The new season starts with a little Tupac.

And why not?  Things are going down a wee bit differently this year.  Not like a dramatic overhaul or anything, but just some tweaks.

I typed in "WTF" into Google search for this photo, but a lot of those images are downright weird to straight up messed up.  So we're getting this instead.

First change you may have already noticed:  You're all league managers on the ESPN page now.  Yes, that means you have all the powers that come with being league manager, but this is mainly being done to allow you guys to post without having to go through me first.  Now you can just click "Edit Post" (or whatever that says) and contribute to the main page.

Secondly, for the first time since we've been doing this, divisions aren't really changing this year.  I'm making a slight change to them anyways (Danny and Jeff have now been swapped), but otherwise they're going to be the same.

Thirdly, we've gotten a league site.  Check it out!

http://realmencrytc.blogspot.com

The idea has been brewing in me for a couple of months now, especially after seeing how hard it was to get people to write interesting stuff for the league page.  To a degree it's understandable that people, with their schedules and what not, may not have the time to write anything.  I thought maybe a website could solve that, but as it was pointed out to me, that doesn't really address the core issue of getting people involved anyways.  And I believe the first step in addressing that is making it as easy as possible to contribute to our league.

Obviously that starts by letting you guys post what you want, when you want.  And now you have a second resource to post things.  It's going to be your choice to post on the league page or the blog (but I'll need your gmail accounts to make you registered posters on that blog), but anything that's posted on the league page will automatically be put on the blog.  And that's because I want to turn that into an archive for all our previous writings.  As we know, ESPN deletes previous threads and postings when a season is done, so this blog will house all those things.

So really, don't think of the blog so much as a replacement for our league page (although there are features that I will explain in a bit that I hope will draw you to check it out every now and then), but rather as a resource to check everything everyone's written so that we can look back and see how right/wrong people are.

[image]http://thescoutmag.com/assets/0000/2277/blog_art_street_grid_3.jpg?1300080340[/image]

Now to talk about what the site can bring you.

1. The most noticeable part of the site is the way content is presented.  The template I downloaded shows many posts right on the front page, so you can easily scroll and see the most recent 15 posts.

2. Maybe the most important feature of the blog is the Smack Talk Wall in the right hand corner.  It was important that we have a quick, easy, and visible area where we can just write what we want.  As long as you're logged on to facebook, you can tell Ed his team sucks as many times as you want.

3. Below the Smack Talk Wall is a chart of team records including points scored and allowed.  While it's no different than what ESPN has, it at least lets you see those points scored and allowed stats on the front page.  This will be updated manually by me every Tuesday.

4. One thing I always felt would be important was an area solely devoted to matchups.  And more importantly, an area that showed logos, not names.  ESPN's not the greatest at showing imagery and making a matchup seem all the great, so if you look below the standings, you'll notice a weekly matchups section.  Logos are displayed, and if you click on a series of pics, it'll take you to ESPN's preview page.

5. The navigation bar at the top of the site is pretty straightforward, but the owner and trophies sections aren't done.  That and I still need to create a spreadsheet for the 09 draft and add it to the draft history section.

6. All comments have to come from your Google account.  So as log as you're logged in to Google, you can comment on individual posts.

7. On a personal note, the only real content you'll be seeing from me this year are weekly power rankings and updating all stats for the league (the stats page will be more than just your usual stats).  So don't really expect a preview, since my power rankings will mainly be review of the following week.  But I strongly encourage you to contribute, even if short.

8. I'm currently working on our league schedule.  So when that's done, I'll have a new season preview post for you guys!

I'm sure there is more, but I'm getting lazy and don't want to type any more.