On March, 4 1993, Jim Valvano won the Arthur Ashe Award at the very first ESPY Awards. This year marks the 15th anniversary.

Jim Valvano coached the NC State Wolfpack to a NCAA National Basketball Championship 1983. After leaving basketball, he became a television Basketball Commentator/Analyst in 1990.

For those not into sports, that is okay. It’s not sports that made him an inspirational person.

In June, 1992 Jim Valvano was diagnosed with terminal cancer. In his acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, Jimmy V announced the formation of The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Jim Valvano died later that same year.

Below is his inspirational and humorous speech from that famous night. (The title of the post will make sense when you watch the video.)

Today, the finalists for the 2007 Heisman Trophy were announced. Unlike the rest of college football, the statistics seem to tell us, there is a runaway clear winner.

Coming into the season, there was no a clear cut winner … as it should be. However, as the season continued, Tim Tebow clearly went ahead of the pack.

It is also interesting to note, Tebow didn’t start pulling away until after September 15th. It’s no coincidence that September 15th was the day Florida beat Tennessee 59-20. Clearly, Tebow made a statement in that game, by scoring 4 touchdowns and passing for nearly 300 yards.

Chase Daniel received a big boost after winning the Big 12 Championship on November 24th, but it may not be enough.

Sadly, Colt Brennan just cannot seem to get noticed outside of Hawaii. He owns or shares 29 NCAA records, including the career touchdown mark of 131. Plus, he led the Warriors through the regular season as the nation’s only unbeaten team.

Ask any football fan who the #1 pick in the NFL draft will be, and the answer will always be Darren McFadden. The Arkansas running back started the season as the Heisman favorite. Statistically he didn’t do anything to disappoint. Unfortunately, his Razorbacks didn’t do enough to get noticed on the national scene.

It will be interesting to see how these numbers compare to the real Heisman Trophy presentation Saturday Nnght.

The NFL season kicks off today with a big sigh of relief from the Ellis household. It is a family event for us. As a long-time sports fan, my wife is just excited as me.

As I prepare myself for the game, I thought of a few football clichés that relate to pay-per-click marketing.

It’s an offensive shootout – Don’t get caught in a bidding war shootout with your competitors. Concede the number 1 spot to them. Let them pay for the traffic and you enjoy the better return on ad spend (ROAS). Stay in the middle of the road with broad terms.

It’s a whole new ballgame – Search Marketing is a whole new ballgame. It’s not as simple as bidding for placement. It is just as important to have quality ads and quality landing pages. Stay away from bid management software.

That was a textbook play – It works for football, but there is no “valid” textbook for pay-per-click marketing. Make your own rules. Decide what works for you. Remember conversion matters, not clicks. Pay for customers.

“You play to win the Game” – I have nothing for this, I just wanted to include this great quote from Herm Edwards.

Ah, Football. Serenity Now!

I must be ready for football, when I am making analogies between search marketing and Steve Spurrier. However, he is one of the best for a reason. Spurrier has always had the great ability to “coach ‘em up.”

The University of South Carolina coach uses the “throw-to-the-spot” offense. It is a simple concept. Instead of having his quarterbacks read wide receivers’ paths and cuts, Spurrier has them throw to an exact spot. This takes the burden off the quarterback and places it on the receiver.

Of course, exact targeting is needed from the quarterback. Good quarterbacks throw the ball to where the receivers are. Spurrier quarterbacks throw the ball to where the receivers will be.

This same philosophy applies to search marketing, especially pay-per-click marketing.

Pay-per-click marketing is all about conversion. The idea is to spend the minimal amount that will return the most conversions. It is not important to be at the top position with every keyword the customer uses. As discussed before, Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertisers, that’s a bad ROI. It is important to target the keywords that convert. The keyword list that converts the users, is much smaller the keyword list they click.

In other words, do not throw the ball where they are. Throw it where they are going. To use the “throw-to-the-spot” strategy, use a large variety of keywords and match types. Plus, by extending the list with long-tailed keywords a marketer is more likely going to hit the customer at the right buying opportunity.

It’s okay if the customer does not visit at the “broad” stage. Let them browse. When it’s time to purchase they will have narrowed down their search. They will be back. Trust that your product is good enough. Wait for them to get to the spot, and then throw your best PPC ad their way.

It must be tempting for a young quarterback to throw the ball to where the receiver is. “Why wait? He’s right there. I see him. He’s open. Not to mention the 300lb lineman coming at me.” However, Spurrier preaches patience. More yards and hopefully more points will be at the spot, just by waiting patiently.

On his second day at work as the new CEO of Yahoo, Jerry Yang signed the acquisition papers for Rivals.com. It is a move that hopes to move Yahoo closer to the obsessive sports fans.

Rivals.com is vast online site that features college and high school sports, along with recruiting information. Based in Brentwood, TN, Rivals.com generates most of its revenue from subscription services. The site currently has about 185,000 subscribers, with about 150 smaller sites.

This allows Yahoo to reach a demographic they are struggling with, younger and highly educated. Let’s face it, that’s currently not the typical Yahoo customer.

This also clearly matches what Yahoo has proved to be over the years, an online publishing company. Rivals.com provides that content and expertise Yahoo has needed to reach the serious sports fan.

The NFL Draft is the most exciting moment in the spring for hard-core NFL fans, like me.

The draft keeps us going. It refuels us until training camp starts. As I get my NFL fix, below are some random thoughts I have about the 2007 draft.

If Calvin Johnson is the best player in the draft why is he not going #1?
I know the so-called “experts” say, the Raiders (and other teams) need to pick what they need. But who doesn’t need the best player in the draft.

Everything I am hearing is Johnson is the only “sure-thing” in the 1st round. Why not pick him? Why take a chance on a QB? We all know that picking a QB as the 1st overall pick doesn’t pan out often.

A rookie WR can make an immediate difference on any team, but a quality rookie QB is rare.

Brady Quinn? The Hype up … The Hype down.
This has to be nerve racking for the young quarterback out of Notre Dame. First, he was the “IT” boy, now he seems to be dropping more every day. He could never have lived up to the initial hype, so maybe this is the best thing for him now.

Pat Kirwam, NFL.com Senior Analyst, probably said it best “Quinn isn’t overhyped …. he’s been overanalyzed”

Let’s just let him play and let the hype take care of itself.

Who will the Tennessee Titans pick?
It seems easy to me, they need 2 major things immediately: Wide Receiver and a Return man. How about 2 positions, 1 person?

They have replaced Pacman Jones in the cornerback position with Nick Harper from Indy. However, they still could use more help in the return position.

Here’s my pick: Ted Ginn Jr., WR, Ohio State

NFL predictions

Okay, I have a bunch of random thoughts on the upcoming NFL season. Instead of bothering my family with my thoughts, let’s just put it in writing.

I will be curious to see how well I do at the end of the season.

My random NFL thoughts for the new season:

• Keyshawn Johnson will have a great year.

• Terrell Owens will not be a Cowboy in 2007

• Cadillac Williams will have his break out year this year

• Bill Cowher will retire at the end of this season.

• Jay Cutler will be the starter in Denver before the season is over

• Defending AFC North division champs, Cincinnati Bengals, will not make the playoffs

• Brett Favre will not be the starter by the end of the season

Okay, the big predication:

Superbowl - Carolina Panthers over Pittsburgh Steelers