THESE (21) WEEKS IN CHATTER - NBA Playoffs/UFC 83 Preview Edition (4/19/08)

(THIS WEEK IN CHATTER, or TWiCh, is FanChatter's sorta-weekly letter to its registered users. Sign up here to receive via email and Call 'Em Like You See 'Em.)

Yes, FanChatter is alive and TWiChing. Thanks to all of you for sticking with us as we continue to develop the first mobile sports chat utility on our own time and our own dime. As always, your critical feedback is welcome. Please reply to any TWiCh email anytime with thoughts on how we can improve our site or mobile tools or usability or anything. We're building this thing for fans like you and your opinion counts.


Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to lately. That's me (above right) with Minnesota Twins pitching great and color commentator Bert (be home... in the Hall of Fame) Blyleven in the Twins press box. It was Mr. Blyleven's birthday and I was there to monitor our new FanChatter Stadium Scoreboard Photo Sharing feature, so I submitted this pic in his honor and it made it on the board (video proof). Props to the Twins for becoming our first official team partner (we're on the lookout for more), Qwest for making it happen, and all the fans who have sent in photos so far, though you may remember that we first tested this idea during three University of Minnesota Golden Gopher football games last fall. So sincere thanks to all who helped us turn this promotional idea into a full-fledged mobile in-game interactivity business.

A FEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

· Mixed Martial Arts is taking FanChatter by storm now that Muay Thai champion Kaitlin Young (FanChatter username: Kaitlin) has started chattering in the Tough Stuff group about her May 31 Elite XC bout vs. Gina Carano, which we can all watch on CBS...

...and newcomer cageplay, who runs his own very cool Fantasy MMA Betting and Predictions website cageplay.com, is chattering live from UFC 83 TONIGHT (Saturday 4/19) in the Cageplay.com UFC 83 Journey group.

· The playoffs start today in the NBA group and Cleveland's finest kyleroth has resurfaced to hype the Cavs.

· I'm sorry to report that our mobile alerts machine is down for the weekend, which sucks. I was looking forward to getting cageplay's chatter on my phone tonight but now that won't be happening. The good news is you can still post chatter from your phone via text message or email, so all of cageplay's live event coverage will be available online.

And now, a little chatter...

THESE 21 WEEKS IN CHATTER

It's been a full 21 WEEKS since our last TWiCh email (my bad) and I can't possibly honor all the great chatter and photos that have been posted since then, but I'll do my best:

We had a busy winter and spring in the Go Twins group...

KPK: No matter who the twins get, its tough to say that they add up to Johan Santana. But an outfield of Cabrera, Cuddyer and Young is sorta tits

Amill50: Gomez they say is faster than Reyes. Prob the best player in the deal. Future 5 tool player.

Nemo: Every single equals a double for Gomez...I'm already a fan! Torii who? (I know that's premature, but its opening day and I'm excited)!

statman: Mercury on third.

sarah: Neshek went vegan during the offseason-so maybe that boy needs some beef

Brett Favre's retirement in the National Football League group...

JJDacotah: I wonder if people are staying home from work watching reruns of their super bowl win with #4 and crying in their cheese curds

dastro: how will Wisconsin's economic engine deal with this blow?

March Madness in the College Hoops group...

Bistro24: Gophs win. the Hoff hits the big shot and Champps Richfield goes crazy. there were people hugging each other at the bar. strangers too!

todd: My stone cold lead pipe lock tip for all coaches playing Memphis: Foul them, a lot.

The run for the ping pong balls in the Twolves group...

JJDacotah: sweet! didn't realize they played tonight. Off topic, my wife gave birth to our second girl yesterday! Another baby wolf fan!

Marty: CONGRATS JJ! But you should warn your daughter that the pups don't win EVERY night!

Don: Good news: Timbers who tied with Memphis won the tiebreaker & have the third most chances in the lottery.

Bistro24: down w/ David Stern and his dictatorship. only way i will not scream "conspiracy" during the lotto is if the Pups get D Rose w/ the #1 pick

The Sonics and Isaiah Thomas leaving town in the NBA group...

Marty: i'm a pour one mocha grande latte for ma sonic homies: the glove, the rainman, X, big smooth, and that hairy mascot thing. norm green sucks.

mmerrill: There IS a God... Isaiah Thomas has been fired... about a year overdue, Donnie Walsh. My grandmother could have made that decision.

A Wild run in the NHL playoffs in the Wildin' group...

TheStitch: It is the playoffs and it is ON.

philbin5: Let's see the Wild come back

(yeah, we could use a little more Wild chatter)

And all the way back to the end of New England's perfect season in the National Football League group...

rickspicksworld: N.E. will gut the Giants.

robsanders: keep the pressure on Brady and you have a shot at the game

Marty: The Wild Card trumps the Perfect Hand. Cheaters never win.

That's all for now. Spring football is starting the Bowl Championship Series group, it's second season time for the NBA and NHL, the NFL Draft is next weekend, and baseball has only just begun. Thanks again and look for yourself in next week's TWiCh email!

Marty and the team from FanChatter.com

THIS WEEK IN CHATTER (10/4/07)

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

Here it is sports fans, your second-ever, sorta-weekly...

THIS WEEK IN CHATTER

I'll start with one of the greatest nights in FanChatter's brief history (second only to Home Run Derby Monday). Four of us -- myself, Tommy_Trojan, Damon, and JoeyD -- all chattered live in the Fight On Trojans group while watching USC beat up on Nebraska. It was like we were all in the same room, even though we watched from Minneapolis, Eagan (MN), San Francisco, and LA, respectively. I even had to pick up my mother-in-law from the airport during the second quarter, but I was able to follow along on my phone with mobile chatter alerts and chatter myself from a couple of red lights.

Speaking of college football, Nemo was talking Bison in the NDSU Football group, and look wondered in the U of Mn Football group if the Gophers should be dropped to Division III, just like Michigan was after losing to Appalachian State (or so said the link he posted from The Onion Sports).

But Bistro24 offered chatter so big he made like Ernie Banks and played two:

"Attn Gopher football players: there's a new rule on campus. no walking around thinking you're all that. also, no using football to get girls...

...until you are no longer an embarassment, i don't want to see any of you chucks at the bar or anywhere besides practice or the weightroom."

With more on his mind, and possibly in anticipation of the Philadelphia Eagles' god-awful canary yellow and robin's egg blue throwbacks, Bistro24 later created the Logos and Jerseys group and touched off a string of posts about everybody's all-time favorites and least favorites. Whalers vs. North Stars... Discuss.

Of course, one of the most chattered-about stories was Marc Ecko putting the fate of the Bonds 756 ball to a public vote. Many weighed in at the Bonds & Selig group, including gaulstone who praised Ecko's marketing brilliance; while cyclones cautioned that the Hall of Fame "is for telling the story of baseball. Good and Evil. None of Big Mac's items have * by it."

cyclones also chattered up some Johan Santana trade rumors in the Go Twins group, prompting jon to wonder if the Luis Castillo trade would end up cursing the Twins for years to come (or maybe he cursed the Mets). And sarah spoke for many Twins fans in saying that management would be "nuts" not to re-sign Torii Hunter.

JJDacotah tried to explain the Trenton Hassell-for-Greg Buckner trade in the Twolves group.

Then, out of nowhere, Dastro chattered in a language I could barely understand about something called the Carling Cup in the English Premier League group.

Maybe he was inspired by RamDon's equally confusing analysis of the US Women's World Cup team's choice of wardrobe. Soccer, was it?

Back to football, KPK inquired in the Purple Pride group about the "Kelly Holcomb era so far". Interesting, but not as interesting as the tailgate photos of Viking superfan Syd Davy, a.k.a. "Cheese-Free", that I posted there on behalf of cell phone photographer dond107.

Funny how quiet the Packer Fans group has become, with only sschroed confidently (and correctly) predicting a Packer victory in Minnesota and their resulting 4-0 start.

And we end this list as we began, with a memorable game viewing experience made possible by FanChatter, and this time chronicled in the MLB group. It started with statman accusing the TBS broadcast team of "(sucking) the soul out of the game I love" and ended with me chattering late into the night as Matt Holliday scored (or didn't) in the bottom of the 13th inning to win that thrilling one-game playoff for the Rockies. But I wondered...

WHERE'S EVERYBODY ELSE?

There's no way all of you are watching all of these great playoff games will all of your buddies at some big endless party. Well that's exactly what FanChatter offers, only the party is on your computer and you can access it using your phone.

The same goes for college football Saturday and NFL (or should I say Fantasy Football ) Sunday-Monday. And where's thewagontrain ? Doesn't the NHL season start tonight?

Also, if anyone is actually going to any of these games -- especially the baseball playoff games and ESPECIALLY at Wrigley (hint hint) -- be sure to activate your camera phone and post lots of photos and other chatter. That way, we can all feel like we're there, too.

So thank you for growing with us, please recruit more friends, enable your mobile alerts (so you don't miss anything good), and always Call 'Em Like You See 'Em... from anywhere, anytime.

Marty

Learn more about building a mobile sports fan chat utility at THE BLOG TO BE NAMED LATER...

...and yes, that was way more than a week.

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