Just when you thought you could escape for the weekend without some tidbits, they strike back! Here are a few tidbits while you decide what to get your mother:
Make sure you take care of your mother this year, because if you do not, you’ll kick yourself.
May 9th, 2008 at 03:36pm
derrick eckardt
Maybe I’m just in a playful mood this week, or just the excitement about my trip to New York City this weekend, but I just thought you would enjoy another off-topic video. Why would you enjoy it? Frankly, because I did.
[via Odenized]
May 9th, 2008 at 10:42am
derrick eckardt
As I sit here, the eighth day of May, and the NFL season still four months away, but everywhere I look, all I see is fantasy football season ramping up. Is it really possible for fantasy football season to be here already?
The first sign, numerous fantasy sites are already allowing sign-ups for fantasy football season. CBSSports.com Fantasy Football and Flea Flicker are already accepting sign-ups, while Fox Sports Fantasy Football and Yahoo! Fantasy Football are allowing users to pre-register for notification for when the game is available.
The second sign, fantasy football coverage is everywhere. No-Offseason (who vehemently believes that There Is No Offseason) has been breaking down mock drafts all week. One of the other jobs I have is working with FantasyPlayers.com, and there is just about as much fresh football content on the site as there is during the middle of the football season.
I spoke to Ryan Bonini of KFFL about KFFL’s approach to fantasy football coverage for 2008. “We are seeing more leagues drafting earlier each year - some fanatics are drafting shortly after the NFL Draft concludes! With this in mind, we have been adjusting our content schedule to begin releasing our award-winning fantasy football content earlier than ever to accommodate the needs of our viewers. This includes an increased amount of Impact Analysis pieces earlier than previous years in addition to earlier releases of our Preseason Draft Guide content, which previously would start in early July.”
It is like Christmas starting a little earlier every year. For the most part, it is a great development, but sometimes, you just get tired of all the hype. Otherwise, it is just fun. Fantasy baseball fans might not enjoy fantasy football ruining their time to shine; but c’est la vie, if you cannot beat them, out-draft them.
May 8th, 2008 at 05:48pm
derrick eckardt
This was pretty funny, and I thought you would enjoy it, so here is a clip from yesterday’s Reds game:
Update: This clip has been taken down from YouTube. According to YouTube, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by MLB Advanced Media.” Sorry, it was fun while it lasted.
May 8th, 2008 at 03:45pm
derrick eckardt
Why would Sports Illustrated partner with Citizen Sports Network (CSN) when it has its own in-house technology shop in FanNation? Because, SI Digital is now the official ad sales agent for Citizen Sports Network. The SI-CSN facebook deal makes much more sense now–it was part of a bigger working partnership between the two sites.
SI will replace Federated Media as CSN’s main sales agent and sell inventory for the entire Citizen Sports suite of products, including ProTrade, including those it will not have a direct hand in developing.
Does this mean SI is building its own ad network? Interesting…
Additional Coverage
SI Digital New Preferred Ad Sales Agent For Citizen Sports
May 7th, 2008 at 06:20pm
derrick eckardt
Following up Fake Teams‘ Worst Fantasy Baseball Season contest, we now have a winner (err, loser?)! What does it take to win this contest? How about losing six of your first 12 picks, including three of your top four to injury within the first month of the season? That’s pretty bad, and pretty sad.
For his troubles, Mark, the winner, is receiving a free subscription to Baseball Prospectus. In one sense, he’s lucky, he can just write this team off, and focus on another fantasy team. But seriously, this poor fantasy player must just wonder to himself, “why didn’t I just take the blue pill?
Can you top his worst season?
May 7th, 2008 at 09:19am
derrick eckardt
Welcome to another edition of A Case of the Mondays. In the last seven days, we have added eight jobs to the fantasy sports jobs listings. Today, we really had a case of the Mondays, and had to go for some ultimate fajitas.
As always, in case you miss the job postings the first time, you can always find the job listings under the permanent “Fantasy Sports Jobs” tab on top, which is continuously updated throughout the week as I find new jobs.
Sports Illustrated is making a bigger push into the social networking world with the planned launch of a fantasy football Facebook application. The yet-to-be-released application will be powered by Citizen Sports Network, ProTrade’s parent company. According to the article about the SI Fantasy Football Facebook Application in the Wall Street Journal, “Citizen Sports will develop the software for the fantasy game. The Sports Illustrated sales force will sell advertising to accompany the game, and the magazine will make articles by its writers available to players. The game is expected to launch in July.”
I think this is a positive move by SI to develop its own brand of fantasy games. With the advent of the internet and fantasy sports, SI’s stature and popularrity within the sports community has decreased. This application gives it a chance to get its face where the public currently is, and to rebuild its brand with the next generation of sports enthusiasts. In order for SI to make this game successful, it will need to market heavily. A search of Facebook applications for “fantasy football” brings up dozens and dozens of fantasy football (and fantasy soccer) games. Counting on Facebook virality will not be enough to get Facebook users playing the game and reading SI. It will need to stand-out.
An interesting subplot is the partnership with Citizen Sports Network (formerly ProTrade) to build the game, and not SI-own FanNation, which was acquired mainly for its technology (ex: It recently powered the NFL’s NFL Draft Predict the Pick contest). Citizen Sports Network was also the brains behind SI’s March Madeness. Perhaps Citizen Sports Network already had a fantasy football game ready to go, and was just looking for a major brand to white-label it? Anyone have some insight into this? It just struck me as an odd-choice in vendor.
Overall, a great move. Your thoughts?
May 5th, 2008 at 12:05pm
derrick eckardt
The Kentucky Derby is coming this weekend, and I am going to head to the Virginia Gold Cup. Everyone suits up, parties, and has a good time. In addition, at least as I’ve been told, there will even be horse racing. While you nibble on that thought, here are some tidbits to get through the day:
Did I miss anything? Anything you would like to bring up? Hit the comment button and let me know.
May 2nd, 2008 at 09:28am
derrick eckardt
For the first time ever, a fantasy sports show has won an Emmy award! The winners of the 29th Annual Sports Emmy Awards were announced, with ESPN’s Fantasy Football Now coming out on top in the Outstanding New Approaches (Coverage) category.
If you are looking for yet another sign that fantasy sports has arrived, how about the fact that Fantasy Football Now has not only won an Emmy, but it also beat out ESPN’s Fantasy Baseball Focus and Yahoo!’s Fantasy Football Live in the very same category? That is a total of three fantasy sports shows that were recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. All three shows should be commended for their hard work and efforts in producing a great product while further legitimizing fantasy sports.
If you click through to Marc Bryan-Brown’s (a photographer) site, you can see a picture of a very dapper Matthew Berry with his new piece of hardware. Congratulations!
Previous Coverage:
Fantasy Sports Receive Three Sports Emmy Nominations
May 1st, 2008 at 03:30pm
derrick eckardt
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