The Orediggers’ success came as no surprise to me after having the opportunity to watch the Orediggers in action against the Nebraska-Kearney Lopers about two weeks ago. Watching the team warm up, I was amazed by the height that filled the Oredigger bench. After tip off I soon realized that height was not the only advanteage the Orediggers had. The team appeared to be a well oiled machine with impeccable defense. Oredigger Head coach Pryor Orser claims the program focuses on emphasizing the importance of defense as well as rebounds. These two aspects of the game greatly contributed to the Orediggers’ avail after they held the Nebraska-Kearney Lopers to a mere 19 points in the first half.

Since then, the Orediggers held Regis University to a 40.7 shooting percentage and out-rebounded the Rangers 34-28 along with a hefty contribution of 19 points by redshirt freshman Trevor Ritchie in order to beat the Rangers 75-66 on their own turf. And again, two nights later the Orediggers faced the Metro State Roadrunners. Although both teams were held to less than 50 percent shooting, the Orediggers’ focus on defense and rebounds resulted in yet another victory.

Keep up the good work! We at www.espor.com wish the Orediggers good luck as they finish out their season.

-Danica

Being a DIII athlete myself, the ability to have a life outside of volleyball was what struck me as most appealing when I was searching for the right school (that and the fact that I could be an outside hitter at a less than average height of 5’7”). In my two and a half years of college I have been able to do well in school, hold a work study job, as well as an internship (at www.espor.com), spend time with great people outside of volleyball and on top of all that, I now have the opportunity to study abroad in New Zealand for a semester.

Playing volleyball at a Division III school has not only allowed me to continue playing the game I love, but it has also provided me with many opportunities that I wouldn’t have had time for at a big Division I school. In my experience, Division III schools strongly support athletics but emphasize the importance of education and opportunity first. This unique outlook is the type of attitude that truly separates Division III athletics from Division I.

-Danica

A product such as www.screenr.com has the ability to eliminate many daily frustrations clients may experience when attempting to work with technologically driven products. It’s a simple way to show customers exactly what they need to do, at that exact moment in time, in order to get the best out of your business’ product.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

-Danica

The Titanium Necklaces sure seem to talk a big game, however there are varying opinions pertaining to the effectiveness of the necklaces. Some people don’t believe they make any kind of difference, whereas others swear by their Titanium Necklaces. However, there seems to be an overwhelming amount of professional athletes sporting the chunky jewelry. To name a few, Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks and Curtis Granderson of the New York Yankees all seem to believe in the concept of Titanium Necklaces.  Generally, the necklaces cost somewhere around $30.00, which in the eyes of an athlete is a small price to pay for even the slightest advantage over an opponent.

-Danica

Tuesday night the Nuggets faced the Sacramento Kings at home, I had the luxury of attending the game and witnessing the entire experience. At home, in front of an enthusiastic crowd the Nuggets beat the Kings 110-83. The game’s highlights included two plays that made the top ten highlights and one play by Kenneth Faried, assisted by Ruuuudy Fernandez that may arguably be the best dunk of the NBA season. This exciting performance compared to their performance against the New Orleans Hornets at the Hive Friday night seemed to be night and day. Although the Nuggets rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Hornets, they trailed for the majority of the game. They even allowed the Hornets 30 points in the first half when the overall point average for the Hornets this season is around 87 total points.  This poor performance may have been contributed to the lack luster crowd that occupied the Hive Friday night. I was only able to watch the game on TV, but even from my living room I could see the empty seats and feel the quietness that filled the arena. Even though the Nuggets were fortunate enough to not have raging fans in their faces, the lack of enthused fans seemed to have made an even worse impact on their performance than a game in which the opposing crowd is overwhelming.

The next night, the Nuggets experienced just that against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. Although the Spurs fans were almost overpowering, the Nuggets performance against the Spurs was much more impressive. Even with an improved 3-point shooting percentage as a team, and Danilo Gallinari’s career high 31 points, the Nuggets fell to the San Antonio Spurs. However, disregarding the loss, the Nuggets played much better in an arena filled with raging fans as opposed to an arena with no fans, and even better than that with an arena filled with their own enthusiastic fans! Although there may have been other factors contributing to the Nuggets’ performances this week, I believe the energy of a crowd can alter the outcome of a game.

From my own personal experience, I remember one weekend this past season in which my family flew out to watch me and my team play. First of all, my family made up the majority of our fans both nights (which is a little sad in and of itself), and second of all my family was generally the only group of people cheering for us. Although they were better than our normal fans during our first game, we still lost to the other team. However, the second night my family decided to step up their own game by leading cheers and making signs for our entire team. This was the night that we ended up beating one of the better teams in our conference. My family’s enthusiasm inspired not only other spectators, but it also inspired our team. Their energy made up for our own once we started getting tired and it helped us push through to gain a win. This experience by itself makes me believe that the fans really do play an important role in every sporting event.

So, next time you’re at a sporting event, remember that your role is just as important, if not more important, than the players’ roles!

-Danica

When it comes to marketing, every bit counts in order to sell your company or product effectively. The “About” section is a great way to portray your company and its values in a way that is short and to the point. Next time you log onto your company’s facebook page, make sure to check out your “About” section and make sure it portrays your company the way you want it to!

-Danica

“How can I get this type of detailed data without Division 1 resources?”

Here are some of the solutions I’ve seen recently from several programs:

1. The diehard coach: very few coaches have this type of time or commitment level, but there are the rare few.  This is the coach that spends almost every hour not spent with the team, cutting up film and coding to create data.  I say die hard because these coaches are staying up until 3 am to create as much data as possible from the game they just played.

Warning: may create angry loved ones.  Take it from a daughter of a 30+ year college coach, you spend enough time away from your family, adding hours of game film break down isn’t advised.

1. The diehard fan: Some programs have found a retired coach, fan, student (workstudy) or alumni to be their statistician.    There is no shortage of sports fans out there, some even will volunteer!  Finding someone to breaking down game film is a lot easier than you may think!

Warning:  risk of biased information from parents, easily distracted student workers, or less than ideal learning curve from non-tech savvy volunteers.

1. The outsourcer: There are a few companies, espor NOW included (http://www.espor.com/coding-as-a-service/), that are offering coding as a service.  No one knows better than a coach that time is invaluable.  I’ve found that coaches who have a high price tag on their time are more than willing to pay to a coding company to break down their game film for them.

Warning: FIRST weigh the cost of an extra employee, time spent creating data, and other variables before exploring this option.  Sometimes purchasing editing software is right for a program but it’s important to throw coding as a service into the mix before making a decision on what is most effective for your team.

The question isn’t in whether analytical data is effective, that is a given, it is how or who is the best person to provide your team with the information.  Extensive knowledge of the game or the team isn’t a necessary component in the creation of raw data, just look at meteorologist Ken Pomeroy.  Today’s leading coaches understand that the magic isn’t in the creation of data but rather the analyzing, strategizing and simplifying the information for their team.

Even though I felt I was one of the more confident players on my team, I am still nowhere near the level of D1 players. There seems to never be even a sliver of doubt in the minds of a Division 1 player. They always know that they will perform. At the beginning of the season I sprained my ankle and was out for several weeks. Although it was hard being unable to contribute to my team on the court, watching my team play for those weeks has made me a better player. I was able to see the affect doubt had on the overall play of the entire team. Doubt would be the only thing the girls were thinking about when it came to game time, and it would be written all over their faces. The second we found ourselves in a bit of any kind of slump you could literally see the already shaky confidence disappear, overtaking the team with insecurities. Watching this made me realize how important confidence really is, and how contagious it can be. It made me realize that confidence is the only thing that separates our team from the top team in conference and the bottom team in conference. Confidence is difficult to come by; it is what separates the good players from the great players. Is confidence what separates Division 1 teams from Division 3 teams?

-Danica

You can also find instances in which the child has to become the parent…

Or you can find my personal favorite, valuable parental advice:

Reading these texts only makes me think of the many voice mails I’ve received from my dad beginning with: ”Danica. I am your father” as he quotes Star Wars. Or the random text my mom sent me the other day saying “Natasha Bedingfield looks like a snuffelupagus”….we’ve all experienced our parent’s complete disregard for what is considered normal and now there’s an entire website made up of quotes from our parents.

So parents, go on humiliating your kids, but just be aware your next text could end up on whenparentstext.com

http://whenparentstext.com/ …..enjoy!

-Danica

Fantasy Sports: The Birth and Death of Fan-hood As We Know It

Where can you find millions of Americans on a Sunday afternoon during the heart of the NFL season? In front of a TV? At the stadium cheering on their favorite team? Outside, enjoying a nice fall day with their family? If you answered yes to any of these questions you’re right. But if you also thought “sitting in front of their computer or smart phone with their eyes glued to their fantasy scores,” you’re probably a little more accurate. Emphasis on the word scores, as nobody has just one fantasy team these days, I mean come on, it is the 21st century right?

Fantasy Football participation is at an all time high. It’s fun, it’s addictive, and the money can be great if you have a bit of wager in your blood. But it’s the bragging rights amongst your friends that really drives your passion as a fantasy owner. It’s about outsmarting your friends by drafting a fantasy sleeper like Ryan Matthews, or making a mid week pick up of Doug Baldwin to fill in for an injured receiver. All fantasy owners of Baldwin know how smart they looked for making that pick up last week, and if you’re still not sure who Doug Baldwin is, your buddy has already picked him up. Sorry.

The NFL is at an all time high in ratings, merchandise sales, and overall fan support. The game withstood one of the ugliest lockouts this side of the NBA. It came back stronger, and with a bigger buzz than ever. These are all perks of the fantasy football world as we know it. NFL attendance is down going on four years in a row, prompting the NFL to require all teams to display fantasy football stats in the stadium at all times, in hopes of bringing the fans back from their computer desks, and into the stadiums.

There are many factors contributing to the growth of the NFL over the years, but I challenge you to find a bigger reason than Fantasy Football, an industry that has grown to roughly $3 billion dollars in annual revenue. The NFL has capitalized on the casual fan, the fan that cares more about statistics than the outcome of the game, the fan who doesn’t care who wins, as long as his “players” have a good game. This is the birth of Fan-hood as we know it.

But what about the game of football itself, the actual game being played on the field? Where has the relationship gone between fans and the game? Can a die-hard fan tell you the responsibility of the Defensive end in a 3-4 defense? Probably so. Can the casual fan who pays more attention to their fantasy score during the game answer that same question? Probably not. Does that make the die-hard football fan better than the die-hard fantasy fan? Can you be both? These are all questions that have no exact answer. Fandom is not an exact science, and that is what makes it great, but it has always been a topic up for debate and worth discussing.

The reality is no matter where, or how you watch the game moving forward, you will not be able to escape fantasy sports. Whether it’s your buddy sitting across the living room refreshing the matchup page every two minutes, or the guys sitting behind you in the stadium checking their Blackberrys more often than they check the score of the game they are actually there to watch, you can’t escape the new breed of fandom. This is the new age fan, the technological fan, the fan playing out their virtual “fantasy” of managing their own franchise.

Fantasy sports is business, a new kind of business that has formed bonds between middle aged men all across the country. It’s big business, as shown by the focus it garners on television networks, websites, and the professional organizations themselves. Fantasy sports have paved the way for new followers to enjoy the game that all die-hard fans have loved for quite some time. It has also taken away from the beauty of the “game” itself. And this is the death of Fan-hood as we know it.

-Patrick Carr
http://www.espor.com/members/patrickcarr/