By Rick Morris
Here is the 106th mini-episode of THE FDH LOUNGE with THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER. It’s the ninth installment of our fantasy baseball preview for the 2012 season. In this one, we provide our Top 10 list of projected fantasy breakthroughs for 2012.
By Rick Morris
We have something truly gargantuan for you right here. This is the largest individual project in the five-year history of The FDH Lounge: The 9-Part Kyle Ross History of WrestleMania Series.
For those who are newer to The Lounge, let me back up a minute and explain how this came to exist. Consider these the "liner notes" for this “box set,” if you will.
When Kyle was on the old Sunday Night Submission program at The Sports Talk Network alongside the FDH crew, he and I got to be good friends (and why not, fellow Ohio Bobcat alums!) and I had a lot of fun sitting in on SNS on odd occasions (fifth Beatle of the show, yo!). I’m not too proud to admit that SNS was a big influence on The Lounge when we conceptualized it; we wanted to capture the same spirit of smart people not taking themselves seriously at all.
When SNS ran its course, I lost touch with Kyle for a period of time. I knew that he was very busy at work – one of the main reasons SNS ceased – and I just figured there would always be a time to get back in touch later. Well, I then became aware of a very tough time that Kyle was going through and I reached out to him (to his surprised delight – there’s a hilarious inside story there that I need to leave as an inside story!) and when I floated the idea to him to get back into broadcasting through The Lounge, he graciously accepted my invitation. Let’s face it, the world is not spinning correctly on its axis when Kyle Ross does not have a mic in front of him. He is a broadcasting natural.
He participated in some of our shows during our remaining run on STN and when we took control of our own distribution last summer, he has been the FDH Lounge Dignitary who has done the most roundtables with me – by a wide margin, actually. We come up with ideas every month and we execute them. Time flies when you are breaking it down with this guy.
He pitched me on this WrestleMania series and I quickly accepted. I am cognizant of how much the old SNS listeners who have found us appreciate both his knowledge of pro wrestling and the fun manner in which he goes through it all. Plus, although the hours were going to be long, I knew it was going to be a blast. And I was right.
How long were those hours? Just a shade over 16 hours and 20 minutes in all. But the feeling of satisfaction is tremendous, I have to tell you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the definitive, year-by-year history of WrestleMania as only Kyle Ross could bring it to you (with a few notes here and there by me, but make no mistake, I was the broomstick he was carrying to a five-star match!). It’s a review of what the WWF/WWE was aiming to accomplish with each year’s card – what worked, what didn’t and what happened to shape the next year (and sometimes, the next era) based on that year’s card. If you are a “smart mark” or even someone just looking to indulge in a little nostalgia, this series is the one for you. This is The FDH Lounge at its finest as we turn loose our pro wrestling expert to tell you the year-by-year story of its biggest event: The Kyle Ross 9-Part History of WrestleMania Series.
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #105 of THE FDH LOUNGE is now online, with Part 9 of Lounge Dignitary Kyle Ross’s 9-part History of WrestleMania review with a breakdown of WrestleManias 22-28.
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #104 of THE FDH LOUNGE is now online, with Part 8 of Lounge Dignitary Kyle Ross’s 9-part History of WrestleMania review with a breakdown of WrestleManias 19-21.
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #103 of THE FDH LOUNGE is now online, with Part 7B of Lounge Dignitary Kyle Ross’s 9-part History of WrestleMania review with a breakdown of WrestleManias 16-18.
By Rick Morris
Mini-Episode #102 of THE FDH LOUNGE is now online, with Part 7A of Lounge Dignitary Kyle Ross’s 9-part History of WrestleMania review with a breakdown of WrestleManias 14-15.
By Rick Morris
Here is the 101st mini-episode of THE FDH LOUNGE with THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER. It’s the eighth installment of our fantasy baseball preview for the 2012 season. In this one, we provide our 2012 spring training updates.
By Rick Morris
As we referenced previously, our pals at Sportsology are hooking us up for live segments that we’re doing with guests and remote FDH Lounge Dignitaries these days. We’re happy to report that we’ve been able to produce many segments on our own, but we’re thrilled for the help on some of these with guests and the thanks all go to our great friend Russ Cohen.
We celebrate Mini-Episode #100 in a truly large manner: with longtime Turner Sports ace Ernie Johnson, talking March Madness.
By Rick Morris
The FDH Lounge and The 21st Century Media Alliance have got your wall-to-wall, all-day coverage of March hoops. [NOTE: Even if the box shows “Standby” at any point, it is still updating.] Enjoy!
By Rick Morris
One of the great joys in building a brand from the ground up is the fun of collaboration with other great folks doing the same. Through DOU Productions, a fellow 21st Century Alliance mainstay, we made friends with Jeff Briscoe of The Sports Train radio program, which airs on the web and on terrestrial radio in Fort Myers, FL. In our estimation, it’s probably the best pure sports talk program going today.
I was honored to be invited on with the fellas for one segment that quickly turned into two. We bring it to you here in the hopes that you will continue to sample their fine program. I very much look forward to my next opportunity to break it all down with them.
By Rick Morris
Now that we’ve fully established The FDH Lounge YouTube channel, we’ll be uploading classic segments from the history of our program. When we do, we’ll embed them here.
Up next: our talk with one of the breakthrough actors of the 1980s, Curtis Armstrong.
By Rick Morris
Now that we’ve fully established The FDH Lounge YouTube channel, we’ll be uploading classic segments from the history of our program. When we do, we’ll embed them here.
Up next: our talk with heavy metal wildman and Anvil lead singer Steve “Lips” Kudlow.
By Rick Morris
Now that we’ve fully established The FDH Lounge YouTube channel, we’ll be uploading classic segments from the history of our program. When we do, we’ll embed them here.
Up next: our talk with legendary hockey ref and author Kerry Fraser.
By Rick Morris
Now that we’ve fully established The FDH Lounge YouTube channel, we’ll be uploading classic segments from the history of our program. When we do, we’ll embed them here.
Up next: our review of the infamous Lebron “Decision” in the summer of 2010.
By Rick Morris
Now that we’ve fully established The FDH Lounge YouTube channel, we’ll be uploading classic segments from the history of our program. When we do, we’ll embed them here.
Up next: a national beat writer for both college football and college hoops, Lenn Robbins of the New York Post.
By Rick Morris
Now that we’ve fully established The FDH Lounge YouTube channel, we’ll be uploading classic segments from the history of our program. When we do, we’ll embed them here.
Up next: one of the top pro wrestling sex symbols of all time, Missy Hyatt.
By Rick Morris
Now that we’ve fully established The FDH Lounge YouTube channel, we’ll be uploading classic segments from the history of our program. When we do, we’ll embed them here.
Up next: Hollywood veteran Tommy Reid, who produced both a feature film and a documentary on legendary gangster Danny Greene.
By Rick Morris
Here is the 99th mini-episode of THE FDH LOUNGE with THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER. It’s the seventh installment of our fantasy baseball preview for the 2012 season. In this one, we provide our list of the legitimate breakthroughs and reclamations from the 2011 season.
By Rick Morris
Here is the 98th mini-episode of THE FDH LOUNGE with THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER. It’s the sixth installment of our fantasy baseball preview for the 2012 season. In this one, we provide our Top 15 rookies for the upcoming campaign.
By Rick Morris
Ever since we launched The FDH Lounge brand in January 2007 as an all-subjects complement to our FantasyDrafthelp.com fantasy sports advisory service, we’ve been unabashed about doing whatever it takes to get this project to the level where it belongs. Nobody else has the crew to be rockin’ this kind of talk show variety, so I feel the motivation every day as Managing Partner to make sure that the hard work of this ensemble is rewarded in the end.
One of my partners, Senior Producer “The FDH New York Bureau” Steve Cirvello, handles most of our guest booking and contacts with high-level folks at various places in the media world out of NYC. Once in a while, he hits the road to pursue growth opportunities in other places. Having learned a lot about the South By Southwest Interactive media conference (henceforth referred to by its SXSW abbreviation) from a New Media baron who has been kind and supportive of us (the CEO of the Revision3 web TV network, Jim Louderback), we saw it as an opportunity to take steps towards increasing the long-term viability of the show. And while my own schedule generally keeps me from traveling with Steve on his promotional trips, it did not create a conflict this time. So, with me coming in from C-Town and Steve from New York, off to Austin we’d go.
An additional and welcome step along the way manifested itself when our new friend, former NFL player and author Vernon Turner, invited us to spend time with him in Houston as the proverbial sandwich to our time at SXSW. It turns out that Vernon had an interest in attending SXSW himself, so our crew for the trip was complete.
The other two members of the “FDH Entourage” provided excellent support for the mission. I’ll start with Steve. His follow-through and planning leading up to the trip were superb. While there was some unfortunate poor communication that led to last-minute headaches in the week before we left, absolutely none of it came from Steve’s end. And Vernon was an unbelievably gracious host in Houston and wheelman as we headed to and from Austin. It was fun to see SXSW through Vernon’s eyes as a new author and I’m so glad he had a great time.
Vernon picked us up from the airport late Friday night and after a great late dinner in his excellent part of town, we retired and hit the road the next morning. Due to the yucky drizzle that lingered over Texas for the first part of the weekend, I had a pretty severe sinus headache and I dozed off for a good part of the trip up there (missing, I would later find out, Steve and Vernon goofing on my cellphone), but through the power of sleep and medication I was doing OK by dinner. We prefaced our meal with a walk all throughout the parts of downtown Austin that were hosting SXSW-related events. At dinner, drawing upon one piece of motivation common among the three of us, we toasted to our mothers watching us from the great beyond being proud of their baby boys chasing their dreams.
The first night continued with the theme of getting our feet wet, both literally in the drizzle and figuratively, as we had few solid plans and as such, continued to walk through town and take it all in. Through Steve’s planning before the trip, we managed to get into what he referred to as the “Big Four” of New Media events and the first was Saturday evening’s Blip TV party. As Steve chatted with one of the founders, who had provided our invite, I forgot to name-drop to her our good friend Will McMahon, who stars on the Blip sitcom The Baristas! I clearly have a lot to learn about name-dropping from Steve, although our past show guests Bob Barker, Steve Perry, Gilbert Gottfried, George “The Animal” Steele and Tommy Lasorda might perhaps disagree with me about that. :-)
As we were heading back to Vernon’s truck en route to our hotel, we came upon a large, noisy crowd moving together along the sidewalk. Steve guessed at first that it was an offshoot of the Occupy movement, but I said, “Nah, too festive, not grim enough,” and it turns out I was right. When Steve asked a young lady working one of the many bike taxis around town (quite a scene to watch that, by the way, especially on a hill), she told us that it was a flash mob dance party and that those appear fairly often in Austin. I then heard music coming out of a boom box, but I was truly impressed when I heard a PA system manifest itself. That’s one well-organized flash mob!
But it was Sunday that I’ll remember the longest and for being one of the most fun days that I can ever recall. The weather was sunny, but not too warm, absolutely perfect. We got back in downtown in the late morning and walked over to the Convention Center, where many of the panels for the SXSW conference were being held. The atmosphere was very interesting, even if it resembled a casting call for Portlandia. The promotional materials made available by many outlets were fascinating. There is one that stands out in particular: the large social media outlet Mashable put their SXSW preview in the form of an old-school newspaper and had faux newsboys on the sidewalk passing them out yelling “Extra! Extra!” in a cutesy-poo way of spoofing New Media appearing in Old Media form. The next day, back at Vernon’s house, when word broke that CNN was about to buy them for $200 million, I walked into the bedroom Steve was using, holding the newspaper aloft, and shouted “Extra! Extra! We just sold out to Old Media for $200 mil!”
It’s just hard to explain the intrigue of seeing all of these monster brands like Mashable hustling for attention on the Convention Center grounds. As a first-time attendee, it drove home to me that, without a doubt, this was the Ground Zero of the entire New Media world for the entire Interactive period of SXSW (which is always the front end of the conference, with film and music comprising the other parts of the event). Unlike Steve, I don’t live in New York, so it probably felt like an even bigger deal to me.
We wandered over to find our friend Mr. Louderback and that led us to the second part of the “Big Four” events, the one hosted by Foursquare. Here too, Steve chatted up one of the founders and introduced Vernon and me and we made our way over to Jim and his friend Chaim Haas, Senior VP at Kaplow PR. From there, we got to see Chaim conduct a videoblog interview with Jim on a streetcorner (situated perfectly with plenty of colorful action behind Jim; I can’t wait to view this online) about his impressions of SXSW 2012. Essentially, Jim and Chaim are at the level where people interview you for your impressions of the conference, so it’s pretty aspirational to see that with your own two eyes.
We were about to part ways with Chaim and head to lunch with Jim before making an impromptu stop at an event that Chaim helped to organize (and I have to tell you, in doing this, I learned exactly how cool this guy is!). The new social media site GroupMe had a promotional event that would lead to a world record for grilled cheese sandwiches consumed in one minute. After a brief “eat-off” to determine who would furnish the challenge to the pro, into the “arena” charged … KOBAYASHI (it was very funny to see Jim decipher from the look of awe on the faces of Steve and I that Kobayashi was a big deal)! And the dude brushed my arm as he was making his way through the crowd! Didn’t expect to cross that item off my bucket list at SXSW! He wolfed down 13 in one minute to set the new world’s record. And trust me, the look of disgust on the face of Vernon, a personal trainer and model of fitness who still runs a sub-4.5 40 at age 45 – freaking hysterical!
We resumed our trek towards lunch, settling on a nice little Spanish restaurant with a patio located at the corner of a block. As Jim and Vernon were introducing themselves to each other, we had the most unforeseen moment of the weekend. We made a new friend when longtime Dallas sportscaster-turned-social media titan Chris Yates caught wind of our conversation from the next table and came over and introduced himself. The next thing you know, he and his crew (who were filming interviews for their website all over town during SXSW) were doing interviews with Jim and then Vernon. It was quite a whirlwind moment, that’s for sure, with Chris’s lively personality – exemplified by Vernon paging through a copy of his book and showing Chris the picture of Steve Tasker lighting him up on a punt return. Chris blurted out, “Damn, he kicked your ass!” Really glad I hadn’t taken a drink just prior to that moment, because it would have been most embarrassing …
After lunch, Jim was kind enough to serve as a SXSW tour guide for our crew, which was unbelievably down-to-earth and kind of him. We checked out a few spots on the way, including an entire residential street just off of downtown that was rented out by Google to promote various aspects of their business. Before long, we were at the third of the “Big Four” parties on Steve’s list, this one thrown by the good folks at Boxee. Their event, in the same residential area as the Google street, was as cool as their device that streams web video to your TV set: a BBQ/keg party in a large backyard area! Jim’s description of SXSW as “spring break for geeks” finally had the “spring break element.” Yeah! Plus, they had the sweetest of any of the promotional T-shirts we were picking up all weekend. There was nothing not to like about this affair, I assure you. Vernon and I even got the belly laugh of Steve piggishly loading up on BBQ right after our lunch!
We walked back to the spot where Jim chained his bike (heading to a place he rented outside of town, taking care of the fitness/environment Daily Double by that form of riding) and after saying goodbye, headed over to one of the true historic landmarks in town, the Driskill Hotel. Our good pal Colin Delany from epolitics.com, a frequent political guest on the program, was headed over there, but alas, our schedules did not align. I did get the swank picture taken above there, though, in the media room as we were mingling.
One of Steve’s childhood friends then met us outside and gave us a ride to the last of the parties we were attending, the one thrown by Funny or Die. Held at a charming little bar in the University of Texas off-campus area, we enjoyed talking to a few of the company execs and I feasted on one of the best chicken sandwiches I’ve had in a long time. Inside, clips of Will Ferrell and many of the other top comedy stars associated with the website were running on a loop and they were outstanding.
With nightfall hitting pretty squarely and facing a long ride back to greater H-Town, we looked for a cab back to downtown, because we were facing quite a hike. We couldn’t find one, so we kept walking … and walking … and walking … and the next thing we knew, we hit the highway overpass that bordered that particular stretch of downtown. Even from there, it was quite a hike, walking briskly and encountering at one point a street party as part of SXSW. It was a wistful feeling, taking it all in, the sense of not wanting to leave – but in a positive, motivational sense, looking forward to next year and being back with another 365 days available until then to devote to growing the biz. All that walking in my dress shoes, though … not so pleasant; I commented about how by the end of the day, the footwear felt like my Chuck Taylors in terms of support, or lack thereof. The ride back yielded one Texas phenomenon I did not know about until we reached the final stages before Houston – thick fog that often comes out of nowhere.
Monday was a quiet, relaxing day around Houston, although it yielded the second of the crew’s catchphrases on the trip as “there’s the nose-picker” joined “second knuckle” as the inside jokes that would always generate some laughs. Steve and I both flew back on Tuesday and immediately began to process everything we had seen and heard and how to follow up with some of the people we had met along the way.
I mentioned the word “aspirational” earlier in the story and since I got back to town, I’ve told a few members of the crew that in the years to come, we will be broadcasting from SXSW and that I intend for our group on the scene to be a much larger one at that point. In so doing, it will symbolize everything that South By Southwest represents: great fun with great friends and a tangible representation of having achieved that spot on the media food chain that the small, self-made folks like ourselves desire – and will attain. See you next year, Austin!
By Rick Morris
The FDH Lounge and The 21st Century Media Alliance have got your wall-to-wall, all-day coverage of March hoops. [NOTE: Even if the box shows “Standby” at any point, it is still updating.] Enjoy!
By Rick Morris
The FDH Lounge and The 21st Century Media Alliance have got your wall-to-wall, all-day coverage of March hoops. [NOTE: Even if the box shows “Standby” at any point, it is still updating.] Enjoy!
By Rick Morris
As we referenced previously, our pals at Sportsology are hooking us up for live segments that we’re doing with guests and remote FDH Lounge Dignitaries these days. We’re happy to report that we’ve been able to produce many segments on our own, but we’re thrilled for the help on some of these with guests and the thanks all go to our great friend Russ Cohen.
Mini-Episode #97 features a conversation with David Krikorian, the candidate in Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District who is receiving national attention for being assaulted by reams of last-minute attack robocalls that are blatantly illegal because of their anonymous nature. A bizarre political mystery is unfolding with numerous colorful characters who are potential suspects and harsh sanctions awaiting the perpetrator when identified.
By Rick Morris
NOTE: Start of March rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 St. Louis (4)
2 New York Rangers (2)
3 Vancouver (3)
4 Detroit (1)
5 Pittsburgh (6)
6 Nashville (5)
7 Philadelphia (11)
8 New Jersey (10)
9 Dallas (16)
10 Chicago (13)
11 Boston (9)
12 Ottawa (8)
13 Colorado (15)
14 Phoenix (7)
15 Washington (17)
16 Florida (12)
17 Los Angeles (19)
18 Calgary (20)
19 San Jose (14)
THIRD TIER
20 Winnipeg (18)
21 Buffalo (25)
22 Tampa Bay (21)
23 Anaheim (22)
24 Montreal (28)
25 New York Islanders (27)
26 Carolina (26)
27 Toronto (23)
28 Minnesota (24)
FOURTH TIER
29 Edmonton (29)
FIFTH TIER
30 Columbus (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Dallas and Phoenix (7 spots), Buffalo and Montreal (4 spots), Chicago and St. Louis (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: San Jose (5 spots), Florida, Minnesota, Ottawa, Philadelphia and Toronto (4 spots), Detroit (3 spots)
RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST
1 ATLANTIC 47
2 CENTRAL 51
3 PACIFIC 82
4 NORTHWEST 91
5 NORTHEAST 95
6 SOUTHEAST 99
RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE
1 WEST 224
2 EAST 241
By Rick Morris
NOTE: Start of March power rankings are in parentheses.
FIRST TIER
1 Chicago (3)
2 Oklahoma City (1)
3 Miami (2)
SECOND TIER
4 San Antonio (4)
5 Orlando (5)
6 LA Lakers (9)
7 Indiana (10)
8 Philadelphia (12)
9 Memphis (13)
10 LA Clippers (8)
11 Denver (17)
12 Atlanta (11)
13 Boston (18)
14 Dallas (7)
15 Houston (6)
16 Minnesota (15)
17 Phoenix (19)
18 Utah (21)
19 Milwaukee (22)
20 Portland (16)
21 New York (14)
22 Golden State (20)
THIRD TIER
23 Cleveland (23)
24 Detroit (25)
25 New Jersey (26)
26 Toronto (27)
27 Sacramento (24)
FOURTH TIER
28 New Orleans (28)
29 Washington (29)
FIFTH TIER
30 Charlotte (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Denver (6 spots), Boston (5 spots), Memphis and Philadelphia (4 spots), Indiana, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee and Utah (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Houston (9 spots), Dallas and New York (7 spots), Portland (4 spots), Sacramento (3 spots)
RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST
1 NORTHWEST 67
2 SOUTHWEST 70
3 CENTRAL 74
4 SOUTHEAST 79
5 PACIFIC 82
6 ATLANTIC 93
RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE
1 WEST 219
2 EAST 246
