@edmastermind29 hey ed :)

@edmastermind29 yeah well, not easy with the time difference... :)

@edmastermind29 hows life on the other side of the pond?

@edmastermind29 all good, getting ready for the xmas

@edmastermind29 it's crazy how all shops want a piece of the christmas present sales, some shops practically started playing christmas songs and decoration midway in november

@edmastermind29 yeah, but xmas decorations is pretty big deal in the states, right? here's it's a bout the star-shaped lanterns, and triangular candle-holders... and a bunch of glitter on a small tree

:)

@edmastermind29 good call.. I recently heard from a buddy about giving away "experiences instead of petty objects" (in his words)

I think i might try and capitalize on that idea sometime ;)

@edmastermind29 you, me and a bunch of other fellas around the world, I think...

@edmastermind29 thanks man, the same to you and your family

^^

coming back to the more sportive business, I presume you had something in mind regarding my comment on meta

:)

not really

care to elaborate abit?

More questions could bring in new users. More users could bring more questions. We just need to jump the cycle ahead a little

Yeah I noticed that as well.. I feel the issue roots in the fact that the media is doing a pretty good job in dishing out stats and facts (even trivia) about teams and players. We need more creative questions that go beyond digging for more info, but then there is the risk of running into the swamp of subjectivity...

hey @mmyers, nice of you to buzz in :) i don't recall seeing 3 active people in the chat ever before

@posdef That's why I've hardly asked any questions myself. It feels like any question I come up with is either answered on Wikipedia or else an opinion question

Or shopping

@mmyers yeah I know what you mean... I have been trying my best to come up with interesting questions, or rather trying my best to formulate interesting questions in a format that fits the Q/A format

of course one can always argue whether or not they end up being suitable for this site, but I figured it was worth a shot

is @edmastermind29 still alive btw? :

:)

@edmastermind29 thought we lost you for a while there

:P

Our average daily page views are up almost 50% since the start of NFL season, but still way down from the Euros and the Olympics

@mmyers I will use that as propaganda against my american buddies about american sports vs global sports ;)

nah but jokes aside, I think the site has potential that's just waiting to be harvested

Unfortunately, both of those events lasted only a couple of weeks so we had nothing sustained

say, what's the likelihood of you guys or anyone else (maybe Jeff or someone a bit higher up in the SE-hierarchy) knowing a sports columnist?

I figure if we could draw in more "experts" to create original content

@posdef Problem is, unless we have interesting questions, what's there to make an expert want to join?

Also, as a community of mostly nerds, I doubt that anybody higher up the totem pole knows any sports content producers

it's about the tipping point, I think. Think of it like this, if you already know the answers and assuming that you are not the kind of person burning to share your wits with everyone else around, the chances are that you'll see if there are other experts that hang around. Maybe you can learn a tiny weeny bit more from some other expert.

It's the avalanche effect; as more contributers join there will be more people streaming in to get a piece of the action

@edmastermind29 I believe that would be a decent solution indeed

better than decent actually :)

@edmastermind29 do you mean the question in general or anything in particular?

Well that was a good case where the bits of the puzzle just fell in their place, one by one... I am afraid we will not be that lucky, on a regular basis :)

what worries me is that there are quite a few people that have contributed a lot, then disappeared... I mean where is @Ste, @JW8, @MarcusSwope, @jamauss.. What happened to all these fellas, and many more...

@edmastermind29 I honestly dont know much about golf other than the way it's spelled and played on green grass, so half of what you said there have missed me by a mile... :) But I think I know what you mean... I played ball sports since I can remember my name, trained in football, basketball and tennis. But am I a sports expert? No way... I wouldn't call anyone who's a sports professional (athelete, coach, journalist, physio etc) an expert, in the true meaning of the word.

But it this context what we need is not a new Torvalds or Ritchie, we need someone who knows quite a bit, and willing to put time into sharing it with others. In other words we need JonSkeet, we need Bozho, we need PeterLawrey... (all java "experts" imho)

@edmastermind29 (i see your "nerdiness" and raise.. :P )

I guess so, I wasn't here from the early days so I don't know what the initial idea was

@mmyers have you been around since the very beginning of Sports.SE?

@posdef I am /users/12

6 :P

364 here

@edmastermind29 actually 5, but @maniac seems to prefer silent stalking instead :P

@posdef hope you dont mind that :)

@edmastermind29 wow a shoutout from the moderator #honored

:)

and im number 669 haha

I think one could utilize the differences in experience and interest amongst the user basis. I mean I know that football (soccer to you guys) is getting more and more popular in the U.S. We practically grow up with it from day1, so if people have any questions regarding soccer it would be fun and relatively easy to help out with that.

@Maniac lol, your user #950

Similarly I am getting more and more insterested in american football, hockey and rugby and don't have many people to ask questions

if you want to know your

network wide rep

keep

hitting enter

@waxeagle :)

Or open your user card and hover over your name

wow, over half my rep is from one place

@maniac I knew that we would draw you in to talking eventually ;)(

@edmastermind29 cricket is apparently HUGE in India and Pakistan, which I believe is quite fairly represented on SE sites.

it would be only logical for cricket to be featured here on Sports.SE

if I knew anything at all about cricket, I would be all over those questions :)

@waxeagle woops ur right:)

all I know about cricket is that the games can go exteremly long, the point system is irrelevant (you don't necessarily win by points) and that it's practically impossible for an untrained person to "pitch" the ball properly (elbow's not supposed to be bent during the pitch)

Welcome to cricket, where the rules are made up and the points don't matter!

@mmyers thats what it seems like to me sometimes lol

gotta love whose line

@posdef i didnt even know that ur elbow couldnt be bent

but cricket is interesting to me

@edmastermind29 mean no offense, but I think it's pretty normal if you come to think of it. I mean north america is big, it's a micro-cosmos (as the hipster would say) on its own. I think an average american is not usually exposed to what happens outside the US. (again no offense intended)

All I know about cricket, I learned from grantland.com

@Maniac it's wicked seriously, if you managed to get hold of someone playing cricket, ask them to show you how to throw the ball, I have never been more uncomfortable throwing an object

@edmastermind29 yep... but i really think it's getting better. Here they are giving more and more airtime for NHL (well hockey is big in Sweden) and NFL, and I hear that european football is getting some airtime in the states

especially big name teams line barcelona and real madrid

hahaha

@posdef I believe it.. doesnt look comfortable

By the way, since the conversation threads are starting to get confusing: you can click on the little arrow at the far right of a chat message to indicate that you are replying specifically to it. (cc @edmastermind29 @posdef @Maniac)

@edmastermind29 I am not big on hockey, I have to admit... I only watch the world cup (or whatever that's called in hockey)

@mmyers will keep that in mind, thanks @mmyers

@posdef stanley cup playoffs

oops two tags

@Maniac isn't stanley cup at the club level?

@posdef whats the cricket championships called @posdef

@Maniac There is a World Cup in Cricket, but it's mostly former British territories

@posdef Stanley Cup is the NHL championship series

@Maniac i honestly have no idea whatsoever

not sure what you meaan by club level

@Maniac Individual clubs, as opposed to national teams (like the Olympics)

@Maniac well NHL is a club league, not international teams... World cup refers to national teams (at least in football)

@posdef right sorry I thought thats what you where refering too.. im not sure what it is in national team play

@mmyers still reading that article haha thats about how I see cricket

@edmastermind29 mighty ducks were awesome! ha

@edmastermind29 I remember dad watching that and it was late and I was supposed to be in bed but I snuck out into the hallway and watched it because it was such a cool movie to a young kid

and I still like that series as an adult

@edmastermind29 probably true

alright fellas, I am gonna bail out for tonight. Thanks for a good chat! See ya around

@posdef catch you later

@edmastermind29 catch the game last night?

@edmastermind29 first half was a blowout so I turned it off thinking I could catch up on sleep since there was no need to watch the second half..

So glad the 9ers won thoughh

@edmastermind29 now the 'boys need to win their last two and the G'nts and 'skins need to each lose a game :)

@edmastermind29 ya it was a fun half to watch for sure.. gotta love seeing the pats get stomped.

@edmastermind29 really?

@waxeagle not a boys fan! nooooooo :)

@Maniac born and raised :P

@waxeagle cant hate you for it then.. gotta respect loyalty. Its the bandwagoners that get me

I think the redskins are gonna get @waxeagle GIANT collapse pun intended

@Maniac nah, my dad is from Ft. Worth, and then we grew up in redskins country. Didn't hurt that it was pretty easy to be a Cowboys fan when I was a kid

@edmastermind29 lol

@edmastermind29 nice TO reference!

@edmastermind29 ya ive never been a fan of Eli like Iam of Peyton.. maybe because he plays for the giants idk

@edmastermind29 I just watched that again recently and I just laugh every time... Its like he goes from one extreme to the other

@edmastermind29 That's ok, he drove the bus over him later

@edmastermind29 at this point Eli is above reproach (for a few more years), but Coughlin....well his teams win playoff games, but he makes you sweat through the regular season for sure

@edmastermind29 Ya idk but they seem to just get in every year.. (gotta keep it interesting I guess)

doesnt hurt that they play in a division with a team that can't seem to win a big game glare

It was alot of fun to watch coughlin yell at his punter (matt dodge) when desean jackson returned a punt for a touchdown with no time left to complete a big comeback (30something to 10 with 8 min left?) in the fourth a few years back

@waxeagle does Romo and Garrett need to go? how does cowboy nation like them?

@edmastermind29 I would tend to agree.. seems like hes a good assistant but not cut out to be a head coach

on a seperate note seattle seems legit! put up 50 points in consecutive weeks (yes ik it was arizona and buffalo)

but thats hard to do idc who your playing

@Maniac sounds like there is at least an even chance Sean Peyton is the HC in dallas next year. I'd take that

@edmastermind29 ya their falling apart now though

@waxeagle I would to. Eagles will probly be looking for a coach as well. Ive heard a rumor they might try to convince Bill Cowher to come out of retirement.. dont know if its true or not

@edmastermind29 lol. tbh though, I'm not sure Jerry would give him the kind of control he wants/needs

@Maniac I put aproximately 0 faith in any of the TV guys coming back to coaching. I see not incentive for them to leave their high paying tv gigs

@edmastermind29 sorry probly a mind blank but not following ffca

@edmastermind29 not at all. he needs to hire a GM or give the HC control of player personnel, but no, he's the kind of owner any team would envy

(one with an open pocket book)

@waxeagle I agree its alright to dream though

@edmastermind29 gotcha! I dont care for Gruden he had 1 or 2 succesful years the rest were below average

@edmastermind29 yeah, it's a way of doing things that is on the way out, it's not necessarily a successful model.

he should hire a GM this offseason (but he won't so that's a pipe dream), but if he can't be brought to that hiring a HC capable of making those decisions is the second best option

@waxeagle he needs a GM.. The owner doesnt need to be arguing with any players on the sideline (jay ratliff)

@Maniac agreed wholeheartedly, but he won't, his son might, after he is gone (or gives up control)

@edmastermind29 haha I dont want chip kelley either.. he doesnt even run a pro style offense

@edmastermind29 yes. and his best years were the ones where he ceded a lot of control to JJ :(

@edmastermind29 that may be true :) but his offense needs a mobile quarterback which would probably mean he would wanna keep vick which = disaster

@edmastermind29 nothing said has ever been more true :)

with the talent they have on offense they should not be the second worse scoring team in the nfl

@edmastermind29 cheers to the king of remembering and finding everything anybody has said and holding it against them!

I love it! lol

anyway i gotta run for supper (nice chat)