Grin & Grumble

There are so many marginal sports in the Olympics. Gymnastics, decathlon, basketball, boxing. Then there’s a real sport, women’s beach volleyball. It’s the best sport out there.

Top 10 reasons why women’s beach volleyball rocks:

1. It’s a spectator sport.
2. You don’t even need a real beach.
3. It’s a team sport with a clear individual component.
4. It’s an opportunity for tall women who despise playing basketball.
5. It has its own hand signals.
6. The uniforms must be cheap.
7. It doesn’t require a lot of equipment.
8. It’s good exercise.
9. The matches aren’t too long or too short.
10. You get to wear sunglasses.

Woman’s beach volleyball. A true Olympic sport.

Photo courtesy of jimmytoering.

It’s kind of old news, but the home-run hitter for the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez, was finally traded. Long overdue.

There’s no taking away Manny’s natural ability to drive the ball. He’s a gifted hitter with tremendous power. His work in left field? Like he was “in left field.”

Manny’s work ethic was terrible. He was a mediocre fielder because he didn’t try. He’d rather be in the Green Monster’s maintenance room talking on his cell phone than trying to prevent a single from becoming a double. He’d never run out a ground ball to first. He would defend his laziness with the excuse that he had didn’t want to get injured by going all out.

Someone–fan, media member, fellow player–coined the phrase “Manny being Manny” one year when Manny started his annual complaining. To me, it meant Manny acted like an idiot because he was allowed to act like an idiot. All those around him rolled their eyes and just waited for his selfish moment of the day to pass, realizing that when it did, his bat would deliver the home runs.

Not surprisingly, Boston fans loved Manny when he was being mildly odd and hitting home runs. The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy called Manny a hitting savant. It seems appropriate. His hitting skills are just so far beyond the rest of his persona. Several weeks ago, however, when Manny suddenly had a knee injury that prevented him from playing, Boston had had enough. Management, tired of his mouth and his knack for shutting it down whenever he was unhappy, traded him to Los Angeles.

Watching Manny over several years, I realized that he’s the anti-role model. He’s such a good hitter that I often thought the ball coming off his bat was a foul, only to see it would end up fair and in the bleachers. Natural talent. Yet, with that talent came no inclination to put in the work. Dogging it down first base line when he knew he’d be thrown out. Such action was inexcusable when I played high school baseball. You’d find yourself doing extra conditioning drills or even worse, sitting on the bench, if you didn’t run hard.

Imagine if Manny did work hard. He’s regularly an all star and already has a reservation at the hall of fame. (It’s all about home runs and batting averages. The fact that Manny is bad in left field doesn’t matter. To be renowned in baseball you have to be a hitter no matter how good you are at your position.) If he worked hard, Manny could be a multidimensional force.

Now he’s off in LA. Hitting the crap out of the ball. For now.

I think I’ll ease into the whole controversial post thing with this topic.

I’ve seen a few episodes of the show “Tougher in Alaska.” It’s a bit quirky, but I like it. It’s about a guy who goes around Alaska and helps residents do jobs that are, well, tougher in Alaska.

The show I watched inadvertently showed two sides of government. It made me think that what we like in politics is really what we expect from government. Although the show is not political, this episode showed two conflicting political viewpoints.

The entire show had the host working with Alaskan State Troopers. I watched as they visited a guy who lives 32 miles away from the closest neighbor. The trooper and host got to the guy’s house by snowmobile. The last time the trooper had visited, the owner greeted him with a shotgun. Hey, it’s the wild and he doesn’t get a lot of visitors. It was a more cordial greeting this time around, but the graphics and voice over indicated that in the lower 48 states, there is one gun per person. In Alaska, there are 3.5 guns per person. My inference is that guns are not difficult to own up north. The government is not heavily involved in gun control. Small government.

Another segment brought several officers to a seemingly remote village populated by native Alaskans. The municipality had voted to ban alcohol entirely from the village because of the high rate of alcoholism within the village. The troopers were acting on warrant for a man who, while on probation, drank. Big government.

Few rules or many? Big government or small? Does government have to be consistent? Does a small government that grants freedom of speech also have to legalize gambling? Does a large government that offers health care to every citizen also have the ability to make half the cars stay off the roads on a certain day of the week?

What are your expectations?

Yes I’ll make a resolution
That I’ll never make another one
Just enjoy this ride on my trip around the sun
Just enjoy this ride.

-Jimmy Buffett, Trip Around the Sun

Here’s to another trip around the sun.

Photo courtesy of cygnus921.

Nothing earth-shattering here (as if you were expecting it ), but the other night as I was using my Ipod, I realized what a great gadget the Ipod is.

A longtime lover of music, I used to make mixes on tapes like so many of us did. However, I was very particular about mine. I wanted all the sound levels to be the same so I’d make sure I didn’t use poorly-recorded songs with well-recorded songs. I hated having to turn the volume up or down when listening to a mix.

I remember one mix that I was making from records. The records didn’t indicate how long each song was. Because I didn’t want to go over 30 minutes (each side of the cassette would hold 30 minutes of tunes), I timed each song with my watch as I listened to them from the records. I think I the eventual mix had only a few seconds of silence on each side.

So, the Ipod is pretty darn neat. I have all my music on it and playlists (a.k.a. mixes) are easy to make. I can easily adjust the loudness of each song. And, I don’t have to worry about keeping the playlist to a certain length of time.

I’m on my second Ipod and got my first about four years ago. I’m not sure why I’m just writing about it now.

One thing I’d like to be able to do is to create a playlist on the go. I’d like to be listening to the Ipod and be able to create a list right there. Maybe that functionality would take away from the simplicity that makes Ipods so nice.

Photo courtesy of edvvc.

Earlier this week I paid for another year of hosting for Grin & Grumble. At the same time, I realized there was so much on my mind that never reached the screen of my blog. So, to that end, there will be a new series on Grin & Grumble. It will be called Politically Incorrect?

I think there is a bunch of hype, half-truths, and outright lies circulating in our society. Such bogus junk crosses political parties,  socioeconomic groups, and gender. I truly believe that to have an informed opinion you need to be, ah, well, informed. Informed. Not manipulated.

Maybe you’ll agree with some of my thoughts in this series. Maybe you won’t. I hope you’ll continue reading regardless. Perhaps you’ll learn something. If you choose to comment, and I hope you will, I know I’ll learn a lot. The question mark after Politically Incorrect? is there intentionally. I’d like to know if you feel the same way or different.

If my thoughts are so counter to your own beliefs that you stop reading, thanks for the time you’ve spent here and good luck. But why not disagree and add to the dialog? We’ll all become better informed.

It’s my blog and I’ll write what I want to.

You know it’s been a long week when even the spammers give you crap.

They’re a clever bunch!

No, you didn’t just wake up on the couch at 2 a.m. to find a ridiculously in-shape man on TV telling you how you can get in shape by taking a few pills.

As I get older, I find the spot on my body that is most likely to pack on pounds is my gut. Any semblance of the six-pack muscles that were there in my late teens seems to fade slowly despite aerobic exercise and crunches.

Then along comes the July issue of Men’s Journal. In it, there’s an article about cosmetic surgery for your abs, “Six-Pack Abs, Made To Order.” It discusses high-definition liposculpture. It’s a process that molds fat to the ab muscles and literally carves the six-pack definition.

Okay, I don’t have the $20,000 to get the procedure. But, if I did, would I? Every time I’d gaze down at my gut, I’d think it looks good. But, it wouldn’t be me. I would have bought the look.

Have any readers had cosmetic surgery? Is there ever an internal debate about natural vs. surgical or would it just be me?

Crunch. Crunch.

It’s tough to be good in one field, never mind two. And, even if you compete at the highest level in the first field, it doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily compete at that same level in the second. Sure, it happens. If we look toward professional sports, Neon Deion Sanders did it. He played both professional football and baseball. That’s no small accomplishment, but clearly the gridiron was kinder to him than the diamond. It’s just plain hard to play with the best in more than one pursuit.

While reading Joseph Jaffe’s new media book, Join the Conversation, I thought about this scenario. I first learned of Jaffe when I began to listen to his podcast Across the Sound (now Jaffe Juice) several years back. He and pro PR guy Steve Rubel discussed the emergence of new media marketing and its affect on traditional marketing. Then Rubel left the show and Jaffe tried various guest hosts until he eventually left well enough alone and dedicated himself to a solo show. And, in time, he nailed it. Never the same format twice, Across the Sound/Jaffe Juice showcases Jaffe’s wit, intelligence, and mastery of presentation. It’s an hour-long, free version of what major global companies pay him to do when they hire him to deliver keynote speeches. Jaffe is a gifted speaker who holds your attention with a combination of industry insight, creative zest, and irreverent humor. Think about it. How many people can talk to themselves for an hour and make it educating and entertaining?

So, by the time I began Join the Conversation, I had listened to hours of Jaffe discussing new media and marketing. I knew that Jaffe believes that the old days of brands talking to customers are over. Instead, as the books title says, effective marketers are engaging consumers in conversation. Consumers have the podium and can lavish a company with praise or slam them at will. New media provides the platform for conversation and it’s the smart company that welcomes customer involvement.

Jaffe maintains this premise through his book (and his podcast). But, the road is winding. You see, Jaffe has an ability when talking to make tangential side trips compelling. However, this nonlinear style doesn’t always serve him well in the print format. As an example, in chapter 6, “The New Consumerism,” Jaffe talks about Weight Watchers as part of building connections and community. I expected a case study on how Weight Watchers did or didn’t successfully use new media to build its brand, but it didn’t happen. Instead, Jaffe hops on a carriage road and discusses his own quest to lose weight and how he chronicled the endeavor through “fatblogging.” True to form, the author’s diversion is interesting, but only at the end does he briefly get back to Weight Watchers by suggesting the company should have been involved in his fatblogging movement. As a listener of Jaffe Juice, I’m used to this straying from the topic, but others may find the circuitous journey a bit choppy.

The fatblogging section also brings to mind the type of reader who will benefit most from this book. In order to understand many of Jaffe’s references, the reader should have a good understanding of social media. A lot of new media jargon is tossed around. When Jaffe talks about his weight, he contrasts it with his alter ego. “(Unlike my cut Second Life avatar, Divo Dapto!)” The parentheses are often used to deliver jokes. But, Second Life and avatars? If you don’t know about Linden Lab’s Second Life, you’ll miss the joke and part of the meat of the book. Don’t know what Technorati is? Certain sections won’t mean as much to you. Jakob Nielsen doesn’t ring a bell? You’re out of luck.

Where Jaffe shines is in his examples of companies who either missed the new media boat or, conversely, those who are sailing on a beam reach while chatting up customers. As discussed in an earlier post, the former group includes FedEx, Smirnoff, and NBC. The latter group boasts such brands as Sprint, Mentos, and Nike. Jaffe doesn’t shy away from calling a spade a spade when companies ignore their customers. From my little experiment with FedEx, Smirnoff, and NBC—none of which replied to my hayseed post—I think Jaffe’s criticisms are warranted. Thankfully, a few companies are engaging in conversation and the author clearly points out the initiatives that are working.

Jaffe’s book is thought provoking. I do, however, vehemently disagree with one point that bubbled to the surface in the foreword. Stan Rapp, chairman of ENGAUGE Associates, says that the Internet is the center of the universe. No, not even close. People are the core. The Internet is simply a medium with which people can converse. I suspect Joseph Jaffe would agree with me.

Interested in new media’s role in marketing? I recommend taking in a couple of podcasts of Across the Sound/Jaffe Juice. Get a feel for Jaffe in his natural element. He’s first rate. Once you’ve listened, you’ll better appreciate his second career path, writing.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of Join the Conversation with the promise that I would review the book. If you would like to read the book and would be willing to review it on a blog, please contact me and I will send my copy to you.

When I first tried Twitter, I wasn’t convinced of its value. After many months of using it and after reaching a milestone (I have over 100 “followers”–not many, but hey), I’m still not completely enamored with Twitter.

For those who don’t know, Twitter is considered a micro-blogging application. Twitter asks the question “What are you doing?” and you answer in 140 characters or less.

Perhaps it’s my problem. Twitter and I may be diametrically opposed. Close family members often wish I would tell them more about what I’m doing. Twitter expects me to tell complete strangers? Silly Twitter.

Yet, people use Twitter for more than just updating their every move. I guess that’s what I find interesting about it, the different ways people use it. Here are a few:

• Ask opinions about a topic
• Give opinions about a topic
• Promote something
• Share interesting web sites
• Joke with web friends
• Introduce people
• Provide commentary during a professional sports game

I will say that the last point is arguably my favorite. I like seeing some of the sites people recommend. And, I did get introduced to a local group of web people through Twitter. It does have some value.

Maybe Twitter is like most things. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Some people have thousands of followers. Others follow thousands. The more people you follow, the more Twitter updates you receive. Maybe it’s about volume. I hope my followers follow a lot of people, because if not, they’re starving for updates if they’re looking only to me. I read “tweets” more than I “twitter.” Poor bastards.

Twitter has a significant user base. It also has some stability issues. There’s talk that people will be leaving Twitter for Plurk. Plurk? No idea. But, I am signed up for it.

Do you use Twitter? Do you use Plurk? How do you use them?

Want to follow me? I won’t jam up your stream with updates by the hundreds. Promise.