reblogged this on Ben Perreira.

    Comment by Ben Perreira -

  54. I’m from NYC through out the years it’s clear Mark really cares about the fans experience. I checked out the YouTube marketing link he provided, and I must say I’m hoping to go to Dallas to see a Mavericks game live ASAP. Looks like a lot of fun! Great job!

    Comment by rblanco22 -

  55. I get what youre saying about the feeling at the games its electric. But ive never identified with the fans that watch games on tv. Except when the Saints won the Superbowl. That was a once in a lifetime thing I couldnt miss. Otherwise I get bored too quick sitting on the couch.

    Comment by hypocrisyrealized -

  56. Reblogged this on Stats in the Wild and commented:
    From Mark Cuban: “Everyone majors in sports marketing. There is no more worthless major. “

    Comment by statsinthewild -

Comments are closed.


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Posts tagged "CS5"

April 23, 2010

Useful Details About Creative Suite 5 (CS5) Fonts

What’s up with fonts for CS5? The font set shipping with CS5 closely resembles the CS4 set with the following exceptions: The following families have been added to the CS5 font set:

  • Adobe Arabic (4 fonts)
  • Adobe Hebrew (4 fonts)
  • Adobe Fan Heiti Std (1 font, “Bold” weight)
  • Adobe Gothic Std (1 font, “Bold” weight)
  • Ryo Display PlusN (5 fonts)
  • Kozuka Gothic Pr6N (6 fonts)
  • Kozuka Mincho Pr6N (6 fonts)

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9:55 PM Permalink
April 22, 2010

Fonts for the CS5 file type icons

Now that CS5 has been announced I can finally talk about one of the things that kept me busy. Over on Inspire, Shawn Cheris talks about the new Creative Suite branding system: the grid, the colors, the influences, and… the fonts. Well, he actually didn’t say a lot about the latter which gives me a good opportunity to do so.
CS5 SWF file icon at different sizes
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4:28 PM Permalink