Pack Network dominates two-year-old girl demographic

By K.J. Cardinal

Not sure this is something to boast about or not, but the latest Pack Network-produced video spot has proven to be a HUGE hit with the two-year-old girl demographic.

I completed this video for America East earlier tonight and when Anna got home I just happened to play it at the kitchen table while she was eating dinner... and, she LOVED it.

She would freak out and dance while it was on and then ask "Again? Again? Again?" when it would stop. So, I did what any normal person would do and I captured her reaction through the iSight camera on my MacBook while she watched.

To get the full feel for what I'm talking about, watch the America East commercial first...



[WATCH MOVIE]

... and, then watch Anna's reaction. It's priceless.



[WATCH MOVIE]

As an aside, after emailing the commercial to my friend at America East for approval, I also sent him the video of Anna. He loved it... but proceeded to accidentally send the video along to some colleagues instead of the real video. Ooops, but he said that Anna now has a few more fans :)

Running Tourney Blog

By K.J. Cardinal

12:20 pm: Let the games begin!

12:22 pm: Not even 20 seconds into the first game of the 2008 NCAA Tournament and Anna throws up on me. Seriously, I can't make this sh*t up. Scott is here as my witness. Not a good way to start the tourney.

12:48 pm: I have Xavier winning three games in both of my brackets, including beating Duke, and the Musketeers aren't looking good right now versus Georgia. I would obviously love to win the pool that I'm in, but a 14-seed beating a three-seed would be great.

12:52 pm: Angie and Sammy just got home. Sammy had to get teeth pulled today at the dentist, so she's home for the rest of the day and then off tomorrow for Good Friday.

1:05 pm: Temple is also losing to Michigan State. I have this game split in the two brackets that I've done. I'm not quite sure why I put so much stock into the A-10. I just thought their guard play would come up huge in the tourney. Let's hope Xavier and Temple can turn it around in the second half.

1:16 pm: One of my pet peeves has to be when people mispronounce things. How do you say "Xavier"? If you are saying EX-avier, then you're an idiot. If you say Zavier, then you are correct.

1:21 pm: Scott and Angie have both headed back to work temporarily, Sammy's up in her room watching something other than the NCAA tourney and Anna's in her exersaucer...quite a ripper. I'm happy though...games in HD on my TV and March Madness On Demand on my laptop...life is good.

1:30 pm: Alternating possession sucks. Why don't they just throw the ball up for a real "jump ball"? They need to change this rule for college basketball...only for the men though. No need to change it for the women since there are about a dozen jump balls a game in a mid-major women's basketball game. Take my word for it...I've seen more than my share of women's hoops.

1:35 pm: I just checked my PackNetwork.com email account and Bose (Bruce Bosley, Vermont SID) sent me a youtube link to TJ Sorrentine's three-pointer versus Syracuse in 2005. Sorrentine wasn't the best America East player that I've ever seen play...probably not even in the top 10...but he has to have most testicular fortitude that I've ever seen on the basketball court. What on earth would possess him to pull up from 35 feet in the midst of the biggest moment in the history of the state of Vermont? Unbelievable.

There are certain moments in sports that you will never forget where you were. When Sorrentine buried that three, I let out a joyful yelp in the media room at West Virginia's WVU Coliseum. I was in Morgantown for the thrilling Women's NIT game between Maine and the Mountaineers. God my life is pathetic.

2:13 pm: Just saw Adam Hunger in D.C. at the Georgia-Xavier game. Adam is a photographer...we went to Northeastern together. That kid is everywhere. Xavier just went up by seven...please hold on!

2:29 pm: It's such a small world. I was just thinking and there are quite a few people in this year's tourney that have some legit Northeastern or America East ties. For instance, Frank Martin, Kansas State Head Coach...Frank was an assistant coach at Northeastern while I was traveling with the team. He is one of the hardest working, loyal and dedicated men I have ever met. He's definitely a relatively normal guy in a big-time job. I love this crazy Cuban and really hope he can win a few games.

2:40 pm: Xavier buckled down and decided to actually play a little D in the second half versus Georgia. The Musketeers came back and won, 73-61, thus keeping my perfect bracket alive for one game.

2:59 pm: You know it's NCAA tourney time because I just busted out the highlighters for my brackets. The only time I EVER use highlighters is during the tourney. Don't worry, I didn't pull a Digger Phelps and coordinate my shirt and tie with my highlighter...that's so retarded.

3:37 pm: UNLV 31, Kent State 10 at the half. Are you kidding me? Only 10 points. That is pathetic. Somewhere Dennis Wolff is smiling.

3:53 pm: Biggest moment of the day thus far actually had nothing to do with basketball. Anna just successfully fed herself an entire bottle. I had to stop her about three-quarters of the way through and sit her up to burp and then she got right back at it. That was definitely a Pontiac Game-Changing Performance.

3:57 pm: OK, so I have two brackets. Bracket #1 is what I truly think will happen and Bracket #2 is my "upset special" bracket. So far I am 3-0 in Bracket #1 and 2-1 in Bracket #2.

4:34 pm: Northeastern tie: Ian McCaw, Baylor Athletic Director...Ian was AD at NU when I was in college. He has done an amazing job rebuilding their men's basketball program after they had one player shoot and kill another...ridiculous story. While I was working at the 2005 Women's Final Four in Indy, Baylor actually won the title. It was cool to see Ian basking in the glory of a national title...unfortunately, something he never would've accomplished at NU.

6:23 pm: Since someone was interested...we're still alive over here, just breaking for dinner. Fusta just showed up too. We're watching the Cornell-Stanford game, hoping for the unimaginable whiteout...we'd accept one team, but both would be unprecedented.

6:54 pm: Well the Cornell-Stanford game was a bore, but at least we just got the Cornell whiteout. Classic! Sorry for the lack of posts during that game...we had my laptop hooked up to the big screen and I didn't want to be updating the blog during the game. Anyway, the guacamole is great, but it's waaayy too early for the Fromunda cheese to make an appearance.

7:19 pm: I'm definitely fired up for this K State-USC game, but Beasley just picked up his second foul, which sucks. I'm sure Frank will rally the troops and get the Wildcats back on track. USC looks sloppy early.

8:05 pm: K-State's looking good in the first half. Frank did a great job of managing Beasley's foul trouble. Not surprising, the Wildcats are kicking butt in the hustle stats...a staple of a Frank Martin team. Also, Belmont is giving Duke a game. I would love for the Dukies to lose to a 15 seed.

In unrelated news, Fusta is singing Pat Benatar songs...loudly. What a great day.

9:09 pm: I should've taken the over on the number of Vince Gill shots during the Duke-Belmont game.

9:20 pm: Coming out of a timeout with the game on the line and Belmont tries to throw an alley-oop? Are you kidding me? What the hell was the in-bounder thinking? The guy in the lane (#40) totally didn't hit his screen on #2's defender...don't throw the pass. They're killing me. DUCK FUKE!

9:27 pm: Synonyms...BYU & Whiteout.

10:25 pm: America East tie: Tommy Herrion, Pittsburgh Assistant Coach...Tommy was a color analyst for all AETV games last year. His brother, Bill, is also the coach at UNH. Tommy used to coach at the College of Charleston.

10:27 pm: Fusta's asleep on the couch...snoring away. Despite having a flawless bracket still, his performance today has been less than stellar as this is his second nap of the day and he got here at 6 p.m. Can you say "soft"?

10:32 pm: As if 16 NCAA tourney games in one day wasn't enough, the Celtics are up four at Dallas with four to go right now. They're trying to complete the unheardof Texas sweep as they already beat Houston and San Antonio on this road trip. Not sure what the deal is but Northeastern's Jose Juan Barea isn't suited up tonight for the Mavs. He is looking dapper on the sideline in an ash gray suit though.

10:43 pm: The worst part of the NBA compared to college ball...the Celtics game still isn't over yet. Eleven minutes ago there was four minutes on the clock. Now the C's just called a timeout with 33.8 seconds left. Never ending.

10:46 pm: Ray Allen for three!

10:52 pm: OK, the C's sealed the win, completing the Texas sweep! Four minutes of game action took 20 minutes to complete...brutal. Back tourney action. (PS - I hate Reggie Miller)

12:34 am: I'm falling asleep on the couch, so that's the sign I need to go to bed. The running tourney blog will return tomorrow though!

The Cardinal Vault XII: K.J. breaks finger

By K.J. Cardinal

For the 12th installment of The Cardinal Vault, and the second video entry, we travel back to 1987 for these two gems.

Both clips are from my Pee Wee night game when I was seven years old in a classic match-up of Red vs. Yellow. It's great to not only unleash my stellar basketball skills for the world to see on the internet, but also to see my dad and some of his friends as they were involved in the 500 Boys Club in Farmington back in the day.

The first clip is the highlights from the big game. In starts with me winning the prize for selling the most tickets to the game, followed by the Red team starting lineups and ends with me breaking my pinky finger as I sky for a rebound :)

For those of you familiar with the Farm-town crew, take note that Paul Moulton is the emcee of the event, while my Dad (gray sweatshirt with blue sleeves) and Dave Sargent (blue T-shirt) are the refs for the game. Clearly a conflict of interest with my old man as the ref, which is probably why we won by 14 points. For you America East folks out there...yes, Charlie Diehl was assigning officials for the 500 Boys Club in the mid-80s.

The second clip is from the opening tip until when I check out halfway through the first quarter. It's just an unedited snippet to show you the fast-paced action that epitomized 500 Boys Club basketball back in the mid-80s. It's reminiscent of the Lakers' Show Time. Please take note that it takes me approximately seven seconds before I fire up my first shot...I was a gunner.

Also, just because I'm a stat geek, I couldn't help but keep stats in my head as I watched the game in entirety. I'll be honest, for the game I was 0-for-5 from the field with four assists, five rebounds, three steals and three turnovers. My team was up 12-0 with 5:23 to go in the fourth quarter when I break my finger and then the defense fell apart and gives up a basket. Don't worry though, the Red team was able to hang on for the 16-2 victory in my absence.

Pack Network Premiere

By K.J. Cardinal

Yesterday was a very big day for me both personally and professionally. First off, Anna turned three months and is doing amazing. Not to downplay a milestone in the life of the cutest little girl ever (she's actually deadlocked for that title with Angie's niece JuJu), but yesterday was an even bigger day for Pack Network.

As most of you know, Pack Network is the new company that I started along with Adam Polgreen. Yesterday we had our first official PackCast production, which is an enhanced online video production, for America East.

What this really means is that we try to replicate a true television broadcast, but only distribute the production online. We have been providing online video streaming all year for most home events at UNH, Northeastern and UMBC, but not at this caliber. At those games we have trained staff and students run a scaled down version of our PackCast, which is still a notch above the current industry standard.

Yesterday's broadcast featured a five-camera shoot with dedicated announcers, a "Fox Box" scoreboard, on-screen graphics, tons of in-games notes, instant replays and commercials. We experienced a few technical difficulties along the way, but overall yesterday's production was a great success for it being our first real PackCast.

Things were so hectic before and during the game that Adam and I didn't really get a chance to enjoy what was going on, but now, a day later, I can say that yesterday's production was probably the proudest moment of my professional life.

It was so amazing to have our A Team of Pack Network staff members - Adam, me, Matt Fuller (the stats guru) and Norm Harnick (our ace cameraman) - on hand to pull off the broadcast. Matt & Norm have been the staple staffers that get what we're doing and are really irreplaceable for us.

What made yesterday even more special was the on-air talent that we had. Eric Frede, who most of you probably know from NESN or when he got his start back in the day at WMUR in N.H., was our play-by-play announcer. Just to hear Eric call one of our games and for him to say "Pack Network" during a "PackCast" was a real treat. He's a consummate professional, an amazing announcer and a generous friend. Pam Roecker was our color analyst.

Take a look at the clip below to get a feel for the type of broadcasts that we are doing. This clip is also going to be a commercial that we run in the PackCasts. I'm not going to spoil the finish, but we were fortunate enough to get one of the best women's basketball games that I've ever seen...and I've seen a lot of women's hoops.



Lastly, not to make this sound like my Emmy Award acceptance speech, but I definitely want to take a minute to publicly thank some folks for their help in getting Pack Network to where it is right now:
- Matt Bourque: thanks for your support in anything and everything I do professionally and personally
- Eric: I can't thank you enough for jumping on board to help us out and take our broadcasts to the next level
- Mom & Dad: your undying support for everything I do is something I can never thank you enough for
- Angie: your belief and support in Pack Network from the beginning still drives me every day and I couldn't ask for a better wife

America East PackCast Schedule
Sunday, January 13: WBB - Maine at Albany, 2 p.m.
Saturday, January 26: WBB - Boston U. at UNH, 12 p.m.
Saturday, February 2: MBB - UMBC at Vermont, 1 p.m.
Sunday, February 10: WBB - Stony Brook at Vermont, 1 p.m.
Wednesday, February 13: WBB - Hartford at Vermont, 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 16: WBB - UMBC at Binghamton, 2 p.m.
Log on to www.AmericaEast.com at game time to watch the PackCasts for free.