Margaret and I have really been enjoying both Monk and Psych on USA Network this summer. During our viewing, I noticed that the characters from Monk and Psych have blogs on USA’s website. Being a Web 2.0 kind of guy, I thought I would take a look.

What I saw was very good for a TV network. First, they do a pretty good job of promoting the website during the show (even though the little things floating in the corners during the show can be quite annoying). There is streaming content that supplements what you see in the show (Extra “Psych-outs” from Psych, for example). And blog entries from the characters on the show.

Now the problems. The blog entries could have been more interesting if they actually supplemented story-lines from the shows. At least the ones I read really had nothing to do with specific episodes, but rather were general things that the characters could have written at any time. And here is where I really got frustrated. Hoping that I just had a bad sampling of entries, I went to subscribe (using RSS) to the blog so I could keep reading it. They don’t support RSS.

With so many things supporting RSS subscriptions (comics, youtube.com, weather reports and alerts, package tracking, and all the blogs I read), I don’t have time to go and check a website every day to read only moderately interesting content. I won’t do it, and I doubt many other people would.

Website’s need to understand that we are no longer in the 1990’s. We have better technology to keep track of dynamically changing websites like blogs. And people are adopting it. Properly setup RSS subscriptions generate revenue by either embedded advertising or by driving people to your website. I just wish USA Networks knew that.

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If you’re read my wife’s blog, you’ll already be familiar with our “Summer Reading Project”. If you’re not, the quick summary is that we can’t buy anymore new books until we’re done reading the ones we already own. As a sidebar, we also want to talk about the books from this project.

I’m going to kick off the discussion with two more traditional “summer” books that I’ve already finished.

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I started reading Clive Cussler novels after watching (and really enjoying!) the movie Sahara. Raise the Titanic is one of his earlier novels and even though a little period in both technology and women, the rest of the story really holds up well. The basic gist of the story is that NUMA (and therefor Dirk Pitt) has been hired to find and raise the Titanic in a huge salvage operation. The only problem: The Soviets want to salvage her as well (Cold War anyone?).

As can be expected from this kind of novel, you don’t need to do a lot of thinking. Just read along and try to keep up. I had a hard time putting this book down!

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Margaret and I started reading Vince Flynn’s novels after someone left his first one at the airport. We picked it up and got hooked. I like to describe him as Tom Clancy, before he got totally long-winded and more concerned with political machinations than with the people in his novels (some may argue that he was always this way). Unlike Jack Ryan, Mitch Rapp is much more than just an analyst. He is a trained assassin who knows that sometimes you need force to keep the world safe. Even having to skip over the conservative lectures were not able to get me to put this book down.

My only problem with the book is that the conclusion feels like a letdown. All the action up until the very end is extremely engrossing, trying to figure out how Mitch is going to save the world this time. And then how he saves it at the end seems like more of an afterthought. It got worse when I read the epilogue and Vince let me know that the whole reason for writing this book is to give a logical setup to his next book. Vince, don’t spend 500 pages to cover what could have been covered in a handful of pages in your next novel.

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…the grounds crew is inside and waiting for their pizza to arrive.

…they stop serving beer because it is past last call.

…the umpires are having a heated game of Monopoly.

…the players are trying to re-create the 1996 World Series on the Xbox.

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The All Star Game

MLB ran into some big PR issues a few years ago when an All Star Game ended in a tie, rather than going into extra innings to settle bragging rights. As an (over?) reaction to this problem, MLB decided to make the All Star Game mean something, and as a result has lessened the value of the All Star Game and being a player named to it.

Rather than the good-old-days where the best and most popular players are named to the team to honor their achievements, we have games like this years All Star Game where AL Manager Ozzie Guillen sent the rest of his team to the All Star Game, even though there were better players that didn’t get to go.

And how about getting enough votes from the fans to be sent to the All Star Game, but not getting to play? Since this game “counts”, the manager is forced to leave you on the bench “in case” you need to be brought in later.

I actually have a fix for this problem (unlike the rest of my complaints in this post). Forget the silly idea of making the All Star Game count. Nobody (fans, players, etc.) likes it. Play a regular 9 innings. If at the end of 9 the game is still tied, quick Home Run Derby to decide which team “wins”. The game won’t end in a tie, and you won’t tire our your players (who need the break) with extra innings.

Manager Dump and Run

It is hard to be a Major League Manager. You either perform, or you’re out (pun intended). There are no chances to “fix” the problems with the team. Rarely any consideration for past performance (how many world series have you won? Doesn’t matter, what have you done for me lately?). It is despicable. Has there ever been a team that has actually improved when a new manager was brought in mid-season? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

But I do have to applaud the Cubs for keeping their faith in current manager Dusty Baker, even as the Cubs go through a horrible season. Dusty will be around at least until the end of this season. I hope the Cubs consider Dusty’s past performance during the off-season and decide to bring him back next year. I don’t see how you can blame him for the problems the Cubs have been having this season, especially when you see what he has done with past teams.

Lack of “Franchise” Players

Think of your local MLB team. Name the player whose name is synonymous with the team. When you say this players name, the next immediate thought in your mind is the team he plays for. You just know that this guy will retire wearing the same uniform he has on now. I bet you can’t come up with your local teams franchise player because they don’t have one.

Gone are the days of Mike Schmidt, Ryne Sandberg, and Cal Ripken. We live in the days where a Sammy Sosa get traded before he retires so the team he played for can get that last little bit out of him.

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