Coyotes Basketball Showing Lots Of Fight

No Quit Attitude

Craig Smith had to fight an uphill battle almost immediately after getting hired to take over the South Dakota men's basketball program. Numerous players quit, didn't qualify academically or graduated. 

Losing a leader like center Trevor Gruis to graduation was going to be a blow. The team hoped Washington State transfer James Hunter could replace some of Gruis' production, but he's mostly been silent all year and only had three points on 1-5 shooting in the 87-79 loss to Youngstown State.

But despite getting nearly no production from their bigs, the team hasn't backed down.

47 of the team's 79 points came from player's 6'3" or shorter: Seniors Tyler Larson and Brandon Bos and junior Casey Kasperbauer. The team is so undersized that at times you'll see the 6'3" Larson switch from point guard to power forward. Coach Smith has appluaded Larson's "throwback" style of doing whatever is asked.

"Some guys want to be pegged as a two or a three. (Tyler) doesn't care," Smith says. "He just wants to be on the floor and that's what I love about him.

The team has also gone into three overtimes this year. Yes, they've lost all three of them, but they've showed enough heart and fight to get to all three of them. 

Another storyline to follow early on has been the progression of Kasperbauer. 

"I'm feeling really comfortable this year and really have enjoyed playing for coach Smith," Kasperbauer said. 

Kasperbauer lead all Summit League freshman in scoring two years ago with 8.8 points per game but last year he wasn't utilized as heavily in Joey James' rotation, seeing his minutes per game drop from 27.6 to 18.2, thus seeing his scoring also drop by two points per game. But his minutes are back up to 29 this year and it's been paying off.

"Casey has been playing really well lately and I tell him to shoot it every time he can," Smith said. 

Larson also said he's seen a difference in Kasperbauer.

"He's been that guy that has hit big shots and it's been nice to see him involved again because he can get points in a hurry," Larson said. 

Kasperbauer scored 18 in the loss to Youngstown State. 

It's a long season, but without a doubt, two storylines to follow will continue to be the team playing gritty while being undersized and watching the progression of Kasperbauer. 

Week 12 Blog

The future of social media marketing

It only takes one word to answer the question of what the future of social media marketing will be in the future: bright. The sky truly is the limit for where it can go. Media marketing started off with newspaper ads, then moved on to radio ads and then moved on to television ads. While those are still prevalent, the marketing of media has expanded immensely. 

Social media marketing will always be as popular as what came before it, regardless of what inventions are created in the future. That's because people will always want to connect with one another, and through connecting, you can market stuff. Because of that, social media marketing will always exist, and always be a hot commodity. 

This article goes more in-depth with that thought. 

http://www.imediaconnection.com

Another intersting take the article expands on is the continuing growth of mobile devices. It isn't going to take long before most people are checking the internet on their phones or tablets more than they are on their computer. Complanies will continue getting smarter and utilize that aspect of social media even more. Just another reason why social media marketing will continue being as popular as ever. 

Here's a picture of the current budget of social media marketing.

Current Budgeting  

No one saw Facebook blowing up the way it did. Then came Twitter, Instagram, Vine, etc. No one has any clue what the next form of social media will be to blow up. But the way things are going, it surely won't disappoint. It's also a good guess that some sort of social media will be created that's more integrated with businesses. That'll make the marketing boom even more. 

There's nothing suggesting why the future of social media marketing will slow down and not be as popular as its previous forms. It'll continue being the monster it is by generating even more interest and even more money. 

Week 11 Blog

Week 11 Blog

Thank the lord for viral videos — at least some of them. 

Some videos get overplayed so much that I want to bang my head against a wall. On the other hand, some videos that go viral are legitimately hilarious. Sometimes so hilarious that I will watch them on repeat for a week.

One video that went viral within the last two months that, at one point, I particularly liked, was the "Legally Blind" YouTube video. In this video, a woman is suspected of committing some sort of crime revolving around a car. The ensuing events in the video are what made it go viral. 

The lady says she didn't drive the car because she is "legally blind" and is then asked, "so can you see?" She then replies with, "barely."
Here's a picture of her.
Picture

In the events after she sings about her "momma" and "pop."

I think the reason I liked the video so much was because of the irregularity about the entire scene. The lady acts so strange and says such unexpected things that I couldn't help but laugh. 

Videos can go viral for many reasons. One of those reasons is obviously humor. To me, this video had plenty of humor. One other reason this video went viral was because it got really popular on Vine. People made their own videos and had the "barely" line in their Vines. As the reading states, some of the main components to viral videos are blogs/websites and YouTube itself. This used those components. 

Here's another article describing how a video goes viral.

Make Your Video Go Viral

This article makes some very good points. The "Legally Blind" video is definitely upbeat. And it's not longer than two minutes, so it has some characteristics of being short and sweet.

Videos go viral for so many reasons. It's always interesting see why they did. In this case, it was mostly humor.

Week 10 Blog

Super Bowl Blog 

The Super Bowl is the mecca of advertising and branding. We're all used to see numerous Budweiser, Dorito and GoDaddy commercials during the game. That's because these brands have made it a staple to spend big money and get their name out there.
Super Bowl commercials are the most watched commercials out there, which is why they are so expensive. It's pretty astounding how high the price has reached. Reports came out this summer that 2015 Super Bowl commercials will cost north of $4 million.
Cost of SB commercials
With the rise of social media, it wouldn't be surprising to see something new and creative be designed through social media during the Super Bowl. Twitter took center stage during the blackout in 2013 and you can definitely expect ads on Facebook and Twitter to ramp during that time of the year.
One area that can be done with social media is integrating apps with commercials. It wouldn't be surprising to see a company get you interested during the commercial and then to learn more you have to download a new app. Another area with social media that I could see companies steer towards is going heavy on hashtags for new campaigns. It wouldn't be surprising to see hashtags involved at the end of commercials with the intent of getting it trending on Twitter.
And lastly, one other area companies will probably attack during the time of the Super Bowl is fan-related commercials. We've seen some of this in the past and it has seemed to be highly successful. Fans of a company send in self-made commercials in hopes of theres being chosen. It could be even more involved with social media if it's involved with Twitter or potentially even a combination of multiple Vines. It gets lots of easy fan interaction. Last year Doritos offered the winner $1 million.
Here's a picture of one that got second place.
Homemade Doritos Commercial
Companies know the Super Bowl is a time they can go hard after new campaigns or really just try to get their name out there. It's always an fun time for viewers and that should only enhance with the continued involvement of social media.

Week 09 Blog

Campaign 

Campaigns for companies are always happening. Companies want to continue coming up with new ideas to continue the buzz for their product. 

Social media has just enhanced campaigns for companies. Reaching out to the age demographic of 15-30 has never been easier. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, etc. has made campaigns for companies much larger. 

One of my favorite social media campaigns has been the #ItsMillerTime campaign for Miller Lite. The campaign asked followers and fans to share pictures of them with the new bottle through social media. Miller Lite brought back their old-fashioned white Bottle and something that simple has generated extra revenue for the company. 

This article explains the new campaign.

#ItsMillerTime

As the article says, the campaign is and has been successful because it is all user generated. Having Miller Lite fans tweet pictures of themselves with the beer is branding within itself. Quite genius. Miller Lite knows by having a campaign like this, hundreds of thousands of Twitter users will tweet pictures of themselves with Miller Lite bottles. 

The more pictures tweeted, the more timelines fill with free advertising. And the motivation? It's simple. If Miller Lite stays consistent with retweeting and responding to enough people, the tweets will continue coming. 

My Belief

My Biggest Belief

In life, one thing is clear to me, and that is FOE.

FOE, or "Family Over Everything" is something i stand by and always will. Family is something that will always have my back and it's the people I trust most. Whenever I have a question, I can easily pick up the phone and call my mom. 

My mom is the person most responsible for instilling all the values that I believe in. If I misbehaved, she got after me. She may have been crazy at times, but if was for the better. My mom is without a doubt, the person most responsible for shaping me into the person I am today.

As for my dad, he's nearly as responsible. He may be the second most knowledgable person I know about sports, behind me (of course...)

I only have one sibling and that would be my sister. We talk every once in awhile. But now she's a freshman in college and the talking has only grown. That has made me very happy, because as you know, it's family over everything. 

My reasoning for having this belief isn'y much different than others. I realize how important everyone close to me is. And that doesn't just mean my immediate family members. 

My mom has had both of her parents pass away. Her mom passed away when my mom was just 18 years old. My mom mentions all the time how badly she wishes we got to meet her. 

So it's real simple. Family can be precious. It's important to cherish the time you have. 

FOE. Family over everything. 

Week 8 Blog

Social Media

Reading on this Washington school shooter, we have a very tricky situation on our hands. Understandably, school shootings are a very touchy topic that can evoke a lot of emotion. 

High schoolers can be very emotional, so reading the boy became unattached with society based on relationships isn't too surprising, unfortunately. 

As far as the tweets are concerned, I would first want to determine whether or not they held any relevance or insight into why the shooter acted as he did. If it determined that indeed the tweets are deemed relevant then I wouldn't see too much wrong with using them. Another reason I wouldn't see much wrong with using the tweets is the fact that social media is public knowledge already. Yes there are ways to lock an account, but anyone who uses any form of social media should remember that anything you put up runs the chance of being made public. 

But that the same time, tweeting is some interesting stuff. Sometimes you just have to let them be. Obviously, you can't say that whatever someone says on twitter is exactly what they mean, think and feel. Sometimes,  I think you can say it has a pretty good chance of being quite near to what they are thinking, and when dealing with such a violent crisis such as this it is very important to take into consideration. The psychological side of things is something that will likely get further attention is years down the road.

The Washington shooting had many emotions involved. Here is a picture of some of the emotions. 

Emotions 

At the same time, posting social media stuff right away means you are walking a tight rope. It can be very hard to decipher what is truly meant, and what it fake-meant. Yet, in this story, here is evidence that a girl shot in this shooting died, and it was obviously fatal.

Fatal Shooting

In the end, it's a very tricky topic to discuss. Social media can be a very interesting topic to search. At times, it can be very obvious, but at times it can be kids that aren't totally serious. As a result, I think looking at a kid's social media page and posting it is totally okay. If it helps eliminate future killings, that is a success. That's the potential it hold with these fragile kids, which in the end is worth it.  

coMPARE Lab

Information: coMPARE Lab

Sitting in a recliner, watching TV, and being part of a growing team. What do these three things all have in common? They're all part of the coMPARE Lab at the University of South Dakota. 

This lab is truly a unique addition to the school and has made Vermillion the home of media research in the state. 

So what is the coMPARE Lab exactly? Well for starters, it's actually an acronym. It stands for Communication Media Psychology and Related Effects. The lab is a psycho-physiology lab that does many lab reports on the brain and why it remembers certain details within the realm of the media. 

The idea to bring this to the University of South Dakota started a ways back, four years to be exact, by Professor Brandon Nutting. Nutting had worked with two other labs of this nature during his college years at the Ohio State University and Texas Tech. Remarkably, those were just two of the eight schools in the nation that had this media-driven lab. With a vision (and funding), Vermillion, S.D. became the home of the ninth psycho-physiology lab.

Since it is only in its second year of existence, it's still continuing the process of growing each and every day. 

Located in the basement of the Al Neuharth Building, this unique set-up features computers, charts, a TV and of course, a recliner. An example of something you might experience in the coMPARE Lab is sitting on the recliner while watching a TV show. You have equipment connected to you, trying to see how your brain is processing. After, you answer some questions and discuss elements that caught your attention. 

So what's the big deal of all of this?

"It gives us real, hard answers," Nutting said. 

Nutting says the lab is in a good position right now, but they are working hard to partner with advertising agencies.

"Being that we're the leader in media research for the entire state, we're looking to expand in many ways," Nutting said. "We want to build money for the school.

It may be a lab without much tradition, but given the good start, it shouldn't take a whole lot of time for the ball to really start rolling. 

Week 07 Blog

Apple Pay

As the prompt says, Apple released Apple Pay earlier this week. This is an interesting idea, because it saves people the hassle of carrying around cash and credit cards. It's also a potential revolutionary idea because it can save tons of money from credit card fraud.

Credit card fraud is prevalent in today's society and will be as long as credit cards are around.

 Here is a story I read yesterday about a guy getting busted for credit card fraud.

Busted

Google Pay seems like it is coming out at a perfect time in today's world. Google Wallet was a similar attempt to make life easier on people, but it may have been too far ahead of it's time. To live in today's world you almost need to be caught up to speed with technology, and most people now realize that. That is a main reason why Google Pay may indeed catch on. 

Google Wallet Display

Mobile Payments are something that will continue growing. As the world keep growing, so will the way things are paid for. Apple Pay has a lot of potential and the reviews, so far, have been good. I'm on board and I'm interested to see how far it can go. 

Week 6 Blog

Anonymous Apps

Social media will seemingly always continue growing. Around the University of South Dakota and other campuses, the growth has been in anonymity. Yik Yak and Fade have been the biggest reasons towards this. 

Personally, I don't use either app. I actually didn't even know what Yik Yak was until two weeks ago and have still never used it. I do know what it is, and know the problems that arise from it. As for Fade, I'm not really sure what it is. All I know is it somehow lets you share stuff temporarily. The key word being temporarily. 

What's dangerous is stuff that goes online usually is never temporarily. Kids can get in a lot of trouble if they think some of the stuff they throw on these sites will be gone forever. 

Here's an example of the problems Yik Yak can cause. Saying things like this isn't very acceptable.

Problem with Yik Yak

One thing that seems obvious, but apprantly isn't, is don't be stupid on Yik Yak. Using the app can be fun, but making threats with the thought that you won't be found is a mistake you'll surely regret.

Here was a story a kid being arrested for making threats on Yik Yak, 

Don't be dumb

I don't use either of these apps, but knowing what they can potentially cause is still important. I'm  not really a fan of them, because just reading something without knowing who said it doesn't seem very fun to me. In the end, Yik Yak and Fade can be a slippery slope for college students. Having fun with it is fine, but going past the line can get you in trouble, so think before you act.

Week 5 Blog

Breaking through the clutter

It's very obvious that technology basically runs the world, in some sense. It really is more powerful than ever. Companies are making sure they take advantage of this by using all the technology they can— and that includes social media. 

Twitter, Facebook and Vine are all media platforms that I check frequently, and all three seemingly are getting more and more cluttered with ads. Below is an example of an ad on Twitter.

Twitter advertising 

I don't follow Subway, but Subway paid to get their tweet on my timeline. It's almost becoming normal to just realize it's an ad, but at the same time, it's very annoying. I can't honestly say there was a single time I saw an ad on social media and it influenced me to want that product. Rather, it potentially might mean the opposite. Ff I see the same ad popping up too frequently, I'm pretty sure I'd avoid that product more just because I remember it annoying me.

I understand that in the story, Industry executives say this is the advertising of today and the future. But it's hard to see it continuing fluttering up my own pages. 

"The end game is still to sell, of course, but agencies will do anything to get further under the consumer's skin." 

That's the attitude that gets people annoyed. Force feeding us ads just seems like a major turn-off. 

How to set-up Twitter ads

This link shows how easy it is for companies to set up ads on Twitter. So, as you might have guessed, literally any company can set it up. 

All in all, it's frustrating that this is the new era type of advertising. I wish it wasn't, but I'm bracing for it to continue happening.. and growing.

Yotes fall to UNI Panthers

            The 100th Dakota Day hype appeared to be too much for the University of South Dakota football to handle.

            South Dakota came into their homecoming game with high hopes of taking down Northern Iowa for the second year in a row and improve to 3-3 on the year.    Unfortunately, UNI got the best of the Coyotes for the majority of the afternoon, taking down the Coyotes 30-16, dropping the Coyotes to 2-4 (0-2) on the year.

            “They (UNI) are just a good football team. I’m not kidding you,” head coach Joe Glenn said. “I’d be surprised if they don’t go on and have a really good season.”

            One of the headlines heading into the game was the return of quarterback Kevin Earl. Earl had been out since the season-opener against Oregon when he fractured his right thumb.

            “It was awesome to be able to suit up and go out there again,” Earl said. “Especially since it was in front of such a big crowd and since it was such a big game for us. It’s just tough handling a loss right now.”

            Earl ad the offense looked extremely sharp right out of the gates, scoring a touchdown on an 11 play- 76-yard scoring drive.

            “The first drive we overcame penalties and it felt great and we had a lot of confidence at the time,” Earl said. “But after that we were just in bad field position and that’s the way the game kind of went.”

            Like Earl said, it was almost all downhill from there for the Coyotes offense. The Coyotes racked up eight penalties for 75 yards and Earl was sacked seven times.

            “That was the difference,” Glenn said.

            Glenn said the Panthers front seven is as good of a group as they’ve played all year and just overpowered his team.

            “This game was won in the trenches and their front seven was sensational,” Glenn said.

            “Earl finished the game with 260 yards passing and one touchdown. He also threw two interceptions and said he has a lot of room to grown after missing more than a month of the season.

            “I thought I made some nice plays,” Earl said. “I just can’t turn the ball over,”

            The Coyotes are now 2-4, which isn’t where they want to be considering they were 3-3 at this point last year.

            “I don’t worry about being 2-4. I worry about losing to the 10,000 people that were there today,” Glenn said. “It’s so much fun during homecoming and we wanted to win so bad. We had a chance, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

            The Coyotes will look to win their first Missouri Valley game of the year next week when they travel to Missouri to take on Missouri State. The Coyotes beat Missouri State 17-14 last year, which was their first ever win in the conference.

Week 4 Blog

Work Clothes

What you wear to work seems like something that's fairly important. As they say, if you want to feel good, you've got to look good. Dressing for success is something that is very important for most professions.

Notice I said most. In the world of technology and computers, dressing for success is becoming a dying standard. As the article from ragan.com says, casual attire is becoming more and more normal in most professions. But is this that big of a deal? The story notes an interesting point: If performance and formality were directly proportional, everyone would choose success. But what the article tells us is you should not be putting such a big emphasis on how nicely one is dressed. Finding out that the White House now lets people work without a tie (unless meeting with the president) is a fun fact the story brings up.

In the end, ragan brings up good pointers on what you should be doing for your own dress code, but leaves us off with saying that essentially if your workers are getting the job done, the emphasis shouldn't be on what they are wearing. 

I think the advice is very solid. Something that immediately came to my head was this picture.

Craig Sager's suit game is on point.

Sure, Craig Sager probably went against some guidelines for his work attire. But it made him feel good and who was to tell him not to wear these kind of suits? He is one of the best guys at what he does. Feeling good while not overstepping your boundaries within your work can be a fine line, but there still should be flexibilty. 

NBA Dresscode

The NBA is a place that, nearly 10 years ago, decided enough was enough and made a dress code. They wanted to make sure every one of their players represented the league with a good image. It was a good idea then, and is still a good idea today. Seeing a dress code written in words like that puts it into perspective of how important dressing for success is to some people. Now, for someone that just sits behind a computer, this is probably too far. But it's still something good to relate to. 

All in all, dress codes are important. But there shouldn't be a whole lot of complaints about the dwindling importance put on it. As long as someone is effective at what they do and not tracking attention for what they wear, no one should have a problem.

Week 3 Blog

Social Media Impact

One of the coolest parts of growing up in this era is the craze of social media, no doubt about it. It's new and that's what makes the impact that much cooler. People aren't really sure where or how far it will take us. It has so much potential.

That potential, unfortunately, has a cost. Facebook and soon Twitter have all undergone major changes throughout their history and a big reason for that is the amount of money they make. 

Twitter and Facebook are always trying to stay up to date and active with their users. But the marketing also has a say and some businesses think that will cost them. 

I personally don't think this is going to slow down social media marketing. Social media is a machine and people will see what they want to see regardless of what is attempting to get in their way. Sure, people will start geting annoyed when Twitter follows Facebook's route and starts trying to tell you what's most important to read, but I can't see it slowing down Twitter to be anything newsworthy. Twitter will listen to the people if it ever got to that point. At least I have to believe that. The article states that Google has already taken away privileges from its free users, and this could happen with Twitter. But at the same time, it's not going to slow down social media marketing. It's simply the way of the future. And people adapt, especially when it comes to social media and all the innovative creations though its powers.

Week 2 Blog Topic

Social Media within a Company

Asking whether a CEO of a company should be using social media is a broad question. Many scenarios point to it being absolutely fine, and even at times beneficial, while other scenarios point to it being on the negative side. 

A person using social media needs to realize they are always under a microscope. How they tweet is how the public may portray them, regardless if they or their brand is completely different than how that CEO tweets.

As long as the CEO of theta company realizes that, there shouldn't be a problem with a CEO having and using social media. Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, is active on Twitter and because of it, the popularity of his team always remains high. 

If I was asked to advise the CEO of my company on how to use social media, the first thing I would ask him is who he wants his intended audience to be. If it was for people 40+, I would tell him to keep it very professional and detail oriented. On the other hand, if the intended audience was for people 18-30, there would be a good chance that I would advise him to make it humous and as interactive as possible. That would include using notable hashtags, like #tbt, meaning throwback Thursday, and tweet funny/meaningful pictures from the past every Thursday. 

Social media is a powerful tool and isn't something that should be shied away from. When used correctly, it can really enhance your notoriety, which in the end, is good for business. 

Blog Post 1

Grant Bosiacki

Is Social Media a double-edged sword?

            Social media is clearly taking over people’s lives. Look at the average college student. It’s really not that uncommon for a student sitting right next to you in class to have over 10,000 tweets. 10,000. That’s a lot of time spent in the “Twittererse.”

            Social media is most definitely a double-edged sword. It’s used for many good purposes, but can also be seen as something bad. A picture used to be worth 1,000 words, and it still may be, but what’s growing ever so quickly is the simple click. Twitter accounts want the clicks!

            Twitter brings people together. It’s a way for people to communicate; it’s a way for news to be shared. These are the reasons Twitter is so popular. There has to be a reason it has over 250 million users.

            The good side of the sword is easy to see and if used correctly, that side of the sword should be the most prevalent. The pros, like stated above, are that it’s a way to communicate. Twitter and Facebook make it east to message someone, especially if you don’t have their pone number. It’s a very quick, efficient way to find out abut breaking news. Last Friday it was announced that Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back, had a warrant for his arrest for child abuse. Before any news station announced this over the air, most NFL fans were already notified. That’s because it spread on Twitter like a forest fire. Within minutes, the whole world knew. Social media is also powerful enough to send a notification to your phone. You don’t even need to open Twitter now. Your phone just sends it to you! You can also help network with potential work partners or future job openings. LinkedIn helps meet numerous people to help set you up with a job and show what you’ve already done.

            The negatives can be seen. Once you get past the trolls, you can get there are others that just aren’t smart about social media. As much as social media can help you in your professional life, it can hurt you twice as badly. Using profane language or posting an unprofessional picture of you on the web can get you fired in the blink of an eye. The message is clear: be smart.

            Social media is meant to be a helpful tool. If you are careful with how you brand yourself on social media, the sword should be lopsided in favor of the good side.