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Funny stuff.
Let's see how many videos we can post on this page in one week, shall we? And this one is from the same site as the last video. How many can I post from one site before I'm considered a syndicator?
Nevertheless, I missed the debate and found this to be a great recap. Enjoy!
Nevertheless, I missed the debate and found this to be a great recap. Enjoy!
See what a coward I am? I had "This Week in Fucking Football" entered above, but I changed it at the last minute. Not too straight-laced to curse in a post, I suppose, but too straight-laced to scream curse words in the header text. I wonder what that really says about my personality.
Anyway, I felt like talking football, but none of my friends are fans of the same teams as me, and everyone I know is already sick of all of the Fantasy Football talk. So, to the blog, I go!
Notre Dame: I was at the North Georgia State Fair a few weekends ago when one of the booth employees noticed my Notre Dame t-shirt and exclaimed, "Yer boys is gettin' worked over today by Michigan State." I told him that didn't really surprise or bother me all that much. "But Michigan State ain't no good, are they?" he asked. "Hey, neither is Notre Dame," I replied. I do get frustrated with how biased people in this region are against the Big Ten and Notre Dame--neither gets any mention on sports radio unless it's to say how shitty they both are and how they pale to even the bottom-feeders of the mighty SEC. But this dude was right, ND got worked by MSU. And it didn't really bother me at all.
My expectations for this year's Notre Dame team are for them to go 7-5, make a mid-level bowl against a very beatable third-tier team from a BCS conference, and end their season with a win for the first time in many moons. To get to 7-5, in my opinion, they only needed to beat either MSU or Purdue, not both of them. So with their win over Purdue this past weekend, they remained exactly where they needed to be.
No game is a given for ND this season, but almost all of the games remaining on their schedule are winable, even by the current class of overrated or underachieving Irish. Here's how I see it coming out:
W San Diego State
W Michigan
L @ Michigan State
W Purdue
W Stanford
L North Carolina
W @ Washington
L Pittsburgh
L @ Boston College
W @ Navy
W Syracuse
L @ No. 9 USC
Like I said, every game (except USC) is winnable, so there may be some upsets there that I haven't predicted. They could end up beating UNC, Pitt and/or BC. But at the same time, I could also see them losing against Stanford, Navy and/or Washington. So if you assume they'll upset someone but also lose one they shouldn't, 7-5 seems pretty reasonable, right? And 7-5 may be enough to get them to the Liberty Bowl against a 6-6 Virginia team or the Copper Bowl against a 8-4 Baylor squad. (I totally made up the bowls and matchups, but you get the idea.)
What ND haters don't realize is that ND didn't just choke against LSU two years ago and against every team last season, they've choked in every bowl game they've played in since the early nineties. Notre Dame hasn't won a bowl game since the 1993 Cotton Bowl. That's going on sixteen years of bowl losses. I've been wishing for years that ND would make a smaller bowl that they could actually win, and the silver lining to last year's meltdown and this year's struggles is that they should get exactly the kind of mid-range bowl they need.
Anyway, hope is still alive for the Irish. My expectations are low, and so far, they're right on track. We'll hope for the 9-3 or 10-2 season next year. For now, let's get to .500 or better and win a bowl.
The Colts: Indy didn't play this past weekend, which was probably the best thing for everyone. They're so beat up this year that they need the rest, and Payton needs some practice time with his squad. It didn't help Indy's cause that Tennessee (4-0) and Jacksonville (3-1) both won on Sunday. But one of the Monday Night Football announcers made a good point last night, which is that the top dogs in the AFC seem to currently be winning with defense, but before they can make a playoff run, these teams will have to learn how to score some points. And in that regard, I'd put Indy before the Titans and Jags, and even ahead of Pittsburgh and New England. So Indy isn't out of the picture yet, despite a 1-2 record to open the season. I can still see the team going 10-6 and then making some noise in the postseason.
Of course, it won't be easy. Check out their upcoming schedule:
Sun, Oct 5 @ Houston
Sun, Oct 12 Baltimore
Sun, Oct 19 @ Green Bay
Mon, Oct 27 @ Tennessee
Sun, Nov 2 New England
Sun, Nov 9 @ Pittsburgh
Sun, Nov 16 Houston
Sun, Nov 23 @ San Diego
Even Houston is no softy this year, despite their record (they've had a difficult opening schedule, as well). If the Colts can go 5-3 over the next eight weeks, they'll be in good shape. That will put them at 6-5, with games remaining against Cleveland, Cincy, and the Lions--all of which should be easy wins. The Colts do close the season at Jacksonville and home against Tennessee, but if they split those, they get to 10-6. And just like with the Irish, every game is winnable for this team. They could win more than I predict--but shouldn't really lose many more. A 10-6 record should be a wild-card spot, and could even be a division winner (anyone who has faith in the Titans power trio of Kerry Collins/Chris Johnson/Justin Gage staying undefeated is a moron).
The Colts are still alive, my friends.
Indiana Hoosiers: The loss to Michigan State was unfortunate, but predictable. The Ball State loss the week before was worse, as it means IU now needs to pull an upset or two to get to bowl-eligibility. And Northwestern and Minnesota are looking good--two teams IU would normally count on for a few wins. So IU is 2-2, with no guaranteed wins left on the schedule. I was hoping for 3-1 right now, and for Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota and Central Michigan to all look like absolute doormats. If all four of them sucked, IU should be able to beat at least three for the required six wins, right?
IU's remaining schedule isn't bad, by Big Ten standards. They don't play Ohio State or Michigan, and they get Wisconsin (a team they've upset in the past) at home. But with the team underachieving at the moment, nothing is guaranteed.
October 4 at Minnesota
October 11 Iowa
October 18 at Illinois
October 25 Northwestern
November 1 Central Michigan
November 8 No. 18 Wisconsin
November 15 at No. 6 Penn State
November 22 at Purdue
This weekend is huge--if IU beats Minnesota, bowl eligibility is still within reach. If they lose this game, it's all over. Whatever they do, I hope they play Ben Chappell more. I think he's much better for the team than Winslow, despite the fact that Winslow's the more exciting player and better NFL prospect (as receiver, not QB).
Fantasy Football: Okay, I lost all three games this week, bringing my standings to 0-4, 0-4 and 3-1. But there's an upside. For one, all of my teams endured serious bye weeks this past weekend. So I won't be missing that many players from here on out. For another, some of my underachievers have started to perform (at last) and others have finally gotten the boot. But the biggest thing I have going for me is that most of my leagues allow the top eight to make playoffs. So I may be in 10th place in one league and 12th in another, but both of those let the top eight go to the postseason--and I'm not out of that running, yet.
I haven't been sitting on my hands--I'm making moves and trying to improve my roster. If a few players start to come around, I'm confident I can still make playoffs in all three leagues. And once you make playoffs, anything can happen. So I'm trying to keep my chin up. One thing I've decided is that I'm not going to listen to the folks at ESPN, anymore. I occasionally listen to a few Fantasy Football podcasts on my iPhone on the way home from work. But this past week, they were wrong on pretty much every prediction they made, costing me mega points. So no more input from those guys--they're guessing just like I am, so I may as well live and die by my own gut.
Anyway, that's the marathon update of Football news, according to me. If anyone actually made it down this far in the post, send me an email and I'll send you a free t-shirt! Kidding, of course. The only free t-shirts I have are for the female skewing shows on TNT, and if you made it this far in a football post, you're not the right demographic for those shows.
Anyway, I felt like talking football, but none of my friends are fans of the same teams as me, and everyone I know is already sick of all of the Fantasy Football talk. So, to the blog, I go!
Notre Dame: I was at the North Georgia State Fair a few weekends ago when one of the booth employees noticed my Notre Dame t-shirt and exclaimed, "Yer boys is gettin' worked over today by Michigan State." I told him that didn't really surprise or bother me all that much. "But Michigan State ain't no good, are they?" he asked. "Hey, neither is Notre Dame," I replied. I do get frustrated with how biased people in this region are against the Big Ten and Notre Dame--neither gets any mention on sports radio unless it's to say how shitty they both are and how they pale to even the bottom-feeders of the mighty SEC. But this dude was right, ND got worked by MSU. And it didn't really bother me at all.
My expectations for this year's Notre Dame team are for them to go 7-5, make a mid-level bowl against a very beatable third-tier team from a BCS conference, and end their season with a win for the first time in many moons. To get to 7-5, in my opinion, they only needed to beat either MSU or Purdue, not both of them. So with their win over Purdue this past weekend, they remained exactly where they needed to be.
No game is a given for ND this season, but almost all of the games remaining on their schedule are winable, even by the current class of overrated or underachieving Irish. Here's how I see it coming out:
W San Diego State
W Michigan
L @ Michigan State
W Purdue
W Stanford
L North Carolina
W @ Washington
L Pittsburgh
L @ Boston College
W @ Navy
W Syracuse
L @ No. 9 USC
Like I said, every game (except USC) is winnable, so there may be some upsets there that I haven't predicted. They could end up beating UNC, Pitt and/or BC. But at the same time, I could also see them losing against Stanford, Navy and/or Washington. So if you assume they'll upset someone but also lose one they shouldn't, 7-5 seems pretty reasonable, right? And 7-5 may be enough to get them to the Liberty Bowl against a 6-6 Virginia team or the Copper Bowl against a 8-4 Baylor squad. (I totally made up the bowls and matchups, but you get the idea.)
What ND haters don't realize is that ND didn't just choke against LSU two years ago and against every team last season, they've choked in every bowl game they've played in since the early nineties. Notre Dame hasn't won a bowl game since the 1993 Cotton Bowl. That's going on sixteen years of bowl losses. I've been wishing for years that ND would make a smaller bowl that they could actually win, and the silver lining to last year's meltdown and this year's struggles is that they should get exactly the kind of mid-range bowl they need.
Anyway, hope is still alive for the Irish. My expectations are low, and so far, they're right on track. We'll hope for the 9-3 or 10-2 season next year. For now, let's get to .500 or better and win a bowl.
The Colts: Indy didn't play this past weekend, which was probably the best thing for everyone. They're so beat up this year that they need the rest, and Payton needs some practice time with his squad. It didn't help Indy's cause that Tennessee (4-0) and Jacksonville (3-1) both won on Sunday. But one of the Monday Night Football announcers made a good point last night, which is that the top dogs in the AFC seem to currently be winning with defense, but before they can make a playoff run, these teams will have to learn how to score some points. And in that regard, I'd put Indy before the Titans and Jags, and even ahead of Pittsburgh and New England. So Indy isn't out of the picture yet, despite a 1-2 record to open the season. I can still see the team going 10-6 and then making some noise in the postseason.
Of course, it won't be easy. Check out their upcoming schedule:
Sun, Oct 5 @ Houston
Sun, Oct 12 Baltimore
Sun, Oct 19 @ Green Bay
Mon, Oct 27 @ Tennessee
Sun, Nov 2 New England
Sun, Nov 9 @ Pittsburgh
Sun, Nov 16 Houston
Sun, Nov 23 @ San Diego
Even Houston is no softy this year, despite their record (they've had a difficult opening schedule, as well). If the Colts can go 5-3 over the next eight weeks, they'll be in good shape. That will put them at 6-5, with games remaining against Cleveland, Cincy, and the Lions--all of which should be easy wins. The Colts do close the season at Jacksonville and home against Tennessee, but if they split those, they get to 10-6. And just like with the Irish, every game is winnable for this team. They could win more than I predict--but shouldn't really lose many more. A 10-6 record should be a wild-card spot, and could even be a division winner (anyone who has faith in the Titans power trio of Kerry Collins/Chris Johnson/Justin Gage staying undefeated is a moron).
The Colts are still alive, my friends.
Indiana Hoosiers: The loss to Michigan State was unfortunate, but predictable. The Ball State loss the week before was worse, as it means IU now needs to pull an upset or two to get to bowl-eligibility. And Northwestern and Minnesota are looking good--two teams IU would normally count on for a few wins. So IU is 2-2, with no guaranteed wins left on the schedule. I was hoping for 3-1 right now, and for Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota and Central Michigan to all look like absolute doormats. If all four of them sucked, IU should be able to beat at least three for the required six wins, right?
IU's remaining schedule isn't bad, by Big Ten standards. They don't play Ohio State or Michigan, and they get Wisconsin (a team they've upset in the past) at home. But with the team underachieving at the moment, nothing is guaranteed.
October 4 at Minnesota
October 11 Iowa
October 18 at Illinois
October 25 Northwestern
November 1 Central Michigan
November 8 No. 18 Wisconsin
November 15 at No. 6 Penn State
November 22 at Purdue
This weekend is huge--if IU beats Minnesota, bowl eligibility is still within reach. If they lose this game, it's all over. Whatever they do, I hope they play Ben Chappell more. I think he's much better for the team than Winslow, despite the fact that Winslow's the more exciting player and better NFL prospect (as receiver, not QB).
Fantasy Football: Okay, I lost all three games this week, bringing my standings to 0-4, 0-4 and 3-1. But there's an upside. For one, all of my teams endured serious bye weeks this past weekend. So I won't be missing that many players from here on out. For another, some of my underachievers have started to perform (at last) and others have finally gotten the boot. But the biggest thing I have going for me is that most of my leagues allow the top eight to make playoffs. So I may be in 10th place in one league and 12th in another, but both of those let the top eight go to the postseason--and I'm not out of that running, yet.
I haven't been sitting on my hands--I'm making moves and trying to improve my roster. If a few players start to come around, I'm confident I can still make playoffs in all three leagues. And once you make playoffs, anything can happen. So I'm trying to keep my chin up. One thing I've decided is that I'm not going to listen to the folks at ESPN, anymore. I occasionally listen to a few Fantasy Football podcasts on my iPhone on the way home from work. But this past week, they were wrong on pretty much every prediction they made, costing me mega points. So no more input from those guys--they're guessing just like I am, so I may as well live and die by my own gut.
Anyway, that's the marathon update of Football news, according to me. If anyone actually made it down this far in the post, send me an email and I'll send you a free t-shirt! Kidding, of course. The only free t-shirts I have are for the female skewing shows on TNT, and if you made it this far in a football post, you're not the right demographic for those shows.
I don't necessarily think the Democrats campaign any different than the Republicans, so I'm not sure I agree with the message of this clip. But I definitely think it's funny.
They freeze-framed on the perfect expression to get the laugh.
They freeze-framed on the perfect expression to get the laugh.
I was of the opinion yesterday that McCain pulling out of the debates to "save the economy" was a brilliant political move. At a time when his poll numbers are dropping, he basically plays yet another wild card and puts Obama in a no-win situation. If Obama says, "WTF? We're doing the debate!" he comes off as a guy who doesn't want to help the economy and save the common man. If he says, "You're right, Johnny, let's go into session and get 'er done," he's then following McCain's lead and admitting McCain is the voice of wisdom in a time of crisis. There's nothing he can do without the Republicans spinning this to make Obama look bad.
Then again, there's always the mass media to contend with. Already liberal-skewing, according to the conservatives, and not restricted to saying what the Republicans want them to say, McCain now risks comments like Dave's, below:
So wait, McCain should keep campaigning, even though the nation's in crisis? Is that sort of like how I keep coming to work, even when the tiles have fallen off the wall in our shower at home and our house needs a ton of work before we put it on the market in a few months? Or how my wife still takes the girls to ballet class even when she has a cold? Or how both of us do the day-to-day stuff that needs to get done, even when we have other emergencies pop up, like cars breaking down, illness, etc.?
I know I'm oversimplifying things, but dude needs to learn to multitask if he's going to lead the free world. If you need to be in Washington to work on saving the nation, I can get behind that. But maybe you could do the debate that night, from DC? Or maybe the debate now becomes a perfect opportunity to present your economic plan to the nation? After working on a bailout plan behind closed doors with Congress and the Pres, why not discuss it on network television Friday night? Sounds like a great opportunity to talk about real issues while you work to fix them.
Come on, McCain. You can do better than this.
Then again, there's always the mass media to contend with. Already liberal-skewing, according to the conservatives, and not restricted to saying what the Republicans want them to say, McCain now risks comments like Dave's, below:
So wait, McCain should keep campaigning, even though the nation's in crisis? Is that sort of like how I keep coming to work, even when the tiles have fallen off the wall in our shower at home and our house needs a ton of work before we put it on the market in a few months? Or how my wife still takes the girls to ballet class even when she has a cold? Or how both of us do the day-to-day stuff that needs to get done, even when we have other emergencies pop up, like cars breaking down, illness, etc.?
I know I'm oversimplifying things, but dude needs to learn to multitask if he's going to lead the free world. If you need to be in Washington to work on saving the nation, I can get behind that. But maybe you could do the debate that night, from DC? Or maybe the debate now becomes a perfect opportunity to present your economic plan to the nation? After working on a bailout plan behind closed doors with Congress and the Pres, why not discuss it on network television Friday night? Sounds like a great opportunity to talk about real issues while you work to fix them.
Come on, McCain. You can do better than this.
1. Yes, Notre Dame won against San Diego State, but could they have looked worse doing so? It's not a good sign when your new blitzing defense never gets to the QB. Neither the offensive nor defensive line played well, which doesn't give me hope against Michigan. And we NEED to beat Michigan this year.
2. Seriously? The Bears really beat the Colts? Okay, I'd chalk this one up to Peyton and company being rusty, since Peyton couldn't really practice much over the last month and since their line is entirely retooled, but it's hard to blame the game on offensive rust when the defense looks so bad. They made Matt Forte look like a Pro Bowl back, and made Kyle Orton look like the better QB in the game. Add in the early dings Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai endured (that guy is so fragile), and there's not much to trumpet. At least the new Lucas Oil Fieldhouse looks amazing. I have got to see a game in that place.
3. I didn't have any Bears on any of my fantasy football teams, but I did have the Colts kicker and Defense on more than one, which probably had at least a little to do with my 1-2 start this past weekend. The worst thing is that one of my teams that lost was the one that I'd easily call my best drafted team in years. Who would've expected my starters--which included Torry Holt, LaDainian Tomlinson, Derrick Anderson, Ryan Grant and Maurice Jones-Drew--to account for only one TD between them? It sucked. I renamed that team "The Underachievers" after the game. The only upside, from a fantasy perspective, is that I didn't lose anyone to injury (as long as LT's toe is okay), and that there are still plenty of games to play. And I did take at least one of the games. Oh, and one of the two that I lost was against a record-setting 120-point performance. If you're going to lose, you may as well lose to the best, right? Anyway, let's hope my starters actually play like starters this week. I was in the championship game of both my leagues last year, winning one of them. I need to represent better than this.
4. Not only were the Nigerian players that my men's outdoor team faced off against on Wednesday way faster, more skilled and much better scorers than we were, but they also broke my finger. The bastards! Actually, I broke it myself, getting it caught in the jersey of a lightning-fast striker who was streaking towards what should've been an easy goal. Breaking a finger fouling someone who's about to beat you to the ball is sort of stupid, but in my defense, he didn't score the damned goal.
5. I wish I could use my broken finger as an excuse for why I sucked so bad in my volleyball game on Thursday night, but I can't. I've always said that I never want to play for on a team on which I'm the best player, and I've always--somewhat arrogantly--thought that to be the case for this volleyball team. Over the past three seasons, I've played some of my best games since moving to Atlanta, and have done everything in my power to make this a better team. But on Thursday, I was easily the worst player on the court. I passed so bad that we actually had to reorder our lineup to get me out of serve receive. And then I hit so badly at the net that I had to start rolling and dinking just to keep the ball in play--which was so easily read by the other team that they turned half of my "attacks" into free balls. We didn't play well as a team, but I was the biggest stinker. Especially frustrating considering we lost two games 20-21 and 19-21. A few decent plays from me, and we win the night. What a taste of humble pie.
6. I was hoping for redemption when I raced from my Thurs. volleyball game to go sub in the second half of my friend's soccer game. When I showed up, the team I was subbing for was up 3-1...over my little brother's team. After getting razzed a little by my brother and his teammates, most of which I'd played with before, I went in and played some pretty good defense. My passing was solid, and I made at least a couple of saves in front of the goal to keep them in the lead. There was a scary incident where my brother--playing forward--made a run across the goal and caught me totally flat-footed. But he didn't score. So you'd think it was a good experience, right? Sure, except for the fact that they ended up tying the game 3-3. Neither comeback goal was scored with me on the field, but it still sucks that they were up 3-1 in the half in which I didn't play, but lost 0-2 in the half for which I was there. I just wish I hadn't come from a long volleyball game--I think with more steam left in me, I could've played more minutes and maybe kept one of those goals out of the net.
With ND/Michigan today, Indy/Minnesota tomorrow, another soccer game Wednesday and a volleyball doubleheader on Thursday, let's hope this week is a better sports week than the last. It can't get much worse, right?
2. Seriously? The Bears really beat the Colts? Okay, I'd chalk this one up to Peyton and company being rusty, since Peyton couldn't really practice much over the last month and since their line is entirely retooled, but it's hard to blame the game on offensive rust when the defense looks so bad. They made Matt Forte look like a Pro Bowl back, and made Kyle Orton look like the better QB in the game. Add in the early dings Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai endured (that guy is so fragile), and there's not much to trumpet. At least the new Lucas Oil Fieldhouse looks amazing. I have got to see a game in that place.
3. I didn't have any Bears on any of my fantasy football teams, but I did have the Colts kicker and Defense on more than one, which probably had at least a little to do with my 1-2 start this past weekend. The worst thing is that one of my teams that lost was the one that I'd easily call my best drafted team in years. Who would've expected my starters--which included Torry Holt, LaDainian Tomlinson, Derrick Anderson, Ryan Grant and Maurice Jones-Drew--to account for only one TD between them? It sucked. I renamed that team "The Underachievers" after the game. The only upside, from a fantasy perspective, is that I didn't lose anyone to injury (as long as LT's toe is okay), and that there are still plenty of games to play. And I did take at least one of the games. Oh, and one of the two that I lost was against a record-setting 120-point performance. If you're going to lose, you may as well lose to the best, right? Anyway, let's hope my starters actually play like starters this week. I was in the championship game of both my leagues last year, winning one of them. I need to represent better than this.
4. Not only were the Nigerian players that my men's outdoor team faced off against on Wednesday way faster, more skilled and much better scorers than we were, but they also broke my finger. The bastards! Actually, I broke it myself, getting it caught in the jersey of a lightning-fast striker who was streaking towards what should've been an easy goal. Breaking a finger fouling someone who's about to beat you to the ball is sort of stupid, but in my defense, he didn't score the damned goal.
5. I wish I could use my broken finger as an excuse for why I sucked so bad in my volleyball game on Thursday night, but I can't. I've always said that I never want to play for on a team on which I'm the best player, and I've always--somewhat arrogantly--thought that to be the case for this volleyball team. Over the past three seasons, I've played some of my best games since moving to Atlanta, and have done everything in my power to make this a better team. But on Thursday, I was easily the worst player on the court. I passed so bad that we actually had to reorder our lineup to get me out of serve receive. And then I hit so badly at the net that I had to start rolling and dinking just to keep the ball in play--which was so easily read by the other team that they turned half of my "attacks" into free balls. We didn't play well as a team, but I was the biggest stinker. Especially frustrating considering we lost two games 20-21 and 19-21. A few decent plays from me, and we win the night. What a taste of humble pie.
6. I was hoping for redemption when I raced from my Thurs. volleyball game to go sub in the second half of my friend's soccer game. When I showed up, the team I was subbing for was up 3-1...over my little brother's team. After getting razzed a little by my brother and his teammates, most of which I'd played with before, I went in and played some pretty good defense. My passing was solid, and I made at least a couple of saves in front of the goal to keep them in the lead. There was a scary incident where my brother--playing forward--made a run across the goal and caught me totally flat-footed. But he didn't score. So you'd think it was a good experience, right? Sure, except for the fact that they ended up tying the game 3-3. Neither comeback goal was scored with me on the field, but it still sucks that they were up 3-1 in the half in which I didn't play, but lost 0-2 in the half for which I was there. I just wish I hadn't come from a long volleyball game--I think with more steam left in me, I could've played more minutes and maybe kept one of those goals out of the net.
With ND/Michigan today, Indy/Minnesota tomorrow, another soccer game Wednesday and a volleyball doubleheader on Thursday, let's hope this week is a better sports week than the last. It can't get much worse, right?
I know I try not to talk about work on this blog, but I'll try to keep this mostly anonymous.
1. I was on my way to work this morning when I got an email on my blackberry. It was from the person in charge of tracking our traffic on the websites. She had one question:
"Are there any viral videos on tbs.com?"
Seriously? Are there still people out there who don't know that a "viral video" is an organic happenstance, not a category you assign during digitization? I've been getting the "we need to make a viral video" request from marketing for years, but even that noise has died down by now. We've had to explain a million times that "viral" just means that people like it and pass it around--it's not something you can force onto a video with marketing mojo. It's much the same as the term "hit show". You can make a good show. You can even make a great show, but you can't make a hit. Only the fans can do that.
It's sad to hear a person who actually works in the digital field showing such lack of understanding of such a familiar concept. I expected the next question to be, "Is there anything funny on tbs.com?"
2. With as much traffic as the Family Guy videos on our site get, I'm amazed nobody's written in about this, yet. You tell me: Is this a good thumbnail to use for a video on an "all audiences" site?
We had to let our video guy go last week due to financial and structural reasons, and I was absolutely sure he must've done this to get back at us. I was starting to worry that there may be a whole bunch of pornographic thumbnails buried in our video player. But then I checked the "submitted by" tag on the image. It came from a former coworker who's now a designer for an agency that does websites for major studio movies, and who happens to occasionally read this blog.
Hey, Eugene, thanks a lot! If I find images of Peter naked on our site, I'm coming to LA and tracking you down, man! ;)
1. I was on my way to work this morning when I got an email on my blackberry. It was from the person in charge of tracking our traffic on the websites. She had one question:
"Are there any viral videos on tbs.com?"
Seriously? Are there still people out there who don't know that a "viral video" is an organic happenstance, not a category you assign during digitization? I've been getting the "we need to make a viral video" request from marketing for years, but even that noise has died down by now. We've had to explain a million times that "viral" just means that people like it and pass it around--it's not something you can force onto a video with marketing mojo. It's much the same as the term "hit show". You can make a good show. You can even make a great show, but you can't make a hit. Only the fans can do that.
It's sad to hear a person who actually works in the digital field showing such lack of understanding of such a familiar concept. I expected the next question to be, "Is there anything funny on tbs.com?"
2. With as much traffic as the Family Guy videos on our site get, I'm amazed nobody's written in about this, yet. You tell me: Is this a good thumbnail to use for a video on an "all audiences" site?
We had to let our video guy go last week due to financial and structural reasons, and I was absolutely sure he must've done this to get back at us. I was starting to worry that there may be a whole bunch of pornographic thumbnails buried in our video player. But then I checked the "submitted by" tag on the image. It came from a former coworker who's now a designer for an agency that does websites for major studio movies, and who happens to occasionally read this blog.
Hey, Eugene, thanks a lot! If I find images of Peter naked on our site, I'm coming to LA and tracking you down, man! ;)
I can't watch videos like the one below without thinking back to my younger days, when it was easy to get a group of people motivated to do something crazy and creative with no real endgame or profit in sight. Remember when we wasted time in a way that actually added something to the world? Now, when I waste time, it's truly wasted. Videogames, TV shows--I even waste time arguing. And believe me, nobody's smiling over my timewasting activities like they are over this video. It's sad.
University Lipdub (HS Furtwangen) from DASKAjA on Vimeo.
University Lipdub (HS Furtwangen) from DASKAjA on Vimeo.
Another award-winner from the ace comedy troupe OneTwoThree Comedy.
Supporting
