John Furrier

It's ovah! - To the Dads, Kids, and Generations of us New Englanders - Time to Celebrate

I come from a large New England family. There are three generations of Furrier's who have never seen the Red Sox win a world series. Now they have a reason to toast the Sox and wipe away the years of frustrations.

I spoke with my Dad - he is a die hard Sox fan living in Naples Florida - after the Yanks went up 0-3. His response was so typical and reflected the general attitude of generations of Sox fans.. "they stink...they find a way to lose, typical choke, ..etc... Well they certainly looked dead...even I was down saying just win game 4 and avoid a sweep to the Yanks... The sox never lost and after the final out I called my family and Dad and his voice was horse from yelling at the TV. The negative was gone. The Sox broke the curse. They were winners.

And now it's time to toast to Ted Williams, Tom Yawkey, Sherm Feller, Dick O'Connell, Haywood Sullivan, Joe Cronin, Eddie Collins, Tony Conigliaro, Ned Martin, Helen Robinson, Jack Rogers, and thousands of others who toiled for the team, but died before seeing their Sox win a World Series.

It's time for smiles on the faces of Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Charlie Wagner, Gene Conley, Bill Monbouquette, Chuck Schilling, John McNamara, Joe Morgan, Earl Wilson, Mike Andrews, Reggie Smith, and hundreds of other men who wore the Red Sox uniform, but never won in October. And don't forget Curt Gowdy, Lou Gorman, Dick Bresciani, Joe Mooney, and all the ushers and Sox employees who are as much a part of Fenway Park as the Green Monster and Pesky's Pole.

Time for the Nation to rejoice. Time to dance. Time to go to your window, open it wide, stick your head out and scream, "The Red Sox won the World Series." No one's been able to do that in Boston since Woodrow Wilson was president.

This is the kind of event that unites Boston Red Sox fans of all ages from Palo Alto, California to Cape Cod. A memory that will last forever for all Sox fans. From my Dad in Naples Florida, my brothers and sisters in New England, and my wife and I watching with my sons and daughters in Palo Alto California all three generations are celebrating today.

Party like it's 1918 - Historic Sweep(s) for the Ages II

I post a party like it's 1918 a sweep for the ages after the Angels series thinking like this was the best...boy was I wrong. The Red Sox just won 8 straight (yes 8 straight) post season games. Basically they won all their series in consecutive games.

They beat the Angels in 3 straight in the LDS. Down 0-3 to the Yanks they run off 4 staight in historic fashion in the ACLS. Now they run the table against the Cards in the WS.

This has to be the most historic sweep(s) of any team in MLB postseason history never mind that the Red Sox pulled it off.

Silicon Valley Index

The 2004 Index of Silicon Valley tells the story of the Silicon Valley region as it responds to economic booms and busts as well as other major economic and structural changes. The Index seeks largely to measure the progress made towards achieving the goals outlined by more than 2,000 community members in the Silicon Valley 2010 Vision.

Boston's Magical Journey - Unbelievable

For the last 86 years, they have wandered from decade to decade in search of an elusive world championship. Now, in late October of this extraordinary season, at a time when they seem more determined than ever, someone also seems content to give it to them.

Now after rolling the Yanks the Sox are unstoppable. Teamwork, energy, confidence, and now poise to take the trophy.

Google is worth more than Yahoo

WOW. What can one say. Google is rockin - $14.50 as of this post 1pm PST. Google has surpassed Yahoo by $3b in market cap!

Lets see what Yahoo is holding for cards?

Silicon Valley Texas Hold'em - World Series of Search

Yahoo has got to be fired up these days. I have always been a big fan of Yahoo and also the frieght train of Google. But now that Google is a stone throw away from Yahoo (in terms of market cap) has to piss off the Yahoo folks. Yahoo has been a dominant force and innovator for years and for Google to sneak up on them on a simple search algorithm and non technical advertising play must have Yahoo taking notice.

Stepping up the heated battle of online search and services, Yahoo and Adobe Systems have joined forces to tap each others' customers and put Web search features into Adobe's Acrobat Reader software.

The venture, to be announced Monday, is Yahoo's latest maneuver against Google and Microsoft in the fight to put its own search service and Web access on as many desktops as possible. Anticipation looms around speculation that Google is coming out with a browser (great move in my opinion).

I've been involved with both Microsoft and Netscape during the browser wars but this search war has many players. The question is who will become allies and who is the common enemy. Who's holding the cards? The chips ($$$) are certainly on the table and Google is doing a great job is taking them down. This is high techs version of Texas hold'em.

Google: "All in"
Yahoo: "I call"

Schilling and Leadership

What can you say ... Curt Schilling is the epitome of team and leadership. I have always been amazed how sports is the ultimate reality. Here you have Curt Schilling doing what he's doing to make the Red Sox so dangerous plus only two games away from their 1st World Series since 1918. It's all about leadership. What makes leadership so huge here is the performance and the conditions surrounding it. In all walks of life you have leaders who say their leaders but just don't perform. To me the definition of leadership is: stepping up and leading then following through with performance then elevating the rest of the performance of the rest of the team. Kudos to Schilling and the rest of the team.

Leadership example for all professions.

BlogPubs.com

Coming soon. BlogPubs.com ....More on this at BloggerCon III

Dave Winer - Scripting.com

Dave Winer has a great blog at Scripting.com and is the leading force behind BloggerCon III of which I've donated a couple hundred bucks for the cause which Dave kindly mentioned (thanks for the plug.. it's my pleasure to help).

My core items to discuss at BloggerCon:
- Core Values
- Advertising paradigms: ads in RSS feeds, new models to protect the bloggers revenue sources, CPA solution
- Credibility of bloggers
- Emerging Blogger Networks
- Bloggers as next generation publishers
- What's next for AdSense - in my opinion
- Blogpubs.com

I'm looking forward to it. Thanks Dave

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

Stuart Elliott of the New York Times reported on the 94th annual meeting of the Association of National Advertisers in Naples, Florida. The conference, entitled Masters of Marketing, might have been more bluntly, and more accurately, summarized as "Change or Die," according to Stuart.

The global warning to attendees, all B2C executives who oversee the $300 billion a year spend, was "we must become more accountable, innovative and creative or be doomed to failure."

The B2C folks must be a tough lot. One Masters of Marketing made this aside to the audience: "Don't go on vacation. Your job might not be there when you get back."

Egaads. So, on one side we have a call to arms to be more innovative and creative and on the other an environment of job insecurity and the F.U.D. factor.

Meanwhile, the less glamourous Masters of Marketing are meeting this week in New Orleans at the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) annual conference.

Direct Marketing Association president/CEO John A. Greco, Jr. "characterized the economy as on the mend but said consumer spending and confidence were still issues...(the DM) industry has continued a trend of growth over the past five quarters. Projected direct response ad spending for 2004 will be $186 billion, up 9 percent from 2003, Greco said. Projected sales figures will be $2.2 trillion, he said, up 10 percent from last year. A five-year projection has DM sales exceeding $3.1 trillion in 2009."

You will see more advertising agencies promoting themselves as "response" agencies, sheep in wolves clothing, and title changes on the client-side. One suggestion so far for CMO is VP of Reputation. I am not joking.