Andy Boyer

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Why I Joined the “I Hate the Oklahoma City Thunder” Facebook Group

November 11, 2008 /

If you read this blog, you know this space is all for positive thoughts.  Warm, happy musings and expressions (well, most of the time.)

So, why would I join a hate group, which is what “I Hate the Oklahoma City Thunder” Facebook Group essentially is.  I mean, it’s in the title for crimminy’s sake.  I certainly don’t hate all the players on the Thunder.  I even like some of them.  I have simply chosen to ignore the NBA until the wounds heal.

But, there’s a challenge here.  The Facebook group, “1,000,000 Ok City Thunder Fans” has about 1,300 fans.  The “I Hate the Oklahoma City Thunder” has about 360.  It would be great if more people were in the group that hated the Thunder, not for personal reasons, but for what it represents – a team ripped from a solid fan base.

So join the group.  Why not?

Follow Conversations About Anything, with Monitter

November 10, 2008 /

Ok, so here’s a little Web site that could probably get addicting if you got good at it and could figure out what it’s most useful for.

Monitter goes out and collects Twitter “tweets” from around the Twitter-sphere and brings them to you.  You choose 3 topics that interest you, and Monitter brings you a steady stream of all the tweets in some time period that include those terms.  (If you don’t know what Twitter is, please go directly to Wikipedia or Google “Twitter” and read up on it.) You can also target by geographic area, so you only receive tweets from people who live close to you.

What’s the purpose?  I have no idea.  But it’s free, and you can use it find random information about stuff you may be interested in.  And if you figure out a “killer app” for it, let me know.



President-Elect Obama’s Online Ad Budget

November 7, 2008 /

ClickZ has a report that details President-Elect Obama’s online ad buy.  The article has more insights about the $8 million online media plan, but here is a condensed list of who received a little change:

  • Google: $3.5 million
  • Yahoo: $673,000
  • Centro, a local media buying firm for local TV and newspaper site buys: $630,000
  • Ad networks:  $600,000 (including AOL’s Advertising.com, Collective Media, Undertone Networks, Burst Media, Quigo, DrivePM, Pulse360, Specific Media, and online video networks Broadband Enterprises and Tremor Media)
  • Facebook: $467,000 ($370,000 in September) 
  • Time Warner (most likely CNN.com): $337,000
  • Microsoft (MSN Search): $250,000
  • Politico: $146,000 
  • BET.com: $138,000
  • The Weather Channel Interactive (geo-targeting): $108,000 
  • Cox, which offers digital local media: $100,000
  • WashingtonPost.com: $100,000.
  • Community Connect, publisher of BlackPlanet.com: $61,000
  • Microsoft-owned in-game ad network Massive: $44,465 
  • NBA.com: $21,000 (all in September)
  • MySpace: $11,500:

 

 

Remembering The Tuba Man

November 6, 2008 /

To answer a question many Seattle fans have asked lately, “Yes, apparently it can get worse.”

Losing a lot of games is one thing.  But the inexplicable murder of a Seattle sports icon is just downright nauseating.

He was’t an athlete, owner or executive.  He never threw a picth or wrote a scathing article.  But chances are high that if you attended a Seattle sporting event, you passed Edward McMichael – though you only knew him as, “The Tuba Man.”

He was a harmless street musician who sat outside stadiums and played a rusty tuba.  You didn’t know he was a classically trained musician.  Sometimes you threw him a quarter, sometimes you didn’t, but you always noticed him.   But unlike some of the unsavory characters walking around that area, he was not someone you ever feared.  Instead, the people you usually do fear, packs of street thugs wandering aimlessly through the night, proved why you should stay frightened.

According to reports, 5 people described as “gang members” attacked the Tuba Man for no reason at about midnight on Oct 25..  They beat him mercilessly, and he died about a week later.  Speculation is that they did it to take whatever change he had in his tuba case. 

It’s senseless.  Horrific.  It makes me sick.  No one took the Tuba Man to another town, and he wasn’t arrested and sent to Walla Walla.  Stupid little punks beat him to death.  They’ve caught two of them, but three are still at large. 

There’s talk on some comment boards about erecting a statue of a Tuba in front of one of the stadiums.  I think it’s a fabulous idea.  I’ll donate.  

I never formally met the Tuba Man.  But it makes me sad that one more piece of Seattle history and tradition has suddenly disappeared.

Added Notes:

The PI reports that Ian Newhall and his wife, Ailisa, set up a Web site Tuesday to announce a brass memorial for McMichael.  It will be held outside McCaw Hall at 11 a.m. Saturday. The repertoire: Taps, Tequila and the University of Washington Fight Song.  

There is also a Memorial fund to help cover teh costs of the funeral.  If you want to help, you can visit any Bank of America branch, Box said, or send donations to:

Edward the Tuba Man McMichael Memorial Fund 
P.O. Box 4985 
Federal Way 98063

Insult to Injury

November 1, 2008 /

I’m not telling anyone anything they don’t already know about Seattle Sports 2008.

  • One of worst teams in the NBA….
  • ….which then gets stolen by Oklahoma City guys. 
  • 2nd worst team in baseball……
  • ….featuring the worst trade in Major League Baseball in the last 10 years (The Seattle farm system for a guy who only wants to picth 80 pitches a game, for 3 months a season.)
  • A 1-7 WSU football team.
  • An 0-7 UW football team.
  • A 2-5 Seahawks team…..
  • ….where the first 7 receivers on the Seattle depth chart were on the injured list at the same time.
  • ….where An All-Pro QB has a back injury that affects his leg strength

You might think, “Well, that certainly couldn’t get worse.”  And a little insult gets thrown on for flavor.

1) The GM who the Mariners couldn’t get along with, wins teh World Series with the Phillies, thanks in part to a 45 year old pitcher that the Mariners didn’t think could compete as well as guys like, well, it’s just too depressing to name names.

2) This weekend the Huskies, Cougars and Seahawks are getting 83 and a half points.  EIGTHY-THREE AND A HALF.  Huskies are getting 46 1/2, Cougars 30, and Hawks 7.  

Let the pain end….

 

Conversations from years past

October 27, 2008 /

I was down Tucson this weekend, where old storytelling and reminiscing eventually led to amazement about everthing that has changed in the last 8-10 years.  In fact, it lead a few folks to put this list together, and I’m sure it’s incomplete.  

But on October 26 2000, if someone had shown you a newspaper for October 26, 2008, would you believe any of this could really happen?

  • US engaged in year 6 of a land war in Afghanistan
  • US engaged in year 6 of a land war in Iraq
  • Tampa Bay in the World Series
  • UW and WSU combined 1-14 record
  • The Sonics play in Oklahoma City
  • The US government pays $750+ Billion to US financial institutions – with Bear Stearns, AIG and WaMu basically out of business 
  • Gas at $3.09 a gallon – and that’s 30% CHEAPER than it was 6 months ago
  • 45 year old Jamie Moyer pitches game 4 of the World Series, while Freddy Garcia, Ryan Andersen and the rest of the “untouchable” Mariners minor league pitchers are out of baseball.
  • An unknown African American Illinois state senator is going to be elected President
  • The US President, Senate and House are all about to be a Democratic supermajority

 

Comparing the World Series to the US Presidential Election

October 23, 2008 /

I’m sad to say, I have no allegiance to either team in the World Series this year.  Which really kind of stinks, since I am desperate for something to root for.  (BTW, thank you Arizona Wildcats for pulling together a respectable football season and keeping me from sports harakare.)

So here I am, trying to decide who to support.  I mean, it’s 7 stupid games.  It shouldn’t be that hard to pick a team.  And through my logical analysis and emotional introspection I’ve used to try to pick a team, it suddenly dawned on me that this World Series is a microcosm of the US Presidential election.

Let’s look at the Phillies.  They have been a part of Major League Baseball forever, but yet have never quite been a team that everyone likes – or hates.  They aren’t the Cubs, Yankees or Red Sox, even though they’ve been around just as long.  They have produced some great players (Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa, Tug McGraw), but also have some “not so special moments” (like Pete Rose crushing Ray Fosse in an All-Star game.)  And even when doing well, they’ve managed to annoy the press (Steve Carlton).  Basically, they’ve been around forever, and have gone through both good and bad years.  A few years ago, it looked like they had the big prize won, but then suffered an unexpected defeat to a team who ultimatley proved to not be worth supporting (Blue Jays).  Now they have a new squad with new people (Howard, Utley, Rollins, Hamill) but are still perceived as that “old” franchise with the ornery fans.

Now let’s examine the Rays.  On paper, this franchise is way too young to garner baseball’s greatest prize.  I mean, it’s quite an achievement for them to even make it to the final two, but can someone show me anything they’ve accomplished before 2008?  I know they had a lot of draft picks and a few experienced advisors, but until this year, these guys were simply idealists with a dream, and where heaven only lived on a whiteboard.  They have no real history, save for a few veterans who have never achieved any similar level of success anywhere else.  And yet, now Tampa Bay has die-hard, almost obsessive, fans who will shave their head and other body parts to support their team.  Every young fan – plus old fans who love a fairy tale story about achieving greatness in record time – has become a loud, proud Rays fan.

Now let’s look at how they got here.  While the Phillies breezed through their National League Primary, I mean Playoff, the Rays had to go to the late innings of Game 7, going toe to toe with an experienced, veteran, old school franchise that simply wouldn’t go away, even though it was apparent that they wouldn’t win.  In fact, the Rays had a chance to knock the Red Sox out in Game 5 – up 7-0 in the 7th – but then inexplicably the Red Sox had one huge run, and managed to make life complicated for everyone involved, until finally succumbing. 

So what do you think?  Who do you vote/root for this World Series….

5 Tips for Pitch Decks

October 22, 2008 /

I’ve started reading the Seattle 2.0 blog a little more regularly, especially now that people that I know and am friends with seem to be writing the bylines on a fairly regular basis.  

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to add the site to my blogroll for a while.  And this article written by the Alliance of Angels’ Rebecca Lovell is a good reason to send people over to check out the site.   Let me know if you disagree with any of Rebecca’s points.  

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