The current -- as of today -- Oakland Tribune article reads that I contributed $17,000 to the Obama for America campaign. I did not. What I told Barbara Grady, who's a great person, is that I raised that much, mostly from an event held at the Mark Hopkins last year on St. Patrick's Day 2007 and which I co-chaired (there were about 25 co-chairs) and created an online sign-up and website for. I managed to get 15 people to sign up online there at $1,000 each, so that's $15,000 alone.
But I wish I had $17,000 just laying around.
Showing posts with label oakland tribune. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oakland tribune. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Zennie's Zeitgeist Covered By The Oakland Tribune
The Oakland Tribune's Barbara Grady penned this story below about this blogger and blog's being credentialed for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. But to be fair, the blog is more than me, its the other writers on it, like Tom Hayes and Dave Kaye and Ashley Long, all of whom are credentialed to go to the convention. It's readers like you and of course the overall SBS website system.
Also, it must be reported that the YouTube channel zennie62 is "attached" to this blog and also I said to Barbara that the overall SBS website gets 65,000 unique visitors a month, with Zennie's Zeitgeist a part of that, about between 30 percent and 50 percent of that per month. But yes, this blog did command 44,000 page views and 24,000 visitors on the day after the New Hampshire Primary. That was due to one post on reported election machine voter fraud problems in that state.
Also, I did not contribute $17,000 to the campaign, I raised it over time via the Internet and mostly from a fundraiser at the Mark Hopkins I co-sponsored. But I do not have that kind of money and could not do that anyway as the limit is $2,500. It was an error on her part.
Whatever the details, it was great to have our people recognized. Here's the article:
Oakland blogger to cover Democratic National Convention
By Barbara Grady
Oakland Tribune
Article Created: 06/02/2008 09:05:32 PM PDT
OAKLAND — As the Democratic National Convention gets under way in August, Oakland blogger Zennie Abraham will be on the convention floor with a microphone poised to pick up discussions of race, predatory lending, infrastructure improvement and other issues of concern to Oakland.
Abraham and his Zennie's Zeitgeist blog at zennie2005.blogspot.com have won a coveted credential from the Democratic National Committee to cover the convention as a blogger journalist. He was selected late last week as one of 124 bloggers to receive credentials from an applicant pool of more than 400.
Zennie's Zeitgeist is usually about Abraham's take on political issues of the day — often the Democratic presidential contest — with a smattering of posts about pop culture and sports.
The Democratic National Committee said its criteria in choosing which bloggers to let into what no doubt will be a crowded and history-making Denver convention are that they cover state and local politics and have a high daily audience based on statistics from Technorati, a Web site that tracks blogs. Among applicants whose sites met those criteria, the committee looked for blogs that "stand out as an effective online organizing tool and/or agent of change."
Abraham has not been shy to take on controversial issues. He has written about predatory lending, accusing check cashing centers of exploiting the poor, and crime
and criminals.
He already has specific plans for what topics he'll focus on at the convention.
"I'm concerned about (Hillary) Clinton and (Barack) Obama, and the race issue. I really want to see if Democrats are going to rally around Obama unanimously," Abraham said Monday. "I want to know specifically if people who are Clinton supporters, if they are really going to rally behind Obama. If not, I want to know if it is because of race."
And he will report on any discussions of race, whether polite or not.
He also plans to report in detail on the development of a Democratic platform, "with respect to what degree the platform represents domestic issues like predatory lending in credit card rates, our enormous infrastructure problems and what I call keeping jobs at home."
Abraham has been an outspoken supporter of Obama and contributed about $17,000 to his campaign. That partisanship did not seem to phase the DNC, even though many of the other blogs selected are less committed to one candidate.
Many of the blogs represent Democrats from particular states, such as the Blue Jersey, Blue Indiana and Blue Hampshire blogs.
Abraham, 45, is an entrepreneurial businessman, having founded Sports Business Simulations of Oakland five years ago, but he put in his time in politics. He worked for former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown as an economic adviser and then as the Oakland Alameda Sports Commissioner.
Abraham started his blogging career in 2006 writing about sports. But then he couldn't resist talking about politics.
Over time, he separated his own political and cultural ramblings into Zennie's Zeitgeist, distinct from his larger SBS Voices sports blog, and wrote increasingly about politics, following the Democratic campaign as it progressed tooth and nail.
The day after the New Hampshire primary, his blog posting received 44,000 hits. Since then, his audience has steadily grown. He was invited by CNN to post a video blog as a sample for its YouTube CNN Democratic Debate last year. Afterward, links to his blog started showing up elsewhere on other political sites. Now Zennie's Zeitgeist receives about 60,000 unique visitors a month on average.
Also, it must be reported that the YouTube channel zennie62 is "attached" to this blog and also I said to Barbara that the overall SBS website gets 65,000 unique visitors a month, with Zennie's Zeitgeist a part of that, about between 30 percent and 50 percent of that per month. But yes, this blog did command 44,000 page views and 24,000 visitors on the day after the New Hampshire Primary. That was due to one post on reported election machine voter fraud problems in that state.
Also, I did not contribute $17,000 to the campaign, I raised it over time via the Internet and mostly from a fundraiser at the Mark Hopkins I co-sponsored. But I do not have that kind of money and could not do that anyway as the limit is $2,500. It was an error on her part.
Whatever the details, it was great to have our people recognized. Here's the article:
Oakland blogger to cover Democratic National Convention
By Barbara Grady
Oakland Tribune
Article Created: 06/02/2008 09:05:32 PM PDT
OAKLAND — As the Democratic National Convention gets under way in August, Oakland blogger Zennie Abraham will be on the convention floor with a microphone poised to pick up discussions of race, predatory lending, infrastructure improvement and other issues of concern to Oakland.
Abraham and his Zennie's Zeitgeist blog at zennie2005.blogspot.com have won a coveted credential from the Democratic National Committee to cover the convention as a blogger journalist. He was selected late last week as one of 124 bloggers to receive credentials from an applicant pool of more than 400.
Zennie's Zeitgeist is usually about Abraham's take on political issues of the day — often the Democratic presidential contest — with a smattering of posts about pop culture and sports.
The Democratic National Committee said its criteria in choosing which bloggers to let into what no doubt will be a crowded and history-making Denver convention are that they cover state and local politics and have a high daily audience based on statistics from Technorati, a Web site that tracks blogs. Among applicants whose sites met those criteria, the committee looked for blogs that "stand out as an effective online organizing tool and/or agent of change."
Abraham has not been shy to take on controversial issues. He has written about predatory lending, accusing check cashing centers of exploiting the poor, and crime
and criminals.
He already has specific plans for what topics he'll focus on at the convention.
"I'm concerned about (Hillary) Clinton and (Barack) Obama, and the race issue. I really want to see if Democrats are going to rally around Obama unanimously," Abraham said Monday. "I want to know specifically if people who are Clinton supporters, if they are really going to rally behind Obama. If not, I want to know if it is because of race."
And he will report on any discussions of race, whether polite or not.
He also plans to report in detail on the development of a Democratic platform, "with respect to what degree the platform represents domestic issues like predatory lending in credit card rates, our enormous infrastructure problems and what I call keeping jobs at home."
Abraham has been an outspoken supporter of Obama and contributed about $17,000 to his campaign. That partisanship did not seem to phase the DNC, even though many of the other blogs selected are less committed to one candidate.
Many of the blogs represent Democrats from particular states, such as the Blue Jersey, Blue Indiana and Blue Hampshire blogs.
Abraham, 45, is an entrepreneurial businessman, having founded Sports Business Simulations of Oakland five years ago, but he put in his time in politics. He worked for former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown as an economic adviser and then as the Oakland Alameda Sports Commissioner.
Abraham started his blogging career in 2006 writing about sports. But then he couldn't resist talking about politics.
Over time, he separated his own political and cultural ramblings into Zennie's Zeitgeist, distinct from his larger SBS Voices sports blog, and wrote increasingly about politics, following the Democratic campaign as it progressed tooth and nail.
The day after the New Hampshire primary, his blog posting received 44,000 hits. Since then, his audience has steadily grown. He was invited by CNN to post a video blog as a sample for its YouTube CNN Democratic Debate last year. Afterward, links to his blog started showing up elsewhere on other political sites. Now Zennie's Zeitgeist receives about 60,000 unique visitors a month on average.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tribune's Carl Stewart Is Wrong - Raiders Line Was Never Bad To Start
Hi Carl,
I have to correct you on your column. The Raiders Offensive Line was never so bad to be so good. It was poorly coached,
and that was why I called for Tom Walsh to be fired on August 15th of 2006.
Take note. That was preseason.
Preaseason.
And here's what I wrote:
Fire Tom Walsh
I continued the drum beat each week, and through the season. The reasons were based on my knoweldge of technical football. In other words, I can see just one game and tell you how an offense in going to perform for the rest of the year, in general terms.
The Raiders of this year use a more contemporary run blocking scheme, one that is exactly like the Denver Broncos in execution and design. For example, Lamont Jordan's 30-year second quarter run was a classic indictment of my claim. The line stepped to the left to get the defense to move that way, then fire blocked in zone fashion.
The result is that the whole defensive front seven moves that way, even though the running back does not. Thus, the back can see the blocks develop, then move toward the cutback lane. The weakside linebacker moved into the backfield too far, and didn't stay home.
Thus: a big run.
The Broncos are the master's of this. But note that the line isn't making a whole via brut muscle, it's just coaxing the defense to move in a certain direction.
It's this, and other techniques, that the Raiders are employing this year and why their offense is better and why I believe they'll go 9-7.
In closing, I ask that all reporters improve their ability to understand the technical aspect of the game, so they can see -- in one game -- what an offense is doing and why.
Thanks,
--
Zennie Abraham, Jr.
I have to correct you on your column. The Raiders Offensive Line was never so bad to be so good. It was poorly coached,
and that was why I called for Tom Walsh to be fired on August 15th of 2006.
Take note. That was preseason.
Preaseason.
And here's what I wrote:
Fire Tom Walsh
I continued the drum beat each week, and through the season. The reasons were based on my knoweldge of technical football. In other words, I can see just one game and tell you how an offense in going to perform for the rest of the year, in general terms.
The Raiders of this year use a more contemporary run blocking scheme, one that is exactly like the Denver Broncos in execution and design. For example, Lamont Jordan's 30-year second quarter run was a classic indictment of my claim. The line stepped to the left to get the defense to move that way, then fire blocked in zone fashion.
The result is that the whole defensive front seven moves that way, even though the running back does not. Thus, the back can see the blocks develop, then move toward the cutback lane. The weakside linebacker moved into the backfield too far, and didn't stay home.
Thus: a big run.
The Broncos are the master's of this. But note that the line isn't making a whole via brut muscle, it's just coaxing the defense to move in a certain direction.
It's this, and other techniques, that the Raiders are employing this year and why their offense is better and why I believe they'll go 9-7.
In closing, I ask that all reporters improve their ability to understand the technical aspect of the game, so they can see -- in one game -- what an offense is doing and why.
Thanks,
--
Zennie Abraham, Jr.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Oakland Raiders Hire Greg Knapp As Offensive Coordinator - Oakland Tribune
Knapp time for sleepy Raiders 'O'
By Steve Corkran, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Last Updated: 01/30/2007 02:40:16 AM PST
ALAMEDA — The Raiders hired Greg Knapp to replace Tom Walsh and John Shoop as their offensive coordinator, the team announced in a release Monday.
Knapp, 43, spent the past three seasons as offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons. He lost his job when the Falcons fired coach Jim Mora and new coach Bobby Petrino decided against keeping Knapp.
Knapp had the latitude to call plays in Atlanta and also asoffensive coordinator with the 49ers from 2001-03. That won't be the case in his new role.
New Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said in his introductory news conference last Tuesday that his offensive coordinator will "assist me in daily plans and activities." Come game time, the play-calling will be Kiffin's responsibility.
"I'll call the plays for us to make sure that my name's on this franchise, and my name's on this team, and my name's on this offense. That it's run the way I want it to be run, and that it remains a highly explosive offense that is attacking at all times," Kiffin said.
In the team release, Kiffin said of Knapp: "He shares the same vision and passion for what it will take to bring an explosive offense back to the Raider Nation. His history of getting his quarterbacks to play at an elite level is second to none."
Fired coach Art Shell entrusted the play-calling to Walsh and Shoop last season. Walsh called the plays for the first 11 games last season. Shoop handled the play-calling duties the final five games. The results were disastrous.
The Raiders (2-14) scored a league-worst 168 points last season and only 138 of those came offensively. Their offense scored only 12 touchdowns in 16 games, a statistic that managing general partner Al Davis called "unbelievably bad."
Knapp did not return a phone call.
The Falcons led the league in rushing each of the past three seasons. The Raiders finished 29th last season. The Raiders and Falcons ranked 31st and 32nd, respectively, in passing offense last season.
Shoop left the Raiders for the offensive coordinator vacancy at the University of North Carolina earlier this month. Walsh has one year remaining on his contract, and he likely will be kept on as an adviser or released after reaching a settlement.
Knapp interviewed for the Raiders coaching vacancy in 2004 but withdrew his name from consideration once Mora got hired by the Falcons one day later. Knapp followed Mora to Atlanta after spending nine seasons with the 49ers.
Knapp also interviewed with the Cleveland Browns about their offensive coordinator's job but got passed over.
In other news, Kiffin still is awaiting word from former Falcons offensive line coach Tom Cable about an offer to assume the Raiders offensive line coaching position.
Also, Kiffin met with his entire coaching staff for the first time Monday. He likely will make decisions on whether to retain assistant coaches such as Walsh and Jackie Slater in the coming days. Most of the defensive coaches already are under contract, including defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)