Eric Pender » Michigan State University

Update on Spartan-Football.com

Eric Pender — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:45:52 +0000

As I mentioned earlier in the month (or maybe it was last month), I’ve started working on a side project, a website called Spartan-Football.com. The site has pretty much taken up all of my free time for the last 3-4 weeks, but it’s safe to say I’ve learned quite a bit in those weeks.

So far I’ve pretty much gotten all of the design elements squared away, and have started writing content for the site. Which, by the way, is exceptionally difficult and was only heightened my level of respect for the sports bloggers that I’ve been following and who make it seem so damn easy. The design probably took me 3 weeks or so, basically just piecing together different parts until it started to look like something resembling a serious website. Shout-out, by the way, to Bugsy Sailor (the guy behind such projects as Yooper Steez, Hometown Invasion and Daily Fruuit) for coming up with the idea for the design of using the jersey mesh as the background to the site.

As you might be able to tell, I am building the site using WordPress as the underlying platform, and Thesis as the theme (although I really consider it more of a code base). This is my first time using Thesis and and must say I am exceptionally happy with it. I’m not sure I would say that it’s so easy to use, as much as it provides so many options. I still don’t understand how to program the hooks, but I can use the OpenHook plugin to do pretty much everything I need to do.

In terms of SEO, I think the site architecture is pretty well optimized, especially now that I was able to put together the footer navigation to the third-level site pages, which is really where the meat of the site lives. The site is still very much in the Google sandbox, although just in the last few days I have noticed that the rankings that I’ve been tracking have improved a bit.

While I officially “launched” the site on August 9th, the site really was live a few weeks before then. But it was under development the entire time, and August 9th was the date that I really wanted to have some initial content on the site and start pushing that content out via the Facebook fan page and the Twitter account that I set up for the site. The site got picked up by SpartanTailgate.com the next day, and I saw a huge surge in traffic from that referral.

My goal has been to build up a following from Facebook and Twitter, and then when the students get back to campus hopefully see the site grow virally from the smaller social networking group we have right now. So far, I think the site has a pretty good following. There are roughly 180 Facebook fans and 180 followers on the Twitter account. That’s one of the things I’ll be tracking as things move forward.

I’ve also been thinking about doing a podcast for the site, but I’m not 100% sure on that one yet. Right now I’d probably say I’m leaning against not doing it, just because I want to see how much work the normal site is without adding a podcast component. But who knows, I might change my mind.

I’ve also started considering how to make some money off of the site. But I don’t want to bastardize the site by throwing a ton of advertising up all over the place. So here are the ideas I have so far:

Sell t-shirts on the site. I would probably need to find a designer who could make some cool shirts, but I could see this being a good way to make some money without throwing banners up all over the place.
Stubhub/Amazon affiliate – Stubhub, obviously it’s a sports site, people could by tickets, I’d get a cut. Amazon, link to MSU apparel, people buy, I make money. However, I don’t see the affiliate angle making much money, but who knows.
Throw banners up all over the place. I really don’t want to do this, and I don’t think I will. The only way I’m going to put up and banner type ads on the site is if they are really targeted to the audience. I don’t want to just throw up some AdSense all over the place, but if an East Lansing business wants to advertise to a market that obviously would be interested in an East Lansing business, then I’d consider it.

Anyway, I am going to chronicle the behind-the-scenes stuff for the site here on EricPender.com. Aside from writing the content, which pretty much never ends, the next things on the radar are (in no particular order):

Getting Facebook Connect commenting enabled on the site. The code for this looks pretty scary, and I wish there was just an easy plugin that would get it to work for Thesis. But the plugin that does exists doesn’t seem to work with Thesis, and there doesn’t seem to be any information in the support forums from anyone who has implemented it successfully.
Maybe add fields to the contact us page. Probably a good idea, and it seems like it would be really easy.
Put together the reporting that I want for the site. Traffic, time on site, bounce rate, conversions, all that jazz.
Drop down menu. Ugh, the last one was problematic in IE and some versions of Firefox. I need to give it a second chance, but I really wish it was just built into Thesis.
Develop some kind of link building widget or badge.
Finish putting together the content on those few remaining pages: Ethics, FAQ, Support, etc. etc. etc.
Google Website Optimizer – does it even make sense at this point? I’m not selling anything yet, and it seems moderate-to-advanced.
Add email subscriptions. I think I can do this easily in Feedburner, I just need to set it up.

That’s all for now. Check back later for more updates.

Vote to Move MSU Band

Eric Pender — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:20:00 +0000

MSU is hosting a vote to move the marching band from their present location, alongside the goal line in the southeast corner of the stadium, to behind the south end zone (as was done during the Purdue game this past weekend).

Please click on this link and vote for South End zone for location of the MSU Marching Band during games.

This does two important things. One, it moves more of the student section closer to the field between the goal line and the 20 yard line, making it harder for opposing teams to call plays because of student noise when they’re in the red zone. Second, it moves the marching band behind the end zone, allowing them to play out toward the rest of the stadium, again creating more noise to disrupt opponent play calling.

Eric Pender Referenced in Windy City Sports

Eric Pender — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:11:00 +0000

A former colleague of mine from NCSA just wrote an article for Windy City Sports about great places to be active in the Midwest.

Kim Eberl, a principal at Motion PR, wrote the article and asked me about some of my favorite places to run in Michigan. I told her about a few great places in the East Lansing area, as well as my experience running across the Ambassador Bridge in the Detroit Marathon relay.

Kim does an incredible job doing PR for various clients, and her firm Motion PR just launched its brand new website.

Michigan State President Simon Responds to Cedar Fest Riot

Eric Pender — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:48:00 +0000

Michigan State University president Lou Anna Simon posted a statement today on her blog reacting to the disturbances of Cedar Fest from this past weekend.

Particularly interesting from President Simon’s statement are the references to how social media and the Internet played a part in orchestrating the event. For all the students who fail to recognize how an event such as this impacts the image of Michigan State University across the state and across the globe, President Simon’s remarks are most poignant when quoted at length:

“The scenes of rioting and violence in the media and on the internet will be the only introduction for many across the state and around the country to East Lansing and MSU. It may also be the introduction that prospective employers have to future job applicants, which is another use for the technology employed by those who encouraged the weekend’s events. Social networks such as Facebook and You Tube are increasingly used by human resource professionals to check the backgrounds and behaviors of potential employees. The repercussions for some attendees of Cedar Fest may not come today or tomorrow, but may be felt in the not too distant future when they embark on their first job search after graduation.“

I know first hand that employers use the Internet to learn about prospective employees including social networking sites and site that feature user-submitted content. I know, because I’ve used them myself for that very purpose. Your online reputation is just as important as your offline reputation, in some cases it is more important. Why do I need to know what your references say about you when I can go online and find out what YOU say about you?

Your degree is only worth as much as the school representing it. And that school is only as good as the students who have come through, and those that are at the school at the time. A degree is not merely a document proclaiming the consummation of the academic program you participated in. It is a living document that changes with age. Don’t believe me? What if your school closed it’s doors tomorrow? No more classes, no more research, no more alumni. Your degree, over time, would become worthless. The circumstances that are related to your school over time affect the perception of your degree, and thus, the perception of you as an individual.

President Simon’s statement also indicates that such social networking sites may be used to by the East Lansing police department to identify students engaging in illegal activity during Cedar Fest and making further arrests. ”A meeting was held…,” Ms. Simon’s post states, “…to begin the process of using technology to identify others who may be arrested subsequently.”

“The reckless behavior of the individuals who set in motion…the unlawful activity that occurred at ‘Cedar Fest’ will have consequences,” Ms. Simon’s statement says, indicating that the individual that used Facebook to organize the event may face charges from the university.

I’ve tried to find as much decent video of Cedar Fest as I could. Below are a few clips I think are worth posting. The first clip appears to be the b-roll of WLNS footage of Cedar Fest.

This second one is probably the best footage that I’ve found. I just wish they didn’t have the musical overlay.

I’m still looking for the URL for the Facebook event for Cedar Fest. If you have the URL, or even just screenshots, please send them along.

At Michigan State, Yet Another Riot…

Eric Pender — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:21:00 +0000

On Saturday night, Michigan State University police arrested 52 people in connection with Cedar Fest, 28 of them students of the university.

Police used a total of 64 nonlethal grenades (smoke, flash-bang and stingball) and 13 rounds of tear gas to contain the crowd of more than 3,000.

The East Lansing Police Department has already formally declared Saturday nights’ event a riot. The story is on the home page of CNN (see article here). Michigan State has suffered yet another black eye, although I’m not certain whether this one should fall on the shoulders of the students or the East Lansing police department.

This will only serve to drive more of a wedge between the city of East Lansing and the students of Michigan State. It will probably draw more support for the East Village redevelopment project being planned for the Cedar Village area. This project is expected to create more expensive housing in the area, possibly outside of students budgets, and thereby displacing them from the area. East Lansing mayor Vic Loomis has said that he will seek monetary compensation for damages from those who where arrested in the event. Stiff words from a man whose city’s economy depends on the university next door.

From various comments I’ve read around the web about Cedar Fest, it seems clear that many current students don’t understand the negative effects an event like this has on a university. This school, the one that you will represent when you go into the work place, and the one that represents you when you put Michigan State University on your resume, now carries the stigma of the “school where the riots happen.” It’s novel when you’re a student, it’s a disgrace when you’re an alumni. And it seems like it only takes one negative event to displace the effects of ten positive ones.

Yet it’s too early for me to place blame on the students and others that attended Cedar Fest. To be sure, the East Lansing police department has a reputation for overreacting to large gatherings in their jurisdiction. We hope that the lessons of 1999, 2003 and 2005 have been learned. Perhaps they have not.

Also interesting is how social networking site Facebook seems to have played a part in this as well. Various articles report that a Cedar Fest group or event was posted on Facebook and that at least 6,000 people indicated that they would attend (see here and here) I’m curious if there will be any fallout from this to the tune of discussion about blocking social networking sites on campus. I doubt such action would be taken. Certainly resurrecting a 1986 party where 85 people were arrested and 33 were injured is no small feat.

Does anyone have any info on the 1986 Cedar Fest? Was it just a bunch of drunken debauchery, or was it a more organized affair? Does anyone have the URL to the Facebook event page for Cedar Fest? Also, if anyone who was there has any first-hand accounts, I’m interested to hear them.

Taco-score for MSU against Inidana

Eric Pender — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:59:00 +0000

Eric Gordon (a.k.a. the ugliest player in the Big 10) couldn’t stop Michigan State from clobbering Indiana 103-74.

ESPN notes that Michigan State scored 59 points in the first half, more than they have scored in four entire games this season. Despite MSU’s anemic offense at times, they showed today that they can in fact put serious points on the board. Obviously this doesn’t make up for losing the last four of seven games before today, but hopefully this is an indication of a Spartan basketball team heating up before the Big 10 tournament and, most importantly, the NCAA tournament.

Those that attended the game can take their ticket stub to the Trowbridge Taco Bell for a free taco.

Kevin Borseth goes on a tirade

Eric Pender — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Did everyone see this? Michigan women’s basketball coach Kevin Borseth went nutty during a press conference last night. Classy. Don’t coaches generally know how this process works? They freak out, video goes to YouTube, and you’re the face of nuttiness until the next coach goes wacko. Just ask Mike Gundy. I’m just saying, if you’re pissed, and you’re having a press conference, at least have some tact. Check out this guy. Stoic, yet with a sense of humor. That’s what I’m talking about.