Posts tagged Football
Angles Are Everything
Feb 8th
Peyton Manning is a nice guy, with a self-deprecating and healthy sense of humor.
But man, he looked positively evil on the sidelines of the Super Bowl. Some people started referring to him as ”Satan Manning.”
Now, is he an intense competitor? Yes.
You think he might have been frustrated by taking only six snaps in the entire second quarter, then waiting through “CSI: Halftime,” then not getting the ball to start the second half after the Saints executed a brilliant onside kick? Yes, yes, and yes.
But the “evil” that seeps through the photo and wants to tear out your liver is a function of the angle.
Take a look at these pictures of the very same Elmo party hat.
The angle makes all the difference in the world, doesn’t it?
Elmo is an iconic symbol of acceptance and peace. His inquisitive nature instantly rings true with children, who recognize their own yearning to learn about the world around them. The fact that the party hat could appear evil must therefore be strictly a function of visual tricks, and the angle of perspective creating an optical illusion.
My son used to adore Elmo, and as far as we can tell it had no deleterious effects on him.
There is nothing inherently evil about Elmo.
Well, maybe I ought to re-think letting my son hang out with Peyton Manning when he grows up, too.
(content partially adapted from material at my old blog, with my permission.)
Stay Classy, Tuscaloosa
Sep 1st
I saw the news early this morning that a University of Alabama starting defensive end, Brandon Deaderick was shot outside his apartment late last night during a robbery attempt.
(CSTV.com)
He’s in good condition with a wounded forearm, and there will be a statement from Coach Nick Saban sometime so0n. It would surprise me if Deaderick played in the season opener this coming Saturday against Virginia Tech.
This is not a sports site, so those of you who know me know there is another motive for this post. And it has to do with common reactions to news such as this.
First of all, there’s no indication whatsoever that Deaderick brought this on himself, or was involved with people he shouldn’t have been around. In situations where that’s the case, fans often will turn on the player, or at least disassociate for a little while.
Here, however, is a starting defensive end for a top-ten college program about to face another opponent in the top ten. You’re going to see messages of support and encouragement – and for some it will become a rallying cry:
It takes more than bullets to stop the Tide!
This is precisely the thing I want to encourage Alabama fans in the Georgia Dome to avoid.
The memory of the tragedy at Virginia Tech is still very much alive, the nerves still raw. Hokie upperclassmen had their entire college experience transformed by what they saw. I know people here who lost very close friends among the 32 people slain.
If you want to make signs supporting Brandon Deaderick, by all means, do so.
Just remember that the vast majority of the ESPN television audience will not think of Brandon Deaderick when they see signs about guns and bullets. They will think of Virginia Tech, and they will think very poorly of Alabama fans for engaging in what appears to be very poor taste.
I am not an extremist when it comes to Political Correctness, and this isn’t a matter of being PC. It’s a case of recognizing the reality of others’ perceptions, and not bringing undue criticism on the school I love.
Roll Tide! Beat the Hokies! (but don’t give the rest of the world the wrong idea about who we are and what we stand for…)
…and please pass this along to Tide fans you know who are going to the game.
Stay Classy, Tuscaloosa.
SEC Draws Line at Commercial Competitors
Aug 18th
I just got my hands on the SEC’s new Social Media Guidelines for fans at sporting events, and I believe the new language is clearer and ought to placate the fan base.
Specifically, you’ll find two paragraphs that more clearly delineate what the conference would deem a “threat to commercial interests and contracts:”
No Bearer may produce or disseminate in any form a “real-time” description or transmission of the Event (i) for commercial or business use, or (ii) in any manner that constitutes, or is intended to provide or is promoted or marketed as, a substitute for radio, television or video coverage of such Event. Personal messages and updates of scores or other brief descriptions of the competition throughout the Event are acceptable. If the SEC deems that a Bearer is producing a commercial or real-time description of the Event, the SEC reserves the right to pursue all available remedies against the Bearer.
Absent the prior written permission of the Southeastern Conference, game action videos of the Event may not be taken by Bearer. Photos of the Event may be taken by Bearer and distributed solely for personal use (and such photographs shall not be licensed, used, or sold commercially, or used for any commercial or business purpose).
The first paragraph explicitly mentions the intent of the publisher. So a Tweet from the stand that says “Touchdown LSU! 24-14!” would be perfectly fine… but an account that specifically tries to build audience for the purpose of replicating play-by-play would be out-of-bounds. (It’s not inconceivable that someone could create a closed Twitter account, and sell access subscriptions to other users.)
The second paragraph answer the question about friends who take pictures of each other at the games, and clearly mentions “personal use.” Such pictures could not be sold.
Here is the policy in full, and here is the short version that will appear on the backs of tickets.
Obviously, you could not fit the full language in the summary, but here is a sentence that might be problematic in the short term:
Additional terms and conditions governing use of this ticket are posted on the website of
the SEC (www.secsports.com) and are incorporated herein by reference. By using this ticket,
user agrees to be bound by such terms and conditions.
Additional terms and conditions governing use of this ticket are posted on the website of the SEC (www.secsports.com) and are incorporated herein by reference. By using this ticket, user agrees to be bound by such terms and conditions.
I spoke with a source in the commissioners office, and recommended the use of a URL that is not the main page; instead linking directly to the policy page. This could be done with a “/policy” or something of the sort appended to the link. I was told this would be too late for football season, but could easily be implemented for SEC basketball tickets and beyond.
It’s good to know the league is listening. Maybe the other conferences are too.
SEC to Clarify the Social Media Guidelines
Aug 17th
The Southeastern Conference is getting a beating over the Social Media guidelines for fans, which seemed to ban even the use of Twitter during sports events.
I just spoke with a media representative for the SEC, and believe me — they have heard every one of you.
They are working now on a clarification to the policy and hope to release it within the next 24-48 hours, but the gist of it is this:
- Twitter will not be banned.
- The issue isn’t text, but video.
- The SEC needs to protect its broadcast partners (CBS and ESPN) and those with rights to online video.
This makes sense, and certainly is a more reasonable restriction.
What isn’t entirely clear is whether the approach will be one of preventative measures (disallowing phones, highly unlikely) or ex-post-facto actions like takedown notices to various sites that host the videos. We’ll see when the clarifications are released.
UPDATE: Follow @secsportsupdate on Twitter – I’m fairly certain they will share the link there first.
Game the System
Dec 3rd
(How Ike became the #1 Twitter Elite of Planet Earth)
We just came out of an election season where there were multiple ways to keep score:
- Popular vote
- Electoral vote
- States carried
In the above instance, we have a constitutional mandate that tells us which one matters. Life is often more fuzzy than that. Take the college football standings in the Big-12 South, where three teams finished with seven wins and a single loss.
- Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35
- Texas Tech beat Texas 39-33
- Oklahoma beat Texas Tech 65-21
If you spin them head-to-head, you just keep rolling in a circle. The Texas fans think their win ought to count for “more,” because it happened on a neutral field. The Oklahoma fans say Poppycock (or something equally rustic, and likely demeaning to both cowboys and cows), that they lost to Texas within the state of Texas. Also, Oklahoma appears to win in both overall strength-of-schedule and in point differential.
The Texas Tech coach, realizing his team was too far out of the conversation to matter, said his team’s higher graduation rate ought to break the tie.
Instead, the division championship came down to which team was highest ranked by an arcane formula involving two separate polling efforts, six computers algorithms, a field mouse and SCUBA gear. No one knows, we just trust the result. Or complain about it.
Laughter, the best disinfectant
Hidden processes are at the heart of how one can claim victory in something few understand. Which is exactly what Matt Bacak did earlier this week.
Mr. Bacak – in a fit of self-promotion, powerfully promoted his wares as a marketing guru with a press release touting his score on a service called Twitter Grader. He claimed to have risen to the rank of #3 in the Atlanta Twitter Elite. And every bit of it was true.
What is also true is that on the very same day, I truthfully proclaimed myself the #1 Twitter Elite of Planet Earth.
Unlike Mr. Bacak, I won’t sell you any expensive secrets. Here’s how it’s done.
- Find a service that offers some type of rankings.
- Figure out what impresses that service.
- Emulate, taking as many shortcuts as you can.
Holes in the System
Here are the secrets Matt won’t tell you.
First, Twitter Grader rewards people who appear to have more “followers” than they actually “follow”. There are many users of the service who pride themselves on maintaining as even a ratio as possible. So Matt added as many as he could – waited for the reciprocal follow-back – then did a mass dump of his “following” list. As of yesterday, he was being followed by over 1900 people, but he was only following 32. The ratio makes you appear more influential than you are.
Second, the location definition for “Twitter Elite in ________” is arbitrary and has no heirarchy. If you put “Muncie, IN” as your location, you will only be compared to those with a match. Switch to just “Muncie” and you’re in a different pool. It’s entirely possible that you could be far-and-away the TwitterKing of Muncie, yet not show up in a search for the state of Indiana. I chose “Planet Earth” for my location. I could have claimed the whole galaxy. It doesn’t matter.
Other than changing my location to “Planet Earth” for a day, I did nothing to game the system.
Tempest in a Twitpot
This is worthy of more than a laugh. There are a couple of object lessons here.
I can’t feel very sorry for Matt. Either he knew precisely what he was doing and ought to be ashamed for promoting it, or he has no clue and ought to be prevented from drawing consulting fees from businesses that don’t know any better.
Additionally, this is a call to feed your inner skeptic.
- When someone makes a claim, ask for the proof.
- When you see the proof, ask for the innards of the algorithm.
- When you don’t understand the algorithm, ask for an explanation.
- When you don’t understand the explanation, run.
Does this mean I need to quit relying on the almighty Google? That depends. Am I satisfied with the results? Mostly. Is it costing me anything? No. But at least I’m putting the algorithm to the test.
And you should, too.
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, algorithm, search, marketing, BCS[/tags]