I just signed up to be Glauber's second Twitter follower.
If he adds another 340 or so I'll start to feel threatened.
Speaking Twitter, Drew Rosenhaus has taken the leap in a big way.
Can't wait until six months from now to see what the next social / business networking fad will be.
Charlie Villanueva has sent me four tweets this afternoon about his preparations for tonight's game against the Raptors.
Glauber had a live chat today.
Have been away from the radio most of the day, but have heard snippets of Mike Francesa fielding calls from frustrated fans regarding Yankees and Mets ticket issues, including the Mets' decision to make Opening Day ducats available to fans who buy four other early season games.
This frustrated some fans who earlier had bought a 15-game plan just to get access to Opening Day.
(UPDATE: Francesa had Mets executive VP Dave Howard on to talk about this. Howard said the team decided to offer the five-game pack "because our full season sales are not where we thought they would be at this point," meaning there was excess inventory that was not expected to sell as part of season plans before Opening Day. Howard noted 15-game plan buyers have benefits over five-game pack buyers, for example renewal rights and a shot at postseason tickets. The conversation took a strange turn when Howard invited Francesa to participate in the dunk tank at Citi Field, and Mike said he would. That will be interesting.)
The number, intensity and complexity of ticket-related complaints that have poured into my inbox over the past couple of months has been truly astounding and overwhelming.
I would love to be able to address them all, because each case deserves attention, but that would require giving up writing about anything else, as well as showering, sleeping, watching "30 Rock" and posting stuff on Facebook.
That's all for today. Enjoy the Bucks-Raptors game.
Photo: Getty
Our friends at WhereIStand.com have been compiling NFL playoff picks by sports media personalities. They are tracking 34 of us from 10 different outlets.
Because of my new policy against self-promotion, I am unable to say where I stand. All I can report is that Cris Collinsworth is one of two people with an unblemished record and that Bob Glauber and Cris Carter are the two with winless marks.
Here is the latest on Glauber's picks contest.
My strategy of doing exactly the opposite of what Bob Glauber suggested worked brilliantly and gave me a 4-0 record in the wild card round in his playoff contest.
Try it yourself in the divisional round. It's a can't miss approach! Bet the house!
(Yes, technically I picked both the Colts and the Chargers in the wild-card round, but my official pick in Glauber's contest was San Diego, so I'll stick with that one, thank you.)
(UPDATE: If you google "did Neil Best cheat" you get this. This is getting ugly.)
Glauber didn't vote for Peyton, unlike most football scribes.
Glauber had a live chat this afternoon.
I forgot to participate. I heard it was good.
I hope someone asked him about his famous Chad/Brett column from earlier this season.
(Speaking of Glauber, he better not ever make fun of me again for exploiting pictures of attractive, scantily clad women for cheap page views after this one.)
Uh, oh. Glauber is at it again, with another elves video.
And here is Hahn's holiday blogging contribution, a poem highlighted by this passage:
Please explain to me once more
Why Steph was sitting courtside?
So odd he would sit there, alone and perplexed
He spent $2,500 to make calls and to text.
Any time someone can rhyme perplexed and text, I'm sold.
Anyway, I'm glad I'm not posting today, out of respect for the celebration of former Giants linebacker Corey Widmer's 40th birthday.
Glauber called Wednesday to have it out with me regarding the replay controversy in last weekend's Steelers-Ravens tilt.
I won't bore you with the details, because as it turns out on "Inside the NFL" Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth took stances strikingly similar to Glauber's (Simms/wrong) and mine (Collinsworth/right).
Click below for what they said, via Showtime.
(That's Phil in the picture, jumping into the arms of a future New Jersey car dealer and radio advertisement impresario.)
Continue reading "Phil Simms/Bob Glauber vs. Cris Collinsworth/WatchDog" »
Speaking of Glauber (see post below), he and Tom Rock spent Monday chronicling both the Giants-Cowboys game and Rock's long, sad attempts to escape the DFW airport.
(More evidence of the glamor of sports journalism!)
Elsewhere in Glauber's scribblings, he has an interesting (and wrong) take on the replay controversy in the Steelers-Ravens game.
Part of the problem is that as a football writer who attends actual games, Glauber does not watch as many studio shows as you and I do and thus is not aware of the the hot button nature of this issue as described by TV pundits (who in this case are correct).
In other Newsday blog news, Arthur Staple has left The Final Score.
Glauber is doing the elf thing again. Someone alert Ellis Henican.
For the past couple of years, baby boomer sportswriters such as me, Glauber, Logan, Zipay, Herrmann and Chicago Norm have worked hard to adapt to new media forms of expression while continuing to follow old-school journalism practices.
It can be a precarious tightrope at times, for sure. On Tuesday, Glauber fell off of it. Without a net.
(Yes, I could have embedded the video on this post, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.)
Bob Glauber, Tom Rock and a couple of dozen other sports journalists have been at Giants Stadium for going on six hours, again demonstrating the glamorous side of the profession.
(We even get to talk to the players after the games!)
Here is Glauber's account.
It was written before the Giants ordered pizza, sandwiches, coffee and hot chocolate for the people waiting for Plax. I spoke to Glauber five minutes ago, in mid-chew. He said the Giants offered writers a choice of mustard, mayo and Russian dressing.
No word yet on whether Burress will offer the scribes assorted Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins for dessert on his way out.
Two Saints-related items from Glauber:
One about Jeremy Shockey ducking the media (shocking!), another about Saints employees reacting very badly to their owner's attempt to sell them cars.
Turns out the Linc bans access to many prominent sports blogs from its press box, in addition to the customary porn and gambling sites.
Hmm. WatchDog is not mentioned in this article. I'm sure my friends who were there Sunday night can tell us all whether they could access their favorite blog.
How about it, Glauber?
Live chat with Glauber at 2!
Congratulations, WatchDog Nation:
With three days to spare, sources deep in Newsday.com's bunker tell me the October page views total will show a sixth consecutive monthly rise, tying the record currently held by . . . Glauber!
Records are made to be tied. Don't take it too hard, Bob.
It was inevitable.
And take the rest of the day and night off, readers. You've earned it. Thank you, as always.
Enjoy the Natalie Gulbis Show on the Golf Channel at 8 p.m.
I have to write a lengthy story now for the Sunday newspaper, so don't come here anymore today. In fact, take a break 'til Monday. Read Glauber instead.
And by the way, this weekend we are transitioning our e-mail system from Tribune (boo) to Cablevision (yay), so don't bother trying to send me anything because the system will be out of commission temporarily.
If it's important news, send a telegram.
(UPDATE: Now they say our e-mails will work until 12:01 a.m. Sunday. So feel free to e-mail Saturday. I just won't answer.)
When I do return to the blog Monday, it will be with a great vengeance and furious anger never before seen in these parts.
Whether it takes daily posts about Erin Andrews or hourly polls about Mike Francesa's supporting cast or other cheap blog gimmicks, my single-minded mission between then and Oct. 31 will be to increase my page views for a sixth consecutive month, a mark previously achieved by only one Newsday blogger.
Yup, Glauber. Sorry, Bob. Records are made to be shared.
(UPDATE: Check out this cuddly post from Glauber. Difficult to believe this guy covers football, isn't it? Sheesh. What's next? Brett Favre crying in a news conference?)
(UPDATE: Here's Glauber's response to the above.)
New York sportswriters are nicer to each other - publicly, at least - than those in Chicago, as evidenced by Glauber's post on the most recent wave of Jay Mariotti sniping in the Windy City.
Glauber does take a shot at me for posting the Ocho Cinco transcript from the Giants Wednesday when he actually was there for the interview and I was sitting in my basement.
I thought that might tick off the football writers.
Good. New York needs more of this kind of thing. And more deep dish pizza, too.
Boy, am I glad I'm not Glauber today.
Here's his latest on Brett Favre and the Jets.
(What? That's not Glauber in the picture? Tom Crean? Who's Tom Crean?)
More evidence that in Boston they take their sports, and sports media, more seriously than we do in New York . . . or pretty much anywhere else, for that matter.
I'll link to it through Glauber to help him boost his anemic offseason page views total.
It's a rant about the sports media's handling of Spygate.
Spygate? Vaguely rings a bell. I remember reading and writing stuff about that at some point, but I forget the details now.
Bonus WatchDog kudos to first reader to identify the building in the picture.
A high-profile friend in the sports media business who I respect today advised me to stop posting page views results every month, calling it "bad form."
But really, it's just my way of thanking loyal readers and sharing the blog joy with them.
OK, it's also to stroke my own ego.
Whatever. In April I finished third among non-WWE blogs, behind only the Rangers, Yankees and Mets.
So I/we finished first among blogs not about teams currently in the playoffs or currently causing their fans to fear a playoff-free New York baseball October.
I beat Glauber again, too.
Thanks for reading.
Check out this really cool, really scary live blog Glauber is doing at the draft.
Yikes.
One question: When is Glauber going to get around to writing his article(s) for the Sunday newspaper?
Assuming he is writing article(s) for the Sunday newpaper . . .
First, Rieber and Baumbach started posting media news on their new blog.
Now they're looking for lame excuses to post pictures of attractive young females.
Pretty soon there will be nothing left for me but lists of words Chris Russo has mispronounced.
Sigh.
I should do a book on athletes dating females celebrities. It goes back to the dawn of time, or at least to 1887, when the Giants' John Montgomery Ward married actress/babe Helen Dauvray. But I probably won't. Don't have time due to blogging addiction.
Not in the mood today.
Please enjoy the many other fine Newsday sports blogs.
UPDATE: Here is a comment contest contender in response to this post from a loyal reader, quoting George Costanza in "The Deal" episode:
"You ask me to have lunch, tell me you slept with Elaine, and then say you're not in the mood for details. Now you listen to me. I want details and I want them right now. I don't have a job, I have no place to go. You're not in the mood? Well you get in the mood!"
Excellent! By the way, here is Newsday's most recent update on the developing Joba situation, which again has me wondering why I didn't become a trapeze artist like my mother advised me to.
I'll go back to writing my newspaper column now.
Looks like my friends at The Final Score are encroaching on my territory.
That's OK. We're all one, big happy blogging family here at Newsday. And now I can stop blogging for the rest of the day without feeling guilty.
But I must say I am shocked and disturbed by Jim Baumbach's admission that he never has watched an episode of "The Odd Couple" or "The Honeymooners."
Which means this guy is either too young for his own good or grew up in Idaho.
Sheesh. At least Glauber is older than I am, much like Flavor Flav.
During the weird, separated-at-birth meeting between Glauber and Tom Crean at the Garden after a recent Marquette shootaround, Crean spoke at length to Glauber and me about his strong interest in and connections to football.
He married into the Harbaugh family, and he said he is friendly with Bill Parcells.
Parcells, of course, has been a close friend of Bob Knight for decades.
So is it possible somehow Knight worked behind the scenes to support Crean's candidacy for the Indiana job?
I have no idea. I'm just wonderin'.
The scary thing is now we'll be seeing Glauber's long-lost identical twin on TV more than ever.
We're getting Donnie Walsh from Indiana.
Indiana is getting Glauber from us.
A trade that helps both sides.
Maybe Glauber will take Isiah with him.
Thank you, as always, loyal members of WatchDog Nation for another strong month of page views in March.
I think the total was our third-best ever, and the gap over Glauber widened from February despite this amazing statistical achievement:
Glauber has increased his page views for six consecutive months.
With the draft coming up in April, there is a good chance he will pass WatchDog at last and run across the Brooklyn Bridge naked. Or in a Speedo. Or holding hands with Carton or some such thing.
We ranked third or fourth among sports blogs in March, depending on whether you consider pro wrestling a sport. Our new wrestling blog came out of nowhere to finish first . . . if it's a sport. I considered it one circa 1973 but lately am not as certain.
Next in line were the Rangers and Mets, the latter with an all-time high. The Jets blog and boys high school basketball also set new highs.
Thanks again, readers of all Newsday blogs.
Glauber has gotten almost as much mileage out of his visit with Michael Strahan in the Wienermobile as I did from my sitdown with Will Ferrell a couple of weeks back.
And here.
And here.
And here.
And here.
I hope Strahan comes back. I made a bet in 2001 or 2002 with Paul Schwartz of the New York Post that No. 92 still would be in the league in 2009.
I think he's starting to sweat. Schwartz, I mean. Not Strahan.
I was a little blue - as opposed to Big Blue - earlier today (see two posts below), but was revived by the excellent news about Bobby Murcer (see one post below) and then (much less importantly) by the monthly blog report from our Web desk.
Thank you, as always, WatchDog Nation, for your support.
We were down a smidgen from January, when we ranked No. 1 among all sports blogs, but were still a solid fourth, behind the Rangers, Islanders and Mets, each of which had news to deal with last month.
The big development is that Glauber set a personal high for the fourth consecutive month and has narrowed the gap with WatchDog to an alarming extent. His total page views were only 22 percent behind ours.
Yikes.
Congrats to our high school hoops and wrestling blogs, which also set all-time highs.
I just got back from a rare visit to the office, during which I got a less-old laptop to replace my antique model, learned that while I was away Glauber had blind-sided me by breaking my single-day posting record and commiserated with colleagues about some difficult developments in Newsday Land.
Tune back later this morning for leftover material from Will Ferrell that didn't make my Friday column on him, plus other assorted stuff.
(Dear Sunday editor: I'll write a column for you, too, if I get around to it.)
By the way, WatchDog Nation, I have a 28,000 page views lead on Glauber for February, but just in case he rallies late I want to make one thing clear:
If he passes me on Feb. 29 thanks to NFL free agency stuff, it does not count, as my contract clearly states "28 days hath February."
It turns out this dude Eric Deskin whom Glauber has identified as my latest look-a-like grew up in East Meadow and used to deliver Newsday.
More evidence for my theory that the world is run by people who used to deliver Newsday.
I'll have to check out one of Eric's upcoming comedy appearances.
I have to write a Tuesday newspaper column now.
Everyone please leave me alone.
Glauber finally has come up with a look-a-like for me that I can live with - with the help of a former Giants beat buddy of mine.
(I actually look more like him in real life than I do in the awful picture of me we use in the paper and on the Web. I even wear this style of eyeglasses these days. Wow.)
Now we all can get on with our lives, thank goodness.
I know I promised to be done with this Glauber/Crean stuff, but blogmeister Mark La Monica put this into my blog himself and told me to write something clever about it.
In honor of the late, great Karl (Sign Man) Ehrhardt, I'll just leave it at this: "There are no words."
Here is the first of what figure to be several posts on Glauber's blog - not to mention scary video to be posted later - commemorating the historic meeting at the Garden Wednesday between Glauber and his long-lost twin, Marquette basketball coach Tom Crean.
I had an hour to kill so I stopped by the shootaround to witness this, and I can confirm the resemblance is truly scary, that Crean was a great sport about it and that Marquette's players found the entire thing thoroughly hilarious.
One of them said when he first saw Glauber he didn't understand why Crean was dressed for the game already. (Glauber was wearing a suit.)
ESPN2 got into the act by showing a picture of the two during the St. John's-Marquette game.
Maybe you had to be there. Anyway, it was more entertaining than anything going on this winter with either men's basketball squad that calls the Garden home.
This will be my last post on the Glauber/Crean phenomenon. Promise. Keep checking Glauber's blog for updates.
Uh, oh. Glauber is obsessing over me and my blog again.
At least he wrote a worthwhile news story also.
It seems Tom Coughlin might be staying after all, despite my Dec. 26, 2006, column calling for him to be fired. Go figure.
I hope Glauber has not forgotten his promise to visit Marquette coach Tom Crean the next time he is in town to prove once and for all that they are not the same person.
This is your chance, sir.
Crean and his squad will be in Madison Square Garden Wednesday night to play St. John's.
Glauber could do the Red Storm a favor by scaring/distracting Crean before the game.
I am overcome with guilt over ruining the contest Glauber was running on his blog to see when I'd crack and break my Thursday promise not to post pictures of attractive young women until March 1.
(I didn't make it until the end of the business day. Darn you, Jill Arrington!)
To punish myself I have reinstated my pledge. I don't expect anyone to believe me or sponsor another pool on this subject. But I mean it this time.
See you at 12:01 a.m. March 1. Really.
Thanks for your patience, loyal WatchDog readers.
I am back in the basement but still unburying myself post-SBXLII. Things will be back to normal Thursday.
I did want to share this breaking news, though:
The January page views are in, and for the first time in its nine-month history, WatchDog topped all Newsday sports blogs and was third overall, narrowly behind second-place TV Zone.
It appeared with two days left the Giants blog was going to charge into the lead - apparently the team was preparing to play a big game in Arizona - but a record-tying 30-post day Jan. 30 held off our version of Big Blue more effectively than the Patriots held off the real one.
The Rangers blog was a close second to WatchDog, and the Giants blog a close third. Both set new monthly highs. So did Glauber, by the way.
Congrats to all of the above, especially Staple and Glauber for all the work they did during the Giants' amazing run, and thanks most of all to our blogs' readers.
(Bonus WatchDog kudos to the first reader who correctly comes up with what this picture has to do with any of this.)
Tom Rock just left the room to investigate the news that Tom Brady is not on the Patriots' injury report at all, which is hilarious given the fact Brady ALWAYS is on the Patriots' injury report.
(UPDATE: Rock now says the ANKLE is not on the injury report. We're not sure about the shoulder. Check the Giants blog for updates during the night. Thanks.)
So I'm going to wrap this up at a record-tying 30 posts and get out of his way so he can have some privacy. Some records are not made to be broken.
On his way out he warned me not to call Antigua or anything. Which reminded me that I haven't posted any exotic bets from Antigua-based Bodog lately.
Who will have the largest market share in TV Ratings?
New York -130
Boston Even
(Note from WatchDog: Bet the house, and your neighbor's house, on Boston.)
Will the entire Fox pre-game team pick the Pats to win the Super Bowl?
Yes -175
No +125
What Song will Tom Petty sing to end his halftime show?
Free Falling 5/6
Don’t Do Me Like That 5/1
Learning to Fly 12/1
Great Wide Open 9/1
Last Dance with Mary Jane 4/1
Runnin’ Down A Dream 9/4
Will one of these cities win double championships in their respective sports in 2008?
Pats/Celtics 2/1
Pats/Red Sox 3/1
Giants/Yankees 10/1
None 1/2
(Note from WatchDog: Now that Johan Santana is on his way, how about Giants/Mets?)
Good morning, people of cyberspace. Sorry about the lack of posts Tuesday, but Media Day duties called.
It now appears that despite WatchDog’s near record pace in January, the Giants blog is going to nip us at the page views finish line before midnight Thursday.
Super Bowls can do that sort of thing.
No problem. It’s all good. The Yankees blog will blow past me from February through December, but I’ll be back to try again next January.
I’m not going down without a struggle, though. I was up at 3 this morning to visit Chris Carlin and Kim Jones in their WFAN “studio’’ at the Airport Marriott, and now I’m geared up for a busy day.
Thanks for reading.
My favorite moment from Day One in Arizona: I went out to dinner late Monday night with Glauber and a couple of friends, one from a rival publication, one from the NFL.
The discussion eventually came around to Jalen Rose (the much beloved former Knick) and the promise he has shown as a fledgling TV analyst.
Someone noted he is the son of Jimmy Walker.
Glauber: Jimmy Walker the actor?
OK, so he's an idiot. But he wrote a nice story in the paper today.
I was all set to go into Super Bowl week as a team player, willing to give up my best chance ever to win a monthly page views title for the sake of the greater good by promoting our Giants and NFL blogs religiously.
Then this insult from Crean, er, Glauber. (By the way, much as I like "Seinfeld," the only true Uncle Leo is the one in "The Honeymooners" Christmas episode.)
The gloves are off now.
Here's a guarantee:
If I don't beat Glauber in January page views . . . I will ask Craig Carton to walk the Brooklyn Bridge in a Speedo again.
(UPDATE: Newsday's own Joe Manniello just made an excellent observation. Glauber is my very own . . . Newman.)
Speaking of new Tribune CEO Sam Zell (see post below), he revealed Tuesday he has not yet had an opportunity to explore Newsday's Web site.
I guess that explains why he seemed to have no idea who I was when he introduced himself. I was hoping for a hug, maybe, or at least a complaint about Aikman's pro-Dallas bias. But no.
I got to rebuild my ego shortly thereafter, though, upon learning that midway through the month I am on pace to finish first in page views among Newsday sports blogs for the first time.
This is my only shot, people. Once pitchers and catchers report in February, I'm toast. So forget what I wrote below about conceding January to Glauber and Staple.
I'm in it to win it. But I need your help. Two weeks to glory!
Thanks to DuMont Berger for finding this, thanks to Newsday's own Corris Little and Mark La Monica for teaching me to embed videos and thanks to Bob Glauber for denying the existence of Ben Grauer, the subject of my final post of 2007.
This is Ben after he moved from NBC to CBS, on New Year's Eve, 1976, which turned out to be the final Dec. 31 in the lives of both Grauer and Guy Lombardo himself.
Four years earlier a new New Year's Eve show debuted called "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve,'' clearly a cheesy gimmick designed to attract young people that never would last.
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It's official. The end of civilization is at hand.