An editor from the PI must read my blog
I saw that there was a story written today in the Seattle PI called, “What defines a sport? Like a ping-pong match, the debate goes back and forth.” Thought it was funny that my most commented on post as of late was about computer gaming being carried on ESPN. Well the comments have turned into a debate as to what a sport is, or is not. Seeing that my readers couldn’t answer this question, David Andriesen decided to do some research and write a feature piece on the subject.*
It’s a fairly long article, but I guess any item written on this subject will be. He basically created a checklist, as Aaron Vis did in an earlier comment, about what should be included in a sport. His checklist includes; objective scoring, mostly human power, direct head-to-head, requires physical strength, and employs a ball. He doesn’t say that all sports need to meet all five criteria, but that it’s a good point to start the debate.
The only six sports to match all five criteria are baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, and tennis. What do you think, are those the six most sport like competitions because they meet the most items on this list? Where is the cutoff? Would meeting three of these criteria be enough to constitute a sport? Four? One?
After the jump the checklist, but I’d recommend reading the entire article and weighing with your opinion some more.
*probably not true
I got more than double billed…and I’m not even mad.
So this morning my hosting company Dreamhost sent me an email saying that they had billed me for the next year of web hosting, plus updating some domain names, and that my credit card had been billed. Well, I was at work so didn’t look into it much, but I thought I had been billed a few months ago and that I wasn’t due to pay for the service again for another nine month. Well a few hours later I found out I was right.
Dreamhost sent out an email, posted a blog entry, and many other blogs started writing about the mixup. The billing team at Dreamhost has taken a very non-chalant tone in all of their customer contact pieces, and they continued this tone, even in a HUGE mixup that they made. They actually billed $7.5M to customers today, which isn’t bad for a single day of billing I guess.
The honesty and humor was a perfect mix of being up front as well as keeping their same tone to keep me feeling good about hosting my domains with Dreamhost. A great company who I highly recommend… unless they triple bill you.
For a good reach check out their blog entry addressing the issue: Dreamhost Blog- “Um, Whoops”
Cloverfield is awesome.
Yea, I just got back from seeing an early screening of Cloverfield, which comes out this weekend. I won’t say much about it as I don’t like ruining plots or surprises. It was one of the best, most entertaining movies I have seen in awhile.
Since this movie is shrouded in mystery, I will leave it at this…
GO SEE CLOVERFIELD! (If you like exciting movies.)
Gaming, a sport?
A few weeks ago when I was bowling with some friends we got into the discussion of what constitutes a sport. I wont’ go into it all right now, but I would say that bowling is definitely a sport. Now the question to ask is, is computer gaming a sport?
Major League Gaming now has an agreement with ESPN that will provide content for ESPN.com which will also include online video of various events and matches. ESPN includes bowling, billiards, darts, poker, and a bunch of other non-mainstream sports, but how far are they going to push it. Personally I would say that neither poker nor online gaming are sports, but they are competitions and for that ESPN is choosing to carry them on their network.
So, in your opinion, does this partnership make sense? Should ESPN carry Major League Gaming events on their website for now? Will it lead to them putting it on tv opposite Sunday football when they are desperate for a different target audience?
“Something in the air…”
But first, Netflix. Tonight (Sunday), Netflix has announced that starting tomorrow all their subscribers, except for their cheapest level, will be able to watch streaming movies online. Over 6,000 movies will be available by the time anyone reads this which is a first and major step in saving Netflix money and making membership to Netflix more important.
The obvious reason they are announcing this in a press release is to beat the thunder that Apple will be announcing tomorrow. Nobody knows exactly what Steve will be announcing on screen, but most people think that one of the minor announcements will be that you can rent movies through iTunes. Not a bad move, but if they only have one or two studios on board and Netflix has over 6,000 movies, well I think we know who the winner would be. However, if Apple were to announce some other new offerings to help people watch more movies through the iTunes rental store, it may put their limited selection in high demand.
The title of this post refers to the banners that have been hung outside of the Mac World Expo which begins tomorrow. The predictions for what it means are all over the place, from WiMax, to Slingbox, to computers that don’t need any cords for charging or connecting to other machines. My predictions are an ultra slim macbook (under 12 inches), an updated appleTV (maybe stream HD to your tv from your computer), updated cinema displays (with isghts built in), and for good measure lets hope that this MacBook Air is happening.
I doubt they will be announcing anything that I will be NEEDING, but who knows what my reaction will be once I see the new toys. Last years event almost sent me to the U Village Apple Store during my lunch break…if only the iPhone had have been available that day, I would have been $500 poorer.
Any guesses what will be announced today?
Jawbone, pulls a sweet PR move
Jawbone, is representing at CES with a booth, and not only that, they are using up some of their new money on an amazing PR move. Jawbone, is accepting any other phone headset as a trade-in for their amazing headsets. I have one and LOVE it. It has made using a bluetooth headset bearable and actually very enjoyable.
This move puts the amazing headsets in the right ears as CES is mostly attended by bloggers and reports, so therefor the loss leader will quickly turn into alot of written words about how peoples lives have been changed since they started using their free Jawbone headset.
H&M coming to Seattle
The affordably priced fashion apparel company (known commonly as H&M) has announced that they are coming to Seattle within the year…and coming in force. H&M has announced that they will be opening three stores in the greater Seattle area (U Village, Downtown, and Southcenter which is just outside of the city limits). You’d think a fan of the company would be happy about this announcement, right?
I’m actually a little disappointed in the move, and very rapid expansion to Seattle. One of the great things about H&M is how exclusive their stores have been here in the Northwest. When you went to New York or a few other fashionable cities (Vancouver included recently) you could pick up some fashionable clothes for a very good price, yet still be trendy back here in Seattle, as nobody else had the same clothes here.
The fact that they’re bringing three stores to Seattle makes me wonder about the expansion of the company. I know I’m not paid to research this stuff, but wow, this seams like it could lead to some heavy over-saturation.
Seattle PI Story
About Otis
I live in Seattle, Washington. I am passionate about working with and interacting with others. My work experience includes marketing, account management, and sales.
I am a huge sports fan who on top of cheering for my favorite teams (Go Beavs!) also appreciates coaching strategy, as well as the marketing behind teams, players, and events.
Personally, I enjoys exploring new cities and areas (particularly small towns) and getting outside and playing.