THIS WEEK IN CHATTER (8/30/07)

(FanChatter's sorta-weekly letter to its registered users. Sign up here to receive via email and Call 'Em Like You See 'Em.)

What's up Sports Fans,

Welcome to FanChatter's first ever THIS WEEK IN CHATTER (imagine Mel Allen saying that) report. This is where we highlight all of the best Chatter from the week in sports, but before we get to that...

THANK YOU

We mean it. Thanks for signing up and giving this site a try. We've only been up for a couple of months and we truly appreciate all the activity and feedback we've seen so far. We're also working our butts off to make FanChatter an indispensable utility in every sports fan's life. How so? By allowing you to talk sports with your friends from anywhere, anytime, all at once.

That means (1) recruiting your sports fan friends to sign up, (2) adding them to your Lineup, and (3) activating mobile alerts (via text message or email) so you'll never miss it when your buddy has something to say. Imagine the possibilities...

FANTASY FOOTBALL

The NFL season is one week away, the trash talking in your fantasy league has only just begun, and a flurry of trade requests can't be far behind. It's time to go mobile and start a FanChatter group for your league. If your commissioner chatters in your group on Sundays and Monday nights, and everyone else activates group mobile alerts, then your league updates can follow you, not the other way around. Going to the game? No problem. In a business meeting when a big mid-week trade offer is made? No problem. Wanna rub in that big win over your hated nemesis/best friend?... over and over no matter where you are or what you're busy doing? No problem. FanChatter.com is here, just in time for Fantasy Football 2007.

THIS WEEK IN CHATTER

-In the ever popular Go Twins group, I was lucky enough to chatter from a luxury suite at the Dome and unlucky enough to chronicle Matt Garza serving up four bombs to the Mariners in 2 1/3 innings (but he did get Ichiro out twice). Later, KPK (who was in the suite with me) described his own luxurious experience before switching to the MLB group to pimp his beloved Cubbies

-thewagontrain joined up and promptly started two groups -- NHL ("everything NHL") and The Stitch Nation ("everything hockey"). What's the difference? We'll wait and see, just like we're still waiting for a link to his scathing take on the Little League World Series. (A tip, you might want to add this guy to your Lineup.)

-Back in the always-interesting Minnesota Nice group, the ever-prolific statman and our newest Chatter-er Rusty are keeping track of the St. Paul Saints current American Association playoff run. Rusty is actually a big deal down in the Tampa-St. Pete area, so we're glad to have him.

-Michael Vick's guilty plea touched off some good chatter over in the NFL group, including thewagontrain's point that Vick would have been better off had he killed a human and gaulstone's reaction to Stephon Marbury's "dogfighting is a sport" gem.

-RamDon wondered if anyone was interested in Latrell Sprewell's recently repossessed yacht. It's called Milwaukee's Best, and charlieiq posted a photo link in the tumultuous Twolves group.

-KPK, always good for a quote of his own, added some of his favorites to psid's popular-but-underused Best Quotes of All Time group.

-Let's not forget to mention the valuable Chatter of MattThomasFan (who hates Billy Martin) and JJDacotah (who chattered first about the KG deal being back on). Since I'm subscribed to him and I had my mobile alerts activated, I heard about the biggest trade in my lifetime as soon as it was going down, right there on my phone. Thanks JJ, whoever you are.

-Did I mention that Bistro24 broke the news about the Luis Castillo trade at FanChatter before most of the news outlets had it?

-And just when you thought it was safe to ignore the Packer Fans group, packerette snuck in her takes on Titletown's offensive outlook at the skill positions. Offensive is right. Haastyle or sschroed, either of you care to chime in here?

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN

Who's got what it takes to make it into the next TWiCh report? Can't you just smell that football in the air? I'll be working the Fight On Trojans group this Saturday for sure, and there's even an NDSU Football group. Remember those guys who almost beat the Gophers? And what about baseball's divisional races? It's a great time of year.

Thanks again for trying us out, remember to recruit your friends, create those fantasy league groups, and always Call 'Em Like You See 'Em.

Marty

PS - To learn more about what we're doing at FanChatter (including my adventures at the NBA Draft and floating in a kayak in McCovey Cove during the Home Run Derby), check out THE BLOG TO BE NAMED LATER... for occasionally frequent insight into what it's like to build a mobile sports fan chat utility.

R.I.P. Eddie Griffin

R.I.P. Eddie Griffin

Here's a video I made for Timberwolves.com back in February 2005. I'm posting it because this was the only time we had a chance to interview former Wolves forward Eddie Griffin, who died in a tragic car accident last week. Sad news.

Nothing Lasts Forever

A week ago my favorite player was traded away from my favorite team.

The next day a bridge I had crossed many times fell into the Mississippi River, killing at least five people including a guy I had played baseball against named Patrick Holmes.



I'm lucky I wasn't on that bridge. I'm lucky I get to feel sad about KG leaving for Boston and I'm lucky (if not crazy) to feel hopeful about the future of my Timberpups.

Two years ago, when I was still doing my sports fan TV show THE SHOW TO BE NAMED LATER..., we had an idea to have an 11-year-old Wolves fan interview Wally Szczerbiak after the final game of the season. Rumors were rampant that Wally would be traded that off-season, so we figured this might be her last chance to interview her all time favorite player.

So we got permission from the team, (show host) Jonny Voss came along to help out, I operated the camera, and here's what happened...



We learned later that KG left without talking to the media that night, but he went out of his way to talk to us.

As Jonny expressed in our lead out to commercial, we really did believe that the Big Ticket would be a Timberwolf for the rest of his career, just like those people on that bridge believed they would make it home safely last Wednesday.

Nothing lasts forever. Not home run records (Bonds hit #756 tonight). Not TV shows (no matter how much your local superstar athlete loves the one you created). And certainly not KG in Minnesota.

But we'll always have our memories (and thanks to DeROK, we have this heartfelt video tribute)...



And there's always hope. I snuck into the Wolves press conference today where they introduced the five players they received in the KG trade.


I chattered about everything I saw in the Go Wolves group at FanChatter.com, and my fellow Wolves fans followed along, responding to my chatter and challenging me to speak up and ask a question. I didn't.

But the back and forth on the site was great, and the new guys looked good (except for Gerald Green who looked tired/bored/sedated), and mobile sports fan chat once again proved to be pretty cool.

Even with no guarantees, life is good, isn't it?