One of the little challenges of doing the Daily Newswire is weeding out all the repetitive stories once the AP gets ahold of something. It's one of the reasons that automated tickers that you see on fan sites don't work all that well - they either report only stories from a single source, or they report everything, which means a lot of duplicates.
We used to run something called The.Raw.Feed, which was sort of an RSS feed for all the stories we could find. It put together all the RSS feeds we had back then, plus a bunch of our own feed scrapers. The biggest problem with it was when the AP reported something - all of a sudden there would be a spasm of forty identical stories from papers running the AP wire.
So, when we do the Daily Newswire (which is mostly John Taylor's work these days), we tend to only link AP stories once, from whatever the first source is that we find that hands the story, so we don't waste your time and ours.
That's a factor, because the AP has reports on the two major Browns stories from yesterday: Romeo Crennel's two-year contract extension and Ryan Pontbriand being named to the Pro Bowl. Props to Scout's Adam Caplan for actually getting the Crennel story first, and still getting details you can't find anywhere else.
BROWNS NEWS FROM THE OBR NEWSWIRE (rss)
Browns, Crennel Agree to Extension
The OBR Associated Press News-Herald Plain Dealer
Pontbriand Makes the Pro Bowl
John Taylor Associated Press DDN ABJ Official Site
Other Stuff
ABJ: Jamal Lewis wants to stay
ESPN: To understand Belichick, look what he did with Browns
ROCHESTER BROWNS BACKERS BANQUET
This looks like a good one if you're in the Rochester, NY area. Here's the press release:
BROWNSFEST '08 will be held on Saturday evening, April 19, 2008 at The Diplomat Banquet Center, 1956 Lyell Avenue, Rochester, New York.
Headlining this year's event: Felix Wright and Shaun Smith
Felix Wright ably manned the safety spot for the Browns from 1985 to 1990, which means he was there, in person, for The Drive and The Fumble. He should have some memorable stories to share! He also had some famous dealings with David Modell, and he's promised to tell us "the REAL story behind the story" of his years with Art and David.
If you read any of the season review stories by the beat writers, you noted that they recognized Shaun Smith as the Browns most versatile lineman this season, as he was moved back and forth from end to nose tackle throughout the year to help fill the void caused by injuries to Roye, Washington and Kelley. Shaun started 8 games at end and 3 at nose tackle, making 63 tackles with 2 sacks, 4 pressures, 2 pass breakups and a forced fumble. Tony Grossi wrote: "Shaun had a breakout season ... should be moved to nose tackle ... could develop into a star."
Festivities begin at 6 pm with a social hour and autograph session.
A buffet dinner begins at 7, with the question-and-answer session beginning at 8 pm.
"Advance Sale" Tickets are $45 for adults until March 1st, $50 thereafter, and $25 for L'il Pups under 16. At the door, tickets (if available) will be $60. Tickets can be reserved by calling 585-482-3641 (Howard) or by e-mail at
BROWNSFEST@GMAIL.COM.