On hockey jerseys, and why the Missouri Mavericks should change theirs

This past Friday I checked out the new minor league hockey team near Kansas City, the Missouri Mavericks. It was a good game, with a lively crowd, lots of goals and fights, making for an entertaining evening.

It was nice to see hockey back in Kansas City, which has been without a professional hockey team since the lame Outlaws voluntarily folded a few years ago. Before that, KC enjoyed the IHL's Blades, which folded in 1999. And it was years prior to the Blades 1990 debut that KC had the short-lived Scouts, which by way of Denver, became the successful New Jersey Devils.

The Mavericks game was fun, but the jersey and mascot were lame. The main attraction on the powder blue and orange/gold? jersey is a cartoonish horse brandishing a hockey stick. It's been played out, and some folks have observed its resemblance to the logos of the Kentucky Thoroughblades and the hated Denver Broncos.

(UPDATE: It may interest some readers that the inaugural Thoroughblades team was actually the last Blades team. They pretty much picked up and moved to Kentucky.)











My biggest problem, I think, is that the Missouri Mavericks name has no real tie to Missouri, Kansas City or the town the team plays in, Independence. Not that I can say the Chiefs, Royals (though the name hearkens to the old Monarchs of the Negro Leagues), Blades, Outlaws or myriad other teams that have called Kansas City home have either (though the Scouts and perennial ABA start-up Stars do.)

So I've taken it upon myself to start an Internet campaign to change the name of the Missouri Mavericks hockey team to something like the a) Missouri 33s, b) Independence 33s, or c) Independence Independents (Go Indies!).

33s? you ask...Well, Independence is the hometown of our 33rd president, Harry S. Truman. Why not honor the man who has given the town so much? It's a cool name and could make a cool jersey, as evidenced (or not) by my below attempts at Photoshop.

The Independents name is just fun to say.

But all the jerseys I've attempted to design have one thing in common: A red, white and blue scheme that is in tune with the flags of Missouri, Kansas City and the United States. Both names - 33s and Independents - have an air of Americana in them. "33" honors a revered leader. "Independents," like Mavericks (only cooler), refers to the pioneering spirit that helped found the Kansas City area.

So this is it! A grassroots campaign to kill Mav the Maverick (may he join Chilly the Chipmunk in mascot heaven), and to bring on a relevant name for our local hockey team. Plus, it would give Steve Bell a cooler name to say when the team scores. (SIGN THE PETITION!)

Below are what I envision being, in order, the home and away jerseys of the 33s - the away jerseys would resemble the Rangers' uniforms (again, limited Photoshop skills here); and two away jerseys for the Independents, aka the Indies.

"Digg"ing in at the Daily Herald

Proving once again my mind is filled with brilliant ideas that I will most likely never produce, the Daily Herald uses a unique reader comment feature, which I've always thought would be a fantastic addition to news sites.

Like Digg and Windy Citizen, the Daily Herald allows readers to up-vote or down-vote reader comments. If enough people down-vote a comment, it disappears from from view, though you can read it by clicking a links that says "show".

It's a good way to eliminate (or attempt to, at least) the drivel that populates so many reader comment boards. On the other hand, it can stifle the true nature of the conversations that take place there.

I wonder how many news sites have similar features. I think it's a smart move.

Who is behind ChicagoTribunal.com?

I often search Google for stories similar to ones I’ve written to see who else is talking about them. Recently, local reporters have been talking about whether or not the city is planning on closing any of its mental health centers.

The Chicago Tribune has written a number of stories, several of which took place at town hall meetings with Mayor Daley.

I expected to see them on ChicagoTribune.com. I did not expect to see those mental health stories – indeed, all of the Chicago Tribune’s stories – on ChicagoTribunal.com.

Chicago Tribunal? It looks a lot like the Trib’s pre-redesign site, and the logo uses the same old(e) English font as the Trib. But it’s not the Tribune. It’s merely a regurgitation of Trib stories on a copycat site.

So who’s behind it? Tough question.

I typed in www.chicagotribunal.com into the form at the powerful domain search engine WhoIs.net.

I didn’t tell me who the operator was, as it does with many sites. Instead it gave me an address and a phone number.

And when I typed the phone number into the White Pages’ reverse directory, it came up one Adriano Galliani, who shared the same address as the WhoIs listing. It also listed a business, AC Milan Online Shop. Galliani, Google tells me, owns AC Milan, the stories Italian soccer club.

But why would a rich Italian sportsman own a copycat Web site? It makes no sense.

Turns out the address, 8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Westchester, Calif, is occupied by WhoIs, and it allows Web site domain owners to hide their real addresses.

WhoIs tells readers to check out ChicagoTrbunal.com’s listing on AboutUs.Org, which tells us it is a Chicago news site, with related sites including ChicagoTribune.com and ChicagoBreakingNews.com, both Trib properties. Its Alexa rankings don’t even register.

A Free Republic article from 2004 shows these elusive domains are quite common, and some of them are hidden by their Web hosts. There is some concern that these sites might be run by terrorist cells. In fact, the Free Republic story notes that one Web host, HostingAnime, lists the Sepulveda address as its home base. But building managers said it is not actually located there.

Should the Trib be worried about this copycat? Probably not. Unlike some aggregators, it has a miniscule audience and next to no outreach, meaning its only readers are probably like me, coming across it unwittingly.

But I wonder if the site will last after TribCo finds out about it. It seems like there would be a case for misrepresentation and unfair use of content. But I’m no lawyer.

By the way, AboutUs recommends a number of URLs which have yet to be purchased. Maybe I’ll gobble up ChicagoTribunet.com or ChicagoTribunen.com. I may just be the next shady dot com media mogul

Does anyone know how or why these sites operate? Chicago Tribunal has no advertising, so what’s the point? Color me intrigued.

In praise of copy editors

Ah, copy editors. The unheralded saviors of newsrooms everywhere. It's too bad they are casualties of the faltering news business, in addition to reporters. Doh.

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In which I take credit for breaking the StreetWise story on Twitter

Not that it matters, but it was interesting to watch the development of stories about the potential demise of "StreetWise," a paper peddled by homeless Chicagoans.

And I submit that I was the first to say anything about it. Again, not that it matters.

I had a news release from Ald. Manny Flores this morning, discussing his plan to hold City Council hearings about StreetWise, which has suffered from the shoddy economy.

Soon after I read the release, I posted a note on Twitter:



















Shortly after that, a few people retweeted the note. And then the media got a hold of it. In fact, the story in on the front page of chicagotribune.com right now.

So this is the "who cares?" moment.

Nobody cares that I was the first to say anything, and they shouldn't. It's just kind of cool to know you're ahead of the curve, and that you were a catalyst in something that everyone's talking about.

I do hope that StreetWise finds the help it needs. It's vendors are part of the patchwork that makes up Chicago. Some are pushy, some are surly, but the best ones - the creative ones - leave an impression and make you want to buy that paper.

In which I talk beat blogging

Pat Thornton of BeatBlogging.org interviewed me about my new Chi-Town Daily News blog, Chicago Health Matters. We spoke on Friday about why we started the blog - it's what you need to do in an online world - and how we hope to enhance our coverage of public health in Chicago (more reader interaction equals more discussion equals story ideas and maybe sources).

I talked to Pat last year about Schoolhouse Talk, the education beat blog I kept at the Journal-World.

Listen to the interview HERE (or you can read about it, too).