Green Kaibutsu

New Blog Idea

2007-08-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

"Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn't tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted "We want Ted" for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters."

-John Updike

This quote, taken from "Hub Bids Kid Adieu" remains one of my favorite quotes by an American author. As a lifelong fan of both sports and English in the written form I respect and enjoy sports writing as a form of under appreciated art. Sports conjure catharses of raw human emotion. However, as far as history goes, these outbursts of pride, humiliation, never would eventually fade away without the scribes meticulously scribing. The same way that anthropologists trace timelines of ancient civilizations, sportswriters capture emotion which would otherwise fade away. Sure there are box scores documenting that something happened while the game was being played. But to me, humanity thrives on emotion and storytelling, not on numbers and statistics.

This brings me to the shape of my blog. To show my appreciation for sportswriting, I am going to keep a blog documenting daily sportswriters styles, statements, and opinions. I will critique their opinions based on my own, like a music or movie critic, and analyze the way they tell the story of the game. I plan on reading several daily blogs from sportswriter greats such as Joe Posnanski, Peter Gammons, and the distinct sportswriting styles of Bill Simmons, or Buster Olney.

I also plan to use this blog to occasionally list the mental notes I made during Red Sox games that I feel that I'd like to share. For example, I find it interesting that the Red Sox signed Bobby Kielty to a minor league deal with a one week escape clause. I have a suspicion that the Red Sox do not plan on playing Kielty at all and simply plan to give Pena a little motivation to start focusing and hitting. I also may just make mental notes and complaints, who knows. But the majority of what I plan on doing is reading sportswriters as if I were taking an english class and giving my opinion on their successes and failures. So, what do you think?

Project One

2007-05-24T12:45:00.001-07:00

The online community that I chose to make myself a part of is sonsofsamhorn.com (SOSH) a Red Sox based discussion community. Sons of Sam Horn prides itself on having the most thought provoking, intelligent, and eloquent Red Sox banter in all of Red Sox Nation. And mostly, it’s true. There are a number of ways to contribute to the Sons of Sam Horn website, as the entire site is run solely on bloggers who post discussion topics and subsequent responses. When trying to “apply” for a registration name, one is redirected to a list of guidelines set out by the webmaster of the site. Sons of Sam Horn take their posting extremely seriously, and are heavily concerned with their reputation as the think-tank of Red Sox nation online. Posting rules not only include the normal “no profanity” and animated/NSFW avatars, but also include “Please take the time to put some thought and substance into your posts/replies,” and “SoSH is not a place for water-cooler discussion of the Red Sox. Fluff topics, like "Favorite Sox Player", and "Thank You, OC" are not looked upon favorably.” Pretty heavy stuff.

Sons of Sam Horn has several working facets to which one can contribute. Along with the blogs/discussion pages, there are chatrooms, a forum for posting any relevant pictures you may have taken yourself (perhaps at a Red Sox game, or when meeting a player.) And a wiki, which, as we all know, is a user updated and maintained encyclopedia. Some of my favorite entries were those on Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, David Ortiz, and my personal favorite on Dan Shaugnessy (or CHB as he is referred to in the wiki.) I contributed to the play by play description of the only walkoff game thus far in the 2007 season. The game against the Orioles where the Sox scored five runs in the ninth inning. The whole wiki is incredible though. With pages such as the Church Of Ortiz. I could spend hours just on the wiki editing and reading. Most of the pages are jokes but they also are great for historical information as well. One can find any information on any Red Sox player, where he came from where he played beforehand. Sort of a centralized baseballreference.com mixed with a mad magazine parody. I love it. Here’s two of my favorite pages:

D’Angelo Ortiz

A modern hero, born unto David Ortiz and a mortal woman. Legend has it that he defeated the lions of Kalahari by barehandedly wrestling them to the ground. A memorial was erected at Franklin Park to commemorate this event.

New York Yankees Franchise History

1903-2003: Nothing noteworthy
2004: Became the first team in baseball history to lose a best-of-seven series after leading 3-0
2005-present: Nothing noteworthy

Here is the most surprising part of my experience with SOSH. When trying to register to the site I discovered that all new users are assigned to the “lurker” group. This means that all new users are only allowed to post in the “sandbox” forum, which is never actually viewable by those just visiting the site. The sandbox forums are surveyed by the webmasters and if you provide enough insightful, introspective commentary on the Red Sox you are considered for a full membership. It’s basically like the minor leagues of the internet. Unbelievable.

After logging in, my membership was subject to approval by an administrator who is going to do a “background check” on me. Most likely by reading what I wrote under “background information” in my membership application (“University of Massachusetts student, lifelong Red Sox fan, future sportswriter hopeful.”)

I don’t know if all websites are this subject to who they allow to post. But I don’t think they are. However, this is why I am drawn to SOSH. The posts are written by people who seem to be more knowledgeable than folks one might see on Baseball Tonight. (Although Baseball Tonight’s quality has plummeted since the subtraction of Peter Gammons.)

Probably the best experience I had with Sons Of Sam Horn was the chat log. The flash driven chatroom has several different categories of discussion where one can log in and actively express his Red Sox opinion with people who are not drunken frat boys arguing that Alex Cora should be the starter over Dustin Pedroia (moronic.) This is especially fun during the Red Sox games. During each game users have the option of discussing absolutely anything in water-cooler fashion. This can be a conversation on Schilling’s last slider’s location. Or a list of reasons why Manny should have crushed that last delivery from Tomo Ohka. Sometimes one will find a running commentary on Jerry Remy’s growing drunkenness (A definite SOSH Chat topic on any double-header) which becomes more entertaining with every promo that Remy struggles through. Or even pointing out things that others wouldn’t notice, like Coco’s strange route to a fly ball, that Taverez is wearing shoes with David Ortiz’s face emblazoned on them, or a cute blonde three rows back and two seats to the left of home plate.

As for the posting discussion experience, the experience has been great in two regards. Being one who wishes to be a sportswriter writing for an audience of highly educated Red Sox fans and gauging their reactions has been invaluable. If I can get these people to agree with me then I probably will be pretty safe in all regards if I’m going to move forward with sports writing as my career.

NPR

2007-05-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

"FYI: The Soxaholix site was mentioned in an NPR piece on baseball yesterday. You can listen here. That combined with Matsuzaka's first outing, made for a pretty good day."

Both Great stuff.

American Idol and Tara's first appearance

2007-05-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Building a road in gold

Susan/Circle:
I know it's only against college kids, but Josh Beckett was dominating in his first Spring outing.

Tara:
21 pitches, 19 for strikes, while allowing one hit and striking out five.

Susan/Circle:
Mahk my words, Josh Beckett is going to be a pitching stud in '07.

Tara:
He's bringing sexy back.

Susan/Circle:
[growl]

Tara:
Anything and everything is imaginable in the Spring …

Susan/Circle:
Schilling will drop his wintah weight.

Tara:
Matsuzaka, under the tutelage of Wake, will add the knuckle alongside his gyro.

Susan/Circle:
There'll be peace in the Middle East.

Tara:
After contentious negotiation, Ahmadinejad will agree to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program in exchange for a permanent guest judge position on American Idol.

Susan/Circle:
Holy 12th Imam, now that'd be funny. He'd make Simon Cowell seem endearing by comparison.

Tara:
Yeah, picture it … "Infidel number 3. That song was too big for you and you were pitchy like the Zionist dog you are. Exit stage left to your execution by stoning."

Susan/Circle:
"Seacrest, you disgraceful and wretched homo who shall burn in the fire of Islam's fury, send in the next spawn of Satan … I tell you, Paula the Whore, the real Holocaust is having to endure this dried up and rotten show."

American Idol is constantly a main topic on Soxaholix. I think HB is a secret fan. On a bit of a side note, American Idol is ridiculous. I heard some statistic that if you were to take the next top 5 TV shows in terms of ratings and combined them, they still would not account for half the viewers that American Idol gets. Plus, the show can go on forever, its not like they are going to run out of ideas or write themselves into a corner like on other shows. The only way to stop the beast is to votefortheworst.

Anyway, this strip introduces a new character, Tara. Tara is the outsider of the office, she is a woman in an office of all men (and Circle), an African-American in an office of all whites, and a west coaster in an office of all New Englanders. She also is the intellectual of the office, with MIT degree. This gives Tara an outside perspective on almost any issue that arises, and an important point of view. Tara is to be taken more seriously than any of the other characters.

2007-05-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Feb. 26th

"Day job deadlines and strip creation are not a good mix … Will return when I can. In the meantime, for your contemplation: David Ortiz arrived at spring training feeling more fit and powerful than ever after changing his offseason workout routine …"

I wonder how many bloggers out there blog for a living? I know of at least two out of the three blogs that I check more than 5 times a day do so full time. Dave Pinto of baseballmusings.com and the author of Bostondirtdogs.com. These are both special circumstances however. Dave was the head researcher for Baseball Tonight and Silva was employed by the Boston Globe. Wikipedia only reveals that a female blogger can be referred to as a bloggette. I'm going to continue to look into this.

And we're off

2007-05-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

Let's learn about the Soxaholix. According to the description of the website, "A daily comic strip cum weblog set in a generic office/cube farm inhabited by a collection of die-hard Red Sox fans who individually personify a stereotyped and/or caricatured fan personality type."

This is an example of a daily comic strip

One of my favorite features of the website (but also a feature which makes it very difficult to repost the strip on another webpage without doing a prntscreen copy) is that the text bubbles are not image imbedded. This allows the text to be suceptible to all of the ordinary HTML functions. The author ("HB") can insert links, italics, bold, and users can even search for key words in old strips.

One of my favorite features of the website is the references that the author uses. HB will add pop culuture references (and links to pop c. blogs) literary and cultural references (usually accompanied by a wiki explanation) and tie them into the current Red Sox situation. The strips also usually also reference the day's most interesting columns and blog posts relating to the state of the Nation (RSN of course.)

Another feature (and one that makes this a better site to review than BDD) is the comments. Posters like Louclinton or L.C. remark on the post on a daily basis, usually adding their own news and insightful opinions. Soxaholix has been featured in the Wall Street Journal as well as won many blogging awards. Next we will take a look at each post since I began tracking the blog several months ago.

I'm telling you, the ends will justify the means

2007-05-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: So after tracking soxaholix.com (which was my second choice after bostondirtdogs.com. Dirt dogs, though a great website, did not have much of its own content other than photos and headlines and links. Soxaholix' daily posts puts me in a better position to actually write something about the creative musings of another person.) for the past two monthes. It's finally time to start posting on my findings. True I didn't do this in a timely fashion, but I operate better with Deadlineocles' Sword hanging over me. By the end of classes next week I'll have a semester's worth of blogging done. Besides it's not like I haven't been scrutinzing over soxaholix every single day. Myself being a Soxaholic. I just decided to hold off on offering any opinions until I had completed my analysis.

To help maintain the illusion of punctuality, I'm using my secret GodMode blog skillz to retroactively post these.

That said, let's begin taking apart my following of Soxaholix.

Stairwell Art

2007-04-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

One of the least commonly known art galleries on the University of Massachusetts campus hides itself in usually emtpy stairwells of the W.E.B. Dubuis library. Climbing from floor one to floor twenty six ___ are greeted warmly by original art by primarily female Umass art students from the early 1980's to the mid 2000's. What makes this gallery-of-sorts so different from the more conventional displays of Umass art is the juxtaposition of artistic vibrance placed directly on lifeless stone walls.
Most of the work seems to fall under three simple themes: nature, geometrical shapes, and human culture.

Here are a few of our favorites:

This depiction of a underwater scene allows the viewer to see a distinctive emotion present on each seacreatures face. This painting uses characterization and personification to allow the viewer to identify with one or many of the animals.

This M.C. Escheresque work seems to invite the viewer away from the boring stairwell of reality, and beckons him to climb a new staircase leading into the unknown. The painting seems to look like it is breaking into reality helping to create the illusion.

This 90's post modernism depiction of colors and shapes dominates the art scene in the library. Almost every other painting seems to be some kind of variation on the same concept.

Opening Day

2007-04-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

To help maintain the illusion of punctuality, I'm using my secret GodMode blog skillz to retroactively post these. AKA changing the date.

Hmm... spinoffs?...

2007-03-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

OK Say for one second that there's this off the air T.V. show, and you've maybe been watching old episodes of it online before going to bed at night. Let's just say it's M*A*S*H. Theoretically. So which is worse? The sting of disappointment when suddenly realizing there are no more episodes you haven't seen? Or when that disappointment turns to a sour concern about your having watched so much M*A*S*H, that there isn't even anymore left?

Why I will never again play the NCAA football game

2007-03-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

My friend and roommate Sam and I have dedicated hours per day on the college football video game NCAA. It all started out fine, we would select different teams and usually the outcome of the game was based on which team was better. Everything changed when I came across the digital West Virginia Mountaineers.

If you've ever played NCAA, and ever plan on competing with a friend or enemy, I recommend using the #9 ranked WVM's. Once I started playing with the team, I never lost, literally, for about 10-15 games in a row. My opponent tried everything, #2 ranked and ridiculously suped-up Notre Dame, #1 ranked Texas, #3 ranked Southern California, nothing could top the unstoppable machine that was the West Virginia offense. He even tried creating multiple teams where every player was maxed out in skills, size, speed and every other positive 's' word one could think of (which would be beneficial on a football field.)

Eventually Sam figured out what needed to be done. After a frustrating 15 losses in a row the hammer and nail rivalry was turned when, to my surprise, he selected West Virginia to combat my usual identical team.

Finally I lost. But turned around next game and kicked his ass. This is when things got sort of very competitive.

We both discovered that in order to actually be able to defeat the other, we would need to be West Virginia that much was obvious.

The search for the slightest of advantages began. Sam began employing a literally unstoppable version of the triple option for almost every play. Forced into a corner, I developed a Bill Belichick style 3-4 defense jam packed with deceptive movement before the snap, complicated blitz schemes, Defense end/safety spy routes, defensive hot routes, pre-snap jumps, and every flashy move the game offered.

But it was to no avail, Sam controlled a pixelated football God. The West Virginia quarterback mixed fleet feet of Michael Vick, the arm of Donovon Mcnabb, and the heart accuracy poise and clutchness of the great Tom Brady. He too would probably impregnate the worlds hottest women left and right.

He was by far the greatest digital football player outside of Tecmo-Bo.

One afternoon, with sweaty hands and controllers, West Virginia stepped onto the grid iron to face West Virginia in a more-stressful-than-it-should-be battle. Nobody knew it would be the last time.

Both teams executed their gameplan with literally flawlessly. Sam operating on the ground, relying on the option and #5's size and speed, and myself through the air, relying on accuracy and timing. Our offensive skills had developed to the point where the question of scoring dissolved, and became replaced with the notion that "whoever gets the ball and doesn't score is going to lose the game."

15 grueling minutes later, the score was 146-154.

With the ball on the 20 yard line and 2 seconds left to play I easily completed the 80 yard pass for the touchdown, but had to succeed in a 2 point conversion in order to tie the game. I decided to go with a tight end crossing route and hope that someone got open, knowing my opponent would be blitzing with everyone but his corners. As the snap came to my QB the pressure proved too much, plowing through my tired O-line. In a last ditch effort I threw to a random receiver as my quarterback was being tackled to the ground. The ball soared into the endzone toward my tightly covered tight end's hands and....

It all stopped.

The screen became distorted and horrible, irritating sounds blared from the surround sound speakers.

The X-Box had frozen.

As the coaches of both teams sat on their respective sides of the couch, clutching their controllers with white knuckles, it dawned on me.

This was not a twist of fate. We had developed our own video game hubris. The pursuit of one upping the other had hideously morphed into a futile pursuit of perfection and Nemesis had appeared at the perfect moment to show us our fallacy.

Although I should mention that my opponent disagrees, believing that since the game froze while he has a higher score, he is the winner. I argued that Nemesis' works in mysterious ways, and we could never, ever possibly know whether the pass would have been complete or incomplete and what would have happened from there. We are both the winner and we are both the loser. (And was happy that I finally had a real life application to Schrodinger's Impossibility Cat)

Either way, I promptly and permanently retired from NCAA '06 football to avoid further confrontations with the Greek Goddess of divine retribution. Not because the pass was going to be incomplete.

I feel like my intellect has been raped

2007-03-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking. I really like that show South Park. I liked the dirty jokes etc. But mostly I liked it for its Shakespearian qualities. Yes I just compared Casa Bonita to Merchent in Venice, bear with me.

As we all know, Shakespeare would write plays for many different audiences. He included lots of sex and violence for one audience, love stories for another, references to his older works and ways of tying together an overall message for another. I used to consider myself an avid fan of South Park for different reasons than most people. I liked South Park for the sublties, and this made me feel smart. However, I just realized that Comedy Central hired Matt Stone and Trey Parker with the distinct intention of not only attracting males between the ages of 14-30 who like to laugh at fart jokes, but also those of us who like to laugh at fart jokes commenting on the ridiculousness of Waco Texas and feeling smart for understanding the reference. Family Guy tried to copy this for a little while by sprinkling in Voltaire quotes and references to historical figures that we all remember from high school classes but think that others don't. Like Ponce de Leon, or Cortez, but South Park has this down to a science.

So good job South Park, it took me until this long to realize that your entire purpose is to try to be "cool" on as many different levels as possible.

And I continue my realization that art for the sake of art does not, and will never again exist.

BREAKING NEWS: ANNA NICOLE MAKES ME SICK

2007-03-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking about what this class' meaning, and thinking about what Name's Are Hard to Pick, author of Argumentum Ad Insaniam and probably the only person who has been to this blog said about bringing webtraffic to my site.

In general, people want controversy and radical opinions in order to watch or read something for more than 5 minutes. As a result, the industry that used to be journalism relies on shock value and gossip in order to stay above water and turn a profit.

CNN'/FOX News coverage of Anna Nicole has been nothing short of sickening, and the entire ordeal is making me question the merit of being a journalist in today's market. Once upon a time modern journalism entailed working diligently to bring the truth to the people who hungered for it. Walter Kronkite earned his label of the most trusted man in America because he acted as the voicepiece of what was important. The selling out of our parent generation hs changed the meaning of what being a good journalist is. A good journalist is no longer someone who disregards their own personal comfort and safety to shed light on a story that people need to know. A good journalist is now whomever can deliver the sexy story fastest, and reap the benefits; advertisement dollars from pharmacutical companies, car companies, and whomever else can afford a thrty second time slot.

Some marketing team discovered the perfect recipe for getting Americans to stay in their seats and think what they are watching is important while Peter Jennings spews sensationalism garbage. Everything reported on the news today can be catagorized into two groups, Gossip or Fear. Whether we be hearing about killer bees, Laci Peterson, sars, Anna Nicole, anthrax, Britney Spears, black people, Jean Benet, bird flu, poisoned halloween candy. None of these things are a threat, and none of these people merit newsworthiness. Even weather is hyped up to scare you. When was the last time the snow even approached the reported devestating levels that the "meteorologists" are reporting.

Next time you are watching the news, whether it be local news or national, think about what you are watching and why it is being presented to you. Do you really need to know about what you're hearing, or is it all about money?

PETA, where people make public statements like "Your Mommy is a Murderer" and "AIDS is an easy disease to avoid."

2007-02-28T06:19:00.000-08:00

I like animals. I don't particularly love them, but I normally have no problem with animal rights activists. If that's what you believe in, great. Then there's PETA.

PETA has done some good work, I'll get that out right off the bat. They changed living conditions for animals being tested upon, I agree with their approval with animal euthanasia, they even improved conditions for low-end Mcdonalds workers. But the ad campaigns have got to stop.

You see, PETA's tactic to getting itself into everyone's head is implementing overly dramtic and offensive ad campaigns. People talk about the ad campaigns and therefore are talking about PETA itself. No news is bad news I guess.

As I mentioned in the last post, PETA caught my attention when, in 2003, PETA started the "Holocaust on your Plate" campaign. Juxtaposing pictures of holocaust victims with pictures of roast chicken, PETA showered the world with the disgusting message that "like the Jews murdered in concentration camps, animals are terrorized when they are housed in huge filthy warehouses and rounded up for shipment to slaughter. The leather sofa and handbag are the moral equivalent of the lampshades made from the skins of people killed in the death camps"

Another tactic they use is the tried and true "Sex sells." PETA makes a point of objectifying women in order to get their message into the public eye. The "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign featured nude models who were all supposedly PETA associated. "Lettuce Ladies" went along the same line.

Objectivity is not the only fashion that PETA takes animals over people however. PETA caught some flack from some of its own members with their strong campaign against using animals in the effort to find a cure for the new black plague.

PETA vice-president Dan Mathews announced publically that: "AIDS is an easy disease to avoid, but our government squanders millions on duplicative animal tests." President Ingrid Newkirk made a statement that "Even if animal testing of one animal could provide a cure for AIDS, PETA would still be against it."

That's pretty F'ed up.

That's not even the best one, though. PETA started an ad campaign geared toward school children entitled "Mommy is a murderer." PETA representative handed out pamphlets outside schools to children after classes got out. The pamphlets depicted mothers and father smiling while gutting sheep, rabbits and other animals in graphic fashion. The pamphleelementaryt read "Since your daddy is teaching you the wrong lessons about right and wrong, you should teach him fishing is killing. Until your daddy learns it's not fun to kill, keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals, they could be next." Poor kids. PETA's campaign should have been "Your Mommy is Going to Pay $1000's for your Therapy."

PETA's shock effect campaigns need to end. Not only are they frankly disturbing, the minimilize the importance of human life by likening it to the life of rabbits or insects.

And this isn't even touching upon PETA's funding of the Animal Liberation Front, deemed a terrorist group by Homeland security in 2005.

File under: Giving the people what they want

2007-02-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

OK, so in an effort to try to up the talk surrounding my blog, and in response to the ridiculous national coverage to Anna Nicole, here is a story involving another woman who is famous because people want to have sex with her.

Pamela Anderson, credited with started the practically religiously believed in "Ugg" boot movement among trendy women worldwide... Didn't realize they were made of sheepskin.

"People like to tell me all the time that I started that trend – yikes!" Anderson wrote on her blog. "I used to wear them with my red swimsuit to keep warm, never realising they were skin. Well, let's start a new trend. Do NOT buy uggs! Buy Stella McCartney or Juicy boots."

The Baywatch Babe has been a publi spokesperson of the animal rights group PETA for ten years. PETA has a long string of embarassing public moments, while this one is not as severe as the "holocaust on your plate" ad campaign where they compared KFC chickens to the six million jews murdered during the holocaust, but still an embarassing moment nonetheless.

"It's not a revelation she has just had," vice-President Dan Matthews told The Daily Telegraph. "We discussed it with her a few years ago and that was when she stopped wearing them. he reason she is writing about it on her website now is because she has just moved house and she found them in the garage."

That's not what Pamela says, but sure, whatever.

Hopefully news about the blonde and braindead turns into website traffic. Enjoy.

#24 Allusions and Tangents

2007-02-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

When you wish upon a car

Bill:
So this is behoah your day, but there was this show back in the 60s called "My Mothah the Cah" …

Doug:
Yeah, I think I've seen that on TV Land once. It's awful.

Bill:
Well, evidently Manny saw it, too.

Doug:
Hey, since it's all the rage to remake old TV shows, they should so bring that show back starring Manny and his mom as the cah.

Bill:
You know, I actually think it's a good thing in the long run that Manny is always Being Manny.

Doug:
How's that?

Bill:
Think about it, all of his shenanigans act as chum in the watah for the media shahks.

Bill:
All the Shaughnessys and Callahans et al get to circle round and round getting a taste of blood and writing their various diatribes about how offensive Manny is …

Doug:
And meanwhile the rest of team is completely left alone.

Bill:
Exactly. Who knows what othah crap the media would churn up if they weren't always distracted with anothah Mannyism?

I loved this post. After Manny had said his mother was sick, and ended up at a car show during spring training, Soxaholix pointed out the similarities between this and the old tv show "My Mother the Car." This to me was the funniest connection I had seen in about a week and instantly I had a joke to show my friends from back home over the 'net. I also agree with the ridiculous treatment of Manny by the media. I understand it must be frustrating for a player to get a get out of jail free card with the fans, but to me it's not just the hitting that does it. Last time I was at fenway I made a point to just watch Manny the entire game, it was a remarkably entertaining experience (the Sox were blowing out the Angels after scoring 8 runs in the first two innings, and then not scoring any more the rest of the game, so this gave me something fun to do.) After explaining what I was doing to my friend Gendall, I had an elderly woman in front of me and a young Domincan family next to me try the same thing, with fantastic results. This is why the fans love Manny. With all the personality, I propose that NESN set up a sister channel which keeps the camera's on Manny the entire game, look at the demographics I had going at the game! If the Sox ever traded this guy it would be detrimental to the entire franchise for countless reasons.

BDD

2007-02-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to be tracking Bostondirtdogs.com on a daily basis starting today. I planned on tracking soxaholix.com but I decided that the admin of the site seemed too arrogant for my tastes. Besides who can resist the clever BDD headlines. BDD has two updates today, one comesirating the recent passing of Celtics great Dennis Johnson (probably the most underrated Celtic of all time, love watching ESPN Classic games and seeing him trap opponents into dribbling on a deadspot on the old Garden floor, and then stealing the ball when it is not bouncing the way the opponent expects. Very creative way to make a homecourt advantage.) As well as a feature on Varitek not being dismissive on the MR24 attending a classic car expo. If the captain is concerned, maybe this issue shouldn't be taken as lightly as I had felt yesterday. 'Tek and I will wait to see what happens.

One of my favorite features is the News on the Web box located on the left. The "Nation on the Net" box updates with stories from players interesting to Red Sox Nation. The feed gives a mini story complete with quotes and links to articles. I wonder if that is updated manually or automatically... I'll keep an eye out and see if it updates before the site updates on monday.

Matsuzarketing

2007-02-22T17:10:00.000-08:00

Well, do ya?

Doug:
So let me get this straight … We are told Lowell Spinnahss have "developed a well-deserved reputation for being mastahs of novel promotions" and then we learn their "mastah" plan for Matsuzaka promo is to give away … Dice-K Fuzzy Dice?

Doug:
Fuzzy Dice? Fuzzy Dice fercrissakes? How frickin' ingenious.

Doug:
I mean the dude who thought that up should probably go on American Idol because he or she most likely is also blessed with a really great voice in addition to such unparalleled marketing savvy.

Mike:
OK, Simon Cowell, let's hear what you'd have done for a Matsuzaka promo in your hometown.

Doug:
Off the top of my head? How 'bout Mini Gyroscope Night?

Doug:
Or if you really want to push the envelope a bit, how 'bout a giveaway of the mini version of the Japanese Sushi Pillow?

Mike:
Dude, isn't that like, ah, stereotyping?

Doug:
What? Why? Don't the Japanese love sushi?

Doug:
Besides, it's impossible when standing outside of a culture not to make generalizations about it.

Doug:
I mean just look at how the Japanese portray New England. Check out that old lady sitting on the front porch. Is that a stereotype or what?

Mike:
True, the highly ornamental Queen Anne Style house is all wrong. A less ornate Shingle Style is the more the norm in these pahts.

Doug:
Screw that even. If you really want to capchah the flavah of New England you put the ol' lady in front of a triple deckah wearing a nightie.

Mike:
Yeah, then you put a dialog bubble over her head saying "How why ya?"

Doug:
Absolutely. Then a few pages in under the chaptah headed "Avoiding Trouble" you show the same lady with a half dozen empty 'Gansetts at her feet and the voice bubble saying, "What you frickin lookin' at you quayuh? You wanna have a go?"

Author's Notes
No, "Lostaholix" today as I found last night's episode so good, I couldn't get a good sarcastic character dialog going to discuss it.

OK, another great example of a Matsuzakamania. This reminds me of the Japanese Dunkin Donuts sign. This strip notes all of the Matsuzaka marketing running rampant in Boston. It also portrays the sudden link between Boston and Japan. I heard that the morning rush traffic is significantly thin in Tokyo during Daisuke's starts. This is another example of of sports transcending into our culture. I've probably learned more about Japanese popular culture in the past two monthes than I had ever known. I've also learned more about headbands, fuzzy dice, japanese-english reference cards and other ridiculous items.

This strip also introduces a new character for us, Doug. As you can probably tell Doug is sort of the asshole of the group. As a Sox fan he is the ultimate fairweather guy. You know they type. Doug envisions himself as being the boss at some point though his coworkers think he's just annoying.

MM Needs to Relax about MR24

2007-02-22T14:00:00.001-08:00

Today’s stories out of Fort Meyers brought some potentially disconcerting news to Red Sox fans with negative news regarding two of the team’s biggest stars. Curt Schilling, who set today as the deadline for his contract negotiations, was not signed by the Boston team. The other not good but not surprising story reports that Manny Ramirez, who told a teammate he would be tending to his sick mother until March 1^st, allegedly told a friend he would meet up in Atlantic City for a classic cars exposition. The most interesting thing about these stories, from a convergence journalism standpoint is not the content, but rather the reaction. While neither are heart warming stories, neither are a big deal. There seems to be a trend with differing responses coming from fans versus the mass media. While the baseball news starved mainstream news outlets are proclaiming this the biggest Red Sox disaster since falling into 3^rd place behind the Blue Jays, the fan response seems to indicate that this is not a big deal.

ESPN.COM’s top two MLB headlines are currently “Bye-bye Boston? Schilling says he'll file for free agency” and “Absent Manny agreed to appear at car auction Saturday.”

Baseballmusing’s author Dave Pinto, a respected figure in the baseball blogosphere decides, “It's absolutely the right decision here. There's no way of knowing how much Schilling has in the tank at this point. If he pitches well, he'll do a lot better than he'd get in an extension.” And doesn’t even warrant the Manny Ramirez issue a newsworthy story, instead ranting about My Mother the Car an old sitcom which has been popping up as a sardonic response to the MR24 story.

Sonsofsamhorn.com, considered the hub of intelligent Red Sox banter, also seems relaxed about both pieces of news. The majority of the posts revolve around defending the Red Sox on the Curt Schilling deal, and Manny Ramirez being at a car expo. The opposite of what the Mainstream media is trying to show.

Soxaholix.com, a creative cartoon based Red Sox blog, has noticed this trend as well. " You know, I actually think it's a good thing in the long run that Manny is always Being Manny. Think about it, all of his shenanigans act as chum in the watah for the media shahks. All the Shaughnessys and Callahans et al get to circle round and round getting a taste of blood and writing their various diatribes about how offensive Manny is … And meanwhile the rest of team is completely left alone. Who knows what othah crap the media would churn up if they weren't always distracted with anothah Mannyism?" Soxaholix links to the Boston Herald as another example of MM using negative press to keep reader attention.

Even WEEI seems to be trying to jump on pointing fingers while callers seem to be trying to relax to overzealous hosts.

Boston media in my opinion, has a problem with obsessing over a minute detail, negatively analyzing it in as many ways as possible. This has just been another example of it. Nobody cares that Manny Ramirez is not at spring training yet. Every fan knows that he will have 40HR .300BA 120RBI by the end of the season. Similarly, only ESPN and Boston Globe sponsored bostondirtdogs.com are imagining the scenario of Curt Schilling in a Yankee uniform. The Red Sox would just not allow this to happen.

2007-02-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

It's for real!

Can you tell us, Matsuzaka-san, about the Gyroball?

Matsuzaka press conference over the car radio:
"Hmm. How should I answer that question?"

Matsuzaka presser:
"I knew this question was coming today. And I was preparing some optional answers for this particular question."

Matsuzaka presser:
"Should I say, 'I have that ball'?"

Doug thinking to himself:
!

Matsuzaka presser:
"Or I could say, 'Which particular ball are you referring to?'"

Matsuzaka presser:
"Or 'Which ball are you calling a gyroball?'"

Matsuzaka presser:
"Overall, if I have the chance, I will pitch that ball."

Doug thinking to himself:
How reluctantly
the bee emerges from deep
within the peony.

Just a quick example of how the author of the site will incorporate literary allusions and tie them into the Red Sox Nation's occurences. Millions of people heard this interview over and over. The gyroball was the most exciting thing that had happened up until this point in the season, and this conversation confirmed that he was aware of the pitches existence, it was at least not entirely media hype. However not many fans thought of comparing their pitching prodigy to the bee in Basho's famous Haiku.

2007-02-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

Idolator.com is a weblog based around the happenings in the pop music industry. The website tackles much ado topics such as will TRL be cancelled? Or, Did Trent Reznor release his new single online purposefully or was it really discovered on a USB port in a bathroom in protugal. The site presents information at the same time offers opinions on the information. I personally would not use the website as a news source as it is more like a column trying to pass itself off as an article. The author discusses happenenings in the news from a semi-business perspective and uses his personal opinions as fact.

The site is, however, remarkably entertaining. As long as the reader does not get sucked into the "too-cool-for-school hispter" point of view, the cynical banter and oftentimes very creative subject matter can be an entertaining look at the entertainment industry.

Synopsis: Go for the sake of preventing a "you hadn't heard that yet?" comment from your water cooler rival, stay for the frequent creative posts.

yourhub.com

2007-02-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

YourHub is part local newspaper, part community diary, and part MySpace that currently operates in California, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, New York and southern Oklahoma. Originally created as a way to spread newsworthy information to fellow town/community members, YourHub evolved into another way to express anything you want to put your voice behind, or act as ears to listen.

“YourHub.com is a place where you provide the news that's important to you. You can post as often as you like, and we consider everything you post for publication in our print sections,” Explains Denver Colorado area ‘webhost’ Seth Davis.

“People often are surprised when they find out that they can contribute anything from a story about their daughter's sixth birthday to a letter discussing their city's policies. Well, it's true. You live in your community and are in touch with the goings on there, so you are in a good position to write about it.”

The intent of the website’s creator was to provide a forum for townspeople to communicate with each other. Those posting on the site advertise different events and the sale of items from signed hockey sticks to cocker spaniels. However, the site has evolved into another example of citizen journalism. People in the community pen pieces vaguely resembling newspaper columns and feature stories about issues within the town. One post spoke of the risks of using cow manure as a fertilizer and another posted a game story of the Super Bowl.

Most of the posts on the website are simply human interest pieces discussing trips to foreign countries or something funny – and a little embarrassing – that happened at the neighborhood watering hole. The stories are both heartwarming and interesting providing an outsider who stumbles onto the site with the true pulse and understanding of the particular community.

After visiting the page for Arvada, Colo., I feel like I understand certain current events in the town and have a feel for its residents.

2007-02-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

The Matsuzaka Era Has Begun

Mike:
Gotta love the mania: 70 membahs of the media were present for Matsuzaka's arrival at camp.

Susan/Circle:
Yeah, and I wondah how many of those 70 filed a report suggesting how ridiculous it was that 69 other chumps showed up to covah the non-event?

Mike:
So I was a bit shocked to see that Matsuzaka was sporting a spare Toyo tiah.

Susan/Circle:
Well, you've seen the way he puts down the Asahi Supah "Dry".

Mike:
Maybe Dude-san should give the Supah "Lite" a try?

Susan/Circle:
I dunno. I think it's kind of cute and Ruthian.

Mike:
So his lockah is going to be right next to his fave dude, V-Tek.

Susan/Circle:
Yep, and you know right now Quadzilla is studying the hell out of his learning Japanese phrase book.

Mike:
What do you think the first Japanese words Captain Catcher will learn? "Throw the gyro"? "Keep it low and away on this guy"?

Susan/Circle:
Well, that, and "Surrender to the power of Christ and you shall be saved."

Mike and Circle again. But two important things are going on in this strip.

1. This strip sums up the preseason and even pre spring training buzz surrounding our very own pitching prodigy. In all seriousness, the most exciting thing that happened all season was Matsuzaka appearing in the Asahi commercial. No really. I swear to God I immediatly went out to a Japanese restaurant and ordered and Asahi super dry. After the waitress brought me a Saki I explained to her I wanted an "A SAW HE like Matsuzaka!" and she understood. It was so exciting having this kind of potential on the team. And what made it even more exciting was the way the people who had previously seen him pitch (the Japanese media) reacted to him arriving at Spring training. This was the most exciting part of 2007 that involved the Sox up until this point.

2. HB has a preoccupation with the tendancy of the Red Sox core to be a little Jesus crazyish. Personally this is something that is almost impossible not to notice when Trot or Tek or whomever credits God with htting the game winning HR during a postgame interview, but not something that I really am concerned with. HB however is happy to point out his religiour views at any given time. For example, a few days prior he commented on his own strip with:

Just the usual caveat that any given character speech may or may not reflect my own thoughts on any given issue.

Indeed, in some cases, I may be totally ambivalent and/or agnostic, but if an angle/nuance/theme can move the dialog forward and possibly generate entertainment, I'll go with it regardless of where my own head is at.

Posted by: h.b. at Feb 13, 2007 10:08:04 AM

The site is, of course, HB's and he knows it. As with any website/blog one is showered with constant opinions but this of course is something to like about the site. But we can see that this site is more and more a versatile blog and not so much Red Sox centric. This is something to enjoy.

3. On a side note, the title of this column, and subsequently this post reminded me of my favorite statistic that I've ever heard about Daisuke. Any players born from 1983-1989 are said to have been born in the "Matsuzaka Era." Think about that, let it seep into your brain, the Matsuzaka Era. How many other Era's have there been in recent sports? The Michael Jordan era, the Wayne Gretzky era, the Bill Russel Era. This is the most telling stat I've heard about the guy thus far and I love it.

2007-02-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Truck Day 2007!

With sincere apology to John Keats, The Soxaholix present "Ode to a Truck" …

Our hearts ache, and a drowsy numbness pains
Our sense, as though of Asahi we had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Charles-wards had sunk:
'Tis with awareness of thy precious load,
And being too happy in thine presentness,
That thou, eighteen-wheeled hauler of dreams,
Along the deep southbound road,
Asphalt paved and driver slumberless,
Singest of summer with diesel-rumbled ease.

Well put HB. I love truck day. None of my friends do they think the fascination is stupid but none of them have that same play wiffle ball outside for 7 hours in a row baseball love like I still do. I mean I'll sit down and try and memorize stats. I'm basically lke a six year old at this point inthe season.

This give me an opportunity to introduce some of the more important characters in the strip. These character's don't have pictures or word bubbles, they do however make appearances on other websites such as baseballmusings.com or sons of sam horn (sosh.com.) I'm refering to, of course, the lowliest of the low, the commentors.

As I mentioned, this strip gives me a chance to introduce the characters of the site. I'm not talking about those who will see something they are interested in and post a formative opinion. I'm talking about the ones who post every single day regardless of content. Today's minipost had 13 comments from 13 faithful soxaholix.

Hoo-RAH!

Thanks h.b. (no t-shirts this year?)

Let the games begin.

Since I lack h.b.'s erudition, here is my own modest effort.

There once was a gent from Japan,
Who made baseballs fly out of his hand,
He pimped Asahai Beer
And made perfectly clear
That Theo is really the man.

Posted by: louclinton at Feb 12, 2007 9:42:06 AM

This is LC. He comments several times a day and believes he is friends with the website's creator. He is not. Notice the posting time of the comment. 9:4206. The site was updated at 9:40. This indicates he was sitting at his computer pressing F5 until something new appeared. Also he only goes by the pseudonym "LC" because of the similar "HB." Another thing to notice is that his own little rendition of HB's ballad. This addition/confirmation of HB's post/idea is a common LC theme. I can't get enough of this guy.

LC is promptly followed by two folks who don't suffer from mom's-basement-syndrome quite as badly as he does, but still have their own issues.

Congrats, h.b. -- this time you get props from Eric Wilbur. Yeah, not quite the W.S.J., but he does have a link to cafepress, which is more than what you got from Stefan Fatsis.

Posted by: miketc at Feb 12, 2007 12:10:06 PM

If you missed it, the Sunday NYT had an article on Matsuzaka. It was about a 17 inning, 250 pitch game he threw as a 17 year old. George Vecsey also had a nice piece on Mo Vaughn and his activities as a real estate developer.

Posted by: yazbread at Feb 12, 2007 12:55:01 PM

Two more great example posts from two more daily posters. The first is a reference to HB's write up from the Wall Street Journal and a congratulations to HB who I'm sure enjoys the undulation. The second from my favorite poster yazbread is a link to an article from the NYT. Soxaholix comment threads a a superb source of Sox info as the day progresses. HB only posts around 9:30 am everyday the website would not breath information in and out in such a way without the comment threads.

Blog

2007-02-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

Trudging through news of Anna Nicole Smith's death, I will now discuss the definition of blog. A blog, IMO, is a website usually focusing on a specific subject, where a blogger can write news/opinion in the style of a journal.

Evolution Revolution

2007-02-08T13:12:00.001-08:00

The change brought about by the emergence of vast citizen media does in fact change the world of journalism and the world in general, by providing a feasible means of checks and balances. For the first time, journalism as a whole can be held accountable for all of the information it passes along to the people. Public outcry for sensationalist, biased, or even incorrect information can be heard seen and read throughout the blogosphere when mistakes are made.

For example, in the early days of citizen media, 60 Minutes ran a story presenting what the producers believed to be factual information (documents containing a less than stellar record of George W.’s time serving the Texas National Guard) but actually was forged. The negative response to the piece resonated through the blogosphere. Skeptics spoke freely and were able to discuss their dubiousness in a community of peers. Finally, evidence arose out of a blogger disproving the documents’ claims.

Never before has this been a possibility. Citizen journalism creates an ambience of pressure on journalists to do their homework, be fair, and truthful.

Another balance citizen media can provide is the possibility to expose the people to news which the mass media does not want the people to see. For example, pictures of the lives of the people and soldiers living in Baghdad, Iraq can be found by perusing blogs, something that is impossible to otherwise.

Mass media must, however, also provide checks on the blogosphere as a whole. Blogs can be easily tainted with incorrect and sensationalized information more so than the mass media. Bloggers with insidious agendas are able to present misinformation to a overanxious audience. Informed citizens must now look to both the mass media and to the blogosphere in order to help determine what is truth and what is not.

The Talented Mr. Mooninite, and Another Good Case for Waiting Until May 8th To Post in My Blog

2007-02-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

I'll start with the first post I read way back in February. I remember it clearly. Good town of Boston had just been painted red. Except this red wasn't caused by a great night of dancing at the Middle East, or even a healthy car bomb glow from the Black Rose. This was more of a rouge-ish red, deriving from a city coming off a brush with 6 o'clock news. Brought about by invasion of the not-so-deadly Moononites.

Here is the context of the post, without pictures as I already explained about the use of nonimage imbedded HTML text.

Feb. 1st

"Susan/Circle

So our fair city's reputation as a bastion of intelligence has taken quite a hit.

Mike:
Yes, but our reputation as a cathartic, the sky is falling, waiting for the other shoe to drop, panic-stricken people remains quite firmly intact.

Susan/Circle:
So I guess by now everybody knows about the Mooninites from the innah core of the moon.

Mike:
As they should for their race is hundreds of years beyond ours.

Susan/Circle:
Indeed, some would say that the Earth is their moon.

Mike:
But, of course, that would belittle the name of their moon, which is: The Moon.

Susan/Circle:
Meanwhile, the Yankees are going full bore into China to evangelize their brand and look for future talent.

Mike:
And not to be outdone, the Red Sox are hoping to increase their revenue stream by going into, er, NASCAR.

Susan/Circle:
Yeah, let me see if I can get this straight. The Yankees are taking their pinstripes to the world's lahgest country, the fastest growing economy, and the planet's other Supahpowah, while the Red Sox are going into the foreign land that gave us fried Coke and two terms of George W Bush.

Mike:
Way to go Red Sox! W00T. You go John Henry and Lucky, you keep on, keep on out smarting them Yankees.

Susan/Circle:
Hey, it's not all bad. At least Matsuzaka has found the vegetables and fish in the United States much bettah than he could have hoped for.

Mike:
I guess Matsuzaka has been so busy throwing the gyroball that he never noticed his homeland is a small, overcrowded island without an agrarian sector and, as a result, imports nearly all of its vegetables from the United States.

Susan/Circle:
Yeah, well, since at any given time over half the Red Sox playahs are engaged in a one-way, personal conversation with their magical best friend Jesus, I'm willing to cut Matsuzaka some slack for being naive to the import/export particulars of the global market economy.

Mike:
Amen to that."

I'm glad we are starting with this post. This offers some insight into the website before spring training even begins. Although the Sox take a priority, Soxaholix does not limit istelf to the affairs of the boys of summer. HB broadens his repetoire through his characters to include most Boston centric matters. Later on we will also see that issues involving the internet (as HB is not only a sox fan, a Bostonian, an American, but also a blogger like you and me) are on the docket as well. Speaking of characters this post offers some insight to some of HB's creations.

This points out a great example of why my decision not to post as I go, but rather go back an dretroactively post is a smart, saavy one. I would not have been able to comment on the characters if I was only just getting to know them. Now I can introduce them to my audience and explain them as I have become accustomed and aware of their personalities. See, this was all planned out from the beginning, there's no real reason to dock any points. Seriously.

Mike is prototypical negative Bostonite/Sahx fan. He is well read and educated, and thus a strong critic of the Boston media and their coverage of the team he grew up watching in Dorchester. Mike keeps a blog of his own, though I am still searching for the URL.

Circle is the hottest character as far as immobile 2D cartoon characters go. She is creative, and the least negative of the group. She also acknowledges her position of the office alpha female. I've never seen her in a strip talking to another woman. I've also never seen any of these character's speaking to eachother without the assistance of some telecommunicative device. But I suppose that's just because you can't fit more than one character in a space allotted.

This strip not only gives us the main news story of the day, links us to several places, but even gives the usually weekly nonnews that I can't live without during the offseason. Where John Henry and Steinbrenner go to try to make more money is not a concern to me at all. But during the offseason, especially around early February when all the trades have been made and Spring Training has yet to even take shape this news is what I live for.

Scott Brodeur is...

2007-02-01T13:05:00.002-08:00

Scott Brodeur is currently the Managing Editor for the website Advance Internet. He is the founding Editor-In-Chief for MassLive.com and was a member of the team that launched NJ.com in 1996. According to his blog, "He has written about music, sports and popular culture for various newspapers and magazines, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Details, The Source, Billboard, No Depression, Paste and Guitar World." Scott Brodeur is currently teaching a Convergence Journalism course for which this blog post is written. Brodeur "ha[s] students explore Weblogs and their relationship with journalism." He seems to be a fan of the Philidelphia Flyers, perhaps based on Martin Brodeur, the hall-of-fame goalie whose surname he shares.
According to Jennifer Boyle, Scott Brodeur "can be funny and cool." Also, he is "the godfather of Western Mass blogging" and that " Someday, after Scott is dead, the next generation of bloggers will hold memorial 5Ks and all ages punk rock shows at Flywheel to raise money for scholarships for promising high school bloggers. Perhaps they will bolt a brass plate engraved with his name into his favorite table at Woodstar." She also feels Brodeur is 'smart. '
"He teaches at a university and has a large vocabulary." Boyle gushes.
She believes Scott Brodeur is "an attractive man."
"He seems to be well groomed when I encounter him, even though he has usually had several beers."
She goes on to mention, however, that her fiance, Hammer, is more attractive.

2007-02-01T13:05:00.001-08:00

As I have been instructed to explain, this blog is in part for a class on Convergence Journalism.