Shameless Self-Promotion
Dave · November 7, 2008 at 5:14 pm · Filed Under Mariners
So, I’ve got a favor to ask of all of you. The “Open Letter” Felix story from last year ended up leading to my nomination for a $10,000 college scholarship (for those that aren’t aware, I’m getting my BS in Economics at UNC-Greensboro). The winner is decided by public voting that is open for the next two weeks.
So, go vote. Tell your friends to go vote. Have them tell their friends. Derek and I have never done this for the money, but $10,000 would be pretty helpful.
13 votes so far? Damn, we need to get busy.
Is the link dead, or is it just me?
Yes We Can!
Link works for me.
Voted, blogged it and posted it to my Facebook profile for good measure.
That’s awesome, good luck man.
I had to click the link that said “go vote” not just the vote for me button.
Done. Good luck, Dave.
Done and done.
I created a tinyurl for people who want to pass the link around easier:
http://tinyurl.com/VoteDave
Happy to vote for you Dave
Voted, and posted a blurb on my site for you……
If my vote helps you dedicate more time to writing, I am happy to vote for you.
Vote
David Cameron 08!
Voted, LJ’d, and facebooked. Question though: are they seriously using an anonymous internet poll to decide this $10K scholarship? Seems ripe for fraud…hopefully it’s just one factor or something? Or maybe hopefully not, since you’re leading by a good margin!
Just seems silly to put that much money in the fate of teh intarwebs.
42% of the votes when I voted. I think it was 275 votes and the next closes person had 182. Good luck!
The “next closest person” blogs on the site that handles all of MIT’s admissions – needless to say, their traffic beats the crap out of ours. It’s M.I.T. after all.
The 182 guy is up to 196 now, but our Dave is up from 275 to 355! Yowza!
(and yes, I voted, on Tuesday for B.O., and just now for Dave
)
Voted, but commenting won’t work for me right now. I assume well written comments may help, so it’s probably to his advantage that I couldn’t comment…
I was all about nice things to say about his great work on this site, but probably would have blown it.
Voted. Best of luck!
I’ve done my good deed of the day. I bet there are more USS Mariner supporters than MIT brown-nosers!
Done. Good Luck!
You’ve got my vote. How long is the voting open for?
Done. Best of luck, Dave…paint NC Mariner blue!
Voted; right now you have 51% of the vote.
I voted.
534 for Dave so far. And a HUGE lead.
And since my last post, the count has gone up to 560. I think you have it in the bag, Dave.
You got my vote…good luck…this is a great site..us M’s fans are lucky…
583 and looking good, Dave. To echo Goob, do you know for how long is the voting open?
Good luck and keep us posted.
Voting is through November 20th – 2 weeks to victory.
615
Allons y!
Good luck Dave.
Just voted, good luck
It’s a good thing the Ohio State blog isn’t about football…
Chalk up another east-sider vote for Dave.
As somebody who lives just down the street from the Snively guy…I voted for Dave.
not to invoke the enthusiastic old days of voting in Chicago but can you vote more than once? can they tell? not that I would, mind you….
Side note: I enjoyed the back page article in SI this week, Dave.
Voted and posted at Beyond the Boxscore. Good luck Dave!
i saw this posted on another blog for another author – so we need to keep up this good work for Dave’s Dismal Science Degree.
Congrats, Dave.
Voted. Let’s keep this up!
We’re up to 882. Keep on voting people!
You deserve it Dave.
Voted, you do amazing work here.
Also, the fact you can get scholarships for excellence in blogging is pretty rad.
915!
I think we can definitely put Dave over the top…..it just means all of us have to be vigilant, and make sure we keep putting the word out and reminding people.
I’ve put out the word with about 2,000 people on my site, and have spread the word through my personal network. I’ve also hit up every single Seattle sports affiliate I can think of, asking them for their support and to spread the word.
Digg it!!!!
Up to 927 with a massive lead.
Done – 957 with a 600+ lead.
Feel the power that is USSM!!!!
Pushing a thousand, triple the next person. Almost seems unfair! (Except it’s not).
While on the subject of spreading the word about USS Mariner, when is someone (hopefully who has some sway here) going to make the official USSM Facebook group?
Voted and sent it around to my baseball friends. You guys deserve it. Good luck!
Hmm…wonder how many electoral votes that translates into?
Dave is pushing on towards 1100 now – the next closest person is still under 350. Go Dave – you really deserve it!
Dave, I’m a musician, my rent is paid by self-promotion. Go get ‘em buddy! We’ve got your back.
Voted.
Thanks Dave for posting this. I’m happy to have another way to give back to you guys. Good luck!
We are getting a lot of folks who don’t normally read this site so to clarify, it is Dave Cameron they should be voting for. Maybe you could put that in the main entry Dave.
For what it is worth, you have my vote. I have never been in much of a position to support this site financially and I’m glad I can contribute in this way now. You guys have done so much to educate me on baseball over the years. Baseball isn’t life but it is nice to be informed about the team I love.
Thank you.
If I could vote multiple times (ala the old all star system) it would not be enough to accomodate the pure enjoyment and stimulation you have provided me at USSM, (and Fangraphs, through the years. I have little impact on peoples lives (to influence the to vote) being a disabled cancer patient. Bur I can certainly pray that you receive this well deserved honor, and monetary support for your eduation.
If you lose this competition, I am personally going to investigate on a potential claim for voter fraud. Holla D-money.
Also, I would make the facebook group and obviously hand the reins over to dave and crew, except im scared to death the would sue me! So this is my intitial statement that prevents them from suing me if a group isnt made within the day!
Voted. Looks like you’re running away with it.
Jeez it’s a land slide man. Everyone has a small little bar except you, with the huge one. I feel kind of bad for everyone else…
Looks like it’s going quite well so far but we can’t get complacent! Heh. I voted and posted it on Facebook but I’m also sending the link around some more…
That’s quite the commanding lead thus far.
Hee heh heh heh ha!
#1410. If you win by one vote I demand full credit.
hmm. I see that according to one “CRA”, there are just 100 of us sheep here at USSM, so obviously some of you have beaten the system and voted more than once. fie on you.
A landslide. You’ve earned it guys! Thanks for all the hard work.
enjoy your ten grand Dave. You’re running away with it and you’ve earned it.
I voted. Thanks for the great blog guys.
I was vote #1603.
Go Get ‘em Dave.
Hey, guys, don’t get cocky — the other folks have most of two weeks to catch up. Let’s keep pushing this thing.
Done. Up to 1638
There is absolutely no chance David Cameron can’t win this with the power of the Mariners Blogosphere behind him, not that he doesn’t deserve it anyway. I voted for you, but how are we sure this isn’t a violation of the rules in some way? I mean… there is absolutely no way any of them can beat David. I would hate to see our votes discounted in any way. Even with the shameless-self promotion, I feel completely justified that David should win this award. Excellence in blogging is an extreme understatement, when it comes to his work.
Thought experiment:
If Dave were to win 10K, and if that was the only payout he received for running USSM, and you subtracted the money he has personally invested in USSM, what to do you think it would come out on an hourly basis?
I have no idea how long USSM has been open for business. Let’s say five years, to be conservative. If Dave spent 8 hours (20% of a workweek) per week on USSM (also sounds conservative), 50 weeks a year, for the last five years, that’s 2000 hours. The $10k scholarship would come out to…$5/hour.
Done, although one of your competitors (Shanan Glandz I believe) is WAY hotter.
Sal–
You’re low on hours.
landslide! Dude, your so gonna win. Just got married, has one of the coolest blogging sites, and is going to college. What a life!
Don’t forget us when you’re rich and famous.
Am I the only one who thinks Shanan Glandz sounds like a porn name? Probably. Anyway, you got my vote.
Dude, your dominating this. I think everyone who votes should get a buck.
Should read *you’re*. Wow, that was dumb.
I was vote 1860. Next highest was 483.
theres some real class over there at MIT……
Not one mention of cheating here, no one suggesting anything of the sort. I’ve sent emails to every Seattle media outlet asking them to spread the word, posted on my site and a few others, and asked several of my fellow techies to post links on their sites.
Geoff put something up for you too Dave….
“There’s no way they can get that many votes from a baseball blog”?
Really? Someone actually said that?
Truly amazing ignorance of the sports blogosphere, there.
Over 2000 votes. Almost up to a 1994 Kingdome game…
Speaking as one more member of the all-important lurker demographic, you’ve got my vote.
I voted for you. Good luck. I hope you win.
The great minds of MIT can spur breakthroughs such as artificial skin but they can’t wrap their brains around the notion that a blog associated with their admissions might get out voted fairly in a web poll.
Anyway, you’d think they would identify with pencil-necked geeks who can’t pull their noses out of a spreadsheet long enough to actually watch a game. Heck, supporters of Snively ought to be conflicted if anything,,,,,,,
BTW, I voted for Dave but mostly because I wanted to vote for a winner. There is a really intriguing recipe for chocolate pumpkin cups on Pamela Aghababian’s blog, Cave Cibum that at least made me pause a sec before voting.
You’re low on hours.
Natch. I was trying to be conservative and still come up with a ridiculously low hourly rate.
~#2154.
It says something about how good Dave is that I and many others check USSMariner (a blog that follows a 100-loss team) on a weekend in the dead time between the World Series and the Winter Meetings.
And if you notice, Dave isn’t exactly doing self-promotion. He’s just trying to get the vote out, and he never told you who to vote for.
That guy hasn’t seen Blarch Badness. If we were cheating Dave would get 20,000 votes every hour.
2275. More than a Marlins game.
those are some interesting blogs in the running.
oh, and for any one visiting, welcome, look around at older posts, and please note that any jokes I’ve made about multiple voting were indeed jokes– it is pretty well established here that I would have neither the expertise nor the technical ability to work out how to do such a thing– even if I were so inclined.
I just spent a few moments on some of the competing blogs so you don’t have to. Michael Snively is an MIT college kid, who has a supporter who labelled Dave a narcissist.?!
Mr. Snively seems like a typical kid, who writes a blog about himself, up to and including a photo of himself in his Halloween costume. There is nothing in his blog that isn’t about Mr. Snively. Is my definition of narcissist up to date?
Already voted for Dave, in appreciation for his fine efforts (on a topic not himself); so did not attempt to vote again. Although I could have.
Call me old fashioned, and 1 of a 100 sheep.
Effort, work, thought. Value.
Done. I also talked my wife into voting.
That CRA guy really gets my goat though
I voted for Dave, and after reading some of the other blogs, I have no regret. Dave’s writing trumps theirs, in my opinion. That being said, an internet poll is a weird way to give out 10 large.
I tend to agree that this is a bit of an odd way to determine a college scholarship, but you have my vote in any case.
Geez, the standards at MIT must have REALLY fallen low, because the MIT geeks I knew when I was a student would have spent hours discussing baseball stats and Bill James….
How long is the poll open Dave?
“Voting will be closed on November 20th, 2008 at 11:59pm PST”
You stay classy, MIT! They’re surprised that a baseball blog is generating this much votes? Clearly the underestimate the power of the sports blogosphere.
Oh, and kudos to Geoff Baker for his GOTV efforts.
Got my vote. That’s quite the commanding lead! (Or is it “commando?”)
One more vote for the home team…
I don’t think we’re gonna need Nate Silver to study trends for this election…
although I love his graphs and charts
Even if I disagree with half of what’s on it, this is still the best blog on the internet. Proud to vote Cameron in ‘08!
Oooh, careful….one of Dave’s competitors has gotten a plug from PZ Myers, who is notorious for swamping online polls like this…
They think we’re cheating? We could show them cheating. How many votes do you want Dave? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? [Dr Evil voice] One million!?
Seriously, the funny thing about that is that this is probably one of the worst times in the past 5 years to be drumming up interest in anything via a post on USSM. It’s certainly one of the deadest parts of the year (any year). Imagine if this was mid-season when the M’s were locked in a tight race for the division lead, or just before the draft, or just before the July trade deadline? Or, heck, any time in the spring after a long dead winter when hope is still in the air and Felix is pitching consistent near-no-nos and the game threads are topping 300 posts?
or in recent years at trade-times …
Dave, I was just noticing there is no mention of you or the scholarship over at fanGraphs, you could probably get a pretty significant bump in votes by at least mentioning it and /or linking to this thread here.
Voted!
One concern, the Thomas Peters votes are coming in fast and furious, which is odd since the post on his site has only 19 comments and no links. It’s a pretty consistent single vote every 30 or so seconds. Hmm….
His blog is dedicated to catholics…..so they outnumber us about a gazillion to one….and they all are voting out of guilt over something (I’m Catholic, so I can make those jokes).
I looked at several of the other candidates’ blogs — not all of them, but the ones that I was seeing didn’t make me want to look at any more. Some of them may have had interesting content, but if a blog is going to have a totally non-descriptive name, then its front page darn well better tell the reader what the blog or the articles are about. Only one of the ones that I looked at did even a halfway decent job of providing that service for the reader.
In contrast, if the name USSMariner isn’t enough, the second line at the top of this page tells you exactly what this blog is about.
Anyway, I was inclined to vote for Dave anyway (because I do read this site almost daily, and never even heard of most of the other sites). But the bit of looking that I did convinced me even more of my vote.
But: beware of those MIT students, especially if they suspect ballot box-stuffing. They already won an even higher-stakes internet election via ballot-stuffing bots, the infamous Doonesbury election.
http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2006/05/31/mit-hackes-doonesbury-college-poll-to-get-win/
or
http://tinyurl.com/5obzg9
BS in Econ – go with your bad self Dave. If you ever want to chat with a fellow BSer about game theory (or crib some OLD micro notes), just let me know.
Dave, you have an army behind you!
And even if your blog isn’t the best WE think it is!
Keep up the good word people. There’s a long way to go in the poll.
noticed that too… but it’s okay. i’ll get you another couple thousand votes before the poll closes. got my college football recruiting family.
Dave went from 44% down to 33%, but still has a lead of 1,676 votes. I think we should keep this post up at the top of the page. We still have 10 long days to go!
While I don’t always agree and am often pissed at some of the comments, you guys are the best in the biz. +1
I gave you a vote, keep up the great Mariners work
Just noticed a nice plug from Neyer on ESPN.com, that should help keep the votes rolling in.
I voted for you, Dave. Good luck!
(deleted, political)