prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: When did KSTP switch to a sports radio format?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 1: KSTP (1500 AM; SKOR North) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota  It is the flagship AM radio station of Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns several other television and radio stations across the United States   KSTP has a sports radio format and is the ESPN Radio Network affiliate for Minneapolis-St  Paul   The radio studios are  on University Avenue in Minneapolis, shared with sister stations KSTP-FM, KSTP-TV, KTMY, and KSTC-TV  On weekdays, KSTP airs local sports shows from 9 a m  to 9 p m  and carries ESPN programming weekday mornings, late nights and weekends  Some KSTP shows are simulcast on other sports radio stations in the region 

KSTP runs the maximum power for AM stations, 50,000 watts   It shares clear-channel, Class A status on 1500 AM with WFED in Washington, D C   KSTP broadcasts a directional signal at night, using a three-tower array, with its transmitter on U S  Route 61 at Beam Avenue in Maplewood   Programming is also heard on 250 watt FM translator K235BP at 94 9 MHz in Bemidji 

History

WAMD and KFOY
KSTP's start in 1928 was the product of a merger between two pioneering Twin Cities stations: WAMD ("Where All Minneapolis Dances") in Minneapolis, first licensed on February 16, 1925 to Stanley E  Hubbard, and KFOY in St  Paul, first licensed on March 12, 1924 to the Beacon Radio Service in St  Paul 

Following a few test transmissions, WAMD made its formal debut broadcast on February 22, 1925  (In later interviews Stanley Hubbard traced WAMD's start to April 1924 ) It was located at the Marigold Dance Garden, and featured nightly "Midnight Frolics" broadcasts by the ballroom's orchestra  It is claimed that WAMD was the first radio station to be completely supported by running paid advertisements  Effective June 15, 1927, WAMD was assigned to 1330 kHz 

On November 11, 1927 WAMD's transmitter site at Oxboro Heath on Lyndale Avenue South burned down, two weeks after the station had been sold to the National Battery Company  An initial arrangement was made to carry WAMD's programs over WRHM (now WWTC), transmitting on WAMD's 1330 kHz frequency  Beginning on November 24, 1927 the WAMD broadcasts, still on 1330 kHz, were shifted to KFOY's facility in St  Paul  (At this time KFOY was assigned to 1050 kHz)  The next day it was announced that National Battery had purchased KFOY, and as of December 1, 1927 both KFOY and WAMD were reassigned to 1350 kHz  WAMD continued making regular broadcasts until the end of March 1928, while KFOY, although it continued to be licensed for a few more months on a time-sharing basis with WAMD, ceased operations at this point 

National Battery Company
In mid-December 1927, the National Battery Company announced it had received permission from the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) to build a new station, with the call letters KSTP, operating from a transmitter site to be constructed three miles south of Wescott  The next month it was reported that the new station, still under construction, had been assigned to 1360 kHz  KSTP made its debut broadcast on March 29, 1928  Although technically it was a separate station from WAMD and KFOY, both of which were formally deleted on April 30, 1928, overall KSTP was treated as the direct successor to a consolidated WAMD and KFOY 

Hubbard became the merged station's general manager, acquiring controlling interest in 1941  A month after the merger, KSTP became an affiliate for the NBC Red Network   It remained with NBC for 46 years  On November 11, 1928, under the provisions of the FRC's General Order 40, KSTP was assigned to a "high-powered regional" frequency of 1460 kHz  The only other station assigned to this frequency was WTFF in Mount Vernon Hills, Virginia (later WJSV, now WFED, Washington, D C )  On February 7, 1933, the FRC authorized KSTP to increase its daytime power to 25 KW  In 1938 and 1939 KSTP also operated a high-fidelity AM "experimental audio broadcasting station" Apex station, W9XUP, originally on 25,950 kHz and later on 26,150 kHz  In 1941, as part of the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, KSTP was assigned to its current "clear channel" frequency of 1500 kHz, with the provision that it and WJSV, as "Class I-B" stations, had to maintain directional antennas at night in order to mutually protect each other from interference  An FM station, KSTP-FM, was founded in 1946 but shut down in 1952 

Hubbard reportedly acquired an RCA TV camera in 1939, and started experimenting with television broadcasts   But World War II put a hold on the development of television   In 1948, with the war over, KSTP-TV became the first television station in Minnesota   With KSTP 1500 already associated with NBC Radio, KSTP-TV became an NBC Television Network affiliate   From 1946 to 1952, KSTP also had an FM counterpart   KSTP-FM 102 1 was only on the air four years   There were few radios equipped to receive FM signals in that era, and management decided to discontinue FM broadcasts 

MOR and Top 40
As network programming moved from radio to television, KSTP programmed a full service Middle of the Road (MOR) radio format, in the shadow of its chief competitor, CBS Radio affiliate 830 WCCO  In 1965, a new FM station, reviving the KSTP-FM call sign, was put on the air, largely simulcasting the AM station   But by the late 1960s, KSTP-FM began a separate format of beautiful music   KSTP was the radio home of the Minnesota Vikings football team from 1970 to 1975  

In 1973, KSTP broke away from its longtime adult MOR sound and became one of four area stations at the time to program a Top 40 format  "15 KSTP, The Music Station" competed with Top 40 AM rivals WDGY, KDWB and later, WYOO  The competition would eventually shake itself out, with outrageous rocker WYOO dropping out after being sold in 1976, and then the staid WDGY switching to country music the following year   As for uptempo hits station 15 KSTP, it went from a tight Top 40 format to leaning adult rock in 1978, to leaning adult contemporary in 1979, to evolving into adult contemporary/talk by 1980   In 1982, it officially shifted to talk   Most Top 40 rock music, by this time, had moved to the FM band 

Past Personalities

Notable hosts who have been on KSTP include John Hines, Jesse Ventura, Larry Carolla, Tom Barnard, Big Al Davis, Don Vogel, John MacDougall, Griff, Mike Edwards, Geoff Charles, Joe Soucheray, James Lileks, Leigh Kamman, Barbara Carlson, Peter Thiele, Tom Mischke, Jason Lewis, Chuck Knapp, Machine Gun Kelly, Charle Bush, Mark O'Connell and Paul Brand  These broadcasters were supported by producers such as Bruce Huff, Rob Pendleton, Alison Brown, Jean Bjorgen, David Elvin (who Vogel dubbed the "Steven Spielberg of Talk Radio"), Mitch Berg and others 

The station has, for the most part, emphasized local hosts over the years   But in 1988, KSTP was one of Rush Limbaugh's first affiliates when his conservative talk show was rolled out for national syndication   (Clear Channel-owned KTLK-FM took over rights to Limbaugh's show in January 2006)  Other syndicated hosts previously heard on KSTP include Sean Hannity, Bruce Williams, Larry King, and Owen Spann 

Sports Radio
KSTP switched to Sports Radio on February 15, 2010   As the station had to wait for ESPN's contract with rival KFAN and its sister station KFXN to expire, it did not become an ESPN Radio affiliate until April 12, the same day that the Minnesota Twins were scheduled to play the first game in their new ball park, Target Field, against the Boston Red Sox   As a result Coast to Coast AM and Live on Sunday Night, it's Bill Cunningham were retained during this period   One ESPN Radio network program, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, was picked up by KSTP immediately following the format change 

In 2018, the station was approved for an FM translator on 94 1 FM, broadcasting from a transmitter atop the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis  The two-watt signal threw most of its power to the west, preventing interference to low powered FM stations on the same channel including WFNU-LP in St  Paul  With only two watts of power, however, the signal was limited to the immediate downtown area surrounding the IDS Center   It later acquired a 250 watt translator, K235BP at 94 9 MHz   The original translator was discontinued 

On January 15, 2019, KSTP rebranded as "SKOR North" (a reference to the Vikings team song/chant, "Skol, Vikings"), with local programming between 12 noon and 7 pm  About a year later, in May of 2020, KSTP suspended most of its local programming and laid off nearly all of its local staff  Station management cited the economic toll of the coronavirus for the changes  Sports broadcasting continues, primarily composed of ESPN radio network broadcasts 

Sports Teams

KSTP-AM served as the radio flagship for the Minnesota Vikings football team from 1970 to 1975 

On August 1, 2006, the station announced that it would be the new flagship station for the Minnesota Twins baseball team, effective with the start of the 2007 season  The Twins had been on rival WCCO since arriving in Minnesota in 1961   KSTP served as the flagship for the Twins until the end of the 2012 season, when games moved to 96 3 KTWN-FM (now KMWA)   The Twins have since returned to WCCO 830 

The switch to a fairly weak FM station caused dissent among some listeners, particularly in communities that had trouble picking up KSTP 1500   Although KSTP is the state's second most powerful AM station, it must operate directionally at night, delivering a reduced signal to parts of the market  WCCO, by comparison, offers a signal with a wider coverage area during the day than KSTP does, with WCCO's non-directional 50,000 watt signal  In response, the Twins have expanded the number of affiliates 

On March 9, 2011, KSTP announced it would be the new flagship for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers men's and women's basketball and men's ice hockey, ending a 68-year run on WCCO  The rights have since moved to KFXN-FM, which already aired Gopher football 

On March 2, 2017, KSTP announced it would be the first radio broadcaster for Minnesota United FC   The move brings live soccer action to 1500 AM 

Previous logos

References

External links
KSTP website

FCC History Cards for KSTP (covering 1928-1980)
Radiotapes com Historic Minneapolis/St  Paul airchecks dating back to 1924 including KSTP and other Twin Cities radio stations 
Rick Burnett's TwinCitiesRadioAirchecks com has additional airchecks of KSTP and other Twin Cities radio stations from the '60s and '70s, including Chuck Knapp's 2nd show on KSTP 

Hubbard Broadcasting
ESPN Radio stations
Peabody Award winners
Radio stations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Radio stations established in 1925
1925 establishments in Minnesota
Minnesota Kicks
Sports radio stations in the United States
Clear-channel radio stations
Context 2: Xpp-pdf support utility
Xpp-pdf support utility
PATENT, TRADEMARK
& COPYRIGHT !
Reproduced with permission from BNA’s Patent,Trademark 11/20/09, 11/20/2009  Copyright ஽ 2009 by The Bu-reau of National Affairs, Inc  (800-372-1033) http://www bna com As the patent community anticipates a decision by the U S  Supreme Court on subject matter patentability, recent rulings by the Federal Circuit and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences suggest strategies for preparing method patent applications that will sur- vive the Federal Circuit’s ‘‘machine-or-transformation’’ test 
The Changing Landscape of Method Claims in the Wake of In re Bilski:What We Can Learn from Recent Decisions of Federal Courts and the Board ofPatent Appeals rulings on software-based and other business methodpatent applications 
On review before the high court is the en banc ruling ‘‘Pure’’ business methods are out  Algorithms by the U S  Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit1 are out  Machines and data transformations that, in order to be eligible for patent protection, an in- ventive method must either be tied to a machine or re- While the patent community waits for the Supreme cite a transformation of an article 2 This ‘‘machine-or- Court’s decision in Bilski v  Kappos, No  08-964 (U S 
transformation’’ test replaced the Freeman-Walter- argued Nov  9, 2009) (79 PTCJ 33, 11/13/09), patent ap- Abele3 test and the ‘‘useful, concrete and tangible plicants seeking to write patentable claims are stuckwith trying to conform to the lower courts’ most recent 1 In re Bilski, 545 F 3d 943, 88 USPQ2d 1385 (Fed  Cir 
2008) (en banc) (77 PTCJ 4, 11/7/08) 
2 ‘‘The machine-or-transformation test is a two-branched Adriana Suringa Luedke and Bridget M  Hay- inquiry; an applicant may show that a process claim satisfies den are lawyers at Dorsey & Whitney, Min- § 101 either by showing that his claim is tied to a particular neapolis  Luedke can be reached at machine, or by showing that his claim transforms an article ’’ leudke adriana@dorsey com  Hayden can be reached at hayden bridget@dorsey com  3 In re Freeman, 573 F 2d 1237, 197 USPQ 464 (C C P A 
1978); In re Walter, 618 F 2d 758, 205 USPQ 397 (C C P A 
COPYRIGHT ஽ 2009 BY THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, INC 
result’’ inquiry advocated in State Street,4 each of gregating, and selling real estate property and claims which had been applied by the Federal Circuit and its reciting a method of performing tax-deferred real estate predecessor court in various cases, and both of which property exchanges were not statutory under Section 101  Since no machine was recited, the only issue be- In this article, we examine the 2008 decision of the fore the court was whether the claims met the ‘‘trans- Federal Circuit, federal district court decisions, and de- formation’’ prong of the Bilski test 13 The court held cisions of Patent and Trademark Office’s Board of that the claims ‘‘involve[d] only the transformation or Patent Appeals and Interferences  Based upon the out- manipulation of legal obligations and relationships’’ comes in these cases, we offer guidance as to what is that did not qualify under Bilski 14 patent-eligible under 35 U S C  § 101, strategies for pre- Concerning the recitation of the ‘‘creation of deed- senting methods in patent applications and claiming shares’’ in some of the claims, the court found that the these methods, and possible ‘‘fixes’’ for applications deedshares themselves were not physical objects, but drafted pre-Bilski that must now withstand scrutiny un- only represented intangible legal ownership interests in der the new machine-or-transformation test 
property 15 Therefore, the creation of deedshares wasnot sufficient to establish patent eligibility under Bil- A number of recent federal court and board decisions have applied the patent eligibility test set forth in Bilski, implemented step to an otherwise obvious method was not sufficient to avoid invalidity of the claim  In KingPharmeuticals Inc  v  Eon Labs Inc ,17 the district court held invalid claims to a method of increasing the oral Several cases have addressed (and rejected) claims bioavailability of metaxalone because the claims were obvious over the prior art asserted by the accused in- In In re Ferguson,6 the Federal Circuit reviewed the board’s rejection of claims directed to a method of mar- Two dependent claims added a step of informing the keting a product and a ‘‘paradigm’’ for marketing soft- patient of certain results, which the patentee argued ware as nonstatutory subject matter under Section was not obvious  The court rejected this argument, con- 101 7 The appellate court affirmed the board’s rejection, cluding that ‘‘[b]ecause the food effect is an inherent concluding that the method claims were neither tied to property of the prior art and, therefore, unpatentable, a particular machine or apparatus nor did they trans- then informing a patient of that inherent property is form a particular article into a different state or thing 8 The court defined a machine broadly as ‘‘a concrete The court also commented that the added step of in- thing, consisting of parts, or of certain devices or com- forming the patient did not meet the patent eligibility binations of devices,’’ which did not include the ‘‘shared standard set forth in Bilski because the step did not re- marketing force’’ to which the method claims were quire use of a machine or transform the metaxalone into a different state or thing 19 Notably, this conclusion The claims directed to a ‘‘paradigm’’ were non- runs counter to the Supreme Court’s instruction that statutory because the claims did not fall within any of claims are to be examined ‘‘as a whole’’ and not dis- the four statutory categories (machines, manufactures, sected into old and new elements and that are evaluated compositions of matter and processes)  Concerning the two closest possible categories, the court concluded Recent board decisions have been consistent with the that the claimed paradigm was not a process, because holdings of the federal courts  For example, in Ex parte no act or series of acts was required, and was not a Roberts,21 the board found ineligible under Section 101 manufacture, because it was not a tangible article re- a ‘‘method of creating a real estate investment instru- sulting from a process of manufacture 10 Concerning ment adapted for performing tax-deferred exchanges’’ the recitation of a ‘‘marketing company’’ in the para- because the claim did not satisfy either the machine or digm claims, the court concluded that the patent appli- cants did ‘‘no more than provide an abstract idea—a Similarly, in Ex parte Haworth,23 a method for ‘‘at- business model for an intangible marketing com- tempting to collect payments from customers having delinquent accounts concurrently with a partner that In Fort Properties Inc  v  American Master Lease owns the delinquent accounts’’ was found to be patent LLC,12 the California district court held that claims re- ineligible because the claim wording was ‘‘broad in that citing a series of transactions involving acquiring, ag- 1980); In re Abele, 684 F 2d 902, 214 USPQ 682 (C C P A 
4 State Street Bank & Trust Co  v  Signature Financial 16 See Ex parte Roberts , 2009-004444 at 4-5 (B P A I  June Group, 149 F 3d 1368, 1370, 47 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed  Cir  1998) 19, 2009) (holding a ‘‘method of creating a real estate invest- ment instrument adapted for performing tax-deferred ex- changes’’ patent ineligible as not passing the machine-or- 7 The court accepted the board’s definition of ‘‘paradigm’’ 17 593 F  Supp 2d 501 (E D N Y  2009) 
to mean ‘‘a pattern, example or model ’’ Id  at 1362 
20 See Diamond v  Diehr, 450 U S  175, 188 (1981) 
21 No  2009-004444 (B P A I  June 19, 2009) 
12 2009 WL 249205, *5 (C D  Cal  Jan  22, 2009) 
23 No  2009-000350 (B P A I  July 30, 2009) 
it refers generally to extending an offer, receiving an machine  Accordingly, the process claims       are not acceptance, and paying a commission’’ and did not in- voke, recite or limit the method of implementation us-ing any particular machine or apparatus 24 The court also evaluated similar claims that recited the use of a ‘‘comparator’’ to perform the recited pixel- B  Software Claims Not Expressly Tied to a ‘Particular by-pixel comparison and held that this recitation also did not mandate a machine 29 While the court acknowl-edged that software was offered as one ‘‘option,’’ the Other cases have addressed software methods where court concluded that the claimed function of the com- the claim language was either not expressly tied to com- parator could also be performed in one’s mind or on pa- puter hardware components or the ties to computer per such that a machine was not required  The court components were somewhat ambiguous  In several further noted that, even though the ‘‘comparator’’ was cases, courts have rejected the recitation of generic defined as a ‘‘device,’’ ‘‘the use of the term ‘device’ is computer components as sufficient to satisfy the ‘‘ma- not synonymous with machine ’’30 As a result, none of chine’’ prong of the Bilski test  A number of these deci- the claims at issue met the ‘‘machine’’ prong of the Bil- sions also addressed the ‘‘transformation’’ prong of the Concerning the ‘‘transformation’’ prong, the court re- In Research Corporation Technology Inc  v  Mi- lied in particular upon the Abele decision in expanding crosoft Corp ,25 the district court considered the patent the requirements of this test by requiring that the eligibility of method claims in six patents directed to claimed transformation process be both ‘‘(1) limited to methods of halftoning of gray scale images by using a transformation of specific data, and 2) limited to a vi- pixel-by-pixel comparison of the image against a blue sual depiction representing specific objects or sub- noise mask  Relying on the Federal Circuit’s Bilski stances ’’31 It then concluded that a number of the analysis as well as a decision of its predecessor court, patent claims did not meet the second prong of this ex- In re Abele,26 the judge concluded that a number of the panded test because the claims did not ‘‘require any vi- sual depiction or subsequent display’’ even though the transformation test set forth in Bilski 27 claimed method did transform specific image data 32 Concerning the ‘‘machine’’ prong, the district court The district court also found other claims patent- found that the pixel-by-pixel comparison recited in the eligible under Section 101 because these claims recited claims did not require the use of a machine, but could the use of the comparison data ‘‘to produce a halftoned ‘‘dictate[d] a transformation of specific data, and [were] be done on a sheet of paper using a pen  The com- further limited to a visual depiction which represents parison uses formulas and numbers to generate a bi- specific objects ’’33 Thus, the patent eligibility of the nary value to determine the placement of a dot at a claims turned on whether the claims recited the use of location  Formulas and numbers not tied to a particu- the transformed data to generate a display 
lar machine cannot be patented, under the machine In DealerTrack Inc  v  Huber,34 the district court prong, even with a field-of-use limitation because granted a summary judgment of invalidity under § 101 they represent fundamental principles, and to do so of patent claims directed to ‘‘a computer aided method’’ would preempt the entire field  The patent claims      
of managing a credit application reciting the following do not mandate the use of a machine to achieve their algorithmic and algebraic ends  Simply because adigital apparatus such as a computer, calculator, or [A] receiving credit application data from a remote the like could assist with this comparison does not render it patent eligible material  RCT’s argument [B] selectively forwarding the credit application data that a pixel by its nature is electronic and therefore to remote funding source terminal devices; necessitates a machine is a post solution argumentand the Court rejects it  The claim construction specifies that the comparison is of a value to a mask 29 The term ‘‘comparator’’ was construed by the court to be (or set of values) to determine whether the dot is a ‘‘device (or collection of operations, as in software) that com- turned on at a specific location  This process does pares an input number (called the operand) to a number pre- not require a particular machine  The Bilski test is stored in the comparator (called the threshold) and produces clear: the process claims must be tied to a particular as output a binary value (such as ‘‘0,’’ zero) if the input is alge-braically less than the threshold [the result of comparing anoperand against a fixed threshold and setting an operand less 24 Id  at 9-10  See also, e g , Ex parte Farnes, 2009-002770 than the threshold to one value and an operand greater than (B P A I  June 2, 2009) (rejecting a method claim for develop- or equal to the threshold to another value], and produces the ing a solution to a customer experience issue including steps opposite binary value (such as ‘‘1,’’ one) if the input is algebra- of: ‘‘identifying a target customer,’’ ‘‘defining a current cus- ically greater than or equal to the threshold ’’ Id  at *17 (em- tomer experience,’’ ‘‘summarizing values and benefits’’ to pro- vide to the customer, and ‘‘identifying metrics for measuring success’’); Ex parte Salinkas, 2009-002768 (B P A I  May 18, 31 Id  at *9  Notably, Bilski concluded that the Abele visual 2009) (finding patent ineligible a method of launching a depiction was ‘‘sufficient’’ to establish transformation (545 knowledge network involving ‘‘selecting an executive spon- F 3d at 963), while the Research Corporation court went fur- sor,’’ ‘‘forming a core team of experts,’’ and ‘‘providing pre- ther by making visual depiction ‘‘required’’ to establish trans- 25 2009 WL 2413623 (D  Ariz  July 28, 2009) (78 PTCJ 432, 26 684 F 2d 902, 214 USPQ 682 (C C P A  1982) 
34 2009 WL 2020761 (C D  Cal  July 7, 2009) (78 PTCJ 341, PATENT, TRADEMARK & COPYRIGHT JOURNAL [C] forwarding funding decision data from at least tation of ‘over the Internet’ suffices to tie a process one of the remote funding source terminal de- claim to a particular machine’’ and concluded that it vices to the remote application entry and display The internet continues to exist despite the addition [D] wherein the selectively forwarding the credit ap- or subtraction of any particular piece of hardware  It may be supposed that the internet itself, rather than [E] sending at least a portion of a credit application any underlying computer or set of computers, is the to more than one of said remote funding sources ‘‘machine’’ to which plaintiff refers  Yet the internet is an abstraction  If every computer user in the world [F] sending at least a portion of a credit application unplugged from the internet, the internet would to more than one of said remote funding sources cease to exist, although every molecule of every ma- sequentially until a finding [sic ] source returns a chine remained in place  One can touch a computer or a network cable, but one cannot touch ‘‘the inter- [G] sending       a credit application       after a prede- Additionally, the court found that the recitation of the [H] sending the credit application from a first remote internet in this case merely constituted ‘‘insignificant funding source to a second remote funding extra-solution activity’’ and therefore did not qualify as a ‘‘particular machine’’ under Bilski 41 ‘‘[T]ossing in In concluding that the claim did not satisfy the Bilski references to internet commerce’’ was not sufficient to machine-or-transformation test, the court held that the render ‘‘a mental process for collecting data and weigh- claimed central processor, remote application and dis- ing values’’ patent-eligible 42 Additionally, ‘‘limiting’’ play device, and remote funding source terminal device the claim to use over the Internet was not a meaningful could be ‘‘any device’’ and did not constitute a ‘‘’par- limitation, such that the claims ‘‘broadly preempt the ticular machine’ within the meaning of Bilski ’’35 The fundamental mental process of fraud detection using court relied upon several board decisions to support its associations between credit cards ’’43 premise that ‘‘claims reciting the use of general purpose processors or computers do not satisfy the test ’’36 claim,44 notwithstanding the Federal Circuit’s holding In Cybersource Corp  v  Retail Decisions Inc ,37 the in In re Beauregard,45 the district court concluded that district court held claims for ‘‘a method for verifying the ‘‘there is at present no legal doctrine creating a special validity of a credit card transaction over the Internet’’ ‘‘Beauregard claim’’ that would exempt the claim from and ‘‘a computer readable medium containing program the analysis of Bilski ’’ Moreover, ‘‘[s]imply appending instructions for detecting fraud in a credit card transac- ‘A computer readable media including program instruc- tion       over the Internet’’ invalid under § 101 based tions’ to an otherwise non-statutory process claim is in- upon the court’s interpretation of Bilski 
sufficient to make it statutory ’’46 Consequently, this Concerning the method claim, the court considered claim also failed the Bilski test 
both the ‘‘transformation’’ and ‘‘machine’’ prongs of the In at least one instance, the U S  International Trade Bilski test  In concluding that there was no transforma- Commission has interpreted the ‘‘machine’’ prong of tion, the court focused on the intangibility of the ma- Bilski less stringently than did the district courts in the nipulated data  According to the court, transformation cases discussed above  In In the Matter of Certain Video is limited to transformation of a physical article or sub- Game Machines and Related Three-Dimensional Point- stance  Accordingly, the method claim did not qualify ing Devices,47 the accused infringer filed a motion for because the data representing credit cards did not rep- summary judgment alleging that the asserted claims resent tangible articles but instead an intangible series impermissibly sought to patent a mathematical algo- of rights and obligations existing between the account rithm  According to the movant, the recitations of a ‘‘3D pointing device,’’ ‘‘handheld device,’’ or ‘‘free space Concerning whether the claimed method was tied to pointing device’’ were not sufficient to tie the claims to a particular machine, the court assessed whether ‘‘reci- a particular machine, but served ‘‘only to limit the field-of-use of the claimed mathematical algorithm and [did] not otherwise impart patentability on the claimed math- Id  at *3  The court relied upon the holdings in Ex parte Gutta, No  2008-3000 at 5-6 (B P A I  Jan  15, 2009) (stating In denying the motion for summary judgment, the ‘‘[t]he recitation in the preamble of ‘[a] computerized method ITC first noted that, ‘‘[w]hile the ultimate determination performed by a data processor’ adds nothing more than a gen- of whether the asserted claims are patentable under eral purpose computer that is associated with the steps of the § 101 is a question of law, the Federal Circuit has ac- process in an unspecified manner ’’); Ex parte Nawathe, No 
2007-3360, 2009 WL 327520, *4 (B P A I  Feb  9, 2009) (finding‘‘the computerized recitation purports to a general purpose processor [], as opposed to a particular computer specifically programmed for executing the steps of the claimed method ’’); and Ex parte Cornea-Hasegan, No  2008-4742 at 9-10 (B P A I 
Jan  13, 2009) (indicating the appellant does not dispute ‘‘the recitation of a processor does not limit the process steps to any 44 Claims having this format are called ‘‘Beauregard’’ specific machine or apparatus ’’)  The court also cited Cyber- claims and were found to not be barred by the traditional source Corp  v  Retail Decisions Inc , (discussed below), in sup- printed matter rule in In re Beauregard, 53 F 3d 1583, 1584, 35 port of its interpretation of the required ‘‘particular machine ’’ 37 620 F  Supp  2d 1068, 92 USPQ2d 1011 (N D  Cal  2009) 47 2009 WL 1070801 (U S I T C  2009) 
knowledged that ‘there may be cases in which the legal given a dataset of feature vectors associated with the question as to patentable subject matter may turn on subsidiary factual issues’ ’’ (citation omitted)  In con- for each binary partition under consideration, rank- struing the claims, the tribunal found that there was a ing features using two-category feature ranking; and genuine dispute as to whether the claimed ‘‘devices’’represented a ‘‘particular machine’’ under the Bilski while the predetermined number of features has not test and whether the claimed ‘‘two-dimensional rota- yet been selected: picking a binary partition p; tional transform’’ was merely a mathematical calcula- selecting a feature based on the ranking for binary tion or instead meant ‘‘changing the mathematical rep- resentation of a two-dimensional quantity from oneframe of reference to a differently-oriented frame of ref- adding the selected feature to an output list if not al- erence’’ as asserted by the patentee  Additionally, the ready present in the output list and removing the se- dispute over the meaning of the claimed ‘‘two- lected feature from further consideration for the bi- dimensional rotational transform’’ also raised a dis- puted issue as to whether this element recited a trans- Notably, while the independent claim failed the formation that would qualify under the ‘‘transforma- machine-or-transformation test, its dependent claim tion’’ prong of Bilski  Given these disputed issues, the was eligible because it recited, ‘‘further comprising us- ITC concluded that it was inappropriate to grant sum- ing the selected features in training a classifier for clas- mary judgment as to the patent eligibility of the claims 
sifying data into categories ’’ In view of the specifica- A similar conclusion was reached in Versata Soft- tion, the board indicated that the ‘‘classifier’’ was a par- ware Inc  v  Sun Microsystems Inc ,48 in which the dis- ticular machine ‘‘in that it performs a particular data trict court denied the defendant’s motion for summary classification function that is beyond mere general pur- judgment of invalidity under Section 101 based upon pose computing ’’53 The board also concluded that the the Bilski court’s refusal ‘‘to adopt a broad exclusion claim ‘‘transforms a particular article into a different over software or any other such category of subject state or thing, namely by transforming an untrained matter beyond the exclusion of claims drawn to funda- classifier into a trained classifier ’’54 In Ex parte Casati,55 the board reversed the examin- Less stringent ‘‘machine’’ prong analyses are also er’s Section 101 rejection of a method claim reciting: found at the board level  For example, in Ex parteSchrader,50 the board held patent-eligible under Bilski A method of analyzing data and making predictions, reading process execution data from logs for a busi- A method for obtaining feedback from consumers re- ceiving an advertisement from an ad provided by anad provider through an interactive channel, the collecting the process execution data and storing the process execution data in a memory defining a ware-house; creating a feedback panel including at least one feed-back response concerning said advertisement; and analyzing the process execution data; generatingprediction models in response to the analyzing; and providing said feedback panel to said consumers, using the prediction models to predict an occurrence said feedback panel being activated by a consumer to of an exception in the business process 
provide said feedback response concerning said ad-vertisement to said ad provider through said interac- In this case, giving consideration to the specification, which ‘‘unequivocally describes the data warehouse aspart of the overall system apparatus, and subsequent Here, the board found ‘‘interactive channel’’ to be descriptions describe the memory/warehouse device in part of an ‘‘overall patent eligible system of appara- terms of machine executable functions,’’ the board con- tuses’’ when viewed in the context of the specification, cluded that ‘‘one of ordinary skill in the art would un- which included ‘‘the Internet and World Wide Web, In- derstand that the claimed storing of process execution teractive Television, and self service devices, such as In- data in a memory defining a warehouse constitutes formation Kiosks and Automated Teller Machines ’’51 patent-eligible subject matter under § 101 because the In another recent decision, Ex parte Forman,52 the memory/warehouse element ties the claims to a particu- board found a ‘‘computer-implemented feature selec- tion method’’ including a ‘‘classifier’’ eligible under Other recent board decisions have reached the oppo- Section 101 because it satisfied both the machine and transformation prong  Here, the ‘‘classifier’’ was recitedin a dependent claim, in which its independent claim re-cited: 53 Id  at 13 
54 Id  See also Ex parte Busche, No  2008-004750 (B P A I 
A computer-implemented feature selection method May 28, 2009) (holding a process claim and a computer pro- for selecting a predetermined number of features for gram product claim, each reciting training a machine, ‘‘are di- a set of binary partitions over a set of categories rected to machines that have such structure as may be adaptedby training ’’) 55 No  2009-005786 (B P A I  July 31, 2009) 
48 2009 WL 1084412, *1 (E D  Tex  March 31, 2009) 
56 Id  at 7  See also Ex parte Dickerson, No  2009-001172 at 49 Citing Bilski, 545 F 3d at 959 n  23 
16 (B P A I  July 9, 2009) (holding claims that ‘‘recite a comput- 50 No  2009-009098 (B P A I  Aug  31, 2009) 
erized method which includes a step of outputting information from a computer       are tied to a particular machine or appa- 52 No  2008-005348 (B P A I  Aug  17, 2009) 
PATENT, TRADEMARK & COPYRIGHT JOURNAL implemented methods ineligible under the Bilski test transformation test applied to this type of claim 63 because the claims failed to tie the method steps to any Then, applying the Bilski test, the board concluded that concrete parts, devices, or combinations of devices  For the claim did not qualify  According to the board, the example, in Ex parte Holtz,57 the board found ineligible under Section 101 a ‘‘method for comparing file tree de-scriptions’’ because the claim ‘‘obtains data (a file struc- does not transform physical subject matter and is not ture), compares data (file structures), generates a tied to a particular machine        Limiting the claims change log, and optimizes the change log without tying to computer readable media does not add any practi- these steps to any concrete parts, devices, or combina- cal limitation to the scope of the claim  Such a field- tions of devices’’ and the ‘‘file structures’’ did not repre- of-use limitation is insufficient to render an other- Similarly, in Ex parte Gutta,58 the board held ineli- gible under § 101 a ‘‘method for identifying one or moremean items for a plurality of items       having a sym- II  The Current Scope of Patent Eligibility bolic value of a symbolic attribute,’’ concluding that the These recent cases establish that some types of meth- claim ‘‘computes a variance and selects a mean item ods are clearly patent-eligible under Section 101, others without tying these steps to any concrete parts, devices, clearly are not eligible, and yet others may be depend- or combinations of devices’’ and ‘‘symbolic values are ing on how they are described and claimed 
neither physical objects nor do they represent physicalobjects ’’ First, the eligibility of system and apparatus claims is largely unaffected by the Bilski decision, with the ca- In contrast to the district court’s decision in Cyber- veat that such claims may be more closely scrutinized source Corp , discussed supra, in a recent board deci- for compliance with Diamond v  Diehr and Gottschalk sion, Ex parte Bodin,59 ‘‘a computer program product’’ v  Benson, which prohibit patenting of a claim directed was found to be patent-eligible subject matter as being to ‘‘laws of nature, natural phenomena, [or] abstract embodied in a ‘‘computer readable medium ’’ Here, the board considered whether the phrase ‘‘recorded on the Also, methods that are performed at least in part by a recording medium’’ as it is recited in the body of the machine qualify for patent eligibility under Section 101 
claims was the same as ‘‘recorded on a computer- Thus, for example, some computer-implemented and readable medium ’’ Acknowledging the differences be- software-related inventions remain patentable as long tween a statutory claim to a data structure stored on a as they are properly described and claimed as being computer readable medium compared to a nonstatutory performed by a computer or computer components 
claim to a data structure that referred to ideas reflected The tie to a machine, however, cannot merely be im- in nonstatutory processes, the board stated: ‘‘[w]hen plicit based upon the description and context of the ap- functional descriptive material is recorded on some plication or general language in the preamble of the computer-readable medium, it becomes structurally claim  Instead, the use of a machine to perform one or and functionally interrelated to the medium and will be more of the claimed functions must be expressly de- statutory in most cases since use of technology permits scribed in the body of the claim so as to be a meaning- the function of the descriptive material to be real- ful limitation on the claim  If a method claim can be read in such a way that all functions can be performed Similarly, in Ex parte Azuma,61 a claim to a ‘‘com- by a human, it will likely not pass the machine prong of puter program product       comprising: a computer us- able medium’’ was found to be directed to statutory The ‘‘Interim Examination Instructions for Evaluat- subject matter under § 101 because the language ‘‘com- ing Subject Matter Eligibility Under 35 U S C  § 101’’ re- puter usable medium’’ referred to tangible storage me- cently issued by the Patent and Trademark Office con- dia, such as a server, floppy drive, main memory and firm that the recitation of a general purpose computer hard disk as disclosed by appellant’s specification, and is sufficient to satisfy Section 101 where the general did not ‘‘implicate the use of a carrier wave ’’ purpose computer is ‘‘programmed to perform the pro- In an older decision, Ex parte Cornea-Hasegan,62 cess steps,       in effect, becom[ing] a special purpose however, the Board seemingly came to the opposite conclusion, holding that a claim reciting ‘‘a computer Concerning data transformation, there seems to be readable media including program instructions which agreement of the Federal Circuit and at least one dis- when executed by a processor cause the processor to trict court that a method that is both limited to transfor- perform’’ a series of steps was not patent-eligible under mation of specific data and limited to a visual depiction Bilski  The board first determined that ‘‘analysis of a representing specific objects or substances qualifies un- ‘manufacture’ claim and a ‘process’ claim is the sameunder 63 Id  at 11 
57 No  2008-004440 at 12-13 (B P A I  Aug  24, 2009) 
65 Diamond v  Diehr, 450 U S  175, 185, 205 USPQ 488 58 No  2008-004366 at 10-11 (B P A I  Aug  10, 2009) 
(1980); Gottschalk v  Benson, 409 U S  63, 67, 175 USPQ 673 59 No  2009-002913 (B P A I  Aug  5, 2009) 
60 Id  at 10 (comparing In re Lowry, 32 F 3d 1579, 1583-84, 66 ‘‘Interim Examination Instructions for Evaluating Sub- 32 USPQ2d 1031 (Fed  Cir  1994) to In re Warmerdam, 33 F 3d ject Matter Eligibility Under 35 U S C  § 101,’’ U S  Patent and 1354, 1361-62, 31 USPQ2d 1754 (Fed  Cir  1994)) 
Trademark Office, Aug  24, 2009, at 6 (78 PTCJ 530, 8/28/09) 
61 No  2009-003902 at 10 (B P A I  Sept  14, 2009) 
The authors’ recent experiences with examiners suggest that 62 No  2008-004742 (B P A I  Jan  13, 2009) 
the examiners are following these instructions 
der Section 101 67 Thus, claims analogous to those in In Concerning claims directed to computer program re Abele68 in which ‘‘data clearly represented physical products, one district court has held that appending ‘‘A and tangible objects, namely the structure of bones, or- computer readable media including program instruc- gans, and other body tissues [so as to recite] the trans- tions’’ to an otherwise non-statutory process claim is in- formation of that raw data into a particular visual depic- sufficient to make it statutory 72 The board has also tion of a physical object on a display’’ are patent- held ineligible claims to ‘‘a computer readable me- dia ’’73 The board has, however, also upheld the eligibil-ity of ‘‘a computer program product’’ as being embod- ied in a computer readable medium 74 Given these in- Bilski has had a significant impact in eliminating consistent decisions, the patent eligibility of claims in patent protection for inventions that are performed en- tirely by humans or can be interpreted as such if read Concerning claims directed to generalized computer broadly  This includes claims that describe processes processing functions, several Board decisions suggest for creating or manipulating legal and financial docu- that, absent a tie to a concrete real-world application, ments and relationships  In this area in particular, many such claims are likely to be deemed an ‘‘algorithm’’ un- pending applications filed prior to Bilski are no longer der Benson and therefore held to be non-statutory  75 patent-eligible, and many issued patents are no longer Any recitation of a specific field of use for the claimed valid  This retroactive impact of the Bilski decision is process or use of the outcome of such processes are troubling, given the investment in these patents and ap- also more likely to be found ‘‘field-of-use’’ or ‘‘post- plications, which have now been rendered essentially solution activity’’ limitations insufficient to render the worthless despite the suggestion in the Federal Circuit’s claim patent-eligible  Thus, the more tied a claimed pro- earlier State Street decision, now overruled, that such cess is to tangible results or particular applications (not claims qualified for patent protection 
just fields of use), the more likely it is to qualify under Inventions that do not fit within the four statutory categories are also not patent-eligible  The Federal Cir-cuit and the board have rejected claims directed to ‘‘a III  Presenting and Claiming Methods in Patent signal,’’ ‘‘a paradigm,’’ ‘‘a user interface’’ and ‘‘a corr-elator’’ on the basis that these items did not qualify as a ‘‘machine, manufacture, composition of matter or pro- Several strategies for describing and claiming meth- cess’’ under § 101  70 There is also an increasing focus ods or processes in patent applications may avoid or on the tangibility of the claimed invention in that, to minimize potential Section 101 problems 
qualify as a ‘‘machine’’ or ‘‘manufacture’’ under Section First, the description provided in a patent application should include well-defined steps or functions associ-ated with method or process  For example, when the claims include ‘‘initiating’’ method steps, a description Remaining areas of uncertainty concerning the scope of well-defined physical steps or functions for initiating of Section 101 include (1) what qualifies under Bilski as should be provided, and a concrete item, machine, de- a ‘‘transformation of an article or data,’’ (2) whether vice, or component that is responsible for the initiating claims to computer programs (Beauregard claims) function should be identified  For claiming ‘‘identify- qualify, and (3) whether internal computer processing ing’’ method steps, provide specific parameters for functionality not tied to a specific application or tan- making the identification, such as according to a speci- fied measurement 76 Where data is involved, the source Concerning data transformation, other than Abele- and type of data should be specified 
style claims discussed above, what qualifies as a data or Also, drawings should be provided that depict the article transformation remains unclear  Claims that concrete item, device, component or combination have been held not to meet the transformation prong in- thereof, and each method or process step or function clude claims directed to the creation or manipulation of should be linked expressly to at least one item, device data representing an intangible series of rights and ob- or component in the drawings that performs the step or ligations (e g , credit card data) and claims directed to function  Broadening language indicating that other the transformation or manipulation of legal obligations components may also be used to perform the function and relationships  Beyond these specific examples, it is may also be included to avoid an unduly narrow inter- difficult to predict what will or will not qualify as a data or article transformation under Bilski 
The claims should affirmatively claim the device, ma- chine or component performing each step or function 
67 In re Bilski, 545 F 3d at 963; Research Corporation Tech- For computer or software-related inventions, the de- nologies, 2009 WL 2413623 at *9 
scription should specify that the software functionality 68 The claimed process involved graphically displaying vari- ances of data from average values wherein the data was X-rayattenuation data produced in a two dimensional field by a com- 72 Cybersource Corp , 620 F  Supp  2d at 1080 
puted tomography scanner  See In re Bilski, 545 F 3d at 962- 73 Cornea-Hasegan, No  2008-004742 
74 Ex parte Bodin, No  2009-002913 (B P A I  Aug  5, 2009) 
69 In re Bilski, 545 F 3d at 963 
75 E g , Ex parte Greene, No  2008-004073 (B P A I  Apr  24, 70 In re Nuijten 500 F 3d 1346, 1357, 84 USPQ2d 1495 (Fed 
2009); Daughtrey, No  2008-000202; Ex parte Arning, No 
Cir  2007) (74 PTCJ 631, 9/28/07) (signal); In re Ferguson, 558 2008-003008 (B P A I  Mar  30, 2009); Cybersource Corp , 620 F 3d 1359, 1366, 90 USPQ2d 1035 (Fed  Cir  2009) (77 PTCJ F  Supp 2d at 1080 (concerning claim 2) 
489, 3/13/09) (paradigm); Ex parte Daughtrey, No  2008- 76 See Brief of American Bar Association as Amicus Curiae 000202 (B P A I  Apr  8, 2009) (user interface); Ex parte Laba- Supporting Respondent, Bilski v  Kappos, No  08-964, ABA die, No  2008-004310 (B P A I  May 6, 2009) (correlator) 
Amicus Br  at 12-13 (U S  amicus brief filed Oct  2, 2009) (78 71 E g , Nuijten, 500 F 3d at 1356-7 
PATENT, TRADEMARK & COPYRIGHT JOURNAL is performed by a computer or computer components 
patent or published application, the option of importing Specificity as to the type of computer component per- subject matter into the specification is limited to ‘‘non- forming each function may be helpful in establishing essential’’ subject matter  In other words, the specifica- eligibility under the Bilski test 
tion can only be amended to disclose a machine for per-forming process steps as long as one skilled in the art IV  Fixing Pre-Bilski Applications to Meet the New would recognize from the original disclosure that the process is implemented by a machine  The key in mak- For patent applications filed prior to the Bilski deci- ing this type of amendment is avoiding (or overcoming) sion, it can be challenging to meet the new require- a rejection under 35 U S C  § 112, para  1, for lack of ments for patent eligibility, particularly when no ma- chine or transformations were expressly described in If incorporation by reference is not an option, a patent applicant may submit evidence, such as a decla- In some cases, there may be sufficient explicit de- ration by the inventor or a duly qualified technical ex- scription of a machine, e g , a computer, such that the pert, demonstrating that one skilled in the art would un- machine can be added into the body of the claims  For derstand the disclosed method to be one performed by example, patent applications for computer-related in- a machine  Unlike attorney argument, which can be dis- ventions sometimes contain a generic description of regarded, such evidence must be considered by the ex- computers that are used to perform the claimed method, and such a generic description may be suffi- One other option is to reformat the claims  Since Bil- cient to impart patent eligibility to the claims when the ski ostensibly does not apply to system and apparatus general-purpose computer is programmed to become a claims, in some instances it may be possible for an ap- plicant to convert his method claims into system claims For patent applications lacking in an explicit descrip- to avoid application of the Bilski test  This strategy, tion of any machine, however, the application may in- however, is unlikely to succeed where the patent speci- corporate by reference patents or publications that can fication does not describe such a system for implement- be used to bolster the specification and provide support ing the method and therefore does not provide the req- for the requisite claim amendments  When an applica- uisite disclosure of the claimed invention under Section tion incorporates by reference a U S  patent or pub- lished U S  patent application, any description from the incorporated references, whether or not the subject The future of the Bilski machine-or-transformation matter is ‘‘essential’’ to support the claims, may be im- test now rests with the Supreme Court  Regardless of ported into the specification  This option may enable the outcome of the appeal, however, it is clear that the importation of the requisite description of a machine, scope of statutory subject matter under Section 101 has which can then also be recited in the claims 77 When been narrowed  The Supreme Court now has a chance the document incorporated by reference is not a U S 
to clarify what has been excluded; it may even reject ormodify the Bilski machine-or-transformation test  How 77 Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, Eighth Ed , Rev 
this will affect the development and protection of cur- 7/2008, at § 608 01(P); see also 37 C F R  § 1 57 
rent and future technologies remains to be seen 
Source: http://www dorsey com/files/upload/luedke_bna_patent_journal_nov09 pdf
(resolução 404 2012 retificação 19062012)
RESOLUÇÃO Nº 404 , DE 12 DE JUNHO DE 2012 Dispõe sobre padronização dos procedimentos administrativos na lavratura de Auto de Infração, na expedição de notificação de autuação e de notificação de penalidade de multa e de advertência, por infração de responsabilidade de proprietário e de condutor de veículo e da identificação de condutor infrator, e dá outras providências 
Cheloidi e cicatrici ipertrofiche in dermatologia
a cura del dr  Antonio Del Sorbo - Specialista in Dermatologia e Venereologia antoniodelsorbo@libero it I Cheloidi di Alibert A volte una ferita anche apparentemente banale, guarisce lasciando una cicatrice voluminosa, rossastra e soprattutto antiestetica  I cheloidi sono cicatrici abnormi che possono far seguito a intervento chirurgico (es: tiroide, mammella, etc) e questo u



ground_truth: KSTP switched to a sports radio format on February 15, 2010.

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What did the court in In re Ferguson conclude about the transformation prong of the Bilski test?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 3: Eagle in Atlanta -- atleagle com: July 2012
Why Spaz's recruiting doesn't matter anymore
After BC picked up another below the radar recruit, Spaz's most vocal critics were out again disparaging his recruiting class  I don't trust the recruiting rankings, but it does concern me that our commitments aren't drawing more interest from BCS teams  There is a similar concern on the Penn State front  There's plenty of speculation, but BC is not a factor among the rumored PSU transfers  But really none of it matters  Spaz is going to wrap up most of the recruiting this summer and then focus on the games come fall  While not inspiring, the plan is practical  There are two outcomes:
1  Spaz has a losing season and gets fired  If this happens, our 2013 recruiting class will be a hodgepodge of current commits, a transfer or two and whatever our new coach can uncover  For a new guy Spaz's lower profile recruits might be an advantage  If they aren't valued, they are less likely to be poached by other programs  A new Head Coach can then exert a little effort in getting the Spaz commits to stay committed and spend more time on filling out the class 
2  Spaz has a winning season and keeps his job  In this scenario Spaz stays off the hot seat and has to finish filling out the 2013 recruiting class  With a little more job security he can use his last few scholarships on bigger names  He may even luck into a decent prospect who suddenly becomes available due to another school's coaching change (like he did with Rutgers last year)  In this case Spaz doesn't waste time recruiting during the season and then picks up some low-hanging fruit 
Spaz is never going to recruit an elite class  There are many contributing factors as to why, but mostly it is because Spaz is not a salesmen  And we shouldn't care  He's not going to change  It is just a matter of who will finish out this class four months from now 
Labels: fire Spaz, Recruiting, Recruiting Rankings, Speculating with Spaz
Key Players for 2012: Chase Rettig
Junior Quarterback, Chase Rettig
What he's been: We all hoped Rettig would be a phenom  That he would some how save the Spaz era from its offensive funk and lead BC to unexpected glory  Instead, he's been mediocre  He completed just over half of his passes last year and never put together back-to-back great games nor enough sustained drives  Apologists for Rettig like me blame the system, the talent around him and of course the way his Spaz has screwed up the offense  But even the biggest Rettig cheerleaders have to admit he's yet to have a memorable BC moment or done anything to get on an NFL radar 
What he needs to be: Someone who can put the team on his back  I know the offensive line has been terrible, leaving Chase running for his life  I know plenty of passes have been dropped and no one is making big plays  But a truly great QB would show more by now  He's started 21 games  He's finally is a simplified offense that will get the ball out of his hands  If Chase does have an accurate arm, if he is as cerebral as people say, if he can get off throws in a collapsing pocket, now is his chance to show it 
Why I like his chances to shine: I don't know if Doug Martin is going to be a miracle worker, but QB's can make huge leaps with a new offense  Just look at Dominique Davis  He went to East Carolina and became one of the most accurate passers in the country 
Last year I thought Rettig would be great  I thought his toughness and preparation would overcome the offensive limitations  Here I am a year late thinking the same thing  But the difference is Doug Martin  We finally have an experienced OC running a current, simple offense  Rettig will be asked to make quick decisions and get the ball out fast  I think he can do it  I also think that throwing 400+ passes will give him a rhythm and a confidence that he's never had at BC 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Chase Rettig, Doug Martin, Key Players, Season Previews
Rich Thompson will cover BC football this Fall for the Herald
There is some news on the BC media front  The Herald assigned Rich Thompson to the BC beat for this Fall's football season  Rich has covered BC on occasion over the years, but mostly on the basketball side  Thompson is a welcome addition, as the Herald's focus has been spotty since Steve Conroy started splitting his time on hockey  Hopefully a new voice on the BC scene will also spark Blauds to improve his work 
For many years, BC fans' main source of news was Mike (Vega at the Globe) and Mike (Shalin at the Herald)  We complained about their identical features and soft touch on the BC coaches  Little did we know how good things were  Since Vega's move in 2007, we've been left with a beat writer who seems to loathe his job and also makes excuses for our Head Coach  Blauds also rarely writes or tweets during the college offseason  That sort of editorial decision may have been fine 20 years ago, but now college sports is a year round news cycle  When you look at all the work produced by college beat writers around the country, it makes the Boston media look lazy or oblivious 
Thompson also plans to tweet regularly once the season starts  I hope he makes the most of this opportunity  It is a shame to see the beat neglected like it is across town 
Labels: blauds, Boston Herald, Boston media, Media Criticism, Rich Thompson
Revisiting a Boston (BC) Olympics using London as an example
During the 2010 Winter Olympics I tossed around the idea of Boston hosting a summer or winter games  My point then remains that the same: Boston is ideal because the local universities could already supply many of the venues  The big obstacle would always be the main stadium for Track & Field and the opening and closing ceremonies  Nearly every city that hosts is left with a White Elephant that costs hundreds of millions of dollars  But London may provide a solution  They built their Olympic Stadium as a temporary venue  It looked great on TV, holds enough for the games and can be shrunk as soon as it all wraps up  Londoners haven't decided what they will do with the space  There are a few different bidders looking to take over the remains of the stadium  Boston would probably have similar suitors depending on the location  I would guess that UMasss Boston would want a small stadium or maybe the Revolution would want to convert it to a soccer only facility  The possibilities are endless 
I would still love to see Boston host the games and wish our partner Fenway Sports Group would get behind it  I am practical too  This wouldn't just be a vanity project for BC  It would be a backdoor way to get the IOC to fix the air conditioning in Conte!
Labels: Alumni Stadium renovations, Boston Olympics, Conte Forum renovations, Fenway Sports Group, renovations
New soccer Eagles and other links
BCeagles com released the bios of the six new freshmen and two transfers for the men's soccer team  Four of the newbies hail from New York 
It feels like every ACC team returns a starting QB  While the depth gives the conference advantages that other conferences don't have, I think some of the talent is overrated  In fact, I can't believe that Rettig is considered the 10th best  I would rank him 5th and think he could be even better by the end of the year 
Despite shoulder surgery, Alex Albright is healthy heading into his second NFL season  He's also ready to move to inside linebacker 
In case you missed it, BC will play Baylor in the Charleston Classic this Fall  That gives all the Boston media, the college basketball writers and the BC bloggers a chance to rehash the Donahue-Heslip situation again 
Labels: Alex Albright, Brady Heslip, Chase Rettig, Links, Steve Donahue
Can BC sell a faceless program?
As the team prepared for the poster photo shoot, I started to think about some of the current challenges BC faces marketing the program  Who will be the focus of the poster? Can a casual BC fan name our best players? With the team coming off its worst season in over a decade, it would be nice to have a focal point  A person who fans could rally around  With Kuechly gone, BC doesn't have that player or coach 
Spaz is not a compelling public speaker  BC uses coordinators in their Youtube videos  No BC player made the ACC's preseason all conference team  They have two likeable but rather unknown Seniors on the cover of the media guide 
Perception matters in college football  Obviously tickets sales are part of that, but lacking a star player hurts when TV networks are selecting our games  Even if some of our players have breakout years, they will have a hard time winning national awards 
BC created some new and unique ticket packages to help attendance for the less attractive games  If we are play well, TV networks might pay attention during the last month of the season  But if the team struggles, it will be hard to sell anything  You can't force players to be great or be dynamic personalities  Even if players aren't well known, I am consistently proud of how they handle themselves  But BC can ask its coach to sell the program  Spaz doesn't and won't  But I hope that when we hire a new coach that sales and marketing aspect are not ignored  Coaching is primary, but representing BC should always be a factor 
Labels: BC marketing, emmett cleary, Fenway Sports Group, Kaleb Ramsey, Spaziani
Phil Steele talks ACC and other links
Here is Phil Steele previewing the Big East and the ACC 
Former Eagle Tim Bulman signed with New England His teammate Ricky Brown is hanging on too and is now with the Ravens 
Did anyone else hear this comment from Spaz?
"We've tied Chase's hands behind his back his first two years  He's at the point now where he's ready to cross the line "
I know this sort of thing is off the cuff, but why is he saying that he's held a QB back? Am I the only one who gets frustrated by this stuff?
VCU hired BC grad Ed McLaughlin as their new AD  If and when Gene retires McLaughlin will be one of top targets to replace him 
This is from earlier in the week, but I am glad Kimble is confident  I think he could have a big season 
Emmett Cleary provides some insights into how the offense will change 
Labels: BC women's soccer, fire Spaz, Links, Ricky Brown, Spaz, tim bulman
Viva Espana: what you need to know about the basketball team's trip to Spain
NCAA rules allow a basketball team to take an overseas summer tour once every four years  These trips are a huge advantage as they allow the team to play together and at a high level during a dead period  In addition to improving skills, the trips also bond teams together and help the coaches experiment with different rotations and lineups  In the past BC has traveled to France, Switzerland and Australia  In a little less than a month, BC will take its first trip to Spain  This is our first tour under Donahue and a critical chance for this team to get better  Below are some of the facts, figures, schedules and nuggets about the trip 
All players can and will attend, including new freshmen Joe Rahon, Olivier Hanlan and incoming Senior Andrew Van Nest  Transfer Alex Dragicevich cannot go 
Aside from the players, the rest of the travel party includes the coaching staff, a trainer, a sports information director, and two managers 
Some of the schedule is still being finalized, but here are BC's current plans for games:
August 27 Madrid - Game 1
August 29 Valencia – Game 2 (ACB Team - Valencia Basket)
August 31 Barcelona - Game 3 (ACB Team - Penya or Manresa)
September 1 Barcelona - Game 4 (LEB Team)
The team leaves Boston on August 25  In each city they will practice and see some of the local sights  They also have community service time scheduled  The team returns on September 3  Classes begin back in Boston the next day 
The games will be played with international rules, courts and FIBA balls 
BC doesn't know if the referees will speak any English (but they're hoping) 
For any Eagle fans in Spain, try to catch a game or two  It should be fun  For those of us stateside, there are presently no official broadcasts but I imagine an internet feed will pop up for some of the action 
Labels: BC basketball, spain trip, Steve Donahue
Key Players for 2012: Dominic Appiah
Sophomore Defensive Tackle, Dominic Appiah
What he's been: Appiah surprised many last year  Playing for the first time after redshirting his freshman year, Appiah ended up starting most of the games  He made his presence known quickly with the ability to get an inside push and make plays in the backfield  Appiah was new to the inside but he showed natural ability and moved very well considering he played nearly 30 pounds lighter in high school 
What he needs to be: We need Appiah to be like B J  Raji or Ron Brace  We don't have as many difference makers in other areas of the defense  If Appiah and Ramsey partner to become a dominant force -- like Brace and Raji -- it will create all sorts of opportunities for the rest of the defense  If the two of them can control the line of scrimmage we can become one of the elite DLines in the ACC 
Why I like his chances to shine: It feels like I am head of the Appiah fan club  Spaz doesn't even have him at the top of the preseason depth chart  Of all the guys I have profiled, he would probably be viewed as the least likely to make an impact  He's still young  He's still learning the position and he's still getting used to moving with his added bulk  But I saw enough moments that I believe Appiah can be a great DT  He has the push, the leverage and surprising speed for big guy  Other teams had trouble handling him last year  If Appiah remains focused and works hard, he is going to dominate every interior lineman in the conference  And if Ramsey and Appiah both play well, BC will be a bowl team again 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Dominic Appiah, Kaleb Ramsey, Key Players, Season Previews
ACC Media roundup and other links
The ACC Media voted BC 5th overall in the Atlantic Division  That's not particularly surprising since the majority of the reporters are from Carolina and still view us as a secondary program  Although I teased him on twitter, even Meter avoided his usual "BC: 1st" vote 
The recurring question for Spaz was regarding Kuechly  He handles it well and points to Ramsey as the type of player who can fill the void  Not too many asked Spaz about the "Hot Seat " (I didn't embed that video due to the auto play issues )
It will be interesting to see if BC benefits from the looming exodus at Penn State  We are positioned well since we have scholarship space and recruited many of their kids  But I wonder if Spaz will have any hesitation in taking advantage of his alma mater 
Virginia Athlete Atem Ntantang committed to BC 
The ACC Digital Network is running a countdown of great moments  Of course they included BC comeback against Virginia Tech  It doesn't have Chris Fowler yelling "Lane Stadium goes silent" but it does have Meter losing it 
BC is one of the schools to leverage the transfer up phenomenon in college football 
Labels: ACC Media Day, basketball transfers, Links, Meterparel, Recruiting, Spaz, Video
ACC Kickoff, Day 1 -- UPDATE
UPDATE: I took down the video since it was auto playing for people  You can listen to Ramsey and Cleary here 
I hoped that Spaz would address the Penn State situation  Knowing that those types of questions were coming, the ACC coaches released a joint statement on Penn State and Paterno  Someone should still ask Spaz on Monday since he does know Sandusky and played under Paterno 
This is a shot of Kaleb Ramsey talking to the media  And here is all the players together  Cleary also fielded questions, including those about biology and chemistry 
I expect more on Monday when Spaz talks  I also think all the newspaper guys (including Blauds) will write up their interviews from Sunday into Monday posts 
Labels: ACC Media Day, emmett cleary, Kaleb Ramsey, Video
The field is finished
Reader Doug took these pictures yesterday  I think the field and wall look great  The next step will be hearing how the players like the look and feel 
Labels: Alumni Stadium renovations, Astro Turf, pics
Questions I want asked at the ACC Media Days
The ACC convenes this weekend in Greensboro for the annual ACC Media Days  I am not going  But I do have questions I would ask 
Questions for Frank Spaziani
-- Is he aware of the "hot seat" talk? Does he feel the pressure  How does he get the team and staff to focus? Is it impacting recruiting?
-- What are his expectations for the season? Does he see the team competing for a division title?
-- What attracted him to Doug Martin's offense? What are his expectations for the offense? Does he think the increased tempo will impact the defensive side of the ball?
-- What will Bollman's role be as "running game coordinator"? Is Bollman using different techniques and or approaches to the offensive line play?
-- What traits was he looking for as he hired new coaches to replace the departed?
-- As a Penn State alum and former player, what are his thoughts on the Freeh report? Are the former players talking among themselves about what they can do to help rebuild the Penn State football reputation? What does he want done with the Paterno statue?
-- When did the staff approach him about moving to the left side? How is he preparing for the new position?
--Who is leading the OL drills in the offseason?
-- How are things different with a new position coach? What will fans see?
-- What aspects of his game is he focusing on this year?
-- How is Chase Rettig adjusting to the new offense?
-- Which offensive player will surprise BC fans this year? Who is going to make a big leap?
-- What are his expectations for the season? How important is it to the Seniors to get back to a winning record and a bowl game?
-- How is his health?
-- What was it like to sit out a season?
-- Earlier in his career there was speculation that he might transfer from BC  How does it feel to be a 5th year senior at BC now?
-- Last year BC played more three man fronts than ever before  Will we see more of that this year?
-- Does the talk of an NFL career add any extra motivation?
We know Blauds and HD will be in Greensboro  Hopefully they or others will slip in one or two of these questions  I don't expect anything particularly revealing, but I would like to hear Spaz talk about the pressure of the season 
Labels: ACC Media Day, emmett cleary, fire Spaz, Kaleb Ramsey, Speculating with Spaz
Willis commits, decommits and then commits, and other links
It was a strange night if you follow BC recruiting on Twitter  First Rivals reported Georgia running back Myles Willis' commitment  Then Willis himself took to twitter to say that he didn't commit  Later in the night he clarified that he did commit  Regardless, it seems like it is over and he seems like a good pickup  He plays for local Atlanta power Marist  I will try to check out one of his games this fall 
One of the great under-appreciated aspects of BC sports is "For Boston " However, the bloggers at Atlantic Coast Convos have great taste as they listed our fight song as the best in the ACC  (Am I the only one singing "For Boston" to himself right now?)
BCeagles com put out another player Q&A, this time with basketball transfer Alex Dragicevich  Dennis Clifford is one of the players who has made an early impression on Alex 
Labels: Alex Dragicevich, BC Marching Band, For Boston, Myles Willis
Wey Q&A and other links
BCeagles com posted a Q & A with Patrick Wey  He talks about his summer training and trying to win another National Championship 
BC basketball fans will enjoy this pic of the early '90s stars 
Although she still has two more years of High School volleyball player Brittany Pavich committed to BC 
From earlier in the week, here is an article on new commitment Matt Milano 
Baseball player John Nicklas is ready to make an impact 
Labels: BC Hockey, Bill Curley, Links, malcolm huckaby, Matt Milano, Patrick Wey
Key Players for 2012: Ian White
Junior Center, Ian White
What he's been: The redshirt JR has played a lot and almost all of it at guard  What's been frustrating is that White would be very, very good in some games and then off in others  Because he is playing primarily inside, the issues usually involve getting overpowered by bigger DTs  Like most of the olinemen the past few years, White's flashed moments of greatness but lacked consistency 
What he needs to be: In my opinion the offensive line play really started falling apart after Matt Tennant left  I think Centers are underappreciated   at times even by their own coaches  It seems like the Spaz/Devine MO was to put the best five on the field regardless of positional fit and not to worry about rejiggering the lineup  The way the staff yo-yo'd Mark Spinney and others at Center the past two years hurt our consistency  And it impacts the QB position too  White's new to the role, so this could lead to more chaos  I hope not  We need him to be good from Day 1  He needs to set the tone for the OL and communicate with Rettig  Other players are important, but White -- or whoever starts at Center -- will be the keystone to the offense 
Why I like his chances to shine: Like Cleary, I think White is one of those guys who would have thrived under old BC regimes  He's been smart and tough from the minute he was eligible to play  He might not be as powerful as needed, but now as a redshirt JR, he should be fully matured  Plus playing Center doesn't require as much power and is more reliant on smarts and quickness 
I don't know if White will be our starting Center for Miami or even later into the season  Under Devine positions and the depth chart were constantly being tweaked  I pray things are different with Bollman  Let White learned to be a Center  He has a chance to be a great one 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Ian White, Jim Bollman, Key Players, Preseason, Sean Devine
How I talk myself into thinking we are going to be good   
You can see it on the BC message boards  You can see it on twitter and on the blogs  Optimism is rising  People are looking forward to the BC Football season  On Eagle Outsider they sarcastically call this "10-2 season " It is that time of year when every aspect of the team and season still has hope and promise  Despite my best judgement and spending half of my posts speculating on Spaz's future, I am falling into this same trap  The closer we get to kickoff and the more I read, the more I think BC might surprise people this year  I am not ready to post my predictions for the season, but here are a few reasons why I do think this team should be bowl bound 
It looks tougher on paper than it really is  Our toughest opponents come to us  We play three of our first four at home  Playing FSU and Georgia Tech on back-to-back weeks is a bit rough, but playing Georgia Tech any time forces a team to regroup  If you have to play a gimmick offense, you might as well do it after facing a top 10 team  Maybe it will serve as a rally point after playing the 'Noles 
Underrated talent
Look at that depth chart again  It is not an all star lineup, but I think our front seven will be better than last year  I love some of the young DBs (Keyes, Asprilla) and think with a healthy Noel and improved ALJ, we can be solid defensively  I still think Chase Rettig can be great  I have real hope for Doug Martin and think our WR and TE talent is good enough  The biggest question is the offensive line  But as someone who has preached for a OL coaching change, I keep telling myself that Bollman will make a difference 
Emotion and Pride
Football is an emotional game and emotional sport  Point fingers at whomever you like, but BC had awful team and coaching chemistry last season  When I see Al Washington posting on Facebook about his excitement, when I hear about the 5th year Seniors wanting to end their careers on a high note, when I look at the new field, I think that positive energy and emotion will carry us to an extra win or two 
As long as these two (see pic below) stay out of the way and Spaz coaches to win, I think this might be a fun season  Is anyone else talking themselves into a big year?
Labels: 2012, 2012 Preview, 2012 Schedule, Chase Rettig, Doug Martin, fire Spaz, Speculating with Spaz
Key Players for 2012: Jim Noel
Senior Safety, Jim Noel
What he's been: A contributor since day one, Noel has grown from back up to fill in starter, to a full time starter over three years  While primarily a safety, BC has also used him at corner  He missed a good portion of 2011, leaving our already depleted secondary without an impact player  Noel has never been a big hitter or ballhawk, but he's been good in coverage and done what's been asked 
What he needs to be: Noel needs to take over  Our defense is at its best when we have safeties with great anticipation  If you design your defense to exploit QB mistakes, you need a smart and athletic Safety to be in the right place at the right time  One of the reasons we struggled ending drives last year and giving up big plays to teams like Central Florida was because our safeties just couldn't make plays  Noel was doing his best filling in at Corner, while Syvlia, Hughes and Rositano kept getting burned  Hopefully Noel can focus on one area this year, stay healthy and have a big season 
Why I like his chances to shine: Look back on the interceptions Noel has made  They are often really great athletic plays  Few are gimmes that just landed in his hand  If he can be that great for 12 games and get even a little help from his other safeties, he will have a big year 
Last season BC only had 13 interceptions  It was our lowest output since the TOB years  If Noel can help end a few drives with big takeaways, BC could be a strong defensive team again 
Labels: Jim Noel, Key Players, Preseason
Precamp Depth Chart and other links
BC updated the depth chart in time for preseason camps to begin  This should be viewed as temporary and not who will start Labor Day weekend  There will be injuries and position switches that will alter things a bit  Hopefully no one is kicked off the team between now and the start of the season 
Florida DB Matt Milano committed to BC over the weekend  Milano also had offers from Arizona and Air Force 
Andy Katz listed BC among the possible destinations for BU transfer Jake O'Brien  Rumor is Providence is his most likely destination  I hope he gives BC a long look  He'd be another no risk big man for Donahue and give us some nice depth 
Labels: Jake O'Brien, Links, Matt Milano
Coaches to Watch this fall Part 4: Current Offensive Coordinators
Since everyone has Spaz on the Hotseat List, now is as good a time as any to look at future BC head coaching candidates  Unlike our past profile series, the timing and style on these posts will be a little different  Instead of being weeks or days away from a potential change, we have the benefit of a whole season to evaluate these guys  Some stocks will rise, while others will fall and it will make our usual scoreboard watching that much more interesting 
The natural inclination would be for BC to replace Spaz with an offensive guy  Unfortunately there is not a great pool of candidates among current college offensive coordinators  There are plenty of good coordinators, but I don't know how many are ready to be head coaches or coach at a place like BC  These are some of the more prominent names  After the 2012 season, we'll have a better idea of if they are ready to take on an FBS head coaching job 
Chad Morris
Offensive Coordinator, Clemson
Chad Morris was coaching high school football three years ago  His meteoric rise to Clemson's playcaller is another example of how much college football has changed  Gus Malzahn and guys like Chip Kelly and Art Briles before him shot from relative obscurity to changing college football within a few season  Pedigree and climbing the ladders doesn't mean as much anymore  All that matters is how you score and Morris showed that he could give new life to Clemson's attack  Like the others mentioned Morris emphasized tempo and a no huddle  His track record is impressive, as is his reputation for teaching and implementing this offense 
What to Watch for in 2012: Can Clemson keep it up? The ACC now has a chance to adjust to his scheme  It will also be interested to know what Morris wants to do  All these guys want to be head coaches, but is he willing to roll the dice on a job like BC? Would he even fit in? BC's very different from coaching high school in west Texas 
Offensive Coordinator, Wisconsin
The Badgers have been a good proving ground for coordinators  I like the fit for BC since Wisconsin tends to develop and recruit like we do  They also have run "pro style" offenses with an emphasis on OL and the running attacks  Canada will be new there this fall, but he's got BCS experience and led explosive offenses in the MAC too  If Canada became a candidate for BC, I would have hesitation about his time at Indiana  They threw it a ton while he was calling plays but didn't win much 
What to Watch in 2012: Will Canada keep throwing it at the more conservative Wisconsin? If Wisconsin keeps up their recent success will he emerge as a candidate elsewhere?
Bill Lazor
Offensive Coordinator, Virginia
Lazor's been a good coordinator at Virginia  He's not changing the game but they've been better than they were before he got there and they've been consistent  Lazor's ACC experience -- especially at a school like UVA -- translates well to BC (as it did for TOB years ago)  He can also sell his NFL ties to recruits  He played at Cornell and is from Scranton, so geography and academics wouldn't be an issue 
What to Watch for in 2012: How will UVA handle their pending QB controversy  Will they also move up within the ACC or stay middle of the pack offensively?
Offensive Coordinator, Alabama
Nussmeier moves from Washington to being the playcaller at the Defending National Champions  He's got a good profile for a rising coach in that he played professionally, coached in college, the NFL and Canada, and is now at an elite program  He runs a pro-style west coast offense, so the transition to BC would be relatively easy  Nussmeier lacks any obvious ties to BC or the northeast 
What to Watch in 2012: How will Nussmeier adjust to the pressure cooker of Saban and Alabama? Saban's offensives have been bland but effective  I expect more of the same this year  It doesn't make for compelling football but working for Saban can be good training for future head coaches 
Labels: Bill Lazor, Chad Morris, Coaches to Watch, fire Spaz, Matt Canada
ICYMI: Links from the past week
Phil Steele thinks we will score more points this season 
Kevin Pierre-Louis was named to the Nagurski watch list 
Pennsylvania Tight End strongly considered BC but verballed to UConn instead  BC's interest seemed to fade as other Tight Ends/Defensive Ends committed



ground_truth: It required the transformation to be limited to specific data and a visual depiction representing specific objects or substances.

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: When will BC leave Boston?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 3: 
Temple closed on Jersey prospect Jarred Alwan  That's a big coup considering how hard BC went after him 
Former Eagle Steve Hailey now coaches on the Boston AAU circuit  Maybe that will help us with local talent 
BC still has interest in Ohio RB Keith Watkins 
Labels: Kevin Pierre-Louis, Links, Phil Steele, Steve Hailey
No King at BC may be a good thing
Nearly everything that needs to be said about Penn State and Joe Paterno has been said  But one point that Bruce Feldman made regarding College Football's King culture reminded me of how different BC is from most FBS schools  We don't and never have had a "King " I've often longed for that iconic winner that could serve as the face of the program, but maybe it is better that we don't  For whatever we miss by not having a "Woody" or a "JoePa" or "Bear" we also avoid the power struggles and corruption that often comes with an all-powerful Head Coach 
What does a King really provide anyway? Branding   a little nostalgia   someone to embrace  But it doesn't really win you football games or make you a better school  Florida State's losing in the final Bowden years proved that and Penn State has a permanent stain on their whole community because of their Kingdom 
BC's had some dynamic leaders, but none have ever stayed long enough to reach statue status  Our winningest coach and longest tenured even left and no one put up a fight to keep him  TOB could have been our icon  A little more fire and one or two more critical wins and we would have celebrated him like other schools have done with their biggest winners  But it wasn't to be and that's probably a good thing 
When I've profiled coaching candidates in the past, I've hoped that one would stay for a long time  That's changed  I don't want a guy who want to be bigger than the University  Things are better that way 
Labels: Bruce Feldman, college football, penn state, TOB
Key Players for 2012: Emmett Cleary
This is a series on the key players for the 2012 season  Big things are expected for some, while others will need to improve over their previous performances  If 2012 is a good year, it will be in part to the key players overachieving 
Senior Offensive Tackle, Emmett Cleary
What he's been: A long-time starter and one of the leaders on offense  Cleary has played on both sides of the line and at both guard and tackle  When he first arrived, Jags said that he could be the next Costanzo  Tall and lean (for a lineman) Cleary's been a consistent contributor like Costanzo (playing in 36 games and starting 26) yet he's never been the consistently great like Costanzo  How much of Cleary's occasional mistakes or setback are due to talent, coaching or the offense? I think it's been a bit of everything 
What he needs to be: Good isn't good enough anymore  Cleary takes on the big responsibility of left tackle this year  Rettig has been running for his life the past three years  If the offense is ever going to take off, they need to improve pass protection  That will start with Cleary  And in the ACC, he'll be facing some of the top defensive linemen in the country on a weekly basis  Cleary's always been good with speed guys on the edge  He'll also need to improve on run blocking  If Martin uses more stretches and zones like Logan, that will leave Cleary often sealing off edges on run plays 
Why I like his chances to shine: We've seen offensive lineman make huge leaps from season to season before  Part of it is maturing into their bodies and understanding the position  But a lot is coaching  I think Cleary has been underserved in that department  Even if Bollman is not some OL guru, I think Cleary playing in a more pass happy, up tempo offense will play to his strengths  I think his leadership position and the coaching staff's confidence in him will make him shine at LT  I think he will live up to his potential and have multiple games where he dominates and plays mistake free football  Plus he still has the NFL on his horizon  If he can perform at an elite level, he can jump up from a late round afterthought to a high-round pick 
I think if Cleary stays healthy, he shoot up draft boards  If BC's offense breaks out of its doldrums he'll be named an all conference player 
Labels: 2012 Preview, emmett cleary, Jim Bollman, Key Players
BC using coordinators as face(s) of the program?
BC posted this "thank you" video as an invite to a special practice for season ticket holders  Notice anyone missing? It is just a silly Youtbue video but I find it very telling that the school left out the Head Coach  This is college football  Your head coach is the face of the program  Ours isn't even mentioned in a direct marketing message to our most loyal customers 
There are many likely explanations for Spaz's absence  He's not particularly good on camera  He's never really shown any sort of enthusiasm for this sort of thing  And I think BC has heard enough to know that Spaz is not very popular with our fan base  No reason to trot him out when it will just dampen excitement about the upcoming season 
I like Bill McGovern and Doug Martin  Both are capable coordinators and leaders  Martin's been a head coach and I know McGovern wants to be one, so giving them face time is not a bad idea  Let's hope they are also given autonomy this year (which hasn't been Spaz's strong suit with coordinators)  If these two are given real power, season ticket holders will probably be happy they renewed 
Labels: BC marketing, Bill McGovern, Doug Martin, fire Spaz, Speculating with Spaz, Video
Optimism from Football Outsiders and other links
I am a sucker for football analytics and I also really respect CBS's Matt Hinton  So when his ACC preview piece on Football Outsiders listed BC with a  500 record and a 3rd place finish in the division, I was pleasantly surprised  FO is betting on our returning players and the positive trends of the last few games of 2011  I still don't know what to think about the upcoming season, but my love for BC and articles like this have me looking on the bright side 
BC is sending Emmett Cleary and Kaleb Ramsey to Greensboro to represent the school during ACC media days  I think this is actually a great sign for BC and for both players  I expected Cleary to have a break out season last year  He was good, but not all conference  Maybe this year is his chance to shine and get on NFL radars  Ramsey has always had the talent  His health and attitude have been bigger issues  If he is healthy and focused this year, he will be a game changer on D 
Here is more on our newest recruit out of Cincinnati Truman Gutapfel 
Chris Pantale is on the Mackey watch list  The award is given annually to the country's best Tight End 
Beaver Country Day big man Jacquil Taylor is generating local interest  BC has yet to offer, but is following him 
BCeagles com posted a Q&A with Bobby Swiggert yesterday  I found his talk about paring down the offense encouraging  We need to work on execution not diversity of plays 
HD put out this offseason filler piece ranking coaching jobs in the ACC  I don't really care where she perceives us  When the job changes we will be very attractive to the right guy for us 
Labels: Bobby Swigert, Chris Pantale, emmett cleary, Heather Dinich, Kaleb Ramsey, Links, Recruiting, Truman Gutapfel
Where is the one that got away?
While we've struggled recruiting Massachusetts players this year, we've cleaned up in Connecticut and in Ohio  Those local kids (or other lay-up recruits) we miss generate plenty of frustration but they happen every year  What's fortunate about our misses though, is that very few have come back to haunt us  When was the last time a great recruit spurned BC and became a star? I can think of a few over the years, but most of the recruits that "got away" had middling careers elsewhere 
Some recent examples of guys who spurned us include Graham Stewart, Arthur Lynch and Joe Boisture  All three committed to BC at one point only to rethink their decisions and go to bigger programs  Stewart washed out at Florida and is now sitting out a transfer year at UConn  Boisture is out of football altogether  Lynch has been a backup at Georgia  He has a chance for a bigger role this season, but so far has not lived up to the hype that surrounded his recruitment  Even with our terrible offense, Chris Pantale has had a much more productive Tight End career 
The closest thing I can think of to a recent recruit who had success elsewhere is Virginia OT Oday Aboushi  But should he even count? He didn't spurn BC  Our admissions office turned him down after he verbaled to BC  Prior to that, you would have to go back to Dorian Bryant  But like Aboushi, his case was less about being seduced by a bigger, flashier program and more about not meeting BC's minimum standards for admissions at one point in time 
Where these guys all over-hyped by the recruiting services? Where they wrong fits at their post-BC choices? I don't know  I do think a program like BC is probably more patient with players than some of the bigger programs  We won't rush a guy out of the program to free up a scholarship  We prefer to redshirt  And I think the nature of a program -- with good academic support and less of a big school mentality -- keeps kids from falling through the cracks  Every recruit thinks they are going to be a star, so selling them on development and a safety net doesn't sway many, but it should  If anything BC should use a guy like Marcus Grant -- a local kid who left a Big Ten program to come "home" as an example to Massachusetts recruits  Massachusetts kids keep leaving to play at the "highest level " Our counter should be that we will develop them for life and the NFL (the real highest level) and not chew them up and spit them out like a football factory 
I am sure that there will be a guy in the near future who decommits from BC and becomes a star  Or a guy we should have had who leads another team to glory  Right now I am just glad that we have very few regrets when it comes to old recruits  Our recruiting still has major challenges, but that's one area where things have broken our way 
[Note to commentors: let me know if you think I missed any recruits who "got away "]
Labels: Graham Stewart, Joe Boisture, mike siravo, Recruiting, Spaz recruiting
Key Players for 2012: Kevin Pierre-Louis
Junior Linebacker, Kevin Pierre-Louis
What he's been: BC's second-leading tackler  On most teams KPL would already be a star  But he played next to college football's tackling machine  There wasn't much room for headlines or an extra tackle with Luke Kuechly doing so much  Pierre-Louis also missed three games last year and played through pain in others  When healthy, he showed great anticipation and was a very solid tackler  In a way, he's a lot like Kuechly 
What he needs to be: KPL needs to be more of a game changer  He's got the speed and instincts to do it  Also, his role won't be in the middle, so he can take chances that Kuechly could not  Ideally he'd have a season like Herzy's 2008  Where on one play he's blitzing the QB and on the next he's running a fumble back  While our scheme has defined much of the defensive success the past five years, we've also benefited from great individual performances  To be great again, we need someone with the tools like KPL to become elite 
Why I like his chances to shine: KPL played really well in the first half of 2011  If he had stayed healthy, he would've been all conference  There's no reason he can't be even better this year  We'll miss Kuechly, but the defensive line might be better this year -- that will create more opportunities for big plays from Pierre-Louis  I also like his stats  His tackles for loss and pass break ups in a shortened season give me hope that he'll do even more when playing in all games and playing at 100% 
I think KPL takes off this year  I think he'll be first team ACC, lead BC with over 110 tackles, and have at least two INTs and two fumble recoveries 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Kevin Pierre-Louis, Key Players
Montel Harris to Temple now officially official
Although it's been rumored and reported multiple times over the past few months, Montel Harris finally enrolled in Temple over the weekend  Supposedly the delay was due to Harris completing his academic commitments to BC  To be eligible at Temple, Montel must have completed his BC degree 
All the past comments hold true for me  I hope Montel has a great end to his career and gets his shot at the NFL  He was a pleasure to watch the past four years 
Labels: Kevin Rogers, Montel Harris, Ryan Day, Temple
What would Spaz need to do to hold on?
I've been speculating about new coaches all summer, but what if Spaz actually pulls through? Crystal Ball Run thinks it could happen  Ultimately it will come down to our record  In my opinion, this is how it would play out  Let me know your thoughts in the comments 
4-8 or worse   
Spaz is gone  Back to back 8 loss seasons would be too much  The diehards are already calling for his head  Another embarrassing and hard to watch season would kill goodwill among the casual BC fans 
8-4 or better   
Spaz is safe  We have the talent and the schedule to be this good  I don't think it will happen, but if it does we will see Year 5 of the Spaz era 
6 or 7 wins   
Spaz "retires " He gets his money  He gets to go out with a winning record  He saves face  This is probably the best outcome for everyone 
This is the unknown in my opinion  I could see the powers that be wanting to keep him one more year  Especially if we end on a high note 
Labels: Coach Flip is running the show, fire Spaz, Speculating with Spaz
Coaches to Watch this fall Part 3: Current Defensive Coordinators
BC has turned to college coordinators in the past to step up as Head Coach  While there is risk with any hire, the nice thing about a rising coordinator is that they've usually proven themselves adapt at one phase of the game and you have the chance to hire the next great football mind  Plus most coordinators come in hungry and hard working, looking to make the most of their first chance as a head coach  Because Spaz is a a defensive coach, I am sure BC fans will want a replacement with an offensive background, but that doesn't mean we should overlook these guys 
Pat Narduzzi
Defensive Coordinator, Michigan State
Until Bruce Feldman dropped his name as a Spaz replacement, I don't think many BC fans were even thinking about Narduzzi  On paper he's a very solid candidate  He's got BCS experience at Michigan State  The Spartans love him and recently gave him a huge raise  While they haven't been elite, I like what Michigan State has done under Dantonio (and Narduzzi)  They overachieve given their talent base and work hard on the recruting front  Because of his stops in Cincinnati and growing up in northeast Ohio, Narduzzi has ties to our important midwest recruiting territories  What I like most about him as a candidate is his time at Rhode Island  I don't think our new head coach needs ties to BC, but I do think it helps if he comes in with an understanding of what BC is and can be  If you've coached at URI, you know what New England football is like  You know about the difference in fan interest and the space crunch BC is under  And you'll know that BC can be successful with the right coaching 
What to Watch for in 2012: How high Narduzzi's profile rises  He interviewed for head coaching jobs last year  If Michigan State continues to improve and Narduzzi earns more accolades, other schools will have interest 
Mark Stoops
Defensive Coordinator, Florida State
Normally I would worry about the fit of a guy like Stoops  He's coming from a football factory  His last name brings some good and bad baggage  But I do think there are some strong pluses in his candidacy at BC  Like Narduzzi, Stoops has deep ties to the Ohio Catholic high school circuit  He also has a good understanding of the ACC landscape after stops in Miami and Florida State  His FSU defenses still begin with the 4-3, so he could take our current roster and install his own system  Although the Stoops name isn't a household name in Boston, his track record, name and personality would be an easy sell to the BC faithful 
What to Watch for in 2012: How Florida State handles their expectations  If this is the year they finally return to being "Florida State" Stoops will get much of the credit and be a hot name  Even if they are good, not great, he's still viable at BC 
Defensive Coordinator, Texas
Due to his unusual path into coaching and his sudden rise, Diaz is a very hot name among coordinators  Aside from his time coaching at other ACC schools, there's not much tying him to BC  But I think his ability to recruit, his Xs and Os and the ability to be the face of the program deserve consideration  Diaz is young, but serving as a coordinator at Texas is a good proving ground  Mack Brown is in CEO mode, so his coordinators do much of the heavy lifting  It's great preparation for making the jump to head coach 
What to Watch for in 2012: TOB's potential retirement  Diaz is one of the names on many NC State wish lists  If TOB steps down, some in their fan base will make a big push for Diaz to return to Raleigh 
Defensive Coordinator, Notre Dame
Diaco is one of the most relentless recruiters in college football  If he took over at BC, I think we could upgrade our talent quickly  The New Jersey native has plenty of ACC experience and has recruited at schools with academic restrictions  I don't love his scheme (3-4) and have a few concerns about his defenses being good but never dominant  But he would be a very good fit at BC and worth the risk 
What to Watch for in 2012: An Irish implosion  Although his seat is not as hot as Spaz's, Kelly needs to win this year  If he's fired, we can't hire his fired defensive coordinator  The perception would be terrible among fans and recruits 
Labels: Bob Diaco, Coach Flip is running the show, Coaches to Watch, fire Spaz, Manny Diaz, Mark Stoops, Pat Narduzzi, Speculating with Spaz
More people to follow
A little over a month ago, I posted a few BC related names that you should follow  Now, I have a few more   
BC Hockey Blog: twitter and blog  The diehard hockey fans already follow, but for those more casual BC hockey fans, this is a good place to keep up with our best team 
Warren K  Zola: twitter  BC's Assistant Dean of Graduate programs is pretty plugged into the student athlete scene at BC  He contributes to the Huffington Post on Sports Law, sports news and College Sports 
Lou Imbriano: twitter  The former Patriots executive and current BC professor tweets about a variety of sports and sports marketing news  In my opinion, BC should be leaning on him more with regards to how we market our programs 
BC Che Chi's: twitter  A parody account that only a BC alum would understand  Parody accounts are tough to sustain, but I look forward to Che Chi's contributions come football season 
Justin Rowland: twitter  The Rivals recruiting writer is breaking more and more BC news lately  If you follow recruiting, you should probably follow Rowland 
Labels: BC Hockey, BC voices, follow, twitter, Warren Zola
Pass the Van Nest koolaid and other links
The Globe's feature on 5th year basketball transfer Andrew Van Nest has me fired up  Aside from being a good story, what if this kid can actually play? I know he didn't see the court much at Harvard, but do you trust Tommy Amaker when it comes to managing a roster? The best part of the Van Nest situation is that there is no risk to BC  If he doesn't pan out, he is gone within a year  But who knows, maybe he can give us 10 minutes a game  We need another big body and 6'11 with shooting touch translates into most leagues 
Earlier in the week, the ACC locked in a deal with the Orange Bowl  There is still plenty of conjecture about what it means but there are some strong points in the deal  First the ACC will be able to sell the media rights  That gives us the chance to earn similar dollars to the Big Four conferences  Second, the Orange Bowl will be a New Year's Day game  That's huge as it should help travel and ticket sales  Finally Notre Dame will have an affiliation to the game  One more tie to the Irish is a good thing from a TV standpoint 
Connecticut WR Dave Coggins supposedly verbaled to BC the other day  Rivals says it is not a sure thing yet  BC offered a scholarship to Ohio Dlineman Truman Gutapfel  BC is hoping to get two Florida targets as a packaged deal 
Another Cincinnati-area BC target Evan Jansen committed to Indiana  BC also lost out to California offensive lineman Alex Redmond  Florida LB Nick Internicola seemed like a solid BC target, but he committed to Rutgers earlier this week 
Matt Humphrey is adjusting to his third college team 
Parker Milner has impressed the Bruins at their developmental camp 
Labels: Andrew Van Nest, Dave Coggins, Links, Matt Humphrey, Orange Bowl, Parker Milner, Truman Gutapfel
History Lesson: the Eagle
In honor of the 4th of July, I thought it might be a good time to revisit one of the symbols BC shares with our great nation: the eagle 
Although the Eagle is now synonymous with BC through statues and other references on campus, we were without an official mascot during our first few decades  In 1920 the Heights published a cartoon showing a cat licking a plate of its sports rivals  Yes, we could have been the "Cats " While that would have inspired plenty of nicknames and unique imagery, Father McLaughlin didn't think a cat was the proper representative for our university  He suggested the eagle due to its majesty, power and freedom  We officially became the "Eagles" that same year 
Contrary to millions of sports writers' work, we are not the "golden eagles " And despite Baldwin's looks and name we are not the "bald eagles" either 
Two other FBS programs also use the eagle as their mascot  Like us Eastern Michigan is just the Eagles  Southern Mississippi uses Golden Eagles 
I can't find any evidence that McLaughlin wanted to tie BC's symbols to those of the United States, but it is a nice connection 
Labels: Angry Chicken Logo, Baldwin, bc history, BC logo, U-S-A, We are BC
More Turf news
This is bordering on overkill, but I am going all in   
The good people at AstroTurf have premiered a live video feed of the Alumni Stadium turf installation  Now instead of spending your holiday week outdoors with family and friends, you can watch as synthetic grass is laid down in Chestnut Hill 
Labels: Alumni Stadium renovations, Astro Turf, grass, Turf
Keep fighting the good fight Lax diehards!
AJ's tweet brought the following comments on BC's Facebook page to my attention  After BC posted an update on the new field, Gene and Spaz's critics took to Facebook to vent  The usual complaints about both guys, tailgating and the state of the program filled the discussion  But what stood out to me was one simple comment from Connor Wilson: "bring back lacrosse " I don't share the BC Lax community's mission, but I respect their passion  Lacrosse is never coming back, but that doesn't mean BC shouldn't hear about it every day 
Labels: bring back lacrosse, Coach Flip is running the show, Gene D, Lacrosse
Anderson interview and other links
BCeagles com posted a Q&A with Ryan Anderson  He talked about his summer break and his new teammates  Hopefully the new guys are as far along as Anderson feels they are 
HD is banking on our experience as a reason we could surprise people this year 
BC keeps hitting Ohio prospects hard  The latest target is Cinci LB Marcus Oliver 
Here is more on future Eagle Dan Monteroso  Monteroso also generated some interest from basketball schools  Maybe Spaz will let him play basketball in the Spring 
This matrix took a different look at the Hot Seat issue  With regards to losing and underachieving, Spaz is not as bad as some of the bigger names on the list 
Former eagles Carolyn Swords and Molly Schaus discussed how Title IX impacted their sporting careers 
Labels: Carolyn Swords, Dan Monteroso, fire Spaz, HD, Hot Seat, Links, Marcus Oliver, Ryan Anderson
NFL attendance problems a lesson for BC
BC's faced some attendance issues the past few years  We like to blame the tailgating or Spaz or the schedule, but the reality is there are multiple factors  Just look at the attendance issues facing the most popular league in American sports -- the NFL  If they can't get butts in the seats, how can BC? The NFL has a few different solutions in play  Perhaps, BC can learn from them 
Fewer Seats
The NFL is lowering the bar, so that blackout rules don't require sellouts  Blackouts are not an issue in college, but perhaps few seats will help demand and make Alumni seem full  I don't want to tear out seats, but maybe we can replace the bleachers with actual seats  That would take up more space, eliminate seats and improve the watching experience 
The internet has added fluidity to the ticket market  It used to be BC fans would buy season ticket packages to assure themselves Notre Dame tickets or some other desirable game  Now most know that they can buy the game they want without committing to others they don't  One way to win them back is to lower the investment  BC will miss out on the mark up of the premium games, but at least they will have more people invest in a whole season  BC is indirectly doing this already with their discounts of the less desirable games  If the NFL is lowering prices on parking and concessions, BC should also explore it  Like the NFL we are getting more and more money from TV  Why not make the ingame experience more affordable 
In-game experience
This has been discussed ad nauseum, but needs to be looked at again  I don't think it is as simple as the NFL's push for wireless  We need the game day experience to be inviting from the moment the gates open to the moment the last fan is leaving  It is about the music, the ushers, the video boards, the halftime, the activities during commercial breaks  I don't want BC to turn into a barrage of nonsense, but we can do more 
I don't go to many BC games  That's mostly because of my location  But I also like the watching the game in my home  The convenience, the visuals, and the costs all factor into my decision  But live sports is still a great experience   especially college football  I just hope BC doesn't wait around until the Alumni is empty 



ground_truth: August 25.