sports

Has anyone else noticed that my beloved cleveland cavaliers have the second best record in the east (though they would be 5th if the playoffs started today)? yes, the east is lousy. yes, they were first not long ago. no, they’re not playing up to their potential. but give them a break. this is what i don’t get about northeast ohio: we hang on to every browns victory as if it were the superbowl, yet we criticize the one good team the city has. the plain dealer had an article this weekend comparing the cavs to the browns, and mike brown to romeo crennel, come on. you can’t compare a playoff team to a laughing stock. i don’t think mike brown is an excellent coach. i think he does what too many of the other cavs do… watch lebron and get lethargic unless you really have to care (ie LeBron is out of the lineup). i do think the cavs would be great if they had an amazing coach (think Don Nelson) but romeo crennel is a joke, the browns were a joke, and the cavs don’t deserve that comparison.

I think this may have been the worst week yet on the daily j.d.a. - I’m sorry and I’ll gladly refund your money. I’ve been sick this week but I really just didn’t care about blogging this week… but I still did it. Part of the reason I haven’t really cared is because I’m focused on a lot of other things right now, including the Buckeyes:

Is anyone really surprised by ESPN Mobile’s failure?? Think about it, to whom was this targeted? A very small niche to be sure. You might say that it is targeted to men - a very large niche, but you can’t just target men when it comes to mobile phones. Lets take me for example, I use Sprint my girlfriend uses Sprint therefore we get to call each other anytime without any effect to either plan. If I switched to ESPN mobile.. no such luck. So, unless you can get the female to switch to a new network that allows free calling to ESPN the male won’t switch either.

I’ve been in this relationship for over 4 years so maybe the target is men that are not married or in serious relationships - the niche gets smaller, it becomes single guys. It feels like a long time since I could call myself a truly single guy but I think I remember the things I did back then - most of which did not involve surfing the internet on my cell phone. More importantly I look at my friends that are about my age and single, and I don’t see them surfing the web on their phones. Most of the time they are at work (where they have computers), at their apartments (where they have computers), or out with their friends (and if there’s an important enough sporting event, they are at bars, where ESPN is on TV). So when, would these guys enjoy mobile ESPN? I suppose the ones that don’t have to drive to work could enjoy it when they are on their walk or ride to work, but is that enough to justify the switch?? Most Americans don’t use the mobile internet or really even know about it, and some that have find the experience very limiting.

Now the niche again gets limited to single guys that love sports and use the internet on their phones. That’s pretty small but maybe there are some that would go for it. But there’s one more qualification: they have to be in the market for a new phone and new provider. Most everyone I know gets sucked in to a two year contract, myself included, so I’m not really looking for a new provider just because a new provider came out.

The niche keeps getting smaller and I haven’t really gotten to the worst flaw. What does ESPN know about being a mobile provider?? If I’m in that group that is in the market for a “new” provider I’m going to go with one that I know I can rely on. I’m going to chose the provider with the best service - what does anyone know about ESPN mobile in terms of service?? Nothing.

So now we have a complete look at who the typical Mobile ESPN niche customer was:

• A sports fan that
• uses the mobile internet
• Is in the market for a new phone
• Is most likely single, and
• Is willing to take a chance on an unproven network

And somehow it failed.

My side project SportsNoise has come to an end - at least for now. I plan to bring it back in football season when my writers will once again care. The writers that I had chosen for their baseball knowledge were removed for other reasons, so without any baseball posts, the summer was very slow. Football season will be better - I hope. I may need a new mix of writers but that’s okay. I really enjoyed it while it was working, but I need a little time to fix it.

I just launched my newest web creation called Sports Noise. I did the design / WP set-up, and came up with the concept.

Here’s the gist:

• 7 writers
• I know all of them, but they don’t know each other
• They blog about sports, and debate each other
• They remain anonymous to keep their posts honest and unbiased

Am I one of the writers? I can’t tell you.

It’s only a few posts in, but I’m already loving what I see.