All That and a Bag of Mail: Thanks to the 600k of you who came to visit
First, thanks.
Y'all have already made OKTC a tremendous success. How successful? In the first month of the site's existence we racked up 600,000 unique visitors. That's an astounding number for an independent site that has no Google cache to rely upon, no major fire hose driving traffic, no hot chick slideshows -- or slideshows of any sort for that matter -- just you guys coming to the site and spreading the news. If you toss in the age, income, and education levels, OKTC would already be the envy of most sports sites in the country. (Someone will ask so this data comes from Google analytics).
I'm not going to always drop data on you, but I thought you guys would be interested in the scope of our reach as well. That is, where are y'all coming from? Some of the cities may surprise you, while others might make complete sense.
Here is OKTC's sweet 16 cities with the most visitors:
1. Birmingham
2. Nashville
3. Atlanta
4. Houston
5. New York City
6. Austin
7. Dallas
8. Charlotte
9. Knoxville
10. Chicago
11. Washington, D.C.
12. Memphis
13. Orlando
14. San Antonio
15. Los Angeles
16. Miami
By the way, the Texas cities aren't a reflection of the expansion talk. These cities were all here before the Texas A&M to the SEC chatter even started. If I wondered why the SEC wanted in to Texas beforehand, once I saw these numbers I didn't wonder any more. The state of Texas is crazy about college football.
So I'm going to take the extraordinary step of honoring y'all as our beaver pelt traders of the week. You guys, the readers, have already made OKTC a success. You'll be able to see how much of a success when you see the new roster of advertisers coming on board here in the next couple of weeks. Trust me, advertisers have taken note of how many of you there are and of how responsive you've been. So y'all are our beaver pelt traders of the week. From the bottom of my cold, cold heart, thank you.
Now on to the mailbag -- I took the weekend off in the Smoky Mountains at my wife's behest -- so we're a couple of days behind when we'd usually be dropping the mailbag.
And, the mailbag begins with a plea from me to you.
This Thursday, August 25th, we're doing something good -- no, really, we are -- I'm a little shocked too. For $15 you can come party with us in Nashville's Gulch downtown. You get beer, bourbon, and BBQ from 5-10. I'll be there, our radio station will be there, it should be an outstanding and fun way to celebrate the coming SEC kickoff a week later.
But here's the key -- all of the proceeds benefit the Vanderbilt children's hospital.
We only have 1,200 tickets so it's going to sell out fast -- in fact, we're already close -- but if you're in Nashville and you want to have a good time and do something good for the city, please come hang out with us.
You can get your tickets here.
Okay, I promise, that's it, here goes with the mailbag:
This is our first ever TV hate mail. I feel like it deserves prominent placement so here it is.
What makes this hate mail great is that it arrived as soon as CSS sent out news that I was going to be guest-hosting for a week while Tony Barnhart was in New York for his CBS Sports meetings. That is, before I even hosted.
As you guys can tell, I make viewers want to vomit!!
In an effort to address H.L.'s critique, here are five things that I love about the SEC:
1. Georgia girls' cleavage.
In case y'all have forgotten Athens is the cleavage capital of the South. God bless the Hope scholarship.
2. Gus Malzahn
3. Cleavage on college girls in general.
4. Dan Mullen
5. Running Through the T on fall Saturdays.
Clearly, there are more, but we'll stick with five for now.
Matthew J. writes:
I'm a proud ECU Alum and live for Pirate football. I HIGHLY doubt that my beloved Pirates would ever be extended an invitation to the SEC, however, we have been mentioned in a couple of recent articles and blogs as a candidate for SEC expansion into North Carolina. Below you will find a link with a video from our Athletic Director, Terry Holland, as well as numerous facts about our University, fanbase, athletic program and true television market. I hope you find it interesting and informative.
PS-In 17 days, we're going to beat South Carolina in Charlotte. You heard it here first!
GO PIRATES!
I'm going to be honest with you, I love ECU's move here. What would I love more? Negative campaigning against other expansion candidates. How awesome would it be if ECU just slammed, say, N.C. State? You've got ominous music, stats flash across the screen that are awful (note these are all made up) -- No Rhodes scholars since inception of Rhodes scholarship -- lowest average SAT score of any North Carolina school, without an airballed shot the school would have no athletic achievements.
At the end, you'd have a voiceover that said, "Paid for by the committee to keep N.C. State out of the SEC."
Terry Holland, treasurer
I wish I was remotely capable as a videographer. If anyone is really good with YouTube videos email me and I'll write the script for anti-expansion videos to go up on the site.
Also, Matthew, you aren't beating South Carolina, sorry.
Rob. S. writes:
Okay, here are my scariest all-time movies.
1. Jaws--Enough said.
2. Stephen King's It--I can't go near a clown or a storm drain without having a panic attack.
3. Close Encounter's of the Third Kind--Try not crawling up a wall when the kid is abducted from his house. I'm still convinced that E.T. was just alien propaganda so while you're busy trying to feed an alien Reese's Pieces, he'll blast your head off.
We got so many of you guys ranking the scariest movies that continue to impact us as adults we could do an entire mailbag on just this. In the meantime, I'm glad that most of y'all agreed with me about Jaws.
Here was my list with Jaws at the top.
Ben S. writes:
Clay, can you please put out an APB for the girl in the Julio Jones tank-top.
I have a...friend....who would like to find her.
Okay, let's find her.
I know one of y'all knows who this is. She deserves to be famous. Email us at the site.
Let's do this!
(Insert Coach Eric Taylor speech here.)
Clear eyes, full shirts, can't lose.
Emily H. writes:
Clay, Jordan Jefferson is facing arrest and the pink dolphin returns in Louisiana. Some might see this as a coincidence. I am not one of them. Don't you think the pink dolphin has come to rescue him?
Baton Rouge television has reported that Jordan Jefferson kicked a Marine.
Ouch.
That's a tough accusation to take in front of a jury.
In fact, here are three things worse to kick than a Marine.
1. A pink dolphin
2. Mike the Tiger
3. Corn dog stands.
1,000,968,094 Alabama fan
Hell, we need to have a contest for LSU fans. What do LSU fans wish Jordan Jefferson had kicked instead of a person. Last week's contest for what Alshon Jeffery ate went really well.
Jason A. writes:
Would Mike Slive like to make a play on Duke/UNC? Sure.
Is it within the realm of possibility? Absolutely not.
You posed this question: "If Duke and UNC face a decision between an endangered ACC that is hemorrhaging members or the most powerful conference in America, which way do you think the Tar Heels and Blue Devils would lean?"
They would stay in the ACC, even if it's weak. I'm not sure you understand the mindset of the Carolina schools or their culture in general. First, basketball is king. Second, they see themselves as a different strata of university and fan/alumni. The old guard ACC (UNC, Duke, Wake, UVA) look down on the SEC as knuckle dragging bubba's and see themselves as the genteel aristocracy. Further, the ACC is run by a Carolina boy. UNC would have to turn its back on two of its in state comrades (NCSU and Wake) and its own flesh/blood in the ACC office. Neither is happening.
Again, the only logical ACC choice is FSU. That is if the SEC desires to increase its TV payout. Otherwise, the other potential schools are not worth the current average SEC payout.
You ACC fans are completely wrong.
The SEC will have its pick of your conference. And it won't be a school in the current footprint.
Take. It. To. The. Bank.
It's about the money, stupid.
(By the way, we could have done an entire mailbag on conference expansion, but OKTC has been killing that with full articles. So I spared y'all this week. Just a couple.)
Chris H. writes:
Here's an email from the UGA Athletic Association about upcoming picture day. (Note, I've had this email for a week or more). The last paragraph may grab your attention.
ATHENS, Ga. --- The annual University of Georgia Fans' Picture Day will be held Saturday, Aug. 20, in the Reed Plaza area of Sanford Stadium and will feature Bulldog coach Mark Richt, players, cheerleaders, other UGA athletic teams and interim mascot "Russ."
Special ticket coupons are required for access to the location for Russ and Coach Richt. Those tickets will be distributed to the first 150 fans at 8:00 a.m. from the East End ticket windows on East Campus Road.
The Georgia cheerleaders and Hairy Dawg will be available from 1-5 p.m. Russ and other University of Georgia sports teams will be available from 1:00-3:00 p.m. Georgia football players will be on hand for photos and autographs from 3:00-5:00 p.m. in Reed Plaza on the north side of the stadium between Gates 2 and 4. Head Coach Mark Richt will also be available from 3-5 p.m. for those with ticket coupons. Concessions and merchandise sales will be available in several areas of Reed Plaza.
Fans will be able to enter Reed Plaza through through Gate 2 in the northwest corner of the stadium across from the Tate Student Center and Gate 4 through the East Campus Road entry into Reed Plaza. Both gates open at 1:00 p.m. Parking is available to the general public in all campus lots surrounding the stadium. Handicapped parking will be available in the Tate Center lots.
Due to recent public issues surrounding student-athlete autographs across the country, no outside items may be brought to Picture Day. The Georgia Athletic Association will provide each fan with two free schedule posters to be signed by the players and Coach Richt. No other items will be permitted.
If you doubted the influence of OKTC, I got emails such as this from multiple schools across the country. It's not only 600k of y'all reading, OKTC is up on a lot of screens in league offices across the country as well as in an awful lot of football offices.
I've got an easy solution for any college kid who is being asked to sign an object and is worried that his autograph might then go up for sale.
Personalize the autograph.
If the person doesn't want it personalized to either himself or someone else, isn't it clear that he or she is trying to sell your autograph?
An autograph I'd like to have? Tim Riggins'. Check out how much of a dead ringer Jeff Fisher's son, a freshman on the Auburn football team, is for Riggins.
And, finally, from the UT locker room comes this warning, beware of proper spacing.
But if Herr Dooley has got the team practicing better shower hygiene, he's got a new goal -- proper spacing on door slogans.
Either that or the six-year losing streak to Florida has finally overtaken all hope.
It's just a step above, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
....
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