"15 seconds"

There's a court case in Kentucky at the moment that probably isn't that well known outside of either the state or college basketball circles, but it's hysterical. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how the hell to promote it on Fark but it doesn't really lend itself easily to a one-line description. The best I can do is at least provide some background and link out to the rest.

Karen Sypher is accused of trying to extort Louisville basketball Coach Rick Pitino, basically trading his money for her silence about a drunken hookup back in 2003. That's about the shortest explanation for it, really hard to get a punchline in edgewise.

For the best description of how it probably all went down, check out this most excellent blog entry: You Say I'm Premature, I Just Call It Ecstasy.

Why is this funny or of interest? You'll have to catch up on the ins and outs of what's happened during the first week of the trial. Which you can find
summarized here. Okay, so aside from the fact that Matt Jones's blog coverage is hilarious, I noticed something else regarding his trial coverage this week and legacy media in general.

Matt Jones is actually going to the trial. He's sitting there taking notes, writing down stuff. A couple Louisville TV stations have guys there, as does the LVille Courier Journal. The AP may or may not have someone there (wink wink to my friends in legacy media); however, you'll see reports and commentary from all kinds of sports news sites and blogs who don't have firsthand access to the information.

Now certainly some of the coverage is legit, however I've seen several sports sites and blogs writing posts about the Sypher trial with a structure oddly similar to Matt's writing. It's almost as if they're summarizing off his notes. This isn't unusual, it happens all the time even between legacy media outlets. It's an old practice. What I can't figure out though is why those writers don't mention Matt's blog as a source?

I do local radio at Z103 in Lexington on Fridays when I'm around and not so hung over I can't drive. The DJs there up until recently weren't allowed to mention other area radio stations by name, as if somehow that would prevent anyone from finding out they existed. Newspapers don't like to mention TV, TV doesn't mention radio, and very rarely does anyone mention blogs.

The reason for this has to do with an outdated concept legacy media still hangs onto: stickiness. The theory goes that once you send people away from your media product, they never come back. People channel surf, put the paper down when they get distracted, etc. I have no idea if this concept was ever relevant, I suspect it probably was. But on the Internet, it's not relevant at all.

I remember a conversation I had with a remnant ad network back in 2001 or 2002. I explained to them the concept of Fark, and they were incredulous that I would send traffic away from my own site. I couldn't figure out why it made any difference, people come back after all.

I witnessed an interesting experiment a few years ago. Deadspin, Sports by Brooks, and a couple other sports websites whose names I forget started linking to each other repeatedly and often. Turns out that they ended up gaining a sizeable portion of each other's audience. Think about how you browse sites on the Internet. If you find an interesting one, you bookmark it. And you don't delete one of your existing bookmarks to make room for it. Odds are if you like sports you go to more than one sports site. Most people use more than one social networking site. No one suffers because of too much linking back and forth. Everyone benefits.

Incidentally, on kentuckysportsradio.com's main page today, WHAS11, one of the local TV affiliates gave Matt not only a huge shout-out but some airtime. Kudos to them. Better yet, Matt linked back to them. Everyone got a traffic boost out of it.

You'd think it would happen more often.

Headlines Of The Week for Sun 2010-07-25 to Sat 2010-07-31:

  Man robbed and shot in Garfield Park. Odie humanity    

  Sound barrier breaks high-speed biker    

  See cells in the Seychelles for the sea scores    

  Actual headline: "Man hit by two cars critical." I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I wouldn't have anything nice to say if I were hit by two cars    

  University tells student to lose religion. That's her in the corner. That's her in the spotlight    

  Aggressive, out of control tiger on the loose in Johannesburg neighborhood. Men are being asked to keep their wives indoors until the golf tournament is over    

  Wedding photographer asks bride and groom to pose with hunting rifles and gets one more headshot than planned    

  Suspicious device found in Chelsea. Guess she couldn't wait for the wedding    

  Pole dancing classes for girls nine years of age and under. Ideal for parents looking to avoid ever paying for a university education for their daughter    

  Fired bondage club worker charged in death of former boss - now in shackles, so expected to get off quickly    

  Brewmasters edging closer to creating a beer that will get you hammered by the end of the six-pack, known in scientific circles as "The Curtis Limit"    


Sports:

  Mayor Daley nearly hit with bat at White Sox game, immediately confiscates bats in Chicago. Its not like the Cubs were using them anyway    

  Rams promise Sam Bradford $50 million to get sacked wearing their jersey    

  NY Yankees acquire Kerry Wood; no word on if he was injured by the transaction    


Geek:

  Microsoft is excited about their new ad slogan for 2010: "Be what's next." It just narrowly edged out their second choice: "ctrl-alt-delete"    

  For only $34,000 you can buy a video game that teaches your snowflake abstinence, or you could just spend 50 bucks, buy them World of Warcraft and let nature take its course    

  Scientists measure shortest interval of time ever. Submitter's wife believes otherwise    


Showbiz:

  Paris Hilton voted perfect vacation buddy in online poll beating out Tila Tequila and Kim Kardashian. Apparently this vacation is in the 9th level of hell    

  Diablo Cody overproduces a baby boy    

  Paul Lee to be new head of ABC Entertainment, wants a cracker    


Politics:

  Fox News needs to be more careful with their race-baiting as it might offend and alienate their black viewer    

  White House Correspondents Association contemplates giving vacated press briefing room seat to FOX on news that Nickelodeon is not interested    

  California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is now in support of the anti-immigration legislation she recently opposed shortly after she stated she supported it, unless you speak Spanish    


Music:

  Hugh Laurie to record an album and mercifully, it won't be House music    

  If you have $20.2M to spare, you could own Ronnie Wood's house which has a pool, 19 bathrooms and 7 bedrooms in which to hide your underage girlfriend when your wife is visiting    

  Ozzfest to sell special package tickets that permits you to get married. It's just like a regular wedding, except the doves don't make it alive    


Business:

  Oil prices slide on news that US has oceans of it    

  Apple set the bar pretty low for naming tablets with the iPad, and Blackberry shimmies under that bar with the Blackpad    

  Chicago faces $654 million deficit, thanks to all the dough they waste making those godawful pizzas    
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