After and Before

It's been a few days since the Home Run Derby and I'm haunted by my missed opportunity.

After watching the broadcast on my DVR, I noticed that there were in fact several random shots of the boats in McCovey Cove, some from rather close up, but they were impossible to predict.

Next time I'll have a hands free earpiece (preferably Bluetooth) connecting me to an accomplice watching TV and providing cues. That way, when Kenny Mayne chickens out and fails to rub elbows with the fans, I can still be ready for the cutaways, i.e., the "this is where Kenny wishes he was but he's too afraid to face his public for fear that they'll tell him how tired his shtick is" shots.

But I keep thinking, if that blast by Morneau would have cleared the media platform and landed near us, not only would our outstretched FanChatter.com banner have appeared live on ESPN, but the highlight would have been re-aired on every local sportscast across the country (not to mention Morneau's native Canada) as the only splash landing mustered by a disappointing field. Imagine the number of brand impressions just one water bomb would have produced. Okay, that's the last time I'll mention it.

In happier news...

The Derby and my paddling inspired our heaviest day of chatter traffic yet. Reading along from the kayak via my mobile alerts, it was gratifying to see fans who had never met in person congregating around a single event and sharing their views on everything from how annoying Chris Berman has become to how incredible Vlad's 503 ft. shot off the big glove was. Not that this is unusual on existing chat boards, but it was big for us and I was participating from McCovey Cove via SMS and other fans were trying to give me tips on getting on TV, and THAT is new and cool and only available at FanChatter.com.

Elsewhere on the network, users created more new groups, but the most activity continues to go on in the Go Twins group where fans of the team chatter together before, during, and after their games.

And TOMORROW, I get my first chance to promote the site to a radio audience. Henry Lake of KFAN had us on back in the day to promote THE SHOW TO BE NAMED LATER... and now he's nice enough to bring me back to discuss...

- What's happened since THE SHOW... went off the air.

- How FanChatter.com continues my efforts in support of the creative and connective potential of sports fans.

- Mobile and how it will revolutionize sports chat as we know it.

- My trips to McCovey Cove and the NBA Draft, as well as trading seats with Wolves first round pick Corey Brewer, all as demonstrations of ideal/once-in-a-million mobile chatter opportunities.

- And how we've only just scratched the surface of the network's potential...

My dad, a veteran of PR and promotional interviews, reminds me to (1) map out my talking points, and (2) hit them no matter what the questions are. We'll see how I do.

I'm hoping for a big boost in traffic. I'm also excited to unveil our new homepage (soon) and new features (as soon as we fine tune where we are).



And before I forget, HUGE thanks to a good friend and talented filmmaker Kevin Myers for pimping my Brewer story and FanChatter to all his boys and even a rival message board. For a good time and a lot of laughs, check out his rec league hoops mockumentary series Intramural Glory (and see if you can pick me out in the pilot episode).

After the launch, before the boom, can't wait for tomorrow.