SB Nation User Blog: hooper

ESPN ranks Vols top 10 in recruiting

hooper — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:34:25 -0000

Yeah, it's waaay too early to get worked up about this, as very few teams have many verbals yet. But I gleaned a couple nice things out of it:

Are the Volunteers on their way back? Early indications are the addition of new offensive wiz David Clawson has proved to be pivotal on the recruiting trail with offensive skill players and quarterbacks jumping on board early, with the likes of QB Josh Nunes (Upland, Calif.) and RB Jarvis Giles (Tampa, Fla./Gaither). The surprising contract extension of Phil Fulmer won't hurt down the road either.

Offensive Whiz? I like the sound of that. If ESPN is complimentary toward a UT staff guy, then he must be pretty good. However, I don't know what they find so surprising about Fulmer's extension. Isn't that what UT does?

Other than that, it's interesting that the Vols were listed with only 11 recruits. Most of the top 10 had more, and I'd bet that many below the top 10 had more as well. There's still a lot of room to fill out the class, but this speaks highly of the perceived quality of the current commitments.

Clint Stoerner's Fumble(via desertvol01)

hooper — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:59:54 -0000

Clint Stoerner's Fumble(via desertvol01)

Hopson on academics - and lunch

hooper — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:38:36 -0000

Hopson on academics - and lunch

Can't say that I disagree with the guy on the food, either.

Don't look now...

hooper — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:39:02 -0000

For those who follow the Fulmer Cup, take note that every other major conference has at least one team ahead of any SEC team. Also note that Tennessee, while still the highest-scoring SEC team, hasn't gained a single point since February 19th. I'm undoubtedly inviting scorn from the lower-scoring brethren of the conference by even mentioning all of this, but that's fine with me. Ever since the hot run of trouble, the team seems to have really turned things around. It's worth a commendation, particularly since I like success stories.

Credit to Orin Optiglot .

Credit where credit is due. The upperclassmen instituted an unpopular curfew on the team and things have clammed up ever since.

Bailey's goal to help Vols to national title : Football Recruiting : GoVolsXtra.com

hooper — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:55:26 -0000

Bailey's goal to help Vols to national title : Football Recruiting : GoVolsXtra.com

I like the way this guy talks. Very polished.

Quick Suggestions

hooper — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:15:20 -0000

Today's a busy day at the office for me, so I'm going to keep this simpler than I originally intended. But here are a few things that I would like to point out about the new site format. There'll be a little adjustment to make to add these features into your blogging routine, but none of them take any significant amount of time and all of them will enhance everybody's experience here at RTT.

Comments If you're reading this post from the main page, click the post title so you're in the post section where commenting is available. I want to point out something. You there? Ok. Scroll down to the comments section and take a note of the smallish print immediately following the orange "Comments" bar. Play with those features and see what you think. (You might need a long comment thread to see how useful they are.)

While you're there, take a note of the "Read Related" section immediately above the comments. Those tags will take you to a list of articles that share the same tags. Some of the tags even include some references outside RTT - news stories and the like. If a thread topic sparks your interest, this will give you more. If a story is a part of a series, this will bring up the whole series for you to read through.

FanShots FanShots are in many ways similar to FanPosts - they are available to anybody logged into RTT and they have the usual ability to add comments and have discussions. However, they are geared for one specific purpose: to make it easy to link external content to RTT. Here are the things you need to know to make FanShots work for you.

What to feature: FanShots can be used to highlight articles, videos, pictures, quotes, or almost anything else from a different source (e.g. ESPN.com, GVX, another blog, your own online photo album, etc.)
How to use: My recommendation is to get the FanShot tool for your browser. Go into the FanShots section and is should be at the top for you to install. I'll be in your browser's Bookmark/Favorites folder. If you are surfing and come across something you'd like to share, then click on that button and follow the directions. You don't have to return to RTT to feature a FanShot. Just link it over and keep browsing as before
Why: There are a few reasons to use this. First, this gets around the word limit required for FanPosts. You don't need to say a thing if you don't want. Second, this helps concentrate external content in one area, which makes the blogging experience quicker and more manageable. Third, this helps RTT become a better resource for all things Vols.
Copyright: FanShots helps respect copyrights by properly attributing the source when you quote. Just take a look at a few of Joel's FanShots to see what I mean. Respecting copyrights is good for everybody: the original author gets due credit, the original site gets due traffic, RTT gets more respect from the quoted sources and Joel sleeps easier at night. ;)

Recommendations (Recs): Any post or comment can be recommended. Giving recommendations has two effects: it gives props to the author and it helps highlight writings that deserve attention.

FanPosts/FanShots If a 'Post or 'Shot gets enough recommendations, it automatically gets chest-bumped to a privileged section. This keeps it from getting buried as new 'Posts or 'Shots are added.
Comments If a comment gets enough recs, it gets highlighted and really stands out. It doesn't get bumped anywhere so the comment tree is preserved. But it's very noticeable.
Why? This is the question I've run across the most on other blogs that have transitioned. Why should a rec be given? The answer is that there is no specific criteria other than your personal opinion. Some possible reasons you might want to rec are:
1. You really enjoyed the writing.
2. The content was particularly insightful.
3. The content is particularly important to a team or athlete.
4. You feel the writer deserves recognition.
What if I Rec'd by accident? After providing a rec, you will have the option to "unrec" (it'll be a button in place of the "rec" button for that particular writing). I suggest you use this only for two reasons: either you rec'd the wrong thing (possible to do in comments) or a subsequent reading of the piece changed your mind. For example, imagine that you rec'd a post, then later realized it had some veiled derogatory remarks about a person. You might want to withdraw your recommendation for a reason like that. Chances are you'll never have to worry about this, but the feature is there if needed.

Flags What if a comment, 'Post, or 'Shot is offensive? As much as we hope never to see that, the possibility always exists. The SBNation boys provided a "Flag" button for every story, post, shot and comment for this reason. If you read a post with profanity, threats of violence, or anything else that goes against the family-friendly nature of this site, the Flag button is there for you. Click it, and Joel will be notified of the comment in question. This helps him moderate the blog. Two points about Flagging:

Flagging does not remove material. No amount of flags will cause a comment or post to go away. The flagging merely tells Joel that you're concerned about it. It's his blog and he'll decide.
Do not flag for differences of opinion. I know I'm preaching to the choir on this one, but there's a difference between offensive and contrasting. We all love to have differences of opinion here; that helps us think about our own opinions and helps understand where other people come from. (Side note: I thoroughly enjoy watching games with rivals for this very reason. Nothing quite like having a respectful Florida fan on hand for the annual tussle.)

Hmm. Not so short as I intended. But seriously, take a bit of time to learn these new features and you'll be impressed by the improvement. It takes a lot more time to read all that than it'll take to get used to the changes, I assure you.

So Long, Farewell

hooper — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:27:44 -0000

Goodnight, RTT 1.0.

Somehow, the low-fi is fitting.

Bobby Maze a Vol

hooper — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:35:30 -0000

Update [2008-5-7 19:37:23 by hooper]: Whoops. Just as I post this, I look over and see that Old Smokey had this posted up a mere 2 hours before me. Credit goes to him first, folks.

Well, well, well...

Just when a couple roster spots open up on the men's basketball team - in particular,leaving our point position a little thin - we get this bit of news. I don't know much about the guy, but the news I heard on this yesterday when this was discussed as a strong possibility seemed to indicate a good fit. He's witty, too:

"Stevie Wonder could see this is where I needed to be, ..."

But we're going to hear about this one:

"There's no need for me to go visit Kentucky," he said. "There's not a better situation than this."

So help me out a bit, basket-Vol fans: is this guy a good pickup? Beyond the fact that we just need a point, period, how do you think he'll do? I really don't know anything about him and I'm not that good at figuring out basketball projections (football guy, remember?).

I do know this much: when your program and head coach are looked at as the great "up-and-comers" in the world of high-profile men's bb, it's a lot easier to pull these kinds of late recruits off.

New Website Feature Preview - Dashboard

hooper — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:19:58 -0000

In the continuing series explaining the new SBNation blog features, I now look at the administrivia of the new blogs. At the very top of every new SBNation blog, you'll see a dark grey strip a few buttons: SBNation, Profile Page, Dashboard, My Blogs, and Log Out. SBNation sends you to SBNation's home page. Profile Page shows your public profile, your last few comments, and your blog memberships. My Blogs gives quick links to any blog you're a member of. Log Out, well, duh. That leaves one button to explain.

The Dashboard is very similar to the ones used in WordPress blogs. If you've ever used those, the Dashboard will be second nature. If you haven't, it only takes a minute to figure out anyway, so no worries. This is typically a "one-and-done" kind of deal. Once you set things up the way you like them, you'll probably have no need to change them. Here is a rundown of the options in the Dashboard:

My Dashboard:
Remember how I said that you can save drafts of your FanPosts and FanShots? Here, you can see all the FanPosts and FanShots that you in progress. One click allows you to go back to editing, and one click brings up the option to delete them. This shows you all of the drafts for every SBNation blog you are a member of. It's instant organization.

Edit Profile:
You'll probably want to stop here early on. This is the place where you upload an avatar, write a little ditty about yourself, and adjust most of your public setting. You can also identify your favorite teams or athletes in a host of different leagues. You can see all these edits in your Profile Page (here's mine.) (You can also access this on the Profile Page.)

Edit Settings:
This allows you to modify how the SBNation blogs look. The most important one is to check the time zone settings. If you have EST selected, for example, even Pacific Coast blogs will give timestamps in EST (assuming you're logged in). This really helps you figure out how long ago a Story, FanPost, Comment, whatever was made - no translating for time zones.

Edit Account
Here, you adjust the core settings our your SBNation account: name, private email, change of password, and whether you want SBNation to email update notifications to you. Additionally, if you have a blog account at an old SBNation blog under a different name, you can claim it and attach those comments to your new SBNation account. For example, if I had an account on the Kentucky SBNation blog with the handle "LoftonPassedYouBy", I could claim that name and all those comments. (Technically, this also allows you to claim blogs with the same handle, but you probably already did that when you first got your SBNation account.)

Remember, SBNation is now global across the different blogs. That means that your login and account information are the same for all blogs you sign up for. If you're a multiblog junkie, this is an enormous time-saver. The Dashboard is the place where you fine-tune the engine under your SBNation blogging hood to your liking.

Photo by glutnix

New Website Feature Preview - FanPosts

hooper — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:59:30 -0000

When the new website rings in, Old Man Diary will be ushered out as the new Baby FanPost takes the stage. Having played around a bit on the new format of the SBNation sites, I'm becoming a firm believer that the FanPost tool is one of the keys to a thriving community. Here, I will address a few of the features of FanPosts. Some of these features also apply to the front page posts and to "FanShots" (more on that later), so once you get the hang of FanPosts, you'll be rocking the joint on the entire site. Without further adieu...

For these first features, I'll use another FanPost from MileHighReport (the Denver Broncos SBNation blog). You can see all of these features at use in this link (except for the flags, fortunately.) Hey, I'm a Broncos fan.

WYSIWYG For those who haven't heard the term "WYSIWYG" (prounounced "whizzy-wig"), it means "What You See Is What You Get". Much like using Word, WordPerfect, or any word processing software, you select font features like bold, italics, <s>strikethrough</s>, blockquotes, links, and image insertions by clicking buttons and letting the computer do the real work. (Contrast that to this paragraph, where I had to spell out every font feature manually.) You don't need to know any html to make snazzy posts like the one above. WYSIWYG can also be turned off if you prefer, but most people will find this quite refreshing.
Recommendations This is a very, very handy feedback tool. If you read a FanShot (or Story or FanShot or even a comment - basically anything that somebody wrote) that you like for whatever reason, you can click a button at the end of the writing and give it a recommendation. With enough recommendations, a FanPost will be placed in a prominent location so it's seen by more people and doesn't get buried under newer FanPosts. (This, by the way, will be fantastic during football season.) There's no specific guideline for recommendations: if you like it enough, recommend it. If you change your mind (perhaps a second re-read uncovers some offensive content) you can always unrecommend it. It's only one click of a mouse button, so please use this if you feel a post merits attention.
Email/Print/Flag Located right next to the "Rec" (for recommendation) button are buttons for emailing, printing, and flagging. Emailing and printing are self-explanatory. Flagging a post/comment gives the site admins (Joel, in our case) notice of content that somebody finds objectionable. Hopefully, the Flag button is never used on RTT, but it can speed up the review (and potential removal) of unhealthy comments. As you know, debate and differences of opinion are always fostered and encouraged so long as the discourse does not become overly personal, profane, abusive, etc. With the click of a button, you can help Joel maintain the family-friendly nature of the site.
Tags When you write a FanPost, you have the option of adding tags to it to help it get notice. Tags link common articles together in a very handy search feature, and tags also help your article get found by people with similar interests. For example, the above article has the tags "Denver Broncos", "Jay Cutler (QB-DEN)" and "jay cutler has diabetes". If anybody is searching for any of those topics, those tags help that person find your article and read your fantabulous wisdom. Again, there's no requirement to use Tags. If you don't like using them, don't use them. (We'd still rather have you write the Post with no tags as opposed to not writing at all!) But they're handy and they're extremely easy to use.
Saving Your Drafts If you've posted for very long (especially if you've posted a virtual blog novel or two), you've probably learned - the hard way - to write posts in some word processing software so you can save them as you write. The days are numbered for the infamous "I just finished writing the article and it got deleted and I can't recover it" that has assuredly caused a few holes in the nearest drywall. You can now save your drafts as you write. If a phone call comes in, if a draft takes a long time to write, if your ideas aren't 100% formed, if you just really have to piddle, you can save the draft and finish it on your own empty-bladdered leisure.

Well, that's a lot for now. Yes, there is even more to learn and discover. But here's the long and short of it: you can post and comment in the new site exactly like you do now, if you want. But you can really let your creative juices flow if you like as well. Either way, the new format will be easier for writing and for reading. And most importantly, we want to know what you're thinking. Share your thoughts. Express. Enjoy.