Unless you are blind you can tell that this blog has gone through a big change today. Benkoo.com/ Koo's Corner is now on the Bloguin platform opposed to its previous setup on Wordpress. I am still getting unpacked in my new digs and there is still some work to be done, but overall everything is here and in one piece. This is really Benkoo.com 3.0 Beta so it will be a week or so until the finished product is here. Many thanks to Miracle Worker/Founder of Bloguin, Derek Hanson for holding my hand through out the process.

I am really excited because as CEO, I need to be intimately familiar with our platform and this gives me the ability to really achieve that. I actually think I am going to launch another blog in due time.

On another note, in additon to moving my blog here I have also begun the process of becoming a full time CEO of Bloguin. Since I joined the team in April, we accomplished quite a bit that I'll share with you in the days and weeks to come. We've added blogs, significantly improved our monetization, streamlined some processes, and have a lot of exciting things in the works. It's been exhausting doing a lot of this in a part time role, but we're now at a place where having me full time is not only justified but probably necessary.

Below is what you get when do a Google Image search on CEO. I have decided that I will dress like this and gaze out into the distance every day in hopes it will get Bloguin to the next level. I think its a good plan.

I am going to increase the blogging here on out. Tomorrow I got some good stuff on tap as I am extremely bullish on Sports 2.0 with news of recent events (AOL acquiring MMA blog, FanIq funding, NBC buys PFT, some news at Watercooler, Open Sports and Fox partnership, etc).

Thanks for your patience with the slow posting and some smallish issues while I get everything setup here.

 

 

Entourage is one of my favorite shows, but for many its grown a little stale. Its different, its funny, the characters are great as is the dialogue, but many seasons and episodes just seem to be the same old stuff.

Below is great video from College Humor that touches on this and of late some of my peers and this overly disgruntled NTY writer have expresses similar gripes with the show.

I flipped the channel to ESPN a little while ago only to be informed that one of my favorite NFL players athletes of all time had been murdered today. It's not clear who shot Steve McNair and why (although there are a lot of rumors and theories), but regardless its a very sad day for NFL fans who watched his tremendous career unfold.

 

 

In 1999 as the 49ers were descending from powerhouse to organization in chaos, I decided to adopt a second team for the year along with my best friend (Cowboys fan also disappointed in paradise lost status). That night the Titans unveiled their new uniforms and both of us decided to keep interest in NFL football we would preemptively adopt the Titans before the season ended. We went far enough to buy jerseys. He took Eddy George, which I was initially jealous of, and I took McNair. In the weeks to come as the Titans started winning others in our group of friends started buying Titans jerseys (you must realize the niners went 4-12 that year). There was a Kevin Dyson jersey, Jevon Kearse, and even a Frank Wychek jersey that filled out our lame entourage.This all pre dates digital camera usage which is disappointing. The team we randomly picked was amazing to watch and seemed to have a close game every week. The playoffs brought on some of the most amazing football I have ever watched, with McNair willing the Titans to the Super Bowl where they found themselves losing 16-0. McNair rallied them all the way back to 16-16 and when they went down again by a TD, McNair drove them on the final drive all the way to 1 yard line when time ran out.

It was an incredible year, and the first of many for McNair who year in and year out left it all out in the field. The stakes were always with McNair, the surrounding talent modest at best, and the games were almost always close. His career was a decade full of epic games, gritty performances, and memorable finishes. He hung up the cleats in 2007 and today he passed way. Rather then go on about how much I loved watching him play, I'll sign off with some screenshots across the blogosphere of what others are saying about one of the game's truest warriors.

About a year ago, I learned that the classic movie Point Break has been transitioned into a play. I literally freaked out and without doing research, bought 5 tickets to see the next upcoming show.  I didn't verify that people were coming, I just knew that this could be in fact the most awesome thing ever and wanted to move fast to ensure I got tickets. Well for starters the show rarely sells out so I may have jumped the gun. Secondly my lame ass friends didn't want to go (cash flow problems, travel distance to SF, other plans/Nazi girlfriends, general lameness) While I have talked about the play on my blog before, recently I learned that its last showing in SF is tonight. With my back up agaisnt the wall, I fought the good campaign again and in a couple hours this is what I'll be seeing;

I can't tell you how stoked I am. Hopefully someone I am going with will try out for Johnny Utah (fellow OSU alumni), or I might have to become the first Jewish Chinese Utah. For those of you who have not checked out this great flick, seriously I question your upbringing. This movie was on every channel all the time in the late nineties and early 2000's. Here is what you are missing.

More and more, I've found myself being a connoisseur of online advertising. This industry has yet to really settle into a groove or system of structure like print, radio, outdoor, and television. Below are some ad campaigns I came across that I was really impressed by. Let's start with a very basic rich media display ad unit that was on espn.com yesterday.

Advertisers are all about engagement.....basically any interaction with an advertising campaign. All of the pen on this dude's face was drawn by me. It took me about 10 minutes. How many advertising units do you play with for 10 minutes?  While I have not purchased a Whopper because of it, I vividly know that this ad was from Burger King because of the engagement with the ad unit. How many online ads to you remember on a weekly basis?

The ad was fun as the guy moves while you draw in him, mimicking real life. There was a day and age where people passing out and getting drawn on was almost a third tier hobby for me. Those days are long gone and this was kind of a nostalgic momenet for me.

Now for one of the awesomer things I have seen in online advertising.

This Twitter acount, full of ridiculous Tweets, links back to Vegas.com douchebag microsite that includes awesome content like this:

"Take the Douchebag Quiz to figure out if you can cut it as a Vegas Douchebag:

1. Do you know where to get the best spray-on tan?
2. Do you like to show off your nipple ring in public?
3. Do you know the difference between beer and malt liquor?
4. Do you wear your chain inside or outside your shirt?
5. Do you own more than 5 different trucker hats?

If you answered "fo sho" to any of the above questions, you may have what it takes to be a true Vegas Douchebag." Besides the quiz, you can also get discounts on hotels and other travel expenses by using the promotion code "douchebag" in addition to a douchebag photo contest.

Here is my take on this advertising. 25% of people will absolutely love this ad campaign. 65% will be indifferent to it. 10% will be really offended by it. In the scheme of things that 10% is pretty unlikely in my opinion to find the vegas douchebag twitter page and microsite. However the 25% of people who will get a kick out of this campaign have a better then normal chance of seeing this campaign, due to its viral nature. Plus there are great interactive features like quizzes, photo contests, and a promotion code that you're just dying to test out. Overall this is really effective. Both are great campaigns aimed at demographic that doesn't take life as seriously as older generations. We watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report for our news, enjoy in poking fun of society in shows like Family Guy and South Park, live vicariously through Rob and Big/Fantasy Factory and Entourage, and generally are receptive to content that mocks a worthy target. Both these campaigns pander to us in that regard and are extremely effective because of it. These are the kind of ads I want to see across Bloguin, so if you're out there be sure to drop me an email....

US soccer has ebbed and flowed over the last 15 years. The 94 world cup was a huge step forward but 98 was a huge step back. 2002 was very encouraging, but 2006 was yet again another big buzz kill. Today the US National team had a tremendous opportunity to focus the attention of the Sport's world on US soccer. While that doesn't sound overly impressive, accomplishing that in a non World Cup year would have monumental with the biggest showcase of soccer only a year away. For those who missed out, the US' road to the championship game against Brazil was unimaginable. Their advancement to the second round of the tournament was borderline miracle (requiring a 3-0 AND a 0-3 loss in another game). The win against Spain was one of the most unanticipated and sheer awesome wins for US soccer ever.

Then it boiled down to today against Brazil. I was expecting maybe a 2-1 or 3-1 loss but was shocked to find the US up early 1-0 on a pretty nifty goal by Jack Dempsey. In one of the prettiest goals I've ever seen in a big game for the US, Landon Donovan made it 2-0, a lead that the US took into halftime. Brazil attacked relentlessly after the Donovan goal and quickly halved the lead 2-1 in the opening minute of the second half. The attack never wavered for Brazil and when the smoke cleared they came back to win 3-2, despite some great goal keeping from Tim Howard and inspired play by the US. It was extremely deflating to watch and a loss that has stymied my mood on a lovely Sunday. With that in mind, I'd like to submit Freddy Adu as a logical scape goat.

While the US defense and the coaches' decision to not make any substitutions before Brazil's second goal are attractive options, I'll go with Freddy, a guy who didn't even make the US team for this tournament. I know he is only 20 years old and was not even in the same continent where the game took place, but still Freddy Adu is infinitely more over hyped then Danika Patrick, Gray's Anatomy, and Pizza Hut's Pizzone. I heard about Adu when I was a Sophomore in college nearly 7 years ago. "Soccer Savior", "The Prodigy", "The Chosen One", were all titles and magazine covers that were bestowed on him. In recent memory, only  Lebron James, The Dark Knight, and the Iphone have received as much hype as Adu. Those things all kick ass. Adu does not. These are stats per wikipedia below. As you can see its a tossup between Adu and Numa Numa guy on who scored last.

I am being super snarky and harsh on Adu, but in the back of my mind I just don't understand why Adu was crowned as America's Pele and why he got that crown at the age of 14?

I mean I was not crowned the World's Greatest Jew at my Bar Mitzvah. It took YEARS of hardwork, dedication, and success before my peers gave me that distinction/my friend Jannai bought it as a graduation gift for me.......from high school.

The US played a great game today and almost raised interest and excitement for US soccer to a ferverish pitch, a nice appetizer to next year's world cup. Instead they were just a tad shy of getting over the hump.

We were simply outgunned. If we had a "soccer savior", maybe we wouldn't have been. However that player doesn't exist and I can't help but think of that guy who wear's that crown and the morons who decided to put it on him.

Obviously it's not Adu's fault, but I just can't help myself from thinking that there are a bunch of snake oil salesman out there who sold him as "The Gretzky of Soccer".

Time will tell if the US rallies for a nice showing in the 2010 World Cup and if Adu can begin to live up to the ridiculous expectations that were put on him. Regardless, US soccer is progressing and is closing in on the monumental win we've been trying to will to happen for decades. Selling us on that its going to happen overnight and via one "magical" player, doesn't make it get here any quicker.

 

My blog is going to go under some construction shortly. This could be the last post before that process starts. If so, it's a good way to go out. Came across this today on Bucknuts via Hot Clicks. This is seriously one of the funniest personalities I've ever seen on TV....and he's a football coach. I would NEVER get sick of this guy. It almost seems like an outrageous character  straight out of a movie like Earnest Worrell, Ace Ventura, or Ron Burgundy. Regardless its awesome. Enjoy!

This is the wost part of the year. Just baseball and whatever is on tv and right now there aint much to watch on tv.  In my entire lifetime I cannot recall a time of the year that had this little to watch on television. Law And Order is suddenly in play again. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as I just saw a promo for the new season of Entourage. I feel like of late, the show has platued off as the plots/writing seem to fall into recognizable patterns. Regardless of the stagnation of plot quality, the characters, themes, and dialogue remains awesome.

Below is NSFW compilation of Ari in season 5. I'd like to think every ambitious hard working individual has a little Ari Gold in them, waiting to come out.

Ari SEASON 5...NSFW.....Classic Ari= lots of swearing

Can't wait. Like a fine wine, Jeremy Piven gets better with age.

Behold the glory of minor league baseball player Josh Womack. No commentary needed, just the awesomness of Youtube in all its glory.

Although I've been beaten to the punch and already posted an interview with Kyle on the site yesterday, it wouldn't be right of me to not writeup the great experience I had at Blogs With Balls over the weekend.

When I first heard about the conference in mid March, I envisioned this being a great stepping stone for the greater Sports 2.0 ecosystem. Twice, BlogWorld had tried to do what BWB set out to do and had fallen short of being an all inclusive and entertaining state of the union/think tank/ social mixer of the sports blogosphere. SB Nation tried in 2007 with Yardbarker and NFL Grid Iron Gab taking over the sponsorship at Blogworld in 2008. For whatever reason, the BlogWorld sport's track just didn't seem to live up to its potential despite a lot of resources from the leaders within the industry. "In the future it would be nice to see more folks from the sports blogosphere out there. Among the sports blogging networks, only Yardbarker had a presence and that’s because they sponsored the entire track. Thank goodness for them; otherwise there might not have been anything for the few bloggers in our sector who made it to the convention." That being said, I was very bullish on BWB to really get some momentum, communication, and camaraderie within this small world we all love and participate in. The name alone was an indication that this conference was for sports bloggers and put on by sports bloggers opposed to a niche side attraction at a larger corporate convention.

Three event organizers: Don Povia, Kyle Bunch, and Chris Lucas

When the dust settled from this great event, I was grinning ear to ear the most optimistic I've ever been about Sports 2.0, Bloguin, and my place within the industry. While I thought this was going to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things, it was much more then that. At the risk of sounding corny, it was truly a turning point for an industry that desperately  needed an event like this for both the internal and external validation that its relevancy, commercial viability, and momentum will truly change how sports are covered, discussed, and celebrated. Below are more specifics Good Problems to Have: Why not start with the negatives first? The venue was too packed, there were too many good speakers I wanted to hear more from, and there was a loud of chatter with people networking/schmoozing in a small area that was distracting at times. These are more indication that the event was more successful then could have ever been anticipated. The Opening From SI's Peter King: After some technical difficulties, this was a great way to get the ball rolling. It was short, concise, and entertaining. Not overly awesome, but a great sign that there are some big names in MSM who enjoy what we're doing.

The Welcome from Pete at Yardbarker:

 

It was great to see Pete kickoff the event. I had the first 30 seconds of this opening, but sometimes shit happens. Overall a good open and one that set the stage for a great day. The Panels: I actually started writing reviews along with pictures I took of all the panels. Then I realized that if these are going to be up on blogswithballs.com later on this week, you should just check them out in full there and draw your own opinions. 3-4 of the panels I watched with the same level of intrigue and intensity was I do a OSU football game. There were a couple panels that were less stellar but still very high quality. In the end BWB had great speakers and topics which generated a lot of constructive discussions about sports, social media, etc. Below are some shots of my favorite panels of the day. Power in Numbers- Content Networks   (Adam Best- Fan Sided, Jarret Meyer- Uproxx, Dan Kelley- Bleacher Report, Jim Bankoff-SB Nation, Pete- Yardbarker)

Make the leap- Making it your Job  (Greg Wyshynski- Puck Daddy Yahoo Sports, Jason McIntyre- The Big Lead, John Ness-NBC Local, Matt Cerrone-metsblog.com, Spencer Hall-EDSBS) Spencer is freaking hilarious and I was honored that he came and found me before I was able to stalk him down. Puck Daddy also lived up to his hype and then some.

Random Highlights -"You're the Michael Arrington of Sports 2.0" from a very well accomplished person within our industry. - Sarah Spain bumped into me and said "I'm sorry". Yeah no apology needed Ms. Spain.... I really wanted to chat up Sarah at some point just to knock it off the bucket list, but an opportune time never came up. For now this will do. - There were a handful of people I was really looking forward to tracking down and introducing myself to. In many cases these people found me first and said some very flattering things about me, my work at yardbarker, benkoo.com, and Bloguin's future. The feeling was on par to the last 2 minutes of a Full House Episode except it would have not been appropriate to culminate these great moments with hugs. - BWB will live in on in Ocotber in Vegas at the greater BlogWorld Convention. BlogWorld rocked last year and I've seriously already booked my flight to this year's event. BlogWorld +BWB is the most potent combination since Ibanez and steroids :) (hoping that gets me on OTL). - Meeting so many great people doing some great things. From the New Media Director at the MLS whose card I can't find and am pulling my hair out because she was awesome, Chris Mottram and Trei Brundrett from SB Nation, the guys from Blogstand Media, the writers at Spurs Report Project Spurs and Storming The Floor, and of course my two fellow comrades at Bloguin (Dave and Derek).  I am leaving off a bunch of people but with so many free drinks and great new contacts its hard to list off everyone.

In Closing: The event was a huge success. It was fun, insightful, entertaining, and connected a whole hell of a lot of people that share a similar passion and vision. The topics were stimulating, the speakers were diverse and compelling, and the convention installed a sense of camaraderie and confidence amongst the attendees. The fact that so many big name players outside of our niche (GQ, Sportscenter, SI,Vayner Media) all got involved in some capacity was even further validation of what we've accomplished as well as the trajectory we are on. Pete was right on the money when saying that we are really changing the way sports are covered and that 5 years from now we'll look back the inaugural BWB and recall some the great voices that helped bring about a whirlwind of change. Hopefully as Bloguin continues to grow/dominate the world, I'll continue to have a role in that.