[estephan500]

As we know, ESPN has a blog dedicated to Stanford football this year. They only have 10 blogs total, and only two are about actual teams, Notre Dame and Stanford. Given the mammoth hype and following for the giant football schools,  it felt odd to see this Stanford blog up there.

Now I'm addicted to the thing. The guy (Kevin Gemmell) has cranked out 11 posts since the Arizona game, almost all of them substantial info, to me anyway, about the defense, shaw, skov replacements, etc.

After seeing a comment tacked on the bottom of an ESPN post from someone grumbling "Tell me again why Stanford gets its own blog?" I thought the same to myself and sent him Gemmell a note for the hell of it. He gave no big insight: "There is a lot of national interest surrounding Stanford this year -- particularly all of the hype surrounding Andrew Luck. The bosses thought it would be worth sticking someone on them for the year. I happen to be that someone."

Anyway, it's a nice luxury.

I'm ready for someone on this board to tell me Gemmell's life story as a cousin of Tedf--d's housekeeper who once wrote in the Mercury that Walsh's return to Stanford was bla bla bla...

[estephan500]

As we know, ESPN has a blog dedicated to Stanford football this year. They only have 10 blogs total, and only two are about actual teams, Notre Dame and Stanford. Given the mammoth hype and following for the giant football schools,  it felt odd to see this Stanford blog up there.

Now I'm addicted to the thing. The guy (Kevin Gemmell) has cranked out 11 posts since the Arizona game, almost all of them substantial info, to me anyway, about the defense, shaw, skov replacements, etc.

After seeing a comment tacked on the bottom of an ESPN post from someone grumbling "Tell me again why Stanford gets its own blog?" I thought the same to myself and sent him Gemmell a note for the hell of it. He gave no big insight: "There is a lot of national interest surrounding Stanford this year -- particularly all of the hype surrounding Andrew Luck. The bosses thought it would be worth sticking someone on them for the year. I happen to be that someone."

Anyway, it's a nice luxury.

I'm ready for someone on this board to tell me Gemmell's life story as a cousin of Tedf--d's housekeeper who once wrote in the Mercury that Walsh's return to Stanford was bla bla bla...

[fullmetal]

I hope you replied to him with a nice note!  I might do the same in the near future.

[fullmetal]

I hope you replied to him with a nice note!  I might do the same in the near future.

[Rando]

Wouldn't mind seeing this every year. Love it. Can't get enough.

[Rando]

Wouldn't mind seeing this every year. Love it. Can't get enough.

[Griffins78]

Agreed. Love this blog and think the articles are well written and detailed. I have tried to post comments as much as possible to his articles. Nice having Kevin and Ted Miller covering us.

[Griffins78]

Agreed. Love this blog and think the articles are well written and detailed. I have tried to post comments as much as possible to his articles. Nice having Kevin and Ted Miller covering us.

[yvonne]

I really like today's article, and interview with David Shaw. http://es.pn/pXExxq

Until today, most of the stories about Coach Shaw talked about how he wasn't Harbaugh, and how his personality was different from his predecessor's. This one looks at Shaw, the player and coach steeped in Bill Walsh's offensive philosophy. It gives the coach credibility that to date, other reporters have not.

[yvonne]

I really like today's article, and interview with David Shaw. http://es.pn/pXExxq

Until today, most of the stories about Coach Shaw talked about how he wasn't Harbaugh, and how his personality was different from his predecessor's. This one looks at Shaw, the player and coach steeped in Bill Walsh's offensive philosophy. It gives the coach credibility that to date, other reporters have not.

[washingtonismoney]

Gemmell has quickly risen up the Bay Area Power Rankings for Stanford, at least--the only ancien regime reporter who's even comparable is Tom FitzGerald of the Chronicle. Maybe this will inspire the other people to raise their game...

[washingtonismoney]

Gemmell has quickly risen up the Bay Area Power Rankings for Stanford, at least--the only ancien regime reporter who's even comparable is Tom FitzGerald of the Chronicle. Maybe this will inspire the other people to raise their game...

[CowboyIndian]

Today's offering is replete with envious Kal imbeciles...complaining, nay, whining about "the school I wish I had gotten into" having its own blog. It's like TV programming, boys, if you don't like it, don't watch it.

[CowboyIndian]

Today's offering is replete with envious Kal imbeciles...complaining, nay, whining about "the school I wish I had gotten into" having its own blog. It's like TV programming, boys, if you don't like it, don't watch it.

[unclechuck]

Gemmell has been a sports writer for the San Diego Union Tribune for several years. Here's his profile with the UT and links to several of his San Diego related articles. As you can see, he's not just a football guy.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/staff/kevin-gemmell/

As per most papers the UT has gone through ownership & management changes over the last couple years with the attendant downsizing & part timing of many talented journalists including several from the sports department.

Not clear what his current status is; if he's gone full time to ESPN or working as a stringer. Regardless, a real coup for the Cardinal to have him as our de facto beat writer. Maybe we'll get to keep him beyond football!

[unclechuck]

Gemmell has been a sports writer for the San Diego Union Tribune for several years. Here's his profile with the UT and links to several of his San Diego related articles. As you can see, he's not just a football guy.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/staff/kevin-gemmell/

As per most papers the UT has gone through ownership & management changes over the last couple years with the attendant downsizing & part timing of many talented journalists including several from the sports department.

Not clear what his current status is; if he's gone full time to ESPN or working as a stringer. Regardless, a real coup for the Cardinal to have him as our de facto beat writer. Maybe we'll get to keep him beyond football!

[estephan500]

I came back to this thread because I wanted to hype the newest Gemmell posting about Shaw and Walsh, but I see Yvonne already pointed it out. 

It seems wrong to call it a "blog post," it's better than most feature articles. Definitely educational for me.  Plus, for god's sakes, accompanied by perhaps the coolest photo of the year yet, the shaw/walsh diptych I might snag for my profile photo on this board... well, nope, can't bring myself to replace the current one.

http://espn.go.com/blog/stanford-footbal...-a-balance

[estephan500]

I came back to this thread because I wanted to hype the newest Gemmell posting about Shaw and Walsh, but I see Yvonne already pointed it out. 

It seems wrong to call it a "blog post," it's better than most feature articles. Definitely educational for me.  Plus, for god's sakes, accompanied by perhaps the coolest photo of the year yet, the shaw/walsh diptych I might snag for my profile photo on this board... well, nope, can't bring myself to replace the current one.

http://espn.go.com/blog/stanford-footbal...-a-balance

[Griffins78]

Recommend we try to post comments to the articles. Many of the comments are other teams' fans complaining about Stanford having its own blog and no fans reading or watching

[Griffins78]

Recommend we try to post comments to the articles. Many of the comments are other teams' fans complaining about Stanford having its own blog and no fans reading or watching

[terry]

Nice article. I love the fact that Shaw is directly connected to so many significant figures in Stanford's coaching history -- Denny Green, Bill Walsh, Jim Harbaugh, and of course Willie Shaw. I really hope Shaw succeeds. He's off to a good start, anyway.

[terry]

Nice article. I love the fact that Shaw is directly connected to so many significant figures in Stanford's coaching history -- Denny Green, Bill Walsh, Jim Harbaugh, and of course Willie Shaw. I really hope Shaw succeeds. He's off to a good start, anyway.

[estephan500]

The problem with sending positive feedback to Kevin Gemmell is that you get long thoughtful replies. Check out the stuff about the film room.
===

Thanks for the note and kind words about the story. Growing up in the Bay Area during the Montana-to-Rice era, I was a h uge Bill Walsh fan. It's fun to see someone following in his footsteps.

I'm also a h uge fan of balanced offense. The last two years when I was covering San Diego State, I had the pleasure to cover offensive coordinator Al Borges, who is one of the greatest pro-style minds in college football today. He went with Brady Hoke to Michigan, but Al would let me watch film with him for about a half hour each week. I learned a tremendous amount of football by covering him. Obviously, San Diego State was a smaller program and I could do that. Don't think Shaw or Pep Hamilton will let me in the film room (but I'll ask).

Post? Article? In this day and and age of internet journalism, they all sort of blend together.

Despite what many of the people who comment at the bottom of stories think, I have no control of where the posts go. I write for the Stanford blog and then an editor decides if it should go in the Pac-12 blog or on the College Football Nation blog. This one just happened to pop out on all three.

I'll keep writing them and hopefully folks will keep reading them.

Thanks again.

[estephan500]

The problem with sending positive feedback to Kevin Gemmell is that you get long thoughtful replies. Check out the stuff about the film room.
===

Thanks for the note and kind words about the story. Growing up in the Bay Area during the Montana-to-Rice era, I was a h uge Bill Walsh fan. It's fun to see someone following in his footsteps.

I'm also a h uge fan of balanced offense. The last two years when I was covering San Diego State, I had the pleasure to cover offensive coordinator Al Borges, who is one of the greatest pro-style minds in college football today. He went with Brady Hoke to Michigan, but Al would let me watch film with him for about a half hour each week. I learned a tremendous amount of football by covering him. Obviously, San Diego State was a smaller program and I could do that. Don't think Shaw or Pep Hamilton will let me in the film room (but I'll ask).

Post? Article? In this day and and age of internet journalism, they all sort of blend together.

Despite what many of the people who comment at the bottom of stories think, I have no control of where the posts go. I write for the Stanford blog and then an editor decides if it should go in the Pac-12 blog or on the College Football Nation blog. This one just happened to pop out on all three.

I'll keep writing them and hopefully folks will keep reading them.

Thanks again.

[OutsiderFan]

It's nice to see reporters replying like that.  Of course, if he can reply and reply with lengthy responses, that implies he's not getting very many messages.

I am curious why ESPN decided to give Stanford a blog of its own.  There are many potential reasons, but it does seems curious.  I would think it has to be in ESPN's long range plan to destroy or make serious dents into the premium content models being used by Scout, Rivals, and 24/7.  There seems to be such obsession about recruiting news, but people forget there is a lot of interest in the team during the season.  My guess is this is kind of loss leader stuff.  It seems doubtful there are enough viewers of a college football blog on ESPN - especially a Stanford one - to pay a decent salary to have someone dedicated to it full time.  Perhaps I am wrong.

[OutsiderFan]

It's nice to see reporters replying like that.  Of course, if he can reply and reply with lengthy responses, that implies he's not getting very many messages.

I am curious why ESPN decided to give Stanford a blog of its own.  There are many potential reasons, but it does seems curious.  I would think it has to be in ESPN's long range plan to destroy or make serious dents into the premium content models being used by Scout, Rivals, and 24/7.  There seems to be such obsession about recruiting news, but people forget there is a lot of interest in the team during the season.  My guess is this is kind of loss leader stuff.  It seems doubtful there are enough viewers of a college football blog on ESPN - especially a Stanford one - to pay a decent salary to have someone dedicated to it full time.  Perhaps I am wrong.

[jayasena]

I am curious why ESPN decided to give Stanford a blog of its own.

I think Gemmell has freely admitted (and a lot of fans of other programs have correctly inferred) that ESPN decided to have the Stanford blog in response to the national interest in Luck, both from college fans and NFL fans.

But... who cares what the motive(s) is(are) -- let's just enjoy it while it lasts. It's not often that Stanford gets preferential treatment over the OUs, USCs, tOSUs etc. in the "football media"

[jayasena]

I am curious why ESPN decided to give Stanford a blog of its own.

I think Gemmell has freely admitted (and a lot of fans of other programs have correctly inferred) that ESPN decided to have the Stanford blog in response to the national interest in Luck, both from college fans and NFL fans.

But... who cares what the motive(s) is(are) -- let's just enjoy it while it lasts. It's not often that Stanford gets preferential treatment over the OUs, USCs, tOSUs etc. in the "football media"

[yvonne]

Recommend we try to post comments to the articles. Many of the comments are other teams' fans complaining about Stanford having its own blog and no fans reading or watching

I've got to echo that. Our posting will encourage ESPN to keep the blog.

[yvonne]

Recommend we try to post comments to the articles. Many of the comments are other teams' fans complaining about Stanford having its own blog and no fans reading or watching

I've got to echo that. Our posting will encourage ESPN to keep the blog.

[FarmBoy]

I was wondering if the powers that be at ESPN were feeling some backlash over having a dedicated Stanford blogger. It seems to have pissed off a few handful of people, but I can't imagine it's "hurt" ESPN overall. For a while though, it seemed like every post had 10 comments of "why Stanford" for every comment on the content itself. There aren't a ton of pro-Stanford comment writers on Miller's posts, which makes me wonder if the Stanford readers are there, but we're much less likely to actually post comments than other fans.

[FarmBoy]

I was wondering if the powers that be at ESPN were feeling some backlash over having a dedicated Stanford blogger. It seems to have pissed off a few handful of people, but I can't imagine it's "hurt" ESPN overall. For a while though, it seemed like every post had 10 comments of "why Stanford" for every comment on the content itself. There aren't a ton of pro-Stanford comment writers on Miller's posts, which makes me wonder if the Stanford readers are there, but we're much less likely to actually post comments than other fans.

[washingtonismoney]

Still, it is pretty funny the number of people who have taken time out of their lives to return, over and over, to the ESPN Stanford blog to ask why Stanford has a dedicated blog? It's a real mystery of human nature...

[washingtonismoney]

Still, it is pretty funny the number of people who have taken time out of their lives to return, over and over, to the ESPN Stanford blog to ask why Stanford has a dedicated blog? It's a real mystery of human nature...