The Inverse Blog Post Relationship

A consideration to part-time blog'o'spheres, as this one is. If you're just half-assing and randomly throwing up posts, well, you may be doing more harm than good.

If you're a full time bog'o'rama then by all means, go for all that action and post away!

Otherwise it behooves one to think of a few inverse relationship rules. I made these up, half-assedly, so no need to buy into them.

The more posts one makes to a blog the less effect they will have.
The more serious your blog sounds the more people will think you're all serious and shit.
The more you write, the less you will be understood.
Blog frequency is inversely related to blog popularity.
Popularity is inversely related to perceived intelligence.
Most blog posts, when re-read by the author, sound whiny, self-involved and totally wrong-headed

Selling Out: A Reader's Guide

Ultimate isn't selling out. We tried to sell out, or rather we tried to sell-in, during the early 1990s with Cuervo Tequila but it wasn't a good fit. Just didn't work.

That's mainly because Cuervo wanted the sport to sell-out not sell-in.

How can you define "selling-out" for a sport? Well it's not that difficult actually. It means to take something organic and try to monetize it. it means letting sponsors and advertisers define success in the sport. It means pretending to be something you're not.

Here are some great examples of what won't happen to ultimate

1) Tough Mudder/ Warrior Dash
Chris Cline sent me this link to a competition modeled on what looks like Cyclocross (mountain biking mixed with an obstacle course) and the set of Braveheart.

http://toughmudder.com/

So is this "sport" a sell-out/ First, it's a competition, not a sport. Second, its website screams "enjoy life! drink alcohol like Cuervo Tequila Dos Equis!" Third, ihe website is clearly not organic. You can tell it was put together with one goal in mind: to make someone somewhere some cash.

here's a direct quote from the Wikipedia page. i'm not going to get into the credibility argument about Wikipedia at the moment, decide for yourself if it's accurate.

"Tough Mudder was founded by Englishmen Will Dean and Guy Livingstone. Dean came up with the idea while at Harvard Business School, and it was a finalist in the Harvard Business School’s annual Business Plan Contest. He brought on Guy Livingstone to act as Chief Operating Officer."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tough_Mudder

2) Flip Cup Guys

You know flip cup, I know flip cup, utlimate players have been playing flip cup as far back as the late 1990s if I recall. Early 2000s? I'm sure someone here could pipe in with the first time they played in college. I don't recall playing in 1995, my senior year.

Regardless, two guys in New Jersey, ie, "Two White Guyzz In New Joisey" decided at some point to try and make some cash on the event. And i'm sure they succeeded. They've tried to monetize an organic drinking game and are probably sitting at home in a mini-mansion in Ridgewood wearing T-Shirts that say, "Suckers!" and "I Love Taking Advantage of College Chicks When They Drink too Much Playing In My Flip Cup Tournament."

http://www.flipcupguys.com/index.php?p=home

3) World Series of Beer Pong

You know it's a sell out when they stage it in a shitty new York City bar, borrow the design of a major league sports logo (in this case, the north Carolina-based New Ultimate Association, founded by Toad and others) and make sure to hire strippers in thongs to show up. Add in prize money, trips to las Vegas and a "documentary" and you've got the makings of a total unadulterated sell out.

http://www.bpong.com/

4) Quidditch

I'm not sure where to qualify this one. I'm thnking they are trying to "sell-in." Amusing that they are trying to go the NCAA route. Good luck with that fellows!!

http://fitperez.com/2010-11-08-student-wants-to-make-harry-potter-sport-quidditch-into-a-legit-ncaa-recognized-sport/?from=PH

So what's the point? The point is that thank God we're not like these jokers, all four of them.