Don't Mess With My Yo Yo

The state yo-yo championship is coming to San Francisco. $80 yo-yos? A yo-yo boom every seven years? According to SF Chronicle writer Steve Rubenstein, "TV contracts and corporate sponsors, are one reason yo-yo championships are held in museums instead of coliseums." Get real! It's been downhill since the spelling bee started appearing on ESPN. Shouldn't it appear on KQED? The spelling bee isn't a sport! Plus who wants to see a yo yo from the third deck?

Ultimate Sports News by SportsUltra.com

Imagine if you could pick out what you want to read, who you want to read about and by the publication who you want to read. What better way to track sports news, especially when baseball is expanding rosters and teams are keeping an eye on the waiver wire, team USA basketball gears up for the most successful run since the original Dream Team (or bitter disappointment), college football is buzzing with Michigan's disapointment and NFL teams are finalizing rosters.

The first step was taken by SportsUltra.com and they've done many things right. For example, I'm a big fan of A's baseball, Golden State Warriors basketball, 49ers football, San Jose Sharks hockey and a huge fan of the USC Trojans in football and to an extent in basketball. Once I've set up my settings, I am able to view my news all together or use a drop down menu to pick conference (or division in some cases), teams, players and even track past USC alumni. You can also pick out your favorite newspaper or sports news site like ESPN or Sports Illustrated and get all the Peter Gammons you want.

I'd like to see team schedules/tv listings and college football rankings added to the site but otherwise I can't complain. I'm sure since launching last week, they will make necessary adjustments to make the site more comprehensive in time.

In-game Ads - Cool or Unjust?

Ever hear about how film studios paid to display products during filming and then seen how the roles reversed with products like Coca-Cola paying for top dollar for the limelight. Well gamers have become the next target, except they think it's cool.

CNET News.com reported that "two-thirds of all men in television-owning households between the ages of 18 and 34, and 80 percent of those between 12 and 17--prime gamer demographics--have video game consoles in their homes," according to a Nielsen study released on Monday. But the bigger number is that U.S. households with televisions that also have video game consoles has risen from 38.6 million to 45.7 million homes over those two years. That's a huge audience and advertisters are taking note. But what's the reaction of gamers? Seeing billboards with Coca-Cola logos and other top brands makes the game seem more realistic and cooler.

While these guys may be more heavily focused on watching cartoons in between hours of gaming with buddies, I'm thinking, I should be paid everytime I'm forced to watch an ad on the game I paid $50-60 for.

One Good Idea: HD Internet

After last week's Churchill Club event, I wrote about my idea for HD Internet. Apparently, I wasn't the only one. Mark Cuban wrote how consumers want to be able to use their televisions as computers. Although you can already do this, I'm looking for the next generation, not just the capability. Although, just a consumerized interface for the capability would be nice.

But imagine if you could go to ESPN.com, pick out your favorite team's highlights and then watch it on your TV in HD, instead of a pixelated version when you want to watch it full screen on your monitor. Imagine if you could go to MTV Overdrive and watch a rerun of The Duel or your favorite new music video in HD. What about playing PC games on your TV and plugging a controller into the USB port of your HD flat screen instead of camping outside for the first release of Playstation 3, which you already know has bugs. Or imagine having NBA League Pass and being able to watch it on your couch instead of sitting at your desk or watching it on your laptop. I'd settler for getting rid of...buffering.

Can I claim copyright on this idea? Maybe I should follow in the steps of the Churchill Club panelists and hire some Stanford engineers to develop a prototype.

Time Inc Lay Offs

New York Times reported that Time Inc. let go 289 employees and also asked for voluntary resignations. This effected Time, People and Sports Illustrated. Will new online content really be the answer for hardcopy publications to generate new readers? Personally, I still like to get my thumbs dirty and read the hardcopy. I'm one of few new school people in public relations that still like some of the old school way of doing things.

Content like ESPN Insider doesn't really encourage me to go its site because I wouldn't I pay for rumormill stories. I could just wait a few hours for anything that is inevitable and also read blogs that report what was said on ESPN. Isn't that why we have blogs?

Online content should focus on video clips, reader reactions and indepth analysis that compliments the news in the print edition, not just online version of the print story. But I'm glad I don't have to pay when I'm researching reporters I plan on pitching. Ultimately, I don't know how newspapers will survive but while I'm riding BART, I'm glad I can read the paper.