Tonight, Rawhide, the “wild west town” in N. Scottsdale, a mile or so from my house, is closing. The last night. Tomorrow, sayonara. Of course, Rawhide would end its 30+ year run on Halloween.

Here’s a short clip of Rawhide’s signature statue, “Come and Get It” which sits out front on Scottsdale Road. The rest of Rawhide is headed to the Gila River Indian Community, but the statue is headed for eBay. Really.

Three or four lifetimes ago, my wife and I worked one night at Rawhide as temp workers (we didn’t have a proverbial pot to p*** in and would do anything for a buck). Actually, the gig got cancelled and we were sent off to Troon to be a bartender and waitress. For those who know me. The concept of me as a bartender is somewhat hilarious. Anyway, fireworks start shortly and then it’s one more tourist attraction down the tubes and one more shopping center springing from the earth.

The final game in our three day stretch took us to Surprise Stadium in..well…Surpirse (AZ). Surprise is a haul not because of the distance but because it requires driving through a series of surface streets with bad traffic. No comments necessary about the driving of those who live in Sun City and Sun City West (major retirement communities).

Surprise Stadium is a tough place to shoot video; the contrast between light and dark is not well defined and it’s difficult to shoot from light into dark and visa-versa. Nonetheless, the stands are close to the field, so close-up shots are easy to come by. However, it’s also not nearly as fan-friendly as Peoria, meaning you can’t get physically close to the dugouts and practice areas for autographs.

Because there were no game day notes for the fans, I had to take a stab in the dark at some of the players’ names (Mostly first names that is). I corrected the mistakes in the subtitles in some parts of the clip. For example, I called Eric Patterson (younger brother of Corey) “Mike.” Well, three games in three days, and your brain begins to fry.

Player of the day: Angel Guzman of the Cubs—five no hit innings. Others featured include Billy Butler (Royals), Brian Sanches (Phillies) and Taylor Buchholz (Astros).

Next game for us will be the Championship Game, 11/12.

It’s not all fun at Arizona Fall League. In this clip, the owners of Zinger Bats, a Utah-based baseball bat company, are showing young Seattle Mariners outfielder, Adam Jones, a few of their more choice models. Apparently, among the major leaguers who use the Zinger Bats are Miguel Cabrera and Pudge Rodriguez. Which one would I use if (in my dreams) I swung for the fences? The X73 model of course—it’s called the Barry Bonds Model.

Our first night game in our many years of going to Fall League. A somewhat larger crowd than normal and there are no issues about sitting in the sun. Our last trip of the Fall League season to Peoria; today, we're off to Phoenix Muni where the crowds have been somewhat more robust.

Featured in this clip are Brad Eldred (Pirates), Chris Young (Chicago White Sox), Ryan Zimmerman (Nationals) and Eddie Rodriguez (coach, Nationals).

Allen and Mike take on recent announcements from Microsoft and others that outlined various efforts to digitize and make searchable all the print material that exists, and then some.

Yes, another trip to Peoria. No, I am not running for mayor of the city. Today, TS and I (and about 100 other folks) saw the Desert Dogs get whalloped by the home standing Saguaros. Lots of miscues, not the least of which was from future D-back shortstop Stephen Drew. Brad Eldred, a first baseman who played much of the season for the Bucs in Pittsburgh, hit two home runs.

Three more games in the next two days. Stay tuned.

I haven't mentioned any cool companies for a while, but Video Egg is cool. Very cool. The company offers a platform/system that allows those with videos to add easily add clips to blogs, Websites, etc... Currently, the company's goal is power other services such as Typepad, a blogging ecosystem. The future? Who knows.

Check it out.

Mike and I ponder the plight of Judth Miller and credibility issues surrounding reporters and blogger-reporters. Can software replace editors in determining quality of content and reliability of sources? Also, we touch on the New Times' purchase of the venerable Village Voice.

(excuse the lousy audio editing...My skill set is video editing)

The sumamry below is comical and close to conspiracy theory. The Web has been in the workplace for close to a decade; all of the sudden, blogs are making us less productive? What about those folks who have been glued to eBay all day in the office? Businesses who are concerned should just set up filtering software, not that such a move would stop most people.

My annual Fall League birthday baseball game was a day late, but full of excitement nonetheless. It was the Surprise (nee Scottsdale) Scorpions at the Peoria Saguaros. First viewing of the Scorpions this year, and it’s a team filled with talent: Brandon Wood, Kendry Morales, Michael Bourn, Jared Weaver, etc..

This clip provides an overview of the game and then some up-close shots of a few players, most notable Alex Gordon (No. 2 pick in the most recent draft) and Brandon Wood (he of 43 minor league homers this past season), a graduate of Horizon High School in Phoenix (and former top draft pick of the Angels). By the way, if you want to get a glimpse at a future Cy Young candidate, look at Jared Weaver (also of the Angels). He was a No. 1 pick who held out an entire season before signing. He is the real deal with major heat plus a wicked, major league curve.

One of the highlights of the game between the Peoria Saguaros and Surprise Scorpions was getting to see Phillies prospect Scott Mathieson. I had the good fortune to meet Scott’s father Doug, who was in town coaching Team BC (Players from British Columbia, Canada) as it competed in the Arizona Fall Classic, a baseball tournament held at the Peoria complex (where the Mariners and Padres train). The tournament is for top high school players from throughout North America.

Doug Mathieson is also the coach responsible for Adam Loewen (also in Fall league), Jeff Francis, Larry Walker and young Giants pitcher Morgan Brinson. Brinson was featured in a video clip from Arizona Rookie League.

Scott is a budding prospect in the Phillies organization, playing this season in A ball at Clearwater. With 114 K's in 111 innings this past season, I'd say he's the classic power pitcher destined for Citizens Bank Park. He’s invited to big league training camp for '06, but the smart money says he starts the season in Reading. Hey, it could be worse; Reading is the granddaddy of all shopping outlet cities and has the best (I mean best) pretzels in the U.S. Oh, by the way, Mathieson did not have one of his better outings today; he gave up a handful of runs and the score was 10-10 when we left in the 7^th.

Here’s something you won’t find on local Phoenix TV stations until they get around to their ho-hum coverage of the news: Empty Bowls, an annual charitable event in commemoration of World Hunger Day. Here’s a clip from the Empty Bowls event in Carefree, Arizona. The event also had a silent auction and was adjacent to the weekly farmers market (sadly in need of some good greens vendors.)

While in Orlando, Mike and I took some time to go over to Disney's Boardwalk (faux b-walk, if you ask me) and talked about our personal experiences with boardwalks. Mike's from Santa Cruz, which has one of the best-known plank-doms on the West Coast.

(bare with the sound quality, it's a good clip)

This quote from the Washington Post on citizen journalism. Think the company is feeling the pressure from the success of Backfence?

"Can't tell you when, but we're working on a handful of other ways to engage users, and among them is allowing for submission of content from outside sources. But there are a lot of details to be worked out before we're ready to go live."

When you have four hours to kill between flights, you look for strange things about which to shoot video. I have long wanted to take a clip of the underground light show that serenades travelers as they go from Terminal B to Terminal C in the United wing.

I was asked by a local TV station to take down a video clip I shot at the station as part of a charity event. It was an on air, in-studio cut-away in which a representative from one of the nation’s most significant charitable organizations aimed at eliminating one of the most frightening illnesses in the world, was being interviewed. I did not show anything about the TV station that would be competitive or secretive to competitors. Somehow, the clip upset the station.

As part of my participation in the keynote speech here in Orlando at the Gartner Symposium, I talked about the changing face of media and how these changes scare incumbent media companies. I’d say that instead of worrying about consumer content creators looking to spread the message of those raising money to conquer dreaded illness, TV stations should get their act together and join the content revolution.

Who knew? In light of my "surreycam" clip from the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk, I found it interesting to see surreys on the boardwalk by the Disney Boardwalk Hotel in Orlando. The boardwalk is much shorter (and far less colorful) than its NJ counterpart, and the surreys are a "tad more" expensive to rent. It would be difficult, however, to keep my surrey-loving wife away.

This clip is for my favorite pool person (and she knows who she is). Here's a few seconds of the person whose job it is to keep the fountain/pool in front of the Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel well chlorinated. Still, I wouldn't be willing to take a dip in the massive fountain.

I had the privilege of participating today in the opening keynote of the Gartner Symposium in Orlando. Of course, I spoke on issues such as citizen journalism and consumers as networks. I actually shot video while I walked on stage to emphasize the power of videoblogging. You need to go to the Gartner home page to see it. I’ll put it up here in a few days.

Not to mention consumer creators...This statement from SAG--

As the representatives for the creative community we embrace new technologies that expand distribution of material featuring the work of our members. The announcement today unveiling the Apple iPod represents the latest chapter in the ongoing technological evolution of our industry. We have not yet heard from the responsible employers of our members,but we look forward to a dialogue that ensures that our members are properly compensated for this exploitation of their work

Looks like I have a new neighbor. It makes sense for Google to open an Arizona office for a number of reasons, but I’ll spare you the Chamber of Commerce rap. For me, it’s a signal that Google is moving into the payments business. Amex, Discover and many others have their payment headquarters here because space is (relatively) cheap; the cost of living is (relatively) low. There are an increasing number of skilled workers moving here and it good for us to expand our employment base beyond the service industry.

Spoken like someone running for Congress in a few years?

My new TV Guide came in the mail today. Since when did People magazine had a TV grid?

Scripps is debuting the TV program “My First Place” online before it ever airs on “conventional TV.” (BTW, it's hosted by Jill Cordes of Food Network fame) How long will it be before programs routinely not only debut over the Web but us that medium as a primary of secondary distribution channel? Ten years? Five years? I’d say within the next five years, each network will have at five programs that air on the web, either at the same time or shortly after its over the air broadcast.

What better way to spend Columbus Day than watching an Arizona Fall League game. Today, the Peoria Saguaros hosted the powerful Phoenix Desert Dogs.  We came to see the Dogs, last year’s AFL champion. That team features a host of future stars including Stephen Drew (Diamondbacks), Greg Miller and Andy LaRoche (Dodgers), Andre Ethier and Daric Barton (Athletics) and Jarrod Saltalmacchia (Braves).

I avoided the long in-game shots which I need to hold off on until I get a camera with a more powerful zoom. Instead, I focused on the players before the game. Saltalmacchia (whose name I butchered in the clip) is going to be a favorite. He has a big smile and was quite warm to the young fans. He even spoke to me.

As you might imagine, much of my focus was on Stephen Drew of the Diamondbacks. Drew did not disappoint; he hit a monster three-run homer onto the lawn in right field. In baseball terms, he was worth all $4 million-plus the D-backs spent.

One final note: leaving the park, we spotted Jenny Finch, softball superstar, sitting in the stands. She is married to Casey Daigle, a minor league pitcher with the Diamondbacks. (BTW, he was a very friendly guy with the the fans before the game).

I am on Fall League hiatus until Oct. 21st, my birthday. I have been to an AZ Fall League game on my birthday each of the past four years.

The New York Times gets creative in reaching readers with an ineterst in entertainment using a targeted channel. Very clever idea.

This weekend (Oct. 7^th and 8^th) marks the grand opening of the Carefree Farmers Market. As you can see, it’s a small gathering of vendors so far, but one of the sellers told my wife more vendors will be at the market once the market in Cottonwood is over.

Before the start of each Arizona Fall league game, the young players sign autographs and pose for pictures. The handful of fans get into this up-close-and-personal scene, almost always treating the players with respect.

This clip features Jeff Clement, Seattle Mariners; Dan Uggla, Arizona Diamondbacks; Val Majewski, Baltimore Orioles; Gary Harris, Seattle Mariners and Jim Miller, Colorado Rockies.

Editor's Note: Excuse the typo in the titles. Val Majewski's last name is spelled incorrectly. I will try and fix.

What better day for the opening of our Fall League season. Sunny and about 100 degrees and the Peoria Saguaros hosted the Peoria Javelinas at Peoria Stadium (naturally). Last time we were at that stadium, we saw the Mariners and White Sox in Spring Training with Felix Hernandez on the hill. Today, we saw lots of great young talent with the Javelinas pounding the Saguaros 13-3 (when we left in the 8^th inning).

We saw homers galore (one captured on the video clip here) by such future stars as Mariners No. 1 pick Jeff Clement as well as by Rockies budding star Ian Stewart, Diamondbacks’ minor league sensation Dan Uggla and Michael Johnson, a hulking first baseman from the Padres.

There was a crowd of about 100, which is decent for a weekday Fall League game. We’ll be back next Monday to see a game in Surpirse.

Today marks our first game of the Arizona Fall League season. It is, without question, one of baseball's best-kept secrets. I will post videos here, but have started another blog devoted only to Fall League.

Stay tuned!

Looks like AOL has purchased Weblogs. For the few naysayers out there who believe blogs aren’t real or worth looking at or investing in, this should end all speculation. Everyone is on board. Podcasting is really close behind; major announcements regarding big ticket players and Podcasting are on the horizon.

But, I am most interested in TV over the Web (as opposed to IPTV). It’s the REALLY hot opportunity. Blinkx and Brightcove stepped up big time this week, and you have to think Google isn’t far behind (especially given its airing of “Everybody Hates Chris.”). I know I am working on a few TV channels to be distributed over these new non-politicized networks. For example, do you think I could get every baseball blogger to syndicate (or carry) my upcoming videos of Arizona Fall League? We’d all make money.

Stay tuned!

How will Yahoo! and Microsoft respond?

SAN FRANCISCO The online search engine, Google, is poised to leap into the telecommunications business.

The California company has filed an application to provide free wireless Internet service to all of San Francisco. The mayor wants the free service to allow all income groups to access the Internet in the city.

More than a dozen other firms are competing with Google.

If Google is selected, San Francisco could become a testing ground for a national "wi-fi" service. Industry observers speculate Google is trying to ensure that people can connect to its search engine anytime, from practically anywhere. Google says it has no plans to take the service national.

Well, it's not the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco or Union Square Farmers Market in New York, but today the Roadrunner Park Farmers Market kicked off the Arizona Farmers Market Season. No organic stone fruit, rosemary sea salt or heirloom tomatoes, but good-looking salsas and chiles.

Martha Stewart would be back in the slammer. I just love this quote:

"Given her notoriety and all the publicity surrounding her comeback to television, I expected more tune-in," says Laura Caraccioli-Davis of the media-buying firm Starcom. "It just goes to show she's not as big as we all thought."