Monday, August 10, 2009
Facebook eats FriendFeed; Mark Zuckerberg is Charles Foster Kane
In a sign that Facebook's not happy with Twitter being the "pulse of the planet", it acquired rival social network FriendFeed today. Yes, Facebook gets all of the FriendFeed ex-Google employees. Bully for them. But what does it mean for a person like me who's on both sites? For the answer, I checked Friend Feed's blog.
Well, to the unaided eye nothing. But then everything. Here's my hypothesis: look for Facebook to morph into FriendFeed such that all of the content from your social networks will easily find their way into your Facebook profile. On Flickr and uploaded a new photo? You'll see it on Facebook. And you can already see your tweets on Facebook, but if you're on about 14 main sites like I am (and 34 in all) you can't see all of them on Facebook; look for that to change too. That's just my prediction, but one thing's clear: Facebook just bought itself "Citizen Kane-style", the best engineers around. This is the press release that one can see at Friend Feed:
Mark Zuckerberg is Charles Foster Kane
In the classic movie and one of my favorites "Citizen Kane" when Kane (played by the late Orson Wells) acquired a little known paper called "The Enquirer" it was far behind the rival Chronicle in circulation and the Chronicle had the best writers around. Six years later, Kane built the Enquirer's circulation and bought the Chronicle's writers and moved them to the Enquirer. That's essentially what Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook has done; bring it the best talent. It's certainly an epic move because it's one that will boost Facebook's already lofty online presence.
Who's Facebook aiming after?
The popular view, advanced by TechCrunch because it's take and readership, is that Facebook got FriendFeed to go after Twitter, but legendary tech blogger Robert Scoble has a different view: he thinks its Google that's their target and has some great points, foremost is that Google does not have "real time search" and FriendFeed does.
What's real time search? It's an on-the-spot updating of your content. Check Robert's blog for an example of this now (just look on the right at the scrolling widget). It's a great way for searching for "who's chatting about what, now" unlike what was written years ago, which is what Google does today. Now, Facebook has an advantage over Google here in an area that Google considered a priority. Robert likes the move and so do I.
Well, to the unaided eye nothing. But then everything. Here's my hypothesis: look for Facebook to morph into FriendFeed such that all of the content from your social networks will easily find their way into your Facebook profile. On Flickr and uploaded a new photo? You'll see it on Facebook. And you can already see your tweets on Facebook, but if you're on about 14 main sites like I am (and 34 in all) you can't see all of them on Facebook; look for that to change too. That's just my prediction, but one thing's clear: Facebook just bought itself "Citizen Kane-style", the best engineers around. This is the press release that one can see at Friend Feed:
PALO ALTO, CALIF.—August 10, 2009—Facebook today announced that it has agreed to acquire FriendFeed, the innovative service for sharing online. As part of the agreement, all FriendFeed employees will join Facebook and FriendFeed’s four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook’s engineering and product teams.
“Facebook and FriendFeed share a common vision of giving people tools to share and connect with their friends,” said Bret Taylor, a FriendFeed co-founder and, previously, the group product manager who launched Google Maps. “We can’t wait to join the team and bring many of the innovations we’ve developed at FriendFeed to Facebook’s 250 million users around the world.”
“As we spent time with Mark and his leadership team, we were impressed by the open, creative culture they’ve built and their desire to have us contribute to it,” said Paul Buchheit, another FriendFeed co-founder. Buchheit, the Google engineer behind Gmail and the originator of Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto, added, “It was immediately obvious to us how passionate Facebook’s engineers are about creating simple, ground-breaking ways for people to share, and we are extremely excited to join such a like-minded group.”
Taylor and Buchheit founded FriendFeed along with Jim Norris and Sanjeev Singh in October 2007 after all four played key roles at Google for products like Gmail and Google Maps. At FriendFeed, they’ve brought together a world-class team of engineers and designers.
“Since I first tried FriendFeed, I’ve admired their team for creating such a simple and elegant service for people to share information,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. “As this shows, our culture continues to make Facebook a place where the best engineers come to build things quickly that lots of people will use.”
FriendFeed is based in Mountain View, Calif. and has 12 employees. FriendFeed.com will continue to operate normally for the time being as the teams determine the longer term plans for the product.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not released.
Mark Zuckerberg is Charles Foster Kane
In the classic movie and one of my favorites "Citizen Kane" when Kane (played by the late Orson Wells) acquired a little known paper called "The Enquirer" it was far behind the rival Chronicle in circulation and the Chronicle had the best writers around. Six years later, Kane built the Enquirer's circulation and bought the Chronicle's writers and moved them to the Enquirer. That's essentially what Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook has done; bring it the best talent. It's certainly an epic move because it's one that will boost Facebook's already lofty online presence.
Who's Facebook aiming after?
The popular view, advanced by TechCrunch because it's take and readership, is that Facebook got FriendFeed to go after Twitter, but legendary tech blogger Robert Scoble has a different view: he thinks its Google that's their target and has some great points, foremost is that Google does not have "real time search" and FriendFeed does.
What's real time search? It's an on-the-spot updating of your content. Check Robert's blog for an example of this now (just look on the right at the scrolling widget). It's a great way for searching for "who's chatting about what, now" unlike what was written years ago, which is what Google does today. Now, Facebook has an advantage over Google here in an area that Google considered a priority. Robert likes the move and so do I.
Richmond, Ca Mayor on Chevron refinery issue
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On YouTube.com
In the wake of my interview with Chevron employee Dennis Roos I've gotten a number of email and calls updating me on the matter of the negotiations to restart the stopped construction of the improvements to the Richmond refinery.
One of them was this "Meet The Mayor" community meeting held Friday, August 7th at 5:30 PM. Here, one could ask questions of Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin for one hour, but my intent was to attend, film residents who were concerned about the project, pro and con, and after it was over, get the Mayor's direct point of view if she would give it to me. (Take note of that.)
To review, Chevron's planned upgrade of their giant Richmond oil refinery was stalled because environmentalists sued them in court regarding what was viewed to be an inadequate environmental impact report (EIR) regarding how emissions were going to be lessened over current levels. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga agreed with their view and ordered planed construction stopped until Chevron could create a "better" EIR. The judge's decision threw over 1,000 construction employees out of work and threatened the future of Chevron in Richmond.
So I did arrive and sat next to a white-haired gentleman who as it happened gave me a copy of a letter I'd not seen from Richmond's Mechanics Bank. The letter stressed the importance of keeping Chevron in Richmond and arriving at a settlement to get the plant project going again.
So the meeting started and as the Mayor listened to people introduce themselves I explained that I was a video-blogger who wanted to ask her about the plant matter after the meeting was over if I could. She did say that was fine.
There were only two people who came to the meeting to talk about the refinery issue. The first person, an African American man, said that the Mayor seemed not to care about the people who need jobs and more about her own agenda (this is in the video). The Mayor said that she does did support a support a substitute to the the resolution voted on by the Richmond City Council two weeks ago calling for settlement talks (with California Attorney General Jerry Brown involved) so that all the workers can get back to their jobs and she's working to make that happen. The Mayor said doing this is important because Richmond has a 17 percent unemployment rate.
A few minutes later, and after a number of residents expressed concern for and presented programs to stop the violence plaguing young African Americans in Richmond (which was heart-breaking to see, no matter how many times I am presented with this issue), the man I was sitting next to, who's name was Richard Lompa, asked the Mayor about the bank letter, and explained that he didn't understand "why do we continuously bash Chevron" and quoted the letter written by Mechanics Bank President and CEO Stephen Foster which said the reason given for opposing Chevron doesn't stand up to scrutiny . He said no one would support Chevron putting out more pollution, and that it was as if she was plunging a dagger in the heart of the city.
The Mayor's response was that the judge made the decision and then she threw in that Chevron does not pay its fair share of taxes and talked about the company's court battle against Measure T which imposed a new tax structure for manufacturers like Chevron. She also pointed to Chevron's appeal of its property tax assessment.
After the meeting and people left the room, the Mayor did give me her time and put to rest the idea some have expressed that she was not talking to Chevron, stating that she talks to representatives of the firm every day.
Mayor McLaughlin then essentially repeated her claim that Chevron doesn't pay its taxes in response to my question that as a person trained and who's practiced economic development, tax reductions are a normal part of negotiations to make it easier for employers to maintain their business in a city. She asked if I was referring to the Measure T issue, and repeated what she said before regarding the firm not paying its fair share of taxes. Then, weirdly and after presenting herself well on camera but before I could deactivate it, suddenly turned and said "I have a community meeting" but I turned the camera to show that the meeting had ended long ago. Moreover, the Mayor agreed to give me just a moment of her time, and I gave her a platform to present herself; the Mayor didn't say she had more people to meet when we started the interview. She didn't have to essentially rain on her own parade but that's what happened as one can see and I'm really disappointed that she did that. I turned off the camcorder.
As I went outside, Mr. Lompa was talking to another person, but after he finished gave me his view. "The Mayor," he said, "was being shallow and not grounded with reality" regarding her repeating of the idea that Chevron has a $24 billion profit. He also said that he appeals his tax bill if he thinks it's not valid.
I agree with Mr. Lompa, but I'm really concerned that the good Mayor seems to have more of a personal agenda that may cloud her ability to effectively negotiate with Chevron. It's common practice for businesses to want and ask for tax reductions and its equally normal for city economic development officials (and that includes the Mayor) to structure rates that help businesses.
In all of my years in the public sector I've not seen or met a Mayor that didn't understand that, but Mayor McLaughlin's a new breed of activist city official. That's all well and good for getting elected but it seems to cloud one's ability to conduct the business of maintaining a municipality's economy. One can have their personal beliefs but when a city's unemployment rate is at almost 20 percent as is the case in Richmond, its a recession, and the job base has decreased by over 50 percent in the last two years, it's time to be more pragmatic and less antagonistic.
On YouTube.com
In the wake of my interview with Chevron employee Dennis Roos I've gotten a number of email and calls updating me on the matter of the negotiations to restart the stopped construction of the improvements to the Richmond refinery.
One of them was this "Meet The Mayor" community meeting held Friday, August 7th at 5:30 PM. Here, one could ask questions of Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin for one hour, but my intent was to attend, film residents who were concerned about the project, pro and con, and after it was over, get the Mayor's direct point of view if she would give it to me. (Take note of that.)
To review, Chevron's planned upgrade of their giant Richmond oil refinery was stalled because environmentalists sued them in court regarding what was viewed to be an inadequate environmental impact report (EIR) regarding how emissions were going to be lessened over current levels. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga agreed with their view and ordered planed construction stopped until Chevron could create a "better" EIR. The judge's decision threw over 1,000 construction employees out of work and threatened the future of Chevron in Richmond.
So I did arrive and sat next to a white-haired gentleman who as it happened gave me a copy of a letter I'd not seen from Richmond's Mechanics Bank. The letter stressed the importance of keeping Chevron in Richmond and arriving at a settlement to get the plant project going again.
So the meeting started and as the Mayor listened to people introduce themselves I explained that I was a video-blogger who wanted to ask her about the plant matter after the meeting was over if I could. She did say that was fine.
There were only two people who came to the meeting to talk about the refinery issue. The first person, an African American man, said that the Mayor seemed not to care about the people who need jobs and more about her own agenda (this is in the video). The Mayor said that she does did support a support a substitute to the the resolution voted on by the Richmond City Council two weeks ago calling for settlement talks (with California Attorney General Jerry Brown involved) so that all the workers can get back to their jobs and she's working to make that happen. The Mayor said doing this is important because Richmond has a 17 percent unemployment rate.
A few minutes later, and after a number of residents expressed concern for and presented programs to stop the violence plaguing young African Americans in Richmond (which was heart-breaking to see, no matter how many times I am presented with this issue), the man I was sitting next to, who's name was Richard Lompa, asked the Mayor about the bank letter, and explained that he didn't understand "why do we continuously bash Chevron" and quoted the letter written by Mechanics Bank President and CEO Stephen Foster which said the reason given for opposing Chevron doesn't stand up to scrutiny . He said no one would support Chevron putting out more pollution, and that it was as if she was plunging a dagger in the heart of the city.
The Mayor's response was that the judge made the decision and then she threw in that Chevron does not pay its fair share of taxes and talked about the company's court battle against Measure T which imposed a new tax structure for manufacturers like Chevron. She also pointed to Chevron's appeal of its property tax assessment.
After the meeting and people left the room, the Mayor did give me her time and put to rest the idea some have expressed that she was not talking to Chevron, stating that she talks to representatives of the firm every day.
Mayor McLaughlin then essentially repeated her claim that Chevron doesn't pay its taxes in response to my question that as a person trained and who's practiced economic development, tax reductions are a normal part of negotiations to make it easier for employers to maintain their business in a city. She asked if I was referring to the Measure T issue, and repeated what she said before regarding the firm not paying its fair share of taxes. Then, weirdly and after presenting herself well on camera but before I could deactivate it, suddenly turned and said "I have a community meeting" but I turned the camera to show that the meeting had ended long ago. Moreover, the Mayor agreed to give me just a moment of her time, and I gave her a platform to present herself; the Mayor didn't say she had more people to meet when we started the interview. She didn't have to essentially rain on her own parade but that's what happened as one can see and I'm really disappointed that she did that. I turned off the camcorder.
As I went outside, Mr. Lompa was talking to another person, but after he finished gave me his view. "The Mayor," he said, "was being shallow and not grounded with reality" regarding her repeating of the idea that Chevron has a $24 billion profit. He also said that he appeals his tax bill if he thinks it's not valid.
I agree with Mr. Lompa, but I'm really concerned that the good Mayor seems to have more of a personal agenda that may cloud her ability to effectively negotiate with Chevron. It's common practice for businesses to want and ask for tax reductions and its equally normal for city economic development officials (and that includes the Mayor) to structure rates that help businesses.
In all of my years in the public sector I've not seen or met a Mayor that didn't understand that, but Mayor McLaughlin's a new breed of activist city official. That's all well and good for getting elected but it seems to cloud one's ability to conduct the business of maintaining a municipality's economy. One can have their personal beliefs but when a city's unemployment rate is at almost 20 percent as is the case in Richmond, its a recession, and the job base has decreased by over 50 percent in the last two years, it's time to be more pragmatic and less antagonistic.
Tom Hayes: Another glimmer of hope for the economy
The health care sector continues to add jobs so investor confidence during the past month led the monthly Economic Recovery Reality Index (ERRI)
up a modest 4.76 points over July numbers to 16.03 for August. Unemployment dipped slightly and the increase in the number of “discouraged” workers slowed, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - but as with prior economic recessions and depressions employment changes are once again trailing the other economic indicators:
The small ERRI gain shows Wall Street's optimism hasn't yet reached most other streets; it will take some time for average Americans to feel - or believe - that this long subtle assault that started with obscure financial "devices" has eased and real recovery has begun. The problem, we know now, was not sub-prime lending, which can and does help people, but aggressive and deliberately predatory sub-prime lending from companies and CEOs who thought they were immune to the risks in an essentially unregulated environment.
The ERRI uses a hypothetical, indexed fund (similar in some ways to a mutual fund) to measure investor confidence across nearly a dozen sectors of the economy, but until jobs and wages show sustained improvements you won't see it move back closer to (or above) the 100 mark no matter how fast stock prices drive the stock/investment component higher.
The modest gain in the August ERRI figures reflect both equity prices as of the close of the NYSE on Friday, August 7th and data released in the monthly update/estimate from the Department of Labor earlier the same day combined using a new calculation. Without the on-going hiring in health care and the slight turn-around in unemployment rate even the robust gains in various stock markets would not have had much impact on the index.
up a modest 4.76 points over July numbers to 16.03 for August. Unemployment dipped slightly and the increase in the number of “discouraged” workers slowed, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - but as with prior economic recessions and depressions employment changes are once again trailing the other economic indicators:The small ERRI gain shows Wall Street's optimism hasn't yet reached most other streets; it will take some time for average Americans to feel - or believe - that this long subtle assault that started with obscure financial "devices" has eased and real recovery has begun. The problem, we know now, was not sub-prime lending, which can and does help people, but aggressive and deliberately predatory sub-prime lending from companies and CEOs who thought they were immune to the risks in an essentially unregulated environment.
The ERRI uses a hypothetical, indexed fund (similar in some ways to a mutual fund) to measure investor confidence across nearly a dozen sectors of the economy, but until jobs and wages show sustained improvements you won't see it move back closer to (or above) the 100 mark no matter how fast stock prices drive the stock/investment component higher.
"Equity investments are volatile, particularly when not carefully diversified and monitored; the ERRI would have shown even less improvement had closing prices from even a day sooner been utilized in the calculations (since that would have reduced the 'ERRI fund' improvement.)"
The modest gain in the August ERRI figures reflect both equity prices as of the close of the NYSE on Friday, August 7th and data released in the monthly update/estimate from the Department of Labor earlier the same day combined using a new calculation. Without the on-going hiring in health care and the slight turn-around in unemployment rate even the robust gains in various stock markets would not have had much impact on the index.
Michael Vick please show that you have class!
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Now as any regular follower of my blogs knows, I'm really happy former Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick's back in the NFL, and even though he's not signed with a team yet, former Indy Coach Tony Dungy said on NBC's telecast of the "Hall of Fame Game" that a team should sign him within the next week. That's great. But just because God's smiling on Vick, doesn't mean he has to lose control of the image he's working to build so quickly, and risk blowing it all.
What do I mean? Well, there's a new set of expectations of Vick from a number of people: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dungy, and anyone rooting for Vick to get a second chance and most important succeed at it. I count myself here because I embarked on an attack against on PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for its race-tinged smearing of Vick, and I'm still not done with PETA. But because of that, I expect Michael Vick to be that guy we all want him to be, and not someone sporting the latest in thug attire and saying "I'm gonna always love my N___, you know what I'm sayin" as he did in this video:
When I got wind of this via Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports on Twitter, I pretty much fell out of my chair. I wanted to make sure I wasn't being too anal about the whole deal so I asked my Mom, who's visiting me, to come over and watch the video. Her words came out as soon as she listened to him: "He's not gonna make it," she said.
I informed Mom that Coach Dungy said Vick would be signed by someone and she said "I hope so." So do I.
See, what Mike doens't understand is now, like it or not, everyone black's not only rooting for him and fighting for him, but demands that he represent himself in a way that justifies our actions in defending him. I write "black" because Vick's behavior ignites the age-old argument of what it means to be black in America and the idea that one does not have to act black, but that's another blog post, back to this one.
Allowing ones self to be on camera showing the best of thug life (another code word for "acting black") doesn't help us one bit. I don't know where anyone got the idea that rap culture was desirable, but Vick's got to understand if he wants to establish himself as lovable to corporate sponsors (and if you want to say that's a code word for "acting white" go ahead but my retort is that being clean, intelligent, and presentable to companies has nothing to do with race at all), he's got to lose that shtick, and fast.
Am I being harsh, yes, massively so. Do I care? No way. I'm really ticked-off with Vick's actions; perhaps T.O. (Terrell Owens) can talk me down and talk to him in the process. Protecting the proper image is at the center of this issue of Michael Vick's future. There are people betting that Vick will be just the kind of person he's showing himself to be in that YouTube moment and that's not acceptable to us, his fans. While Michael may feel he's got to "keep it real" as Chris Rock would say, "keeping it real, yeah, real dumb" is what he's doing.
Why in hell would Michael allow someone to point a camera at him and just follow him around without knowing what the digital image was going to be used for? Vick not only didn't care, he got right up to the camera and came off big in his thuggy glory.
Great, man. Just peachy.
What we want to see - Ok, what I want to see is a clean-cut, smooth, thoughtful version of Vick that by its very existence gives a collective finger to his doubters and allows him to regain then surpass the value he had before he was hauled off to jail. In the NFL, where potentially hundreds of millions of dollars can be brought to bear on one person, image is everything. One can't whine and cry about not being able to wear his gangta t-shirt or not "looking black", unless of course he wants to kiss his revenue potential goodbye. If so, then fine. There's thousands of brothers on the street trying to sell their music and "looking black in the process, perhaps Vick can join them.
Call me "Uncle Tom" or whatever. I don't care. I'm keeping it real myself. And the real story is that the Michael Vick I saw in that video is pretty much the same Michael Vick I briefly met at the 2000 EA Sports Party in Atlanta during the Super Bowl. At that event, Vick was playing video games wearing a white tank top shirt some call a "wife beater" shirt. His hair was braided. I was disappointed and wanted to kick the ass of whomever was supposedly advising him.
There's no denying Vick's physical talent, but I want to see him bring himself to an NFL-level of character and image, if anything because it's a good, positive message to send to kids. He didn't project that NFL-level of person at the EA Sports party 10 years ago, where he should have dressed business casual, and he's didn't show it on the YouTube video.
Coach Dungy, please talk to Michael before its too late. As my 74-year old Mom said "He's got to stay away from that old crowd. C'mon Vick!"
Amen.
Now as any regular follower of my blogs knows, I'm really happy former Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick's back in the NFL, and even though he's not signed with a team yet, former Indy Coach Tony Dungy said on NBC's telecast of the "Hall of Fame Game" that a team should sign him within the next week. That's great. But just because God's smiling on Vick, doesn't mean he has to lose control of the image he's working to build so quickly, and risk blowing it all.
What do I mean? Well, there's a new set of expectations of Vick from a number of people: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dungy, and anyone rooting for Vick to get a second chance and most important succeed at it. I count myself here because I embarked on an attack against on PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for its race-tinged smearing of Vick, and I'm still not done with PETA. But because of that, I expect Michael Vick to be that guy we all want him to be, and not someone sporting the latest in thug attire and saying "I'm gonna always love my N___, you know what I'm sayin" as he did in this video:
When I got wind of this via Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports on Twitter, I pretty much fell out of my chair. I wanted to make sure I wasn't being too anal about the whole deal so I asked my Mom, who's visiting me, to come over and watch the video. Her words came out as soon as she listened to him: "He's not gonna make it," she said.
I informed Mom that Coach Dungy said Vick would be signed by someone and she said "I hope so." So do I.
See, what Mike doens't understand is now, like it or not, everyone black's not only rooting for him and fighting for him, but demands that he represent himself in a way that justifies our actions in defending him. I write "black" because Vick's behavior ignites the age-old argument of what it means to be black in America and the idea that one does not have to act black, but that's another blog post, back to this one.
Allowing ones self to be on camera showing the best of thug life (another code word for "acting black") doesn't help us one bit. I don't know where anyone got the idea that rap culture was desirable, but Vick's got to understand if he wants to establish himself as lovable to corporate sponsors (and if you want to say that's a code word for "acting white" go ahead but my retort is that being clean, intelligent, and presentable to companies has nothing to do with race at all), he's got to lose that shtick, and fast.
Am I being harsh, yes, massively so. Do I care? No way. I'm really ticked-off with Vick's actions; perhaps T.O. (Terrell Owens) can talk me down and talk to him in the process. Protecting the proper image is at the center of this issue of Michael Vick's future. There are people betting that Vick will be just the kind of person he's showing himself to be in that YouTube moment and that's not acceptable to us, his fans. While Michael may feel he's got to "keep it real" as Chris Rock would say, "keeping it real, yeah, real dumb" is what he's doing.
Why in hell would Michael allow someone to point a camera at him and just follow him around without knowing what the digital image was going to be used for? Vick not only didn't care, he got right up to the camera and came off big in his thuggy glory.
Great, man. Just peachy.
What we want to see - Ok, what I want to see is a clean-cut, smooth, thoughtful version of Vick that by its very existence gives a collective finger to his doubters and allows him to regain then surpass the value he had before he was hauled off to jail. In the NFL, where potentially hundreds of millions of dollars can be brought to bear on one person, image is everything. One can't whine and cry about not being able to wear his gangta t-shirt or not "looking black", unless of course he wants to kiss his revenue potential goodbye. If so, then fine. There's thousands of brothers on the street trying to sell their music and "looking black in the process, perhaps Vick can join them.
Call me "Uncle Tom" or whatever. I don't care. I'm keeping it real myself. And the real story is that the Michael Vick I saw in that video is pretty much the same Michael Vick I briefly met at the 2000 EA Sports Party in Atlanta during the Super Bowl. At that event, Vick was playing video games wearing a white tank top shirt some call a "wife beater" shirt. His hair was braided. I was disappointed and wanted to kick the ass of whomever was supposedly advising him.
There's no denying Vick's physical talent, but I want to see him bring himself to an NFL-level of character and image, if anything because it's a good, positive message to send to kids. He didn't project that NFL-level of person at the EA Sports party 10 years ago, where he should have dressed business casual, and he's didn't show it on the YouTube video.
Coach Dungy, please talk to Michael before its too late. As my 74-year old Mom said "He's got to stay away from that old crowd. C'mon Vick!"
Amen.
Michael Vick please show that you have class!
More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com
Now as any regular follower of my blogs knows, I'm really happy former Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick's back in the NFL, and even though he's not signed with a team yet, former Indy Coach Tony Dungy said on NBC's telecast of the "Hall of Fame Game" that a team should sign him within the next week. That's great. But just because God's smiling on Vick, doesn't mean he has to lose control of the image he's working to build so quickly, and risk blowing it all.
What do I mean? Well, there's a new set of expectations of Vick from a number of people: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dungy, and anyone rooting for Vick to get a second chance and most important succeed at it. I count myself here because I embarked on an attack against on PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for its race-tinged smearing of Vick, and I'm still not done with PETA. But because of that, I expect Michael Vick to be that guy we all want him to be, and not someone sporting the latest in thug attire and saying "I'm gonna always love my N___, you know what I'm sayin" as he did in this video:
When I got wind of this via Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports on Twitter, I pretty much fell out of my chair. I wanted to make sure I wasn't being too anal about the whole deal so I asked my Mom, who's visiting me, to come over and watch the video. Her words came out as soon as she listened to him: "He's not gonna make it," she said.
I informed Mom that Coach Dungy said Vick would be signed by someone and she said "I hope so." So do I.
See, what Mike doens't understand is now, like it or not, everyone black's not only rooting for him and fighting for him, but demands that he represent himself in a way that justifies our actions in defending him. I write "black" because Vick's behavior ignites the age-old argument of what it means to be black in America and the idea that one does not have to act black, but that's another blog post, back to this one.
Allowing ones self to be on camera showing the best of thug life (another code word for "acting black") doesn't help us one bit. I don't know where anyone got the idea that rap culture was desirable, but Vick's got to understand if he wants to establish himself as lovable to corporate sponsors (and if you want to say that's a code word for "acting white" go ahead but my retort is that being clean, intelligent, and presentable to companies has nothing to do with race at all), he's got to lose that shtick, and fast.
Am I being harsh, yes, massively so. Do I care? No way. I'm really ticked-off with Vick's actions; perhaps T.O. (Terrell Owens) can talk me down and talk to him in the process. Protecting the proper image is at the center of this issue of Michael Vick's future. There are people betting that Vick will be just the kind of person he's showing himself to be in that YouTube moment and that's not acceptable to us, his fans. While Michael may feel he's got to "keep it real" as Chris Rock would say, "keeping it real, yeah, real dumb" is what he's doing.
Why in hell would Michael allow someone to point a camera at him and just follow him around without knowing what the digital image was going to be used for? Vick not only didn't care, he got right up to the camera and came off big in his thuggy glory.
Great, man. Just peachy.
What we want to see - Ok, what I want to see is a clean-cut, smooth, thoughtful version of Vick that by its very existence gives a collective finger to his doubters and allows him to regain then surpass the value he had before he was hauled off to jail. In the NFL, where potentially hundreds of millions of dollars can be brought to bear on one person, image is everything. One can't whine and cry about not being able to wear his gangta t-shirt or not "looking black", unless of course he wants to kiss his revenue potential goodbye. If so, then fine. There's thousands of brothers on the street trying to sell their music and "looking black in the process, perhaps Vick can join them.
Call me "Uncle Tom" or whatever. I don't care. I'm keeping it real myself. And the real story is that the Michael Vick I saw in that video is pretty much the same Michael Vick I briefly met at the 2000 EA Sports Party in Atlanta during the Super Bowl. At that event, Vick was playing video games wearing a white tank top shirt some call a "wife beater" shirt. His hair was braided. I was disappointed and wanted to kick the ass of whomever was supposedly advising him.
There's no denying Vick's physical talent, but I want to see him bring himself to an NFL-level of character and image, if anything because it's a good, positive message to send to kids. He didn't project that NFL-level of person at the EA Sports party 10 years ago, where he should have dressed business casual, and he's didn't show it on the YouTube video.
Coach Dungy, please talk to Michael before its too late. As my 74-year old Mom said "He's got to stay away from that old crowd. C'mon Vick!"
Amen.
Now as any regular follower of my blogs knows, I'm really happy former Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick's back in the NFL, and even though he's not signed with a team yet, former Indy Coach Tony Dungy said on NBC's telecast of the "Hall of Fame Game" that a team should sign him within the next week. That's great. But just because God's smiling on Vick, doesn't mean he has to lose control of the image he's working to build so quickly, and risk blowing it all.
What do I mean? Well, there's a new set of expectations of Vick from a number of people: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dungy, and anyone rooting for Vick to get a second chance and most important succeed at it. I count myself here because I embarked on an attack against on PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for its race-tinged smearing of Vick, and I'm still not done with PETA. But because of that, I expect Michael Vick to be that guy we all want him to be, and not someone sporting the latest in thug attire and saying "I'm gonna always love my N___, you know what I'm sayin" as he did in this video:
When I got wind of this via Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports on Twitter, I pretty much fell out of my chair. I wanted to make sure I wasn't being too anal about the whole deal so I asked my Mom, who's visiting me, to come over and watch the video. Her words came out as soon as she listened to him: "He's not gonna make it," she said.
I informed Mom that Coach Dungy said Vick would be signed by someone and she said "I hope so." So do I.
See, what Mike doens't understand is now, like it or not, everyone black's not only rooting for him and fighting for him, but demands that he represent himself in a way that justifies our actions in defending him. I write "black" because Vick's behavior ignites the age-old argument of what it means to be black in America and the idea that one does not have to act black, but that's another blog post, back to this one.
Allowing ones self to be on camera showing the best of thug life (another code word for "acting black") doesn't help us one bit. I don't know where anyone got the idea that rap culture was desirable, but Vick's got to understand if he wants to establish himself as lovable to corporate sponsors (and if you want to say that's a code word for "acting white" go ahead but my retort is that being clean, intelligent, and presentable to companies has nothing to do with race at all), he's got to lose that shtick, and fast.
Am I being harsh, yes, massively so. Do I care? No way. I'm really ticked-off with Vick's actions; perhaps T.O. (Terrell Owens) can talk me down and talk to him in the process. Protecting the proper image is at the center of this issue of Michael Vick's future. There are people betting that Vick will be just the kind of person he's showing himself to be in that YouTube moment and that's not acceptable to us, his fans. While Michael may feel he's got to "keep it real" as Chris Rock would say, "keeping it real, yeah, real dumb" is what he's doing.
Why in hell would Michael allow someone to point a camera at him and just follow him around without knowing what the digital image was going to be used for? Vick not only didn't care, he got right up to the camera and came off big in his thuggy glory.
Great, man. Just peachy.
What we want to see - Ok, what I want to see is a clean-cut, smooth, thoughtful version of Vick that by its very existence gives a collective finger to his doubters and allows him to regain then surpass the value he had before he was hauled off to jail. In the NFL, where potentially hundreds of millions of dollars can be brought to bear on one person, image is everything. One can't whine and cry about not being able to wear his gangta t-shirt or not "looking black", unless of course he wants to kiss his revenue potential goodbye. If so, then fine. There's thousands of brothers on the street trying to sell their music and "looking black in the process, perhaps Vick can join them.
Call me "Uncle Tom" or whatever. I don't care. I'm keeping it real myself. And the real story is that the Michael Vick I saw in that video is pretty much the same Michael Vick I briefly met at the 2000 EA Sports Party in Atlanta during the Super Bowl. At that event, Vick was playing video games wearing a white tank top shirt some call a "wife beater" shirt. His hair was braided. I was disappointed and wanted to kick the ass of whomever was supposedly advising him.
There's no denying Vick's physical talent, but I want to see him bring himself to an NFL-level of character and image, if anything because it's a good, positive message to send to kids. He didn't project that NFL-level of person at the EA Sports party 10 years ago, where he should have dressed business casual, and he's didn't show it on the YouTube video.
Coach Dungy, please talk to Michael before its too late. As my 74-year old Mom said "He's got to stay away from that old crowd. C'mon Vick!"
Amen.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Canton South Marching Band HOF 2009
Canton South Marching Band during the Hall of Fame Parade August 8, 2009. The band did a great job! Including all the NICC Sr. Highers!
Police slam elderly lady, taser Oakland A's fan - what's up?
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I'm not sure if it's because we have more digital camcorders around than ever before, or there's something sinister in the way police are being trained today, or some combination of both, but we now have two disturbing examples of excessive force applied by the people we hire to protect and to serve.
The first and most recent example comes from a Walmart in Columbus, Ohio. In the video below this elderly woman named Virginia Dodson reportedly of 84 years old is standing in a parking lot and holding a knife. The reason for holding the knife was that Dodson's daughter left her in her car while she went back into the store. The elder Dodson, an Alzheimer's Patient, got scared because she was alone and cut herself out of the car seat belt, then got out of the automobile in search of her daughter.
Some young people had talked to Virginia in such a way that she brandished the knife. In turn they called 911. When the police officer arrived she walked up to Dodson and after asking her to drop the knife, violently slammed her to the ground.
Here's the video:
What's got me is that since it's obvious the female officer (proving that its not a gender-based issue) was strong enough to take her down with ease, why not just grab the knife from her instead? All of the other moves were excessive and caused Dodson to bleed. Thankfully she was rushed to the hospital and no charges were filed.
To me, police officers are supposed to be trained to be super people in judgment not just strength. Yes, I know that what they do is dangerous, but the job doesn't have to be a thankless one. Somewhere along the way, deep in our long term backslide in education spending and the decline of leisure time we produced a society of people impatient to study a situation then react in a non-violent way. Great classic books on negotiation like "Getting to Yes" have given way to the ideas of "Ask A Ninja". Police seem to be expected to strike and make arrests by any means necessary rather than intelligently work to resolve a problem without arrests or violence. Want another example? Take the case of the Oakland A's fan who was tasered by police basically for being a big mouth.
Why taser a man sitting in his chair? What was the deal? Well, he was drunk, unruly, and refused to leave the stadium upon Oakland police orders. But here's the rub, yet again: why the totally unintelligent way of just saying "Just do as I say?" Yes, you should always follow police orders, period. That's for you and me. But what about those stupid people who don't? Why is the answer hitting them or tasering them? Why not another kind of weapon: words? It seems like we're really going backward as a society if you or anyone else feels you have to defend such an action. Again, the police are supposed to be SUPER PEOPLE. People we look up to for their extraordinary decision making skill, not people we fear because of the idea that they may go too far and harm someone.
I miss the days of community policing, when officers on the beat knew folks in the neighborhood and at the stadium. Those guys and women were a unique breed of talkers that knew how to use their brains to solve problems. At least the one's I knew in Oakland; they're retired for the most part. It seems that we have a national problem of not teaching good negotiating tactics to officers, who because of that are more prone to take a physical approach to problem resolution.
We've got to insist on smart cops. In fact, I'll call for a "smart cop" movement: a detailed list of changes in law enforcement systems that will produce more of the kind of modern problem solvers we need today. The first change should be monetary bonuses of $3,000 per officer per event for anyone that manages to defuse a situation without violence. That's a great incentive for an officer to think twice before flipping an elderly woman to the ground.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has called for reform of how police solve problems in the wake of the Oscar Grant shooting.
I'm not sure if it's because we have more digital camcorders around than ever before, or there's something sinister in the way police are being trained today, or some combination of both, but we now have two disturbing examples of excessive force applied by the people we hire to protect and to serve.
The first and most recent example comes from a Walmart in Columbus, Ohio. In the video below this elderly woman named Virginia Dodson reportedly of 84 years old is standing in a parking lot and holding a knife. The reason for holding the knife was that Dodson's daughter left her in her car while she went back into the store. The elder Dodson, an Alzheimer's Patient, got scared because she was alone and cut herself out of the car seat belt, then got out of the automobile in search of her daughter.
Some young people had talked to Virginia in such a way that she brandished the knife. In turn they called 911. When the police officer arrived she walked up to Dodson and after asking her to drop the knife, violently slammed her to the ground.
Here's the video:
What's got me is that since it's obvious the female officer (proving that its not a gender-based issue) was strong enough to take her down with ease, why not just grab the knife from her instead? All of the other moves were excessive and caused Dodson to bleed. Thankfully she was rushed to the hospital and no charges were filed.
To me, police officers are supposed to be trained to be super people in judgment not just strength. Yes, I know that what they do is dangerous, but the job doesn't have to be a thankless one. Somewhere along the way, deep in our long term backslide in education spending and the decline of leisure time we produced a society of people impatient to study a situation then react in a non-violent way. Great classic books on negotiation like "Getting to Yes" have given way to the ideas of "Ask A Ninja". Police seem to be expected to strike and make arrests by any means necessary rather than intelligently work to resolve a problem without arrests or violence. Want another example? Take the case of the Oakland A's fan who was tasered by police basically for being a big mouth.
Why taser a man sitting in his chair? What was the deal? Well, he was drunk, unruly, and refused to leave the stadium upon Oakland police orders. But here's the rub, yet again: why the totally unintelligent way of just saying "Just do as I say?" Yes, you should always follow police orders, period. That's for you and me. But what about those stupid people who don't? Why is the answer hitting them or tasering them? Why not another kind of weapon: words? It seems like we're really going backward as a society if you or anyone else feels you have to defend such an action. Again, the police are supposed to be SUPER PEOPLE. People we look up to for their extraordinary decision making skill, not people we fear because of the idea that they may go too far and harm someone.
I miss the days of community policing, when officers on the beat knew folks in the neighborhood and at the stadium. Those guys and women were a unique breed of talkers that knew how to use their brains to solve problems. At least the one's I knew in Oakland; they're retired for the most part. It seems that we have a national problem of not teaching good negotiating tactics to officers, who because of that are more prone to take a physical approach to problem resolution.
We've got to insist on smart cops. In fact, I'll call for a "smart cop" movement: a detailed list of changes in law enforcement systems that will produce more of the kind of modern problem solvers we need today. The first change should be monetary bonuses of $3,000 per officer per event for anyone that manages to defuse a situation without violence. That's a great incentive for an officer to think twice before flipping an elderly woman to the ground.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
LakeFest Street Fair in Oakland, CA - August 1st 2009
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On YouTube.com
LakeFest is a street fair that was held last Saturday and Sunday August 1st and 2nd on Lakeshore Avenue between Lake Park and Mandana near the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. After a long absence, it's back for its second year and with great bands and vendors selling clothes and representing everything from the new Lake Chalet restaurant to "Friends of the Oakland Public Library."
I talked with a number of Oaklanders about the festival because there was a long period of time that, well, there was not an event of this kind at this location. That is until Helen Wyman stepped in.
Helen Wyman is an event producer currently best known for the first, successful Uptown street fair held June 18th of this year. She explained that this event has nothing to do with the version of year's past and is brand new. "'LakeFest' was a concept we came up with through my company Oakland Events. We decided that Lakeshore was a great spot because of the community and the neighborhood, location and the weather and so many people that can walk here. And they didn't have a festival so we wanted to bring the festival back here."
But what happened to the first version of what is now called "LakeFest"? For the answer to that question I turned to long-time Oaklander Pam Drake, who is Executive Director of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District (LBID). "WE had put it on with an art organization that didn't work with the vendors and it ended up costing us a lot of money and didn't involve our stores as much as it should. So the businesses, we weren't really sure if we wanted to go on with it.
"So, we hadn't done anything in a while and we felt like even though we have the wonderful farmers market, that people wanted to see Lakeshore on the map again. So Helen Wyman, who's someone who I worked with her mom, came up and said 'We've done all these events and I'd really like to do an event for this district.'"
LakeFest was Wyman's first independent event so she wrote a proposal to the LBID's Drake and she liked and endorsed Wyman's idea. Last year was the first one; this is the second year in a row for Wyman's festival concept.
Personally, I love what she's done. It captures the feel and the sprit of Oakland without really any "trick" other than organizing businesses and entertainment and booths. But with that, I have to complement Oakland Events on taking steps to guard against overcrowding. Many street fairs in San Francisco have the booths so close to the side walk that its hard to walk back-and-forth because folks are pressed so close together; not so at LakeFest.
LakeFest also helped the businesses along Lakeshore, especially Easy Lounge, which was perpetually crowded with a great mix of people and Starbucks and Noah's Bagels, which benefited from being near the music stage at the Mandana Avenue end of the street fair. Combined with the Grand Lake Farmers Market, the whole neighborhood was just one big party.
So, congrats to Wyman and Oakland Events for a fun time. But I look forward to the day when both Grand Avenue and Lakeshore are both closed down for one big Grand Lake Festival.
On YouTube.com
LakeFest is a street fair that was held last Saturday and Sunday August 1st and 2nd on Lakeshore Avenue between Lake Park and Mandana near the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. After a long absence, it's back for its second year and with great bands and vendors selling clothes and representing everything from the new Lake Chalet restaurant to "Friends of the Oakland Public Library."
I talked with a number of Oaklanders about the festival because there was a long period of time that, well, there was not an event of this kind at this location. That is until Helen Wyman stepped in.
Helen Wyman is an event producer currently best known for the first, successful Uptown street fair held June 18th of this year. She explained that this event has nothing to do with the version of year's past and is brand new. "'LakeFest' was a concept we came up with through my company Oakland Events. We decided that Lakeshore was a great spot because of the community and the neighborhood, location and the weather and so many people that can walk here. And they didn't have a festival so we wanted to bring the festival back here."
But what happened to the first version of what is now called "LakeFest"? For the answer to that question I turned to long-time Oaklander Pam Drake, who is Executive Director of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District (LBID). "WE had put it on with an art organization that didn't work with the vendors and it ended up costing us a lot of money and didn't involve our stores as much as it should. So the businesses, we weren't really sure if we wanted to go on with it.
"So, we hadn't done anything in a while and we felt like even though we have the wonderful farmers market, that people wanted to see Lakeshore on the map again. So Helen Wyman, who's someone who I worked with her mom, came up and said 'We've done all these events and I'd really like to do an event for this district.'"
LakeFest was Wyman's first independent event so she wrote a proposal to the LBID's Drake and she liked and endorsed Wyman's idea. Last year was the first one; this is the second year in a row for Wyman's festival concept.
Personally, I love what she's done. It captures the feel and the sprit of Oakland without really any "trick" other than organizing businesses and entertainment and booths. But with that, I have to complement Oakland Events on taking steps to guard against overcrowding. Many street fairs in San Francisco have the booths so close to the side walk that its hard to walk back-and-forth because folks are pressed so close together; not so at LakeFest.
LakeFest also helped the businesses along Lakeshore, especially Easy Lounge, which was perpetually crowded with a great mix of people and Starbucks and Noah's Bagels, which benefited from being near the music stage at the Mandana Avenue end of the street fair. Combined with the Grand Lake Farmers Market, the whole neighborhood was just one big party.
So, congrats to Wyman and Oakland Events for a fun time. But I look forward to the day when both Grand Avenue and Lakeshore are both closed down for one big Grand Lake Festival.
Friday, August 07, 2009
"Follow Friday" on Twitter - what is it?
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Today's Friday August 7th and for any regular Twitter user it it's "Follow Friday". But just what is Follow Friday and why is it so popular? I've got to admit I had no idea why the habit started. Whatever the case, it's a popular Internet happening, so let me explain what it is.
Follow Friday is the act of copying a Twitter account reference (@zennie62) and other Twitter accounts references (@handsongourmet), then in the "What are you doing" field paste those references and add this before them - Follow Friday - so the result looks like this:
And then click on "update". What will happen is others will see those references and click on them to follow if they want. But at times just making that kind of update will not do the trick, so many people add more account references, like so:
The reason for adding so many accounts is that the more people you encourage to be followed, the more likely they are to place you in their Follow Friday update post and the more times you will be "seen" to be followed by their followers.
Got it?
It's like this: let's say there's a 50 percent chance that you will get new followers if you have just two Twitter reference accounts, ok? So, if we have six, we go from one possible new follower to three. But you don't stop there, you add more Twitter account holders as you go along in new updates for Friday. The ideal system is to help those account holders who are following you first. What you want is for everyone following you to gain the benefit of your follower base, and vice versa. The overall objective is more followers, and a greater base from which to issue your message.
It's also the best free way to gain followers in addition to tweeting everyday, and retweeting (copying someone's tweet, pasting it into your "What are you doing? field, adding "RT" before it, and then pressing "update. On the matter of free, I don't recommend buying into a service as many of them don't work as advertised.)
Now, who started all of this?
According to Mashable the first Follow Friday tweet was issued in mid January of 2009 by @micah (Micah Baldwin), then @myklroventine came up with the hashtag #followfriday (which you can use or just "Follow Friday" as I do). But the very next week, the trend went viral, with about two Follow Friday's per second at its highest rate of activity.
TopFollowFriday a great tool
Wondering what online tool to use to "watch" your Follow Friday activity? I learned about something called TopFollowFriday, which is where can see who's endorsing them and who you've endorsed.
So give Follow Friday a try today, which is...Friday!
Today's Friday August 7th and for any regular Twitter user it it's "Follow Friday". But just what is Follow Friday and why is it so popular? I've got to admit I had no idea why the habit started. Whatever the case, it's a popular Internet happening, so let me explain what it is.
Follow Friday is the act of copying a Twitter account reference (@zennie62) and other Twitter accounts references (@handsongourmet), then in the "What are you doing" field paste those references and add this before them - Follow Friday - so the result looks like this:
Follow Friday @zennie62 @handsongourmet
And then click on "update". What will happen is others will see those references and click on them to follow if they want. But at times just making that kind of update will not do the trick, so many people add more account references, like so:
Follow Friday @zennie62 @handsongourmet @makeitpro @therealshaq @sfgate @ladygaga
The reason for adding so many accounts is that the more people you encourage to be followed, the more likely they are to place you in their Follow Friday update post and the more times you will be "seen" to be followed by their followers.
Got it?
It's like this: let's say there's a 50 percent chance that you will get new followers if you have just two Twitter reference accounts, ok? So, if we have six, we go from one possible new follower to three. But you don't stop there, you add more Twitter account holders as you go along in new updates for Friday. The ideal system is to help those account holders who are following you first. What you want is for everyone following you to gain the benefit of your follower base, and vice versa. The overall objective is more followers, and a greater base from which to issue your message.
It's also the best free way to gain followers in addition to tweeting everyday, and retweeting (copying someone's tweet, pasting it into your "What are you doing? field, adding "RT" before it, and then pressing "update. On the matter of free, I don't recommend buying into a service as many of them don't work as advertised.)
Now, who started all of this?
According to Mashable the first Follow Friday tweet was issued in mid January of 2009 by @micah (Micah Baldwin), then @myklroventine came up with the hashtag #followfriday (which you can use or just "Follow Friday" as I do). But the very next week, the trend went viral, with about two Follow Friday's per second at its highest rate of activity.
TopFollowFriday a great tool
Wondering what online tool to use to "watch" your Follow Friday activity? I learned about something called TopFollowFriday, which is where can see who's endorsing them and who you've endorsed.
So give Follow Friday a try today, which is...Friday!
Thursday, August 06, 2009
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" director dies. John Hughes "got" Chicago
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YouTube , MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler
(Topics: John Hughes, Chicago, movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Zennie Abraham)
When I learned that John Hughes passed away, SFGate.com referred to one of his films "Sixteen Candles" and I thought: What?! Heck with that; the best John Hughes film ever was "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"! That is one of my top 10 movies of all time. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is tops in my movie collection and when I think of Chicago, my hometown, that's the movie I think of.
Why?
Because "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was and is the ultimate "coming of age" story but with a twist. Ferris Bueller already came of age before the movie; we come of age watching Ferris take over Chicago for a day, even as he was thought to be very sick by everyone at his school except the principal and his nosy sister.
That movie was the epicenter of popular sayings like "Who do you think you are? Abe Froeman?" (The mythical "Sausage King of Chicago" that Bueller claims to be while trying to worm his way into an expensive Friench restaurant), or "Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy... Ssssswwiiiinng batter!" , which Alan Ruck, who played Cameron, was actually ad-libbing "He can't hit-he can't hit-he can't hit-he can't hit". It had, front and center, every young man's fantasy: to drive a hot red car all over the place, have your hot girl friend and best friend in it, and absolutely no responsibility for paying for it (because your friend's parents own it).
(Of course, it took Cameron to cause its destruction, just as he was going through his pivotal change where he's ready to argue with his dad.)
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was Chicago: big, brash, bold, old and yet young, all in the body of Ferris Bueller. We saw every inch of the downtown of the City with The Big Shoulders, from State Street and Michigan Avenue, to The Sears Tower (I refuse to use its new name) and Grant Park and the Lake Front. It was a moving, wonderful travelogue of a city I love to this day.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was our introduction to one of America's bad boys: Charlie Sheen. Playing a drug addict who makes the moves on Ferris' sister (played by Jennifer Grey), Sheen's "James Dean" take was the hit of the show behind Matthew Broderick, who is Ferris Bueller.
I've got to admit because Broderick played his role so effortlessly, it's hard for me to think of him as anyone else he's played in his long and distinguished career. As much as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was a coming of age movie, it was Broderick's coming of age movie.
YouTube , MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler
(Topics: John Hughes, Chicago, movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Zennie Abraham)
When I learned that John Hughes passed away, SFGate.com referred to one of his films "Sixteen Candles" and I thought: What?! Heck with that; the best John Hughes film ever was "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"! That is one of my top 10 movies of all time. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is tops in my movie collection and when I think of Chicago, my hometown, that's the movie I think of.
Why?
Because "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was and is the ultimate "coming of age" story but with a twist. Ferris Bueller already came of age before the movie; we come of age watching Ferris take over Chicago for a day, even as he was thought to be very sick by everyone at his school except the principal and his nosy sister.
That movie was the epicenter of popular sayings like "Who do you think you are? Abe Froeman?" (The mythical "Sausage King of Chicago" that Bueller claims to be while trying to worm his way into an expensive Friench restaurant), or "Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy... Ssssswwiiiinng batter!" , which Alan Ruck, who played Cameron, was actually ad-libbing "He can't hit-he can't hit-he can't hit-he can't hit". It had, front and center, every young man's fantasy: to drive a hot red car all over the place, have your hot girl friend and best friend in it, and absolutely no responsibility for paying for it (because your friend's parents own it).
(Of course, it took Cameron to cause its destruction, just as he was going through his pivotal change where he's ready to argue with his dad.)
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was Chicago: big, brash, bold, old and yet young, all in the body of Ferris Bueller. We saw every inch of the downtown of the City with The Big Shoulders, from State Street and Michigan Avenue, to The Sears Tower (I refuse to use its new name) and Grant Park and the Lake Front. It was a moving, wonderful travelogue of a city I love to this day.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was our introduction to one of America's bad boys: Charlie Sheen. Playing a drug addict who makes the moves on Ferris' sister (played by Jennifer Grey), Sheen's "James Dean" take was the hit of the show behind Matthew Broderick, who is Ferris Bueller.
I've got to admit because Broderick played his role so effortlessly, it's hard for me to think of him as anyone else he's played in his long and distinguished career. As much as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was a coming of age movie, it was Broderick's coming of age movie.
Free Agency Period Ends
From NFLMedia.com
Unrestricted Free Agency Period Ends; 86 Re-sign, 128 Switch Teams
08/04/2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8/4/09
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY PERIOD ENDS;
86 RE-SIGN, 128 SWITCH TEAMS
Eighty-six unrestrictedfree agents re-signed with their old teams this year during the free-agencysigning period, while 128 signed with new teams, the National Football Leagueannounced today. The five-month UFAsigning period, under terms of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement betweenthe league and players, ended July 27.
The Denver Broncos signed the most unrestricted free agentsfrom other teams (14), followed by the Detroit Lions with nine.
As per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, players without2009 contracts who had four or more seasons of free agency experience qualifiedto be "unrestricted free agents" and were free to sign with any clubbetween February 27 and July 27.
There were a total of 336 unrestricted free agents thisyear. The total player pool isapproximately 1,700.
If an unrestricted free agent’s prior club made a 110percent tender on or before June 1, the prior club retained exclusivenegotiating rights if the player did not sign with another club during the UFAsigning period. If the player and clubare unable to negotiate a contract by the 10th week of the regular season(November 17), the player may not play the remainder of the season. If the player sits out the season, he becomesan unrestricted free agent next year.
The 128 unrestricted free agents whoswitched teams represent only 7.5 percent of all NFL players. Of the 400 players who were free agents inthe various categories of the system, 275 signed new contracts with either newteams or their old clubs. An additional44 players with fewer than four seasons of free agency experience received noqualifying offer or minimum tender from their prior clubs.
Restrictedfree agents are those players who have threeseasons of free agency experience and are subject to compensation and/or rightof first refusal.
For the first time since the current CBA went into effect 17seasons ago, none of this year's 55 restricted free agents signed with a newteam and 54 restricted free agents returned to their former clubs. The period for restricted free agents toaccept offers from other teams ended April 17.
A transitionplayer is a designated restricted or unrestricted free agent whose teammust tender a one-year contract at the average of the 10 highest-paid playersof 2008 at the transition player's position, or a 20 percent increase,whichever is greater. A franchise player is a designated restrictedor unrestricted free agent whose team must tender a one-year contract at theaverage of the five highest-paid players at the franchise player's position in2008, or a 20 percent increase, whichever is greater.
A comparison of free agent movement sincethe current CBA went into effect 17 seasons ago:
NFL FREE AGENCY MOVEMENT
(VeteranFree Agents Who Signed With New Teams)
Category
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
Unrestricted
108
121
171
99
85
110
115
107
93
Restricted
8
7
6
4
2
4
2
4
4
Transition
4
4
2
2
2
1
1
0
0
Franchise
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
TOTALS
121
132
179
105
89
117
118
111
97
Category
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Unrestricted
130
111
124
104
149
126
132
128
Restricted
1
5
1
3
4
4
3
0
Transition
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
Franchise
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TOTALS
131
117
126
107
154
130
135
128
FINAL2009 NFL UNRESTRICTED & RESTRICTED FREE-AGENT SIGNINGS
(Basedon official notification to NFL office)
1) 128 UNRESTRICTED free agents have signed with a NEWteam:
TEAM
PLAYER
FORMER TEAM
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
CB Bryant McFadden
Pittsburgh
3/11
RB Jason Wright
Cleveland
3/18
Atlanta Falcons
LB Mike Peterson
Jacksonville
3/11
C Brett Romberg
St. Louis
3/10
Baltimore Ravens
C Matt Birk
Minnesota
3/5
CB Chris Carr
Tennessee
3/18
CB Dominique Foxworth
Atlanta
2/27
TE L.J. Smith
Philadelphia
3/20
Buffalo Bills
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
Cincinnati
2/28
C Geoff Hangartner
Carolina
3/2
G Seth McKinney
Cleveland
4/8
RB Dominic Rhodes
Indianapolis
4/20
LB Patrick Thomas
Kansas City
3/20
Chicago Bears
S Josh Bullocks
New Orleans
3/12
T Frank Omiyale
Carolina
2/28
Cincinnati Bengals
WR Laveranues Coles
NY Jets
3/5
DT Tank Johnson
Dallas
4/8
QB J.T. O’Sullivan
San Francisco
3/10
Cleveland Browns
LB Eric Barton
NY Jets
3/16
CB Corey Ivy
Baltimore
3/19
DE C.J. Mosley
NY Jets
3/9
CB Hank Poteat
NY Jets
3/10
T John St. Clair
Chicago
3/18
T Floyd Womack
Seattle
3/16
Dallas Cowboys
LB Keith Brooking
Atlanta
3/2
DE Igor Olshansky
San Diego
3/9
S Gerald Sensabaugh
Jacksonville
3/11
Denver Broncos
RB JJ Arrington
Arizona
3/5
RB Correll Buckhalter
Philadelphia
2/28
LB Andra Davis
Cleveland
2/28
S Brian Dawkins
Philadelphia
3/2
NT Ronald Fields
San Francisco
3/3
WR Jabar Gaffney
New England
2/28
CB Andre’ Goodman
Miami
3/3
T Brandon Gorin
St. Louis
4/17
CB Renaldo Hill
Miami
2/28
RB LaMont Jordan
New England
3/4
LS Lonie Paxton
New England
2/28
DT Darrell Reid
Indianapolis
2/28
QB Chris Simms
Tennessee
3/5
G Scott Young
Cleveland
3/13
Detroit Lions
CB Phillip Buchanon
Tampa Bay
3/5
TE Will Heller
Seattle
3/17
DT Grady Jackson
Atlanta
3/5
WR Bryant Johnson
San Francisco
3/2
T Daniel Loper
Tennessee
3/11
CB Eric King
Tennessee
2/28
RB Maurice Morris
Seattle
2/28
RB Terrelle Smith
Arizona
4/16
LB Cody Spencer
NY Jets
3/9
Green Bay Packers
C Duke Preston
Buffalo
3/30
Houston Texans
NT Shaun Cody
Detroit
3/30
QB Dan Orlovsky
Detroit
3/2
G Adrian Jones
Kansas City
5/18
DE Antonio Smith
Arizona
3/2
Indianapolis Colts
LB Adam Seward
Carolina
3/20
Jacksonville Jaguars
S Sean Considine
Philadelphia
2/28
T Tra Thomas
Philadelphia
3/9
Kansas City Chiefs
LB Monty Beisel
Arizona
3/17
WR Terrance Copper
Baltimore
3/17
CB Travis Daniels
Cleveland
3/10
WR Bobby Engram
Seattle
3/17
G Mike Goff
San Diego
3/26
C Eric Ghiaciuc
Cincinnati
4/30
TE Sean Ryan
San Francisco
4/21
LB Zach Thomas
Dallas
4/13
Miami Dolphins
G Joe Berger
Dallas
2/27
CB Eric Green
Arizona
3/12
C Jake Grove
Oakland
3/3
Minnesota Vikings
CB Karl Paymah
Denver
3/19
New England Patriots
DT Damane Duckett
San Francisco
3/23
C Al Johnson
Miami
3/16
LB Paris Lenon
Detroit
5/27
S Brandon McGowan
Chicago
5/5
New Orleans Saints
TE Darnell Dinkins
Cleveland
3/23
FB Heath Evans
New England
3/12
CB Jabari Greer
Buffalo
3/5
DE Tony Hargrove
Buffalo
5/18
C Nick Leckey
St. Louis
3/18
S Pierson Prioleau
Jacksonville
3/25
S Darren Sharper
Minnesota
3/24
New York Giants
DT Rocky Bernard
Seattle
3/2
LB Michael Boley
Atlanta
2/28
S C.C. Brown
Houston
3/4
DE Chris Canty
Dallas
3/2
New York Jets
DT Howard Green
Seattle
3/16
LB Larry Izzo
New England
3/11
S Jim Leonhard
Baltimore
3/3
LB Bart Scott
Baltimore
2/28
CB Donald Strickland
San Francisco
3/25
Oakland Raiders
T Khalif Barnes
Jacksonville
3/16
DT Ryan Boschetti
Washington
4/1
S Keith Davis
Dallas
5/21
QB Jeff Garcia
Tampa Bay
4/6
T Marcus Johnson
Minnesota
4/6
RB Lorenzo Neal
Baltimore
5/8
Philadelphia Eagles
T Stacy Andrews
Cincinnati
2/28
S Rashad Baker
Oakland
3/11
S Sean Jones
Cleveland
3/9
RB Leonard Weaver
Seattle
3/23
Pittsburgh Steelers
WR Shaun McDonald
Detroit
5/1
CB Keiwan Ratliff
Indianapolis
4/27
St. Louis Rams
TE Billy Bajema
San Francisco
3/31
QB Kyle Boller
Baltimore
4/6
C Jason Brown
Baltimore
3/10
S James Butler
NY Giants
3/12
San Diego Chargers
LB Kevin Burnett
Dallas
3/12
San Francisco 49ers
DE Demetric Evans
Washington
3/10
LB Marques Harris
San Diego
5/1
WR Brandon Jones
Tennessee
2/28
RB Moran Norris
Detroit
3/3
T Marvel Smith
Pittsburgh
3/30
Seattle Seahawks
DT Colin Cole
Green Bay
3/2
WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh
Cincinnati
3/3
TE John Owens
Detroit
3/5
LS Bryan Pittman
Houston
5/18
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
LB Angelo Crowell
Buffalo
3/23
QB Byron Leftwich
Pittsburgh
4/14
K Mike Nugent
NY Jets
3/4
RB Derrick Ward
NY Giants
3/3
Tennessee Titans
CB DeMarcus Faggins
Houston
4/2
DT Jovan Haye
Tampa Bay
3/3
WR Mark Jones
Carolina
3/20
QB Patrick Ramsey
Denver
4/6
WR Nate Washington
Pittsburgh
3/3
Washington Redskins
DT Albert Haynesworth
Tennessee
2/28
P Hunter Smith
Indianapolis
4/27
DE Renaldo Wynn
NY Giants
3/24
2) 86 UNRESTRICTED free agents have re-signed withtheir OLD team:
TEAM
PLAYER
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
DE Bert Berry
3/20
G Elton Brown
3/25
CB Ralph Brown
3/27
P Ben Graham
3/2
LB Clark Haggans
3/17
QB Brian St. Pierre
3/2
QB Kurt Warner
3/5
Atlanta Falcons
DE Chauncey Davis
3/4
LB Tony Gilbert
2/27
DT Jason Jefferson
3/3
LB Coy Wire
2/27
Baltimore Ravens
QB Todd Bouman
4/6
LB Ray Lewis
3/9
Buffalo Bills
T Kirk Chambers
3/4
RB Corey McIntyre
3/3
Chicago Bears
RB Kevin Jones
3/9
Cincinnati Bengals
RB Cedric Benson
3/4
LB Darryl Blackstock
3/2
S Chris Crocker
3/5
Cleveland Browns
S Mike Adams
3/6
Denver Broncos
DT Kenny Peterson
3/10
TE Jeb Putzier
3/16
Detroit Lions
RB Aveion Cason
3/9
G Damion Cook
3/5
WR Keary Colbert
5/7
T George Foster
4/6
Green Bay Packers
DE Mike Montgomery
3/23
Houston Texans
S Nick Ferguson
3/12
C Chris White
2/27
CB Eugene Wilson
2/27
Indianapolis Colts
S Matt Giordano
4/17
LB Tyjuan Hagler
4/8
C Jeff Saturday
2/27
Jacksonville Jaguars
C Brad Meester
2/27
CB Scott Starks
2/27
Kansas City Chiefs
S Jon McGraw
3/6
Miami Dolphins
S Yeremiah Bell
2/27
Minnesota Vikings
LB Heath Farwell
3/6
DT Jimmy Kennedy
3/11
TE Jim Kleinsasser
2/28
S Benny Sapp
3/10
New England Patriots
P Chris Hanson
3/5
G Russ Hochstein
3/2
S James Sanders
3/5
DT Kenny Smith
4/22
S Tank Williams
3/16
DE Mike Wright
3/16
New Orleans Saints
QB Joey Harrington
3/30
WR Devery Henderson
3/4
T Jon Stinchcomb
3/3
LB Jonathan Vilma
3/3
New York Jets
CB Ahmad Carroll
3/16
K Jay Feely
3/9
TE Bubba Franks
5/12
RB Tony Richardson
3/3
Oakland Raiders
G Cooper Carlisle
3/3
LB Isaiah Ekejiuba
3/3
NT William Joseph
3/16
CB Justin Miller
3/16
TE Tony Stewart
3/3
LB Sam Williams
4/1
Pittsburgh Steelers
QB Charlie Batch
4/16
CB Fernando Bryant
3/18
T Trai Essex
3/17
LB Keyaron Fox
4/6
LB Andre Frazier
3/16
G Chris Kemoeatu
3/12
St. Louis Rams
CB Ron Bartell
3/5
G Adam Goldberg
3/23
DE Eric Moore
3/16
San Francisco 49ers
CB Allen Rossum
3/11
LB Takeo Spikes
3/4
Seattle Seahawks
LB Leroy Hill
5/1
LB D.D. Lewis
3/16
T Ray Willis
3/9
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
S Will Allen
3/3
WR Michael Clayton
3/2
WR Cortez Hankton
3/5
S Jermaine Phillips
3/6
TE Jerramy Stevens
3/5
Tennessee Titans
QB Kerry Collins
2/28
S Vincent Fuller
3/2
P Craig Hentrich
3/6
Washington Redskins
DE Phillip Daniels
4/2
LB Alfred Fincher
3/10
CB DeAngelo Hall
3/4
3) 0 RESTRICTED free agents have signed with NEWteams:
TEAM
PLAYER
FORMER TEAM
DATE REPORTED
4) 54 RESTRICTED free agents have re-signed with their OLDteam:
TEAM
PLAYER
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
TE Leonard Pope
3/31
DT Gabe Watson
3/31
Atlanta Falcons
T Tyson Clabo
6/2
G Harvey Dahl
4/15
Baltimore Ravens
P Sam Koch
3/27
S Dawan Landry
4/2
TE Quinn Sypniewski
4/9
WR Demetrius Williams
4/9
Buffalo Bills
LB Keith Ellison
3/23
S George Wilson
3/31
Carolina Panthers
LB James Anderson
4/17
TE Jeff King
3/18
S Nate Salley
4/20
Cincinnati Bengals
LB Brandon Johnson
4/16
LB Rashad Jeanty
4/17
Dallas Cowboys
WR Miles Austin
4/23
DE Stephen Bowen
4/6
WR Sam Hurd
4/21
G Cory Proctor
4/2
Green Bay Packers
S Atari Bigby
4/17
CB Jarrett Bush
3/16
DE Jason Hunter
3/16
RB John Kuhn
4/17
WR Ruvell Martin
4/17
Houston Texans
WR David Anderson
3/13
T Rashad Butler
4/7
TE Owen Daniels
6/15
TE Joel Dreessen
3/4
Kansas City Chiefs
C Rudy Niswanger
4/24
S Jarrad Page
5/29
WR Jeff Webb
4/20
Minnesota Vikings
DT Fred Evans
4/6
RB Naufahu Tahi
3/27
New England Patriots
LB Pierre Woods
4/21
New Orleans Saints
G Jahri Evans
4/21
WR Lance Moore
4/22
T Zach Strief
4/13
CB Leigh Torrance
4/13
New York Giants
CB Kevin Dockery
4/13
New York Jets
S Abram Elam
3/17
Oakland Raiders
LB Ricky Brown
3/16
Philadelphia Eagles
WR Hank Baskett
4/23
C Nick Cole
3/31
Pittsburgh Steelers
T Willie Colon
3/10
S Anthony Madison
3/20
TE Sean McHugh
3/2
St. Louis Rams
DE Victor Adenyanju
4/20
G Richie Incognito
5/1
San Diego Chargers
WR Malcom Floyd
5/15
CB Cletis Gordon
4/14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
T Donald Penn
4/14
Washington Redskins
DT Kedric Golston
4/10
DT Anthony Montgomery
3/25
K Shaun Suisham
3/16
5) 0 FRANCHISE players have signed with NEWteams:
TEAM
PLAYER
FORMER TEAM
DATE REPORTED
6) 7 FRANCHISE players re-signed with their OLDteam:
TEAM
PLAYER
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
LB Karlos Dansby
3/4
Baltimore Ravens
LB Terrell Suggs
7/15
Carolina Panthers
DE Julius Peppers
6/24
Cincinnati Bengals
K Shayne Graham
4/30
St. Louis Rams
S Oshiomogho Atogwe
7/16
San Diego Chargers
RB Darren Sproles
4/28
Tennessee Titans
TE Bo Scaife
4/28
# # #
Unrestricted Free Agency Period Ends; 86 Re-sign, 128 Switch Teams
08/04/2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8/4/09
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY PERIOD ENDS;
86 RE-SIGN, 128 SWITCH TEAMS
Eighty-six unrestrictedfree agents re-signed with their old teams this year during the free-agencysigning period, while 128 signed with new teams, the National Football Leagueannounced today. The five-month UFAsigning period, under terms of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement betweenthe league and players, ended July 27.
The Denver Broncos signed the most unrestricted free agentsfrom other teams (14), followed by the Detroit Lions with nine.
As per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, players without2009 contracts who had four or more seasons of free agency experience qualifiedto be "unrestricted free agents" and were free to sign with any clubbetween February 27 and July 27.
There were a total of 336 unrestricted free agents thisyear. The total player pool isapproximately 1,700.
If an unrestricted free agent’s prior club made a 110percent tender on or before June 1, the prior club retained exclusivenegotiating rights if the player did not sign with another club during the UFAsigning period. If the player and clubare unable to negotiate a contract by the 10th week of the regular season(November 17), the player may not play the remainder of the season. If the player sits out the season, he becomesan unrestricted free agent next year.
The 128 unrestricted free agents whoswitched teams represent only 7.5 percent of all NFL players. Of the 400 players who were free agents inthe various categories of the system, 275 signed new contracts with either newteams or their old clubs. An additional44 players with fewer than four seasons of free agency experience received noqualifying offer or minimum tender from their prior clubs.
Restrictedfree agents are those players who have threeseasons of free agency experience and are subject to compensation and/or rightof first refusal.
For the first time since the current CBA went into effect 17seasons ago, none of this year's 55 restricted free agents signed with a newteam and 54 restricted free agents returned to their former clubs. The period for restricted free agents toaccept offers from other teams ended April 17.
A transitionplayer is a designated restricted or unrestricted free agent whose teammust tender a one-year contract at the average of the 10 highest-paid playersof 2008 at the transition player's position, or a 20 percent increase,whichever is greater. A franchise player is a designated restrictedor unrestricted free agent whose team must tender a one-year contract at theaverage of the five highest-paid players at the franchise player's position in2008, or a 20 percent increase, whichever is greater.
A comparison of free agent movement sincethe current CBA went into effect 17 seasons ago:
NFL FREE AGENCY MOVEMENT
(VeteranFree Agents Who Signed With New Teams)
Category
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
Unrestricted
108
121
171
99
85
110
115
107
93
Restricted
8
7
6
4
2
4
2
4
4
Transition
4
4
2
2
2
1
1
0
0
Franchise
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
TOTALS
121
132
179
105
89
117
118
111
97
Category
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Unrestricted
130
111
124
104
149
126
132
128
Restricted
1
5
1
3
4
4
3
0
Transition
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
Franchise
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TOTALS
131
117
126
107
154
130
135
128
FINAL2009 NFL UNRESTRICTED & RESTRICTED FREE-AGENT SIGNINGS
(Basedon official notification to NFL office)
1) 128 UNRESTRICTED free agents have signed with a NEWteam:
TEAM
PLAYER
FORMER TEAM
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
CB Bryant McFadden
Pittsburgh
3/11
RB Jason Wright
Cleveland
3/18
Atlanta Falcons
LB Mike Peterson
Jacksonville
3/11
C Brett Romberg
St. Louis
3/10
Baltimore Ravens
C Matt Birk
Minnesota
3/5
CB Chris Carr
Tennessee
3/18
CB Dominique Foxworth
Atlanta
2/27
TE L.J. Smith
Philadelphia
3/20
Buffalo Bills
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
Cincinnati
2/28
C Geoff Hangartner
Carolina
3/2
G Seth McKinney
Cleveland
4/8
RB Dominic Rhodes
Indianapolis
4/20
LB Patrick Thomas
Kansas City
3/20
Chicago Bears
S Josh Bullocks
New Orleans
3/12
T Frank Omiyale
Carolina
2/28
Cincinnati Bengals
WR Laveranues Coles
NY Jets
3/5
DT Tank Johnson
Dallas
4/8
QB J.T. O’Sullivan
San Francisco
3/10
Cleveland Browns
LB Eric Barton
NY Jets
3/16
CB Corey Ivy
Baltimore
3/19
DE C.J. Mosley
NY Jets
3/9
CB Hank Poteat
NY Jets
3/10
T John St. Clair
Chicago
3/18
T Floyd Womack
Seattle
3/16
Dallas Cowboys
LB Keith Brooking
Atlanta
3/2
DE Igor Olshansky
San Diego
3/9
S Gerald Sensabaugh
Jacksonville
3/11
Denver Broncos
RB JJ Arrington
Arizona
3/5
RB Correll Buckhalter
Philadelphia
2/28
LB Andra Davis
Cleveland
2/28
S Brian Dawkins
Philadelphia
3/2
NT Ronald Fields
San Francisco
3/3
WR Jabar Gaffney
New England
2/28
CB Andre’ Goodman
Miami
3/3
T Brandon Gorin
St. Louis
4/17
CB Renaldo Hill
Miami
2/28
RB LaMont Jordan
New England
3/4
LS Lonie Paxton
New England
2/28
DT Darrell Reid
Indianapolis
2/28
QB Chris Simms
Tennessee
3/5
G Scott Young
Cleveland
3/13
Detroit Lions
CB Phillip Buchanon
Tampa Bay
3/5
TE Will Heller
Seattle
3/17
DT Grady Jackson
Atlanta
3/5
WR Bryant Johnson
San Francisco
3/2
T Daniel Loper
Tennessee
3/11
CB Eric King
Tennessee
2/28
RB Maurice Morris
Seattle
2/28
RB Terrelle Smith
Arizona
4/16
LB Cody Spencer
NY Jets
3/9
Green Bay Packers
C Duke Preston
Buffalo
3/30
Houston Texans
NT Shaun Cody
Detroit
3/30
QB Dan Orlovsky
Detroit
3/2
G Adrian Jones
Kansas City
5/18
DE Antonio Smith
Arizona
3/2
Indianapolis Colts
LB Adam Seward
Carolina
3/20
Jacksonville Jaguars
S Sean Considine
Philadelphia
2/28
T Tra Thomas
Philadelphia
3/9
Kansas City Chiefs
LB Monty Beisel
Arizona
3/17
WR Terrance Copper
Baltimore
3/17
CB Travis Daniels
Cleveland
3/10
WR Bobby Engram
Seattle
3/17
G Mike Goff
San Diego
3/26
C Eric Ghiaciuc
Cincinnati
4/30
TE Sean Ryan
San Francisco
4/21
LB Zach Thomas
Dallas
4/13
Miami Dolphins
G Joe Berger
Dallas
2/27
CB Eric Green
Arizona
3/12
C Jake Grove
Oakland
3/3
Minnesota Vikings
CB Karl Paymah
Denver
3/19
New England Patriots
DT Damane Duckett
San Francisco
3/23
C Al Johnson
Miami
3/16
LB Paris Lenon
Detroit
5/27
S Brandon McGowan
Chicago
5/5
New Orleans Saints
TE Darnell Dinkins
Cleveland
3/23
FB Heath Evans
New England
3/12
CB Jabari Greer
Buffalo
3/5
DE Tony Hargrove
Buffalo
5/18
C Nick Leckey
St. Louis
3/18
S Pierson Prioleau
Jacksonville
3/25
S Darren Sharper
Minnesota
3/24
New York Giants
DT Rocky Bernard
Seattle
3/2
LB Michael Boley
Atlanta
2/28
S C.C. Brown
Houston
3/4
DE Chris Canty
Dallas
3/2
New York Jets
DT Howard Green
Seattle
3/16
LB Larry Izzo
New England
3/11
S Jim Leonhard
Baltimore
3/3
LB Bart Scott
Baltimore
2/28
CB Donald Strickland
San Francisco
3/25
Oakland Raiders
T Khalif Barnes
Jacksonville
3/16
DT Ryan Boschetti
Washington
4/1
S Keith Davis
Dallas
5/21
QB Jeff Garcia
Tampa Bay
4/6
T Marcus Johnson
Minnesota
4/6
RB Lorenzo Neal
Baltimore
5/8
Philadelphia Eagles
T Stacy Andrews
Cincinnati
2/28
S Rashad Baker
Oakland
3/11
S Sean Jones
Cleveland
3/9
RB Leonard Weaver
Seattle
3/23
Pittsburgh Steelers
WR Shaun McDonald
Detroit
5/1
CB Keiwan Ratliff
Indianapolis
4/27
St. Louis Rams
TE Billy Bajema
San Francisco
3/31
QB Kyle Boller
Baltimore
4/6
C Jason Brown
Baltimore
3/10
S James Butler
NY Giants
3/12
San Diego Chargers
LB Kevin Burnett
Dallas
3/12
San Francisco 49ers
DE Demetric Evans
Washington
3/10
LB Marques Harris
San Diego
5/1
WR Brandon Jones
Tennessee
2/28
RB Moran Norris
Detroit
3/3
T Marvel Smith
Pittsburgh
3/30
Seattle Seahawks
DT Colin Cole
Green Bay
3/2
WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh
Cincinnati
3/3
TE John Owens
Detroit
3/5
LS Bryan Pittman
Houston
5/18
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
LB Angelo Crowell
Buffalo
3/23
QB Byron Leftwich
Pittsburgh
4/14
K Mike Nugent
NY Jets
3/4
RB Derrick Ward
NY Giants
3/3
Tennessee Titans
CB DeMarcus Faggins
Houston
4/2
DT Jovan Haye
Tampa Bay
3/3
WR Mark Jones
Carolina
3/20
QB Patrick Ramsey
Denver
4/6
WR Nate Washington
Pittsburgh
3/3
Washington Redskins
DT Albert Haynesworth
Tennessee
2/28
P Hunter Smith
Indianapolis
4/27
DE Renaldo Wynn
NY Giants
3/24
2) 86 UNRESTRICTED free agents have re-signed withtheir OLD team:
TEAM
PLAYER
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
DE Bert Berry
3/20
G Elton Brown
3/25
CB Ralph Brown
3/27
P Ben Graham
3/2
LB Clark Haggans
3/17
QB Brian St. Pierre
3/2
QB Kurt Warner
3/5
Atlanta Falcons
DE Chauncey Davis
3/4
LB Tony Gilbert
2/27
DT Jason Jefferson
3/3
LB Coy Wire
2/27
Baltimore Ravens
QB Todd Bouman
4/6
LB Ray Lewis
3/9
Buffalo Bills
T Kirk Chambers
3/4
RB Corey McIntyre
3/3
Chicago Bears
RB Kevin Jones
3/9
Cincinnati Bengals
RB Cedric Benson
3/4
LB Darryl Blackstock
3/2
S Chris Crocker
3/5
Cleveland Browns
S Mike Adams
3/6
Denver Broncos
DT Kenny Peterson
3/10
TE Jeb Putzier
3/16
Detroit Lions
RB Aveion Cason
3/9
G Damion Cook
3/5
WR Keary Colbert
5/7
T George Foster
4/6
Green Bay Packers
DE Mike Montgomery
3/23
Houston Texans
S Nick Ferguson
3/12
C Chris White
2/27
CB Eugene Wilson
2/27
Indianapolis Colts
S Matt Giordano
4/17
LB Tyjuan Hagler
4/8
C Jeff Saturday
2/27
Jacksonville Jaguars
C Brad Meester
2/27
CB Scott Starks
2/27
Kansas City Chiefs
S Jon McGraw
3/6
Miami Dolphins
S Yeremiah Bell
2/27
Minnesota Vikings
LB Heath Farwell
3/6
DT Jimmy Kennedy
3/11
TE Jim Kleinsasser
2/28
S Benny Sapp
3/10
New England Patriots
P Chris Hanson
3/5
G Russ Hochstein
3/2
S James Sanders
3/5
DT Kenny Smith
4/22
S Tank Williams
3/16
DE Mike Wright
3/16
New Orleans Saints
QB Joey Harrington
3/30
WR Devery Henderson
3/4
T Jon Stinchcomb
3/3
LB Jonathan Vilma
3/3
New York Jets
CB Ahmad Carroll
3/16
K Jay Feely
3/9
TE Bubba Franks
5/12
RB Tony Richardson
3/3
Oakland Raiders
G Cooper Carlisle
3/3
LB Isaiah Ekejiuba
3/3
NT William Joseph
3/16
CB Justin Miller
3/16
TE Tony Stewart
3/3
LB Sam Williams
4/1
Pittsburgh Steelers
QB Charlie Batch
4/16
CB Fernando Bryant
3/18
T Trai Essex
3/17
LB Keyaron Fox
4/6
LB Andre Frazier
3/16
G Chris Kemoeatu
3/12
St. Louis Rams
CB Ron Bartell
3/5
G Adam Goldberg
3/23
DE Eric Moore
3/16
San Francisco 49ers
CB Allen Rossum
3/11
LB Takeo Spikes
3/4
Seattle Seahawks
LB Leroy Hill
5/1
LB D.D. Lewis
3/16
T Ray Willis
3/9
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
S Will Allen
3/3
WR Michael Clayton
3/2
WR Cortez Hankton
3/5
S Jermaine Phillips
3/6
TE Jerramy Stevens
3/5
Tennessee Titans
QB Kerry Collins
2/28
S Vincent Fuller
3/2
P Craig Hentrich
3/6
Washington Redskins
DE Phillip Daniels
4/2
LB Alfred Fincher
3/10
CB DeAngelo Hall
3/4
3) 0 RESTRICTED free agents have signed with NEWteams:
TEAM
PLAYER
FORMER TEAM
DATE REPORTED
4) 54 RESTRICTED free agents have re-signed with their OLDteam:
TEAM
PLAYER
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
TE Leonard Pope
3/31
DT Gabe Watson
3/31
Atlanta Falcons
T Tyson Clabo
6/2
G Harvey Dahl
4/15
Baltimore Ravens
P Sam Koch
3/27
S Dawan Landry
4/2
TE Quinn Sypniewski
4/9
WR Demetrius Williams
4/9
Buffalo Bills
LB Keith Ellison
3/23
S George Wilson
3/31
Carolina Panthers
LB James Anderson
4/17
TE Jeff King
3/18
S Nate Salley
4/20
Cincinnati Bengals
LB Brandon Johnson
4/16
LB Rashad Jeanty
4/17
Dallas Cowboys
WR Miles Austin
4/23
DE Stephen Bowen
4/6
WR Sam Hurd
4/21
G Cory Proctor
4/2
Green Bay Packers
S Atari Bigby
4/17
CB Jarrett Bush
3/16
DE Jason Hunter
3/16
RB John Kuhn
4/17
WR Ruvell Martin
4/17
Houston Texans
WR David Anderson
3/13
T Rashad Butler
4/7
TE Owen Daniels
6/15
TE Joel Dreessen
3/4
Kansas City Chiefs
C Rudy Niswanger
4/24
S Jarrad Page
5/29
WR Jeff Webb
4/20
Minnesota Vikings
DT Fred Evans
4/6
RB Naufahu Tahi
3/27
New England Patriots
LB Pierre Woods
4/21
New Orleans Saints
G Jahri Evans
4/21
WR Lance Moore
4/22
T Zach Strief
4/13
CB Leigh Torrance
4/13
New York Giants
CB Kevin Dockery
4/13
New York Jets
S Abram Elam
3/17
Oakland Raiders
LB Ricky Brown
3/16
Philadelphia Eagles
WR Hank Baskett
4/23
C Nick Cole
3/31
Pittsburgh Steelers
T Willie Colon
3/10
S Anthony Madison
3/20
TE Sean McHugh
3/2
St. Louis Rams
DE Victor Adenyanju
4/20
G Richie Incognito
5/1
San Diego Chargers
WR Malcom Floyd
5/15
CB Cletis Gordon
4/14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
T Donald Penn
4/14
Washington Redskins
DT Kedric Golston
4/10
DT Anthony Montgomery
3/25
K Shaun Suisham
3/16
5) 0 FRANCHISE players have signed with NEWteams:
TEAM
PLAYER
FORMER TEAM
DATE REPORTED
6) 7 FRANCHISE players re-signed with their OLDteam:
TEAM
PLAYER
DATE REPORTED
Arizona Cardinals
LB Karlos Dansby
3/4
Baltimore Ravens
LB Terrell Suggs
7/15
Carolina Panthers
DE Julius Peppers
6/24
Cincinnati Bengals
K Shayne Graham
4/30
St. Louis Rams
S Oshiomogho Atogwe
7/16
San Diego Chargers
RB Darren Sproles
4/28
Tennessee Titans
TE Bo Scaife
4/28
# # #
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