It Gets Better...

Yesterday I included a link about the girl who was attacked by a hawk at Fenway Park. Now it's being considered an omen.

Read this to learn why!

The Dangers of Fenway Park

It looks like there is more to fear at Fenway than just a foul ball to the head!

Jumping on the Bandwagon?

I don't usually blog much about the Celtics. I love all sports, but as the blog accurately reflects, I am much bigger Pats and Sox fan than any other. But I have found, as I have been writing my final on Celticsblog.com, that I'm finding the game fascinating.

I have never been sold on the actual game of basketball and the constant whistle blowing is something that has always turned me off. Oops- you touched him, stop the game and get to the line. YAWN. And then we have the opposite effect- the superstar effect. I have always said that watching a regular season basketball game is like watching the All-Star game every night. One or two superstars on each team which results in big dunks and not much teamwork.

Well, I think I may be wrong. I don't say that often so bare with me, but I'm starting to enjoy the game more and more.

When you don't follow a certain sport and then your city's team gets good, many hop on the bandwagon. I detest pink Pats jerseys worn by people who know nothing about the team beside their record , so am I starting to see a Celtics bandwagon fan when I look in the mirror?

Nah. I'm not really a fan, but I am enjoying watching this team. I have seen things like teamwork, aggressiveness and pure athleticism that I claimed didn't exist anymore in the NBA.

The Celts are back and the city is wearing green, and not just on March 17th. It's a good feeling, even for me. The Celtics won again tonight and tied NBA history. I like it. Will I watch the next game, probably not, but I will check the post game recap and see how the boys in green played. Is this where my trek to Celtics fan begins? I'm not sure. Am I a fan? Nope. Am I interested? Definitely.

Newstrust

Want to know about and read news stories that other people find interesting, relevant or educational? Check out Newstrust.net, a site that allows users to share stories and rate them.

Newstrust “provides quality news feeds, news literacy tools and a trust network to help citizens make informed decisions about democracy,” according to its Web site.

The idea is for readers to point out good and bad examples of journalism and articles. They will then rate the stories accordingly. I tend to be critical, I mean, do people really even know what they're talking about? Will people just mess with the system? The cynicism is something to keep in mind because trust isn't always foolproof, but as a general rule it tends to work. For every funny guy messing with the system there is usually ten others that want to see the site work. People seem to really like the site, but is it something that would appeal to me?

The first thing that I did when I took my first look around the site was to search for sports related articles. Let’s just say the site didn’t have much to offer. As a whole, I really liked the Web site. Its layout is easy to follow and the main premise is pretty simple. But no sports news?

There is one easy solution. Contribute! If you don’t see something that would interest you on the site, then there are probably others that are missing it too. So it’s simple enough, but here is the problem, I don’t think that I would ever contribute to a site like this and it’s not because I don’t care. I’m just not one to comment at least in public way. I may come to the site and read the articles, but I don’t think I would often rate anything. I’m not a lazy person; on the contrary, I’m a busy person. I’m the type that likes to read something and move on. If I find it extraordinarily moving, perhaps I would pass it on to a friend, but that’s all I would really do.

I’m trying hard for this not to be negative, I just honestly don’t think that at least in this part of my life, that I would ever be too actively involved in a site like this. When I read news online I rarely if ever comment so I don’t think I would ever go to this site for the sole purpose on rating a story. But I’m open to the idea and of the many sites that have this concept; I think Newstrust is going in the most productive direction. This week the creator if Newstrust is coming into our class to give us the in-depth run through and I’m excited to see what he has to say. Can he turn me into a user?

X-treme Sports

I have never really followed what are considered "X-treme Sports" like snowboarding, moto-cross racing, BMX , skateboarding and the rest. But when they are on TV there is something about them which results in me not being able to change the channel.

Well the Snowboarding U.S. Open was held in this weekend in my home state of Vermont so I checked out the coverage.

EXPN.com covered the competition and featured a photo gallery with some amazing photographs. The clarity and resolution is crystal clear and the black background makes the colors pop.

I wish there were a few more photographs, but the ones they have, I personally think are really impressive. Plus, it's nice to see home sweet home as well.

A Quiz You Might Actually Want to Take

I'm not a big fan of quizzes or tests. I mean, who is? But do enjoy fun sports quizzes where the outcome doesn't really matter and you learn something.

A lot of news/sports media organizations use polls to visualize reader opinion, but not a lot use quizzes. I have encountered some, but if I knew there was a weekly quiz on Boston.com or BostonHerald.com that tested my smarts on a certain sports subject, I would be sure to take it.

A sports quiz might be a great way to draw in readers and make an article or feature interactive. What if there was a prize or a reader hall of fame based on points? People would sign up and compete each week, answering questions and logging points. At the end of a certain amount of time, the participants with the top 5 scores win tickets to a local game. Something like that would be great.

I'm not an expert, but I know you would have to figure out the kinks. But some kind of game/contest would a great addition and a way to draw readers to your Web site. Better yet? Do it in the newspaper, but advertise it online, potentially bring online readers to buy the paper on the day the contest is run. Sounds far fetched? Well, everyone loves trivia and some may go a long way for bragging rights and tickets to a Celts game.

Check out a quiz I made. Kinda cool and not too hard!

It's Official: Bracket Busted

I picked Tennessee.

That's all.