SB Nation User Blog: yellow fever

Yahoo! NFL Fantasy Football and CBS Sports College Fantasy Football Signup Info

yellow fever — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:39:15 -0000

It seems like we should have enough interest to do at least one fantasy football league and one college fantasy football league, so I went ahead and set the two up.

To sign up for the Yahoo Fantasy Football league, assuming you already have a Yahoo ID:

1. Go here
2. Click "Join Custom"
3. Enter League #184898, password "gobears"

And you should be good to go. You'll be asked for your team name and all of that stuff.

To sign up for the CBS Sports College Fantasy Football league, assuming you already have a Sportsline ID:

1. Click here
2. Enter a team name
3. Use the password "gobears"

I've set both leagues for live drafts on August 15, with the Yahoo league first at 4:30 PM EST/1:30 PST and the college league at 6:15 EST/3:15 PST. These times are obviously subject to change depending on the availability of those joining the league. Please join us if you're so inclined, and go Bears!

Fantasy Football!

yellow fever — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:41:05 -0000

Yahoo! has opened its Fantasy Football 2009 registration, so if you're interested in participating in a league with your fellow CGB'ers this year, comment here to let us know of your interest, since I want to make sure we have enough people to fill out a decent league before starting it up. And don't say you'll join only to sign up and not participate either. No one likes a deadbeat.

DBD 6.26.09 Not a Preview of the Bash

yellow fever — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:17:26 -0000

I was originally going to do a preview of this weekend WWE PPV, The Bash. (Quick and dirty - Rey over Jericho, Dreamer over whomever, Orton over HHH, Punk over Jeff Hardy, I don't even know what else is on), but then my world fell apart yesterday.

You might think it was big that Farrah Fawcett died. (Maybe if you were a Charlie's Angels fan in the 70's.) You might have been upset that the King of Pop died. But for me, I'm shattered that the Nets traded Vince Carter. I mean, I knew it was a possibility, I had read the rumors, but that still didn't prepare me for it when it actually happened. For what it's worth, I didn't know how to react when the Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson rumors started either.

So long Vince. It's the end of an era. And in honor of all of the people who thought you mailed in games from time to time, I'm mailing in the rest of this DBD.

Poll

What was the most tragic event to occur yesterday?

Boom Tho! - The Rod Benson Interview

yellow fever — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:45:53 -0000

After a litany of harassing phone calls, threatening emails, compromising pictures, and threats of being forced to play for Ben Braun again, we finally managed to convince Rod Benson to answer some of the questions that all of you posed here.

Check out Rod's answers after the jump. Many, many, many thanks to Rod for his help with this, he is a great face for not only sports blogging, but also Cal basketball. GO BEARS!

Tell us for real: What type of coach was Ben Braun? What was it like playing for him? Were you surprised when he was fired?

People can say what they will about Ben Braun, but when I was there he gave me a shot to lead the team in scoring and in rebounding. A lot of guys that I have met since school are jealous of that fact. When he was fired I was surprised. He was there for over a decade, he was given tenure for a reason and to see him go was a big surprise.

Have you met Monty? Opinions?

I have indeed met Monty. He's a real straight shooter. If there was a difference between him and Ben, it's that Ben enjoys the small talk and Monty just says how it is.

Who did you bust more in practice? Leon Powe or Ryan Anderson?

I never actually practiced against Ryan since he was too young, but in the summers trust that I do my damage against both of them. Fact of the matter is that they are both great players and it's a battle either way. I respect their games and they respect mine.

Ryan Anderson - also too young to be in this picture.

What do you miss most about Berkeley?

Who doesn't miss college girls? Haha but seriously I used to love sitting in front of Boalt and reading the words on the side of the building, or going to the top of the Campanile in the summers and taking in the bay. Those peaceful times were some of the best.

What initially made you want to come to Cal?

I came to Cal first and foremost because of the academic prowess of the school. After that, they just recruited the hell out of me. Took me to all the best places in the bay, and showed me a great time.

It's been written that your frank thoughts online might make it harder for you to get selected by a NBA team because they're afraid of what you might say about them. Do you feel that perception is true? If being a NBA player meant you'd have to quit the blogging game, would you do it?

I think that it's not exactly my writing that gets me in trouble but maybe my voice. I've come to realize that people expect me to be sort of a clown or a crazy person because they base their perception of me on some of the wildest stories. Actually I'm just a normal guy who is good at recounting funny stories. I'm not a walking freak show. I've always said that if a team asked me to quit, I would.

What do you have to work on the most in your game to really get to that next level?

People have always told me to get bigger and then I would have a better shot at the L. I've always tried but only recently been successful. I'm now 230 lbs without shoes which is high for me so I feel good about my potential to gain more and to play bigger - not too big though.

How much do the fans at the NBDL level embrace their team? You play in really small markets, but are they really intense or is it just a very casual environment?

It really depends on the city, but David Stern's business plan to put teams in small markets is a good one because the fan turnout is higher. The media exposure is higher. The people care more. When I won a D-League championship in Dakota, it felt like winning a Pac-10 title. The fans were nuts and they loved us.

Boomshakalaka!

Who is the most famous person you've met since going pro?

I've met or high fived almost every big star in the NBA. Haha just go to Vegas and you can meet anybody you want. Sugar Shane Mosley invited me and my boys to party with him one night. It's on TMRB.com.

I'm sure many people on the street think you play basketball since you're so tall. Do they recognize you as Rod Benson or another NBA player?

In California, some people know me as Rod Benson, in the rest of the world people are more curious. I tell them I don't play or I tell them I'm Plaxico Burress. Both work for me.

I can see the resemblance...I guess.

What's the creepiest thing a fan has said to you?

A fan invited my teammate and me to a hot tub at 1 AM. The fan was male.

What do you think about Lawrence Frank? Good coach? How do you feel coaches compare across leagues - do NBA coaches tend to be better than any other coaches you've worked with?

Lawrence Frank is like Joe Pasternack with a few more years of experience. NBA coaches are more comprehensive in general, but they each have a distinctive system and method of implementing said system. That's what separates them from one another.

Can I have your New Jersey Nets sweats?

Haha I have like 20 pairs. You have to get them from my mom though.

Complete this sentence: I want to punch _______ in the face.

I want to punch any of the Jonas Brothers in the face. That's only because people like them and I have no clue why. Seriously.

Blogs with Balls - A Recap

yellow fever — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:38:42 -0000

Your East Coast correspondent attended the first ever Blogs with Balls sports blog conference, held in New York City on June 13. The event was organized by the fine folks at Hugging Harry Reynolds as well as a litany of sponsors who included our bosses at sbnation.com, yardbarker.com, SI.com, and others. SI.com even chipped in with a few iPod Touches for raffle prizes, as well as sending this along for the intro.

So that was a bit of a surprise.

Among the many other bloggers that I managed to speak with were Paragon SC of Conquest Chronicles, Brian Cook of mgoblog, and Spencer Hall of Every Day Should Be Saturday. It was a mutual lovefest, with everyone expressed admiration for everyone else's work. Of our humble blog, Paragon and Brian Cook both said that they were amazed at our community and how any given fanshot can randomly blow up to 400 comments. So kudos to everyone here for the level of involvement that we have.

There were a number of panels, so I'll try and briefly go over the highlights as I remember them for each one.

The Future of Sports Media

iPhones, Facebook, Twitter — they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Join a team of media and sports thought leaders in a discussion of what emerging technology will mean to the sports blogger and fan over the next couple years and beyond.

Jim DeLorenzo, Octagon
Richard Ting, VP, Mobile & Emerging Platforms Group, R/GA
Christopher J. Russo, CEO, Fantasy Sports Ventures
Kathleen Hessert, President, Sports Media Challenge

Hessert and Ting came off as the stars of this panel, with Hessert's claim to fame (to me, anyway) being that she was the woman who got Shaq started on Twitter. She told a story about how Shaq got his "THE_REAL_SHAQ" handle because there was an imposter Shaq on Twitter sending out tweets that were so realistic that she even reached out to the real Shaq to see if that was him. She went on to say that Shaq is really very unique in how much he's embraced Twitter and other sports media platforms like YouTube and 12seconds to the point that he's become the icon for the new age athlete.

What about other athletes that Hessert's firm represents though? Well, not everyone needs to leverage social media. Guys like Eli and Peyton Manning don't have or want Twitter accounts, because they want to keep whatever privacy they still have. It depends on each athlete's individual personality.

Ting pushed the concept of the digital starfish, which illustrates the different avenues that new media offer in terms of access to athletes. More and more walls between fans and athletes are breaking down, with things like Twitter providing direct access. Ting showed that if you were to stack up the number of people who follow Shaq on Twitter with the daily circulation of every major newspaper, Shaq would be the number three newspaper in the country behind only USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. So when Shaq says he's reporting live from his Shaqberry, he has a larger audience than the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. That's a little scary.

Earl Boykins could use a few more Shaqberries.

Someone asked Hessert what she thought about Tony La Russa suing Twitter. Her response? It's sad, but it was inevitable. Twitter's grown far too quickly for the company to keep up with its popularity, and it originally wanted all along to build in some kind of identity verification system. But when your accounts are blowing up by a factor of 400% a week, something like that tends to get pushed to the back burner. It's probably starting to creep up in importance now.

Confirm or Ignore: Leveraging Social Media

Social media has had a profound effect on all media, sports being no exception. In this session, we’ll explore ways that social and creative media tools are being used to connect with audiences like yours.

Sarah Braesch, BlogHer and Social Media Consultant
Julia Roy, Undercurrent.com, JuliaRoy.com
Dan Levy, On the DL Podcast
Matt Sebek, JoeSportsFan

This was fairly monotonous and I wasn't terribly interested, though this might just be because I and the rest of the Marshawnthusiasts have never really pushed to make a huge deal of money off of the blog and have never gone all-out to try and increase our readership by any means necessary. Maybe we should, maybe we shouldn't, but as a labor of love, we've never thought about pimping every one of our posts on Digg or using TwitPix or any of the other applications discussed here. Julia Roy is pretty god damn cute though.

Hi Mom! Claiming That Earned Media

A link from the right source can be the star-making turn that propels a brand into the stratosphere. Gain a better understanding of what it takes to earn media coverage of your site, blog, or campaign using actual examples from speakers’ experience. And hear the cautionary tales of what can happen when things go wrong.

Michael Tunison, KissingSuzyKolber.com
Todd Lippincott, WhoDeyRevolution.com
Sarah Spain, Mouthpiece Sports
MODERATOR: Matt Ufford, With Leather.com

I have no idea why Sarah Spain is famous, and I honestly don't care. Tunison's claim to fame is outing himself on KSK while he was working at Washington Post - surprise, surpise, he was let go two days later. And you guys wonder why none of use our real names here.

Lippincott's site is notorious for its message, which is that the Cincinnati Bengals are incompetent and will continue to be until the Brown family hires true outsiders and stops trying to run the show themselves. An admirable message, and their Project Mayhem plots really do seem quite interesting. Might be worth stealing some ideas for the next Big Game down at the Farm, or if anyone wants to launch an assault on Pauley Pavilion.

Ufford is notable to me as the guy who wrote the original Allison Stokke post on WithLeather.com that made her a cult phenomenon. I meant to ask whether he now felt vindicated at all by the fact that she now doesn't mind using her looks to get some more attention, but kept forgetting to during the Q&A sessions. He totally takes this blogging stuff seriously though, and it's been working out for him.

Yeah, why not.

A few tips on getting started? Don't start BCC'ing everyone when you have a new post up. It's impersonal, it's annoying, and no one will want to read your stuff. If you're able to personalize emails to each person to say, hey, I wrote about (x) which ties in your discussion about (y), you'll have more success. (Frankly, if you didn't know that already, you have no business writing anything because you have no idea how to communicate.) How do you handle criticism? Develop thicker skin. There are going to be people out there who don't like you and what you have to say. Learn to deal with it. But do NOT assume that everyone has read everything out there. Don't give the light of day to some obscure rant on a messageboard no one reads blasting your latest well-written post. Why even answer the lunatic fringe? Chances are nothing you say is going to change their mind, and 99% of your audience isn't going to know what the hell you're talking about if you do respond. Ignore it and no one with half a brain will know it even happened.

Making it Big: The Secret of My Success

Everybody wants to go "viral" and be the next internet sensation. But shocking as it may be, it’s not always as simple as hitting submit and sitting back watching the hits roll in. Participate in a discussion of what it takes to appeal to large influencers, with real life examples, and tips on how to take it to the written page.

A.J. Daulerio, Deadspin
Matt Ufford, With Leather.com
Dan Shanoff, DanShanoff.com, Sporting News
Jimmy Traina, Senior Producer, SI.com
MODERATOR: Michael Tunison, KissingSuzyKolber.com

Daulerio didn't have quite the presence that you might expect from the guy who runs the most famous blog out there, but he definitely did seem like the coolest guy there. He was probably mentally getting ready for the Deadspin Meetup.

This panel is general wasn't as interesting as you might think given the heavy hitters, but they did get into a discussion about the importance of community and commenters. Ufford came out with his 98-1-1 theory, which is that 98% of your audience doesn't read the comments, 1% does but doesn't comment, and 1% comments. I'm not sure how true that is of our audience here (we'd probably have to have a bigger audience for the number of commenters that we have to only represent 1% of that total audience), but he also said that in the grand scheme of things when you've blown up, commenters aren't that important. Trying to cater to them can and will alienate a large number of the silent majority, so just like responding to an obscure rant on a messageboard no one ever reads, don't assume you need to respond to every comment out there either. Except for those from my main man Palvador. He rocks!

Oh, and Jimmy Traina's the guy who writes Hot Clicks every day. Meaning he basically has carp's dream job.

Today's Hot Clicks cheesecake picture.

Power in Numbers: Content Networks

In the beginning, there was blog. Almost immediately thereafter came content networks. Now, nearly decade later, we bring together leaders in content networking, community building and creating other distribution partnerships to discuss what a network or community offers for publishers, advertisers, and consumers of sports media today.

Pete Vlastelica, CEO, Yardbarker.com
Jim Bankoff, CEO, SB Nation
Jarret Myer, Co-Founder, Uproxx Media
Dan Kelly, CEO Bleacher Report
Adam Best, FanSided.com, Arrowhead Addict
MODERATOR: Dan Shanoff, DanShanoff.com, Sporting News

The bigwigs were unanimous in saying that they see online ad revenues increasing both in the short-run and long-run, not necessarily because the economy is going to rebound but because the impact of traditional advertising is starting to wane. Everyone was also unanimous in saying that blogs aren't going to replace traditional media, but serve as a complement.

What kind of complement? Jim Bankoff (hey boss!) says that what we try to develop here at SBNation.com is a bar room kind of atmosphere where you can hang out with similar-minded fans and not get into shouting matches over whose lineman can bench more. Instead, you can argue which wide receiver on the team can bench more. Or argue over your own team's quarterback controversies without getting rudely interrupted and being reminded that both guys suck. But anyway, it's a different atmosphere from the guys who read ESPN.com and SI.com. You want to hang out with fans of the team just like you, because you need that sense of community, especially if you've since moved away and can't follow the team in person.

But what kind of content do these networks want? Above all, they want good content. They want hits, but there's no sense in being edgy just for the sake of controversy. If you are going to be controversial, the first rule is to write well. Bad writing doesn't magically step up in quality because you've talked a controversial subject; furthermore, writing badly about something that people are going to have strong feelings about opens you up to criticism if what you've written isn't up to snuff.

And how about it when we're happy to get shout-outs in mainstream media? It might be time to get over it, and act like you've been there before, even if you haven't. Mainstream media and entertainment companies now see the value in viral marketing, so as happy as we were when we get linked in Ted Miller's Pac-10 blog, often they're just as happy to see something they've written blow up on blogs and become major points of discussion.

Make the Leap, Make it Your Job

Almost everybody dreams of getting that call — joining the big leagues of writers who get paid to blog full-time. Hear first-hand from bloggers who have made sports blogging their job and how they did it, or would do it again.

Greg Wyshynski, Editor, Yahoo! Sports’ Puck Daddy

Jason McIntyre, The Big Lead

John Ness, NBC Local

Matt Cerrone, metsblog.com

Spencer Hall, EDSBS

MODERATOR: Matt Sebek, JoeSportsFan.com

Here were my notes for this segment:

Spencer Hall - FUCKING HILARIOUS

Wyshynski - almost as hilarious as Hall

McIntyre - oddly serious looking

One story from each guy. Hall was asked , how did you know it was time to start blogging full-time? What was the moment when you realized it can be done? His answer was that there have to be a few things to fall into place for you to be a blogger and make a living. The first is that, well, you have to be really really really good at it. The second is, it helps if you're not making a whole lot of money, so you won't feel that hit economically. And third, if you describe to people that your job involves a bunch of baby seals, a huge mallet, and you forcibly bringing the two together, you'll get a lot of encouragement when you tell people, "Hey, you know what? I'm thinking of giving up this whole killing baby seals thing to blog full-time. What do you think?" That'll help.

Wyshynski told a story about being invited to appear on Hockey Night in Canada to offer his view on the Stanley Cup Playoffs along with a few other bloggers. That's pretty much the holy grail of hockey coverage, so he found it a little odd when he was asked along with all of the other bloggers to sit at their desks with little plastic laptops to signify that they are, in fact, bloggers. They then spent the first four and a half minutes of a seven minute segment debating whether information written on blogs should be considered reliable - this after they've already decided to put them on the air and lend them an air of credibility. One hand not knowing what the other is doing, or Canadians being Canadians? You decide.

These are some Canadians that I can support.

As for McIntyre, his story was that starting a blog is tough. How tough? Try earning 103 dollars for the entire month. Things have obviously gotten much better for him since then, but man. 103 dollars? WTF

Show Me the Money

You put in enough hours to call it a full-time job — isn’t it time you got the pay to match? Get the strategies and suggestions to create a financial return on your intellectual investment. Hear directly from advertisers what they look for/avoid when it comes to placing their ads on sportsblogs.

Pete Vlastelica, CEO, Yardbarker.com

Nat Berman, Uncoached

Paul Dalessio, Fleishman Hilliard

Micah Baldwin, VP of Business Development, Lijit, LearntoDuck.com

As I mentioned before, I and the rest of the CGB'ers have never been in it for the money. I wasn't particularly interested in this, so I went and got some more free Guiness. Go Bears!

Why We Hate You: The Media’s Take

Thanks to the likes of Buzz Bissinger and a host of other mainstream media journalists, the conflict between traditional media and bloggers is well-documented. Get the unvarnished truth about working with (or for!) established mainstream media from the media themselves.

Jeff Pearlman, Author, SI.com Columnist

Amy K. Nelson, ESPN

Dan Steinberg, The Washington Post’s D.C. Sports Bog

Jeff Pyatt, Real Clear Sports

Bethlehem Shoals, Free Darko, The Sporting Blog

Mike Hall, NESN

MODERATOR: Dan Levy, On the DL Podcast

Shoals? Insane. Not to say he didn't have good points, but I feel like he was about to eat Amy Nelson alive.

Pearlman and Nelson did probably the best jobs of offering insight into what it's like as a traditional media member at this point. Pearlman said he thinks it's important that there be at least one source of unbiased sports news - this was in contrast to something Wyshynski had said earlier when he said that all sports coverage is, or should be, inherently biased. What's the fun in not cheering during a game that you grew up a fan of? Sports are entertainment and meant to be enjoyed - you can't treat it the same way that you would an earthquake. But Pearlman's take is that there's enough room for that elsewhere that the mainstream media shouldn't be blasted for offering an objective take. Someone's got to do it, right? You want a biased look, go find a blog. You know, like ours.

The biggest debate the entire day was over the Raul Ibanez thing. Nelson stuck to the belief that because Ibanez didn't have a chance to respond to Jerod Morris' article before it was published, it shouldn't have been written. But wait - who the hell thinks Ibanez would have deigned to look at an article written by a random blogger that he's never heard of? He wouldn't have bothered. This tied into a discussion over the distinction between bloggers and writers. What's the most important part? Access. But it doesn't mean anything if you don't use it, because if you're sitting at home writing about a game but still claiming to have magical insight, you're full of shit. Mike Lupica, we're looking at you.

So then, if we as bloggers don't have access, but shouldn't write anything without clearing it with the subject of our articles first, but we can't clear it, because they won't talk to us, then...well, she never really answered that point. She just said it's important to keep in mind that what you say could hurt someone. Which is valid enough, but is there that much of a distinction between running around Times Square and yelling that Raul Ibanez takes steroids and putting up a blog post saying the same thing? You wouldn't believe the guy running around Times Square, so why is the blogger held to a higher standard? This also was not addressed, but that's how these things go.

All in all, this was a fantastic event and one that I'd readily recommend attending if another one of these is put together in a West Coast location. Among the other things that your intrepid reporter did was chat with Brian Cook about his thoughts on Michigan football (7-5...maybe), basketball (up and coming, but still not making the tournament), and the continued sponsorship of the BlogPoll by CBS Sports. Good stuff. He also encouraged me and Paragon SC to look into producing t-shirts if we want to make some cash, as that's been doing well for him. What do you think?

Paragon SC also told me about a Vegas trip that he and Spencer Hall took in April, which automatically got me thinking about all sorts of Hangover-like hijinks between the two. I should ask if I or the other CGB'ers can go along next time. Just imagine all of us at a blackjack table. Really, do it. I also managed to speak with a Cal alum who works for Yardbarker who offered to get us in touch with Marshawn's PR peeps. We'll try and get a short interview with him, while also pimping the shit out of his Yardbarker blog. One hand washing the other.

And finally, each one of the heavy hitters also mentioned that they would be attending the Blog World Expo to be held October 15-17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. So if you really want to relive this experience, or you just want an excuse to go to Vegas, that's right in your wheelhouse. I hope to be there, will you?

DBD 6.5.09 Fashion Advice Pls

yellow fever — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:51:22 -0000

I've been holed up all week studying for the Level 2 CFA Exam. According to the CFA Standards of Professional Conduct, that makes me a CFA Level 2 Candidate. In addition, I'm not allowed to say that passing the exam certifies me as awesome, like this thing here did.

What it will do is enhance my marketability, supposedly. And after spending 700 dollars, it damn well better. It's too bad I'm still not entirely confident that I'll pass, but that's why I've been studying. In the meantime, I've been trying to figure out what exactly to wear on exam day. You see, my exam routine consists of waking up at 6, finding NSFW WWE Diva pics, downing a Red Bull, and wearing random sports jerseys to the exam two at a time. I really enjoy looking completely out of place. So help me pick what to wear.

The options:

Five and Dime

Go Bears

Traitors

WTF

And with that, I'm off to one final day of cramming.

Poll

So what do you think?

Five and Dime

7 votes

Go Bears

19 votes

Traitors

2 votes

WTF

8 votes

I wanted an Extreme Rules preview

3 votes

39 votes | Poll has closed

DBD 5.28.09 Super! Macho! Man!

yellow fever — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:22:57 -0000

No, this isn't another wrestling-themed DBD. I just wanted to write that I've been spending the past week playing Wii Punch-Out!!

via www.1up.com

But let me tell you, you do not want to use the funky control scheme with the Wiimote and the Nunchuk. Mac won't punch and you'll end up flailing your arms around to no avail even more than Twist does during a usual day in court. Even worse is the Balance Board - Mac won't move and you'll just get nailed repeatedly in the face more than Twist does when he meets up with Hydro.

Still, I've really only been playing the game as much as I have recently because for some reason, I just couldn't beat this guy.

via www.1up.com

To be honest, I'm not sure why I couldn't beat him. It's not like his punching patterns were all that difficult to predict, but I think a part of is that after playing so many video games, I have pretty good reflexes and instinctively dodge whenever I see the guy move. Which doesn't work so well when his punches are delayed and timed specifically so that by the time Little Mac returns from a dodge, I get nailed with an uppercut to the face. To the face!

via www.1up.com

But prevail I did. It took a Boneless Chicken Hungry Man dinner and a Bud Light, but my reflexes were sufficiently dulled that I was no longer dodging imaginary punches only to arrive back in time to get nailed by real ones.

via www.1up.com

Hooray beer!

DBD 5.14.09 WWE Judgment Day Preview

yellow fever — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:26:16 -0000

And you thought I was joking when I said I'm doing a preview every month.

via www.wwe.com

CM Punk vs. Umaga

At this point I think they're just killing time with CM Punk until he makes the inevitable move up the card because of Jeff Hardy's impending departure. I'm guessing they keep Punk occupied with random heels until a gimmick blowoff match between Jeff and Edge where Edge barely comes out with a victory, but is severely wounded.

You know, the setup for every single cashing-in of the Money in the Bank briefcase.

yellow fever's prediction: CM Punk via Anaconda Vice

via www.wwe.com

Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho - Intercontinental Championship

All signs point to this being a long, drawn-out feud, so given that Rey's already cost Jericho a few victories, it seems logical to think that Jericho's going to take Rey's title here so they have something more to fight over than pride. Should be a fun feud, although the matches probably won't be as excellent as the ones they had during their WCW days.

yellow fever's prediction: Chris Jericho via Codebreaker

via www.wwe.com

John Cena vs. Big Show

It is the curse of the clean-cut white babyface that he always get stuck in horrible matches with big, slow superheavyweight slugs who looks scary in the ring but don't do much when in it. Still, Cena's gotta have something to do while Orton keeps his hold on the top of the card and he gives other guys a turn in the main event picture, so there's no way they blow off this feud this quickly.

yellow fever's prediction: Big Show via Showstopper

via www.wwe.com

Christian vs. Jack Swagger - ECW Championship

One of these days I hope they have an ECW championship match that's no holds barred. One of these days.

yellow fever's prediction: Christian via Killswitch

via www.wwe.com

Jeff Hardy vs. Edge - World Heavyweight Championship

After reading that Jeff's contract is up in a couple months, it seems pretty obvious what the plan for the next few months is going to be - run Jeff into the ground in as many gimmick matches as possible and kill him before he can leave the company.

yellow fever's prediction: Jeff Hardy via disqualification after interference from Matt Hardy with a ladder, settling up a TLC match

via www.wwe.com

Randy Orton vs. Batista - WWE Championship

It's hard for me to get excited over this when it's just a placeholder feud until Triple H gets back, though I have enjoyed Batista's recent work more than I have in a while. I'll probably get bored of him again fairly soon, though I could see the groundwork being laid for him to turn heel against Triple H to freshen him up a little bit upon the latter's return.

yellow fever's prediction: Orton via punt kick

Dump away!

Poll

What are you looking forward to most this Sunday?

CM Punk vs. Umaga

1 votes

Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho

2 votes

John Cena vs. Big Show

4 votes

Christian vs. Jack Swagger

1 votes

Jeff Hardy vs. Edge

8 votes

Randy Orton vs. Batista

10 votes

26 votes | Poll has closed

Ask J.J. Arrington! (about his jersey, maybe?)

yellow fever — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:34:01 -0000

via i.a.cnn.net

yellow fever (8:15 PM)

j.j.?

J.J. Arrington (8:27 PM)

Who this

yellow fever (8:28 PM)

just a fan, sorry to bother you

yellow fever (8:29 PM)

i write for a cal sports blog and just wanted to see if you'd be cool doing a short interview for us

yellow fever (8:29 PM)

nothing serious

J.J. Arrington (8:30 PM)

Ugh....when...u can email me..about it

yellow fever (8:30 PM)

i mean, just an email thing

yellow fever (8:30 PM)

don't want to impose

yellow fever (8:30 PM)

we just figure it'd be a cool thing to do for our readers

J.J. Arrington (8:31 PM)

Email it to me then

You know the drill! Give us some questions!

Mock Draft Showdown 2009

yellow fever — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:25:30 -0000

As I referenced this past weekend in our NFL Draft Open Threads, I thought it might be fun to take a look at 16 mock drafts to see whose was the most accurate. Obviously, it's near-impossible to forecast either which team is going to take which player or which slot a given player is going to go in because of trades, but it's interesting nonetheless. These were the mocks that I took a look at, with the caveat that some of the results that I used were not their final projections leading into the draft. I really should date these things next time.

ESPN SportsNation Bloggers , Todd McShay , Mel Kiper Jr., The Sporting News , Peter King , Don Banks , NFL.com , National Football Post (via Yahoo!), CBS Sportsline

Here is an Excel file comparing the mocks.

The results:

Number of mocks that had Darrius Heyward-Bey going seventh overall: 2 - Mike Lombardi and Chad Reuter of CBS Sportsline

Number of mocks that had Darrius Heyward-Bey not going anywhere in the first round: 2 - Peter King and Don Banks of SI.com

Number of drafts that projected Tyson Jackson third overall: 3 - Mel Kiper, Peter King, and Rob Rang.

Number of drafts that didn't project Tyson Jackson to be a first-rounder at all: 1 - by the Sporting News.

Number of players agreed to be first-round picks by all drafts: 14 - Matthew Stafford, Jason Smith, Aaron Curry, Eugene Monroe, Michael Crabtree, Mark Sanchez, Andre Smith, Brian Orakpo, B.J. Raji, Jeremy Maclin, Michael Oher, Malcolm Jenkins, Peria Jerry, Brandon Pettigrew

Most picks nailed by draft order: 10 - Rob Rang of NFL.com, including 7 of the first 8.

Fewest picks nailed: 2 - by the National Football Post and Mike Lombardi.

Most players correctly projected to be taken anywhere in the first round: 28 - Todd McShay, Pat Kirwan, and Clark Judge.

Fewest players correctly projected to be taken anywhere in the first round: 22 - by the Sporting News.

Drafts that nailed Michael Crabtree going to the Niners at 10: 2 - by Peter King and Don Banks.

Players that went higher than any projections: Larry English at 16 (highest projection of 24 by the Sporting News), Knowshon Moreno at 12 (highest projection of 16 by Peter King, Don Banks, Rob Rang, Chad Reuter), Alex Mack (highest projection of 22 by Peter King), Eric Wood at 28 (highest projection of 32 by Rob Rang and Chad Reuter)

Players that went lower than any projections: Jeremy Maclin (lowest projection of 17 by Chad Reuter), Michael Oher (lowest projection of 22 by The Sporting News)

Highest average projection by a player not taken in the first round: Everette Brown, including a high of 9 by Jamie Dukes (closely followed by Rey Maualuga with a high of 10 by the Sporting News)

Smallest overall variance: Clark Judge

Largest overall variance: The Sporting News

Anything else you find interesting based on the file I put together? Put it in the comments below!