Insanity or insatiability?

Once upon a time there will little, stocky bald guy whom it seemed couldn't get enough attention.

(No, I'm not talking about George Costanza, I'm talking about me, of course! But I digress.)

This guy ... OK, I ... bounced from one online venture to the next willy-nilly; never settling in one place too long and often leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.

First there was the defunct Sports Central, the online sports arm of the St. Albans Messenger. I wrote the business plan for that baby and it would have worked if it had been properly funded and staffed. SC lasted about two months before it was abandoned to die a slow, but nearly invisible death.

Next up was neksports.net

I worked there as a stringer for most of the fall of 2008. Great work, great people (especially Chris Preston and Eric Berry), but alas it wasn't to last. OK, to be fair, the website lasted, but I didn't. The budget was slashed and I was shown the door, but in a nice way. The website continues to exist, although with less emphasis on written game coverage and more on broadcasting over the web.

In February of 2009, I started onthesidelinesvt.com

I neglected it much of the year, but in December I began using it as a medium to share updates on my photo business and to rant and rave.

Then I moved on to Examiner.com

One of the reasons why OTS took a back seat was this good-looking website that provided a lot of flexibility, the ability for me to promote my photo biz and a promising business model. What it couldn't deliver was a lot of buck for my bang, if you get my unintentionally PG-13-rated drift. Still, my couple of months working for the site were well-recieved, if not profitable.

Next up on my online sojourn was a stop at coachesaid.com

This one was going to be the real deal. A great-looking site, tons of support, a great business model. They said within a year I'd be working full-time and hiring helpers. Less than two months later, I was laid off, but I was not alone. Vermont's site was dumped along with 37 others to cut costs. CA.com still exists and my articles are still posted, but the site has been in suspended animation since mid-May. When the plug was pulled, Vermont ranked 12th in hits out of the 50 state sites.

So at this point, what I have learned?

1. That I can draw readers to a site.

2. I can't make any money doing this.

3. Most online ventures I align myself with either close, scale back or kick me out within two months.

(In my own defense, I was one of the architects of vermontsportsimages.com - Vermont's top sports photo site - and my own photo site coldhollowphoto.com is profitable and growing, but these are different types of sites - in other words, sites that can and have made money!)

So why am writing about this?

Because I'm doing something Mamma told you never to do ... making the same mistake twice.

Yep, I've signed back on with Examiner.com

I know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

But this time I think I'm a little wiser and can take some of what I learned at my other online forays to improve my chances of success. (Of course, the first thing I'm doing is altering my definition of success to "satisfies my urge to be in print [or is it pixels] somewhere at all times.)

At any rate, OTS will continue to be updated. I'll still post my latest photo assignments, deliver the occasional rant and non-sports poll. And I'll also continue to use it share links to my Examiner work which will consist of columns, features, lists, polls and occasional game stories and slideshows.

Furthermore, if you (for God knows what reason?) want to know when I have posted something on any of my websites, you can follow me on Facebook or on Twitter (scorrow).

Poll: Should the media name kids suspended from athletics for breaking training rules?

In the interest of full disclosure, at one time I was a full-time employee of the Burlington Free Press sports department and I currently am a 'temporary part-time' employee there. That said, I have not worked there since last Thursday and have no direct knowledge of the details on the reporting of the following story.

On Tuesday, the Free Press published a short note naming three players who allegedly were suspended from a team for allegedly drinking at a party (I know that's a lot of alledgedlies, but that's the world we live in! Also, perhaps this story first broke on some other media outlet - I only learned about it a couple of hours ago while trolling the Freeps website for sports scores and checking out their Varsity Insider blog).

At any rate, naming high school athletes who break training rules (and/or the law) can be a difficult choice for a media editor, whether in print, over the air or on the web.

(I should know, I was the sports editor of the St. Albans Messenger for a lifetime one decade. But I digress.)

On one hand, these are kids and naming them is embarassing, if not humiliating. Do media outlets name kids who break laws/rules when they are honor students or in a school play? For an underage drinking citation? Unless there were extenuating circumstances, probably not. But that doesn't mean it's right or wrong.

That said, if a journalist is given a tip about a story like this, is there is some obligation on the media outlet to report on it? One could ask if it's the journalist's job and the media outlet's obligation to report any news, regardless of the age of the people involved or whether it is embarassing? One could also ask if the incident is 'public knowledge' within a school community and it is not reported upon, is the media outlet - and/or the reporter - running the risk of losing credibility as a trusted news source?

I'm going to refrain from passing any judgment on this situation and how it was handled. As I said before I have no insight into how the Freeps learned about this particular story or any other details whatsoever and without that information I can't offer an opinion. (Moreover, even if I did have that information, I could be ethically, if not legally, prohibited from discussing those details on my blog due to my work relationship with the Freeps and its reporters.)

Instead, I merely wonder what your thoughts are on the subject.

(Hopefully, I can't get in trouble for that!)

Please vote and if you have a stong opinion, please add your comments to this poll, as well. I'd like to know how people stand on this issue and why they feel the way they do.

This poll is limited to one vote per computer per hour to discourage ballot-stuffing, but this should allow for multiple people to vote from the same computer. The poll closes at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

My Tiger tale

I still like Tiger Woods.

There, I said it.

Let the clucking of tongues begin.

I know, he's a heel - and a dumbass, if you'll pardon my French - for what he did to his poor wife and kids.

But you know what? I don't care.

Or as 80s blues rocker George Thorogood once sang 'That don't confront me none.'

What do I care if he's so shallow and so twisted that he feels compelled to sleep with anything with humps? As long as he stays away from my wife and my daughter, he's good by me.

I don't need him to be a role model. I don't need him to be perfect. I don't need him to be anything other than what seems to be in his for-public-consumption personae - a great golfer and an oftimes charming chap.

What he does when the cameras are off and the golf clubs are in the trunk is none of my concern and should be none of our business.

But some folks - especially the media - can't get enough of it.

I understand the compulsion - I like car crashes with the best of y'all. But after 5 seconds I look away. I don't need pull the car over and grill the cops, the drivers and the witnesses for every detail. Other people's suffering simply isn't that 'amusing' - and I mean that in the strictest meaning of the word. Look it up.

I'm not judging, I'm just saying.

If you are entertained and amused by watching Tiger twist in the wind, have at it. It's open season. Drink your fill.

But I'm going to take a pass.

Not because I'm offended, per se. I just think it's a non story.

Some married guys - present company excluded, thank you very much - sleep around. So do some married women. It's a fact. But it's not news.

Don't misunderstand, it was news when Tiger crashed his SUV. Big news.

But after the cops failed to do anything about it, the rest of the story became a freakshow. And, to me, a bore.

Now if it turns out that Tiger did HGH, broke some law (and breaking a vow is not breaking the law) or if he goes postal due to the stress, then it's time to report on him again.

Until then, I think Tiger should be given the same treatment that people like A-Rod (an admitted cheater, vow-breaker and all-around shmuck) get - in other words, a free pass.

But that won't happen until Tiger speaks to the media.

The media will poke, probe, castigate and humiliate Tiger until he deigns to speak with them. Then, and only then, can his inevitable redemption begin.

Until then, here's a couple of videos that should remind you of why we liked the guy in the first place and why - once the media lets us - we'll embrace him again.

How can you hate the guy who does this ad?

His best ad ever.

Who can forget this shot?

And the guy can laugh at being a loser.

Gotta love 'The Guv'

Whatever your politics, you have to admit Vermont Governor Jim Douglas is a good man.

I've had several encounters with him as a member of the media and as the owner of my photography business and every time he has impressed as a true gentleman and willing to do all he can to make those who come in contact with him feel at ease, important and respected.

The first time I met The Guv was when the BFA-St. Albans boys and girls hockey teams were feted at the Statehouse, where a proclamation was read honoring them for winning state championships on successive days.

After the ceremony on the floor of the House, the teams were given a tour and met with The Guv in his office. He was presented with gifts, including a BFA jersey. Although he is from Middlebury, which lost to the BFA girls in the finals, he gamely donned the apparel and I snapped a few pics in my role as the then-Sports Editor of the St. Albans Messenger.

Over the years, our paths have crossed maybe a half-dozen times and each time I've left the encounter impressed with his gentle grace and indomitable enthusiasm for meeting with his constituents.

This trait is often mocked, but to suggest it's a facade is off the mark.

Saturday night was a perfect example.

I was hired to take photos - posed and candids - of the 100th anniversary of the Buffalo Soldiers first arrival at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester. The event coincided with the national convention of the group, which was founded 143 years ago.

The Guv, I later learned, thought the event would end around 8:30 p.m. (which is what I was told, as well.) Instead, it stretched to nearly 11 p.m.

The Guv, whose day started in Southern Vermont after leaving his house at around 6 a.m. - I'd tell you how I know this, but then I'd have to kill you - ended with his trip to the dinner honoring the memory of this illustrious group of black soldiers.

A lesser man would have been miffed (Howard Dean) or even thrown a fit of pique (Dean!), but not our Guv. He sat through the long dinner (attended by and mostly for the benefit of out-of-state [read non-voting] people) and at the last minute accepted an invitation to preside over the installation of the national group's newly-elected officers.

At one point  the head of the association - which held last year's national convention in Las Vegas and which will have next year's convention in Washington, D.C., - remarked that The Guv was the first head of a state to attend their function.

Finally, around 10:30, the event seemed ready to close.

But The Guv's night was not over.

While I'm sure another governor I encountered (the damnable Dean) would have bolted for the door, our Guv hung around to let every one with a digital camera - and that's everyone these days - take a photo with, or of, him.

He even relented - with typical aplomb and a understandably weary smile - to allow me to take a group shot (not at my urging!) with the officers of the association. (see photo at the top of this post)

This must have been a particularly tiresome endeavor. He was scrunched into a bench alongside other proud men while more fine people were posed around him. It must have took five minutes to set up the shot - during which a studio light was toppled and camera malfunction occurred, slightly delaying his departure further.

I apologized, but he could not have been more gracious.

Finally, the photographs were taken and he was on his way home. I'm guessing he opened his front door at around midnight and I was told he needed to be back on the road for a 9 a.m. event back in Southern Vermont.

I remarked to his driver/body guard that I'd never want his job, if only for the travel, and he assured me The Guv keeps a schedule like this on a continual basis.

Talk about above and beyond the call of duty.

(On a side note, the officer I spoke with related that he resides in Chittenden County and after dropping off The Guv back in Middlebury he still had a trip back home ahead of him. He was also on duty on Sunday. If he got four good hours of sleep, I'd be shocked.)

But I digress, as usual.

The final point I'd like to make is a quick one.

I can't imagine Howard Dean - a man I truly dislike on a very personal level and it has nothing to do with politics - being remotely as gracious.

My run-ins with Dean - a pompous, arrogant jerk of the first order - were limited, but revealing.

As a cub reporter back in the day I broke a story about a factory egg farm opening in Highgate. It was big news at the time and I wrote extensively on the subject.

One fateful Dean was making the rounds in Franklin County and visited a Fairfield farm - the Howrigan farm, if my memory serves.

I used the forum to ask a technical question about the egg farm and was basically called a fraud who made up facts and printed them to scare people.

I was aghast; embarassed to the core.

I went back to the office, called my sources in the state Ag. Dept. and was told that everything I had printed was indeed true.

I was incensed.

Dean had purposely lied to people about my reporting ability and used his bully pulpit to bring into question any further reporting I might do on the subject.

In hindsight, it was brilliant politics.

On a personal level, it was a sleazy thing to do.

When Dean ran for president I told everyone who would listen that he was a bully and would eventually display the temper that he directed at me in the barn that day.

History proved me right.

Again, I'm not saying you have to like The Guv's politics (for the record, I do, but I also voted for Dean before I got to know him) but you have to be proud that we have a man in that office we can be proud of and who represents Vermont in the best possible way.

The Sterling Shake

Came across this video the other day. It might be of interest to anyone who has ever heard Yankees radio broadcaster's signature call at the end of the game - Yankees win! Thhhhhuuuuhhhhhh Yankees win! I had no idea of the physical toll this call takes on the poor man.

It's a short click and HI-larious.