Elevate Your Pitch

The following is a link to a blog written by someone who I have been following on Twitter for quite sometime.  Mike Schaffer is a social media strategist in the DC area who writes a daily blog titled, "The Buzz by Mike Schaffer".  He attended a panel at SXSW Interactive on improving your "elevator pitch".  I am sharing this (with prior permission from Mr. Schaffer) on my blog because I have heard many business and marketing professors try to explain this concept, yet in my opinion Mike explains it the best.

So please click on the link below and make sure to follow Mike Schaffer (@mikeschaffer) on Twitter for more blog postings related to social media and more.

From #SXSW: Elevate Your Pitch

-Michael

New Year brings forth a new post

Greetings followers! (that is if I have any at the moment)

I have been absent from blogging since December and I really wish I had not fallen off course for so long.  Yet, I am going to try and blog more and try to let everyone know a little about who I am and what I want to do after graduation in May. 

In these next few months, I will be working on constructing a website for myself which will list my credentials and even offer some examples of my marketing work over the past 4 years.  The website will be a constant work in progress, but I hope to eventually have something that will be pleasing to all that read it.

Now let me take a few minutes of your time and let you know what all has been going on since my last post.  Before I begin I want you to know that my life hasn't been quite as exciting as Charlie Sheen's, yet like him I try to be a winner everyday.  So here we go. . .

• Fraternity:  My office as scholastic chairman is complete and I can say that I'm really glad to have passed on the torch.  Our fraternity (Lambda Chi Alpha) finished the fall semester with the highest GPA among all Greek organizations at Southeast Missouri State University.  I feel like this trend will continue into the future and the new officer is doing a superb job already.  I am now taking on an appointed office as a standards chairman and a correspondent to the General Fraternity newsletter.  It's been less time consuming which is great for me, but I am growing to enjoy it just as much as I did with the scholastic chair office.
• College Studies:  I'm done in May. . .I'm done in May. . .I'm done in May.  This is what I keep telling myself as this semester has already been a lot to handle.  My classes are enjoyable don't get me wrong, yet the constant group meetings, paper writing, and other assignment submissions really put weight on my shoulders that I wish I could hold up 100% of the time.  My goal for the semester was to get a 4.0, however I feel like I may fall short of that goal.  Oh well, we will see what happens.
• Job Hunting:  Beginning in the middle of December, I began sending out my resume to literally anyone who provided a mailing address on their website.  The lucky teams of the MLB and the NHL received one from me along with some marketing firms across the Southeast Missouri and St. Louis area.  I am currently waiting to hear back from one place in St. Louis that is offering a summer, paid internship which would be ideal.  I will be attending a job fair in Cape Girardeau this Wednesday and another date in April and I'm hoping I can talk to the right person who can direct me to the right people and/or the right job.  My goal is to have something lined up for when I graduate in May.  Please wish me luck!
• Cardinals and Blues:  I won't bother wasting your time reading this. . .I'll sum it up real briefly.  The Blues cleaned house, Waino blew out his arm, Carp is hurt, Pujols has no contract, Berkman has a sore elbow -- Lord help St. Louis (or have Sam Bradford be a 3-sport athlete).

I hope to blog a lot more this semester.  Please send me feedback either through here or via Twitter @JMICHAELWILLIS.  Take care!!

-Michael Willis

Twitterville

 

"In order to learn more about a particular subject, one
must step inside the mind of another enthusiast!"

While I completely made up the above statement, I believe it is in fact true in many cases. Someone may be an expert in their field of study/interest but would learn even more if they talked to someone else who shared the same interest as them.

Here are the two ways one can apply the above statement.

1. Have a sit-down meeting with the other individual and the two of you pick each others' brain.
2. Read another enthusiast or expert's writings.

If you know someone on a personal level who shares the same interests as you, then by all means option 1 is the best for you. If not, you are stuck with option 2.

Now let me explain my reasoning before I continue to ramble. I had the opportunity to read the book Twitterville by Shel Israel. I do not know Israel. I have never talked to him. I do not even know where he lives. Yet, he and I share a common interest. . .Twitter!!

By reading Twitterville, I became a better Twitter user and more knowledgeable about the social networking site even when I thought I was at least the most knowledgeable of my peers. As I read the book, I was able to pick Israel's mind without having to meet him in person. It was a win anyway one can look at it.

After I read Twitterville, I composed a book review that I will share on this blog. I hope it can inspire others to read Israel's book and to learn more about Twitter. I am not a great writer, nor anywhere close to being an author, but I hope you can take a lot from it and share with others.

Below is the content of my recent book review on Twitterville. If you would like a .pdf version, please e-mail me at jmwillis@rocketmail.com with the subject heading "TWITTERVILLE". Enjoy!!

-JMICHAELWILLIS

Twitterville

Shel Israel

Book Review by:

Michael Willis

Marketing Management Major, Southeast Missouri State University

October 2010

Introduction

The new dawn of marketing is rooted within social networking. The whole basis of how we used to market a company, an idea, or even ourselves is strongly being redone with the dawn of such social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Social networking provides many things that the “old school” methods of marketing cannot provide. A social networking site allows us to reach thousands of people with a single click. It allows us to network with a complete stranger that would not be possible in a face-to-face setting. And most of all, social networking sites allow us to reach mass volumes of people for no price whatsoever. These are just few things that social networking sites allow for business to revamp their market strategies.

One of the most successful social networking sites for business and marketing is Twitter. Twitter is a social networking site which offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read other users' messages, referred to as Tweets. When a user posts a Tweet, it must be done in 140 characters or less. This is the most unique feature of Twitter and is part of the success it has in marketing for businesses and companies.

The rise of Twitter, along with many success stories of Twitter’s use in major companies and businesses is featured in the book, Twitterville. This book is authored by Shel Israel. According to Israel’s Twitter page, he is a social media consultant, writer, and speaker. His wonderful writings and collections in Twitterville back up his Twitter description to great heights. The following book review will take you through some of my favorite chapters, touching up on the main ideas that a typical reader would pick up on, and the hope behind the review is to both inspire a reader to read Twitterville and to motivate him or her to seek their ultimate passion or dream within social networking or marketing, and go for it. The businesspeople in Twitterville went for it and came out ahead in the long run.

Chapter 1 – A Pinot Kills Odeo & Chapter 2 - Showtime

I decided to combine my review for chapters 1 and 2 for several reasons. The main reason is both chapters talk about how Twitter was started and how it rose to fame. My other reason is I feel like there is only little room to review these two chapters because like I said, it mainly touches up on the history of Twitter. I strongly encourage everyone to not only read this book but to spend time reading these first two chapters and learn about how a small idea can grow into something else, and then result into something even better.

I’ll now take this opportunity to share my own personal definition of success and the secret formula that I believe produces successful people and successful ideas. The secret to success, in my opinion, is to constantly strive for something better and when you reach it, look for the next peak in the mountain and strive to obtain it. This is what the starters and founders of Twitter did, and I feel like the constant hunger for more was a contributing force that took the team to great heights.

Chapter 4 – Why Comcast Cares

Chapter 4 deals with the poor customer service that customers were facing with Comcast. Many Comcast customers were quite fed up with the poor customer service, especially whenever it would cost them extra money. Many websites were created to express such anger and frustration with the cable company. One lady even took a video of a Comcast worker who fell asleep on her leather couch and posting it on YouTube, which lead to many hits that only hurt Comcast even worse.

Comcast was appalled by all of the negativity and wanted to change their customer service to be appealing to their customers. The cable company sought many ways to reach out to their customers, but all of their methods were either ineffective or just too expensive. This would soon lead to an even more costly downfall for Comcast.

Luckily for the sake of Comcast’s reputation, they began reaching out to customers via Twitter. The company didn’t just create an account and follow their customers, but they searched for trends involving their customer satisfaction – or in their case, lack thereof. Using Twitter not only allowed them to read many customers’s rating and reviews, but allowed the company to do it in a timely manner and an effective manner. The feedback was collected by Comcast and they proceeded to correct their errors.

Following Comcast searching for trends about the company’s reputation, they began spreading the word via Twitter about the corrections that they have made in hopes to restore the customer satisfaction. This turned out to be effective, as Comcast rose from having one of the lowest customer satisfactions to being one of the top cable companies. The story about Comcast is a great example of how Twitter is effective in seeking customer ratings and reviews in a timely manner. Twitter also helped Comcast correct their errors and then reach out to their customers once again to restore the desired satisfaction.

Chapter 8 – Seeing the Wizard

Chapter 8 is definitely one of my favorite chapters in this book. It covers a simple message, yet it really made me look at Twitter in a different way.

Israel explains the whole story behind the wizard from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” From an outsider he seems like a powerful man who can grant anyone any wish that they desire. He is viewed as almost a deity – higher than the average person and someone with the power to do pretty much anything. Yet once Dorothy and the gang find out who the “man behind the curtain” is, they realize that he is nothing more than an average person. He really did not have this great luster that people discussed. Yet, in the end the pitiful, power-less “wizard” gives everyone what they were wanting, including a way for Dorothy to get home (that is if Toto had not jumped out right as it was leaving, thank God for those slippers).

From a business standpoint, businesses and companies that uses Twitter appear to be something large, yet in reality they are no higher on the Twitter food chain than we are. Successful marketing campaigns using Twitter involve interaction more than broadcast. No one wants to log on to Twitter and be bombarded with advertisements and sales pitches. Many can identify that as a problem Facebook is currently struggling with, which gives Twitter the competitive advantage. If an average Twitter user is able to converse with a big-name company and not be bombarded with too many sales pitches, it creates brand awareness and can lead to brand loyalty.

To put this into an example, let’s imagine that you are a new Twitter user and decide to follow the clothing store, GAP (that is assuming they have a Twitter account). You begin to have little conversations with GAP and GAP returns the favor by responding with little sales talk involved. This will last for quite some time. The winter months roll in and you realize you need new winter clothing. A combination of your prior knowledge of GAP, plus everything else you got from being a follower on Twitter, will result in you being more likely to purchase your new clothing at GAP. You may even come across a promotional Tweet that gets you a discount. When it is all said and done, this kind of Twitter marketing has been shown to work in more ways than one. Reaching out to potential clients from a mutual friendship and not with constant sales pitches will result in more customers and even more customer satisfaction.

Chapter 9 – B2Bs Are People Too

Chapter 9 is a very useful chapter because it touches up on a common myth about Twitter. When people think of using Twitter in the professional world, they often assume that customers follow businesses and vice-versa. I can guarantee that this is a very common belief and it would take a lot of effort and knowledge to change people’s minds. I believe this is true because that was my strong belief before I read Twitterville.

In actuality, Twitter can be used for B2B. B2B (which stands for Business to Business) describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer. B2B is an important element in business because the communication flow between people making a product is key to not just the product being made in a successful manner, but that everything done in the production process is completed in a timely and effective manner. Twitter makes it easy for B2B.

Chapter 10 – Small Business, Big Footprint

Chapter 10 was a very interesting chapter. This chapter talked about Twitter use among small businesses. The main reason behind a small business using Twitter is similar to the reason why big businesses use Twitter which is to reach a large sum of potential customers without spending a lot of money on marketing and promotion. However small businesses have a better advantage with Twitter marketing because they have the ability to pinpoint their services to selected targets by using the Twitter trends and hash tags (#). And of courses it is all done completely free of charge which is beneficial to a small business who would not have nearly as much money for marketing compared to a bigger company.

My favorite story in this chapter involved the plumber, Scott Becker, who used Twitter to reach out to potential customers who needed a plumber. As silly as it sounds, Becker was a genius with marketing because he did a simple task that most small businesses overlook, which is marketing in the most effective way without breaking the budget. Becker’s Twitter marketing worked and he continues to attract new customers via Twitter.

Chapter 11 – Personal Branding

This chapter, which deals with taking a personal brand approach with Twitter, really made me think about why I even have a Twitter account in the first place. Did I get it to be social with friends or did I get it to beef up my credential and make myself look good to potential employers. Wait, I can actually look good to an employer by my Twitter account? Why have I been focused on creating paper resumes all of these years?

But back to all seriousness, this chapter talks about using Twitter as a way to create your own brand image. A great example in the chapter talks about a man who does camera work for NBC. He is one of the best camera techs at NBC; he’s so good at his trade that he often gets assigned to cover White House news and other big events across the country. Yet with the declining economy and the rise in job layoffs, he often wonders how much longer he will have with NBC until they let him go and hire a cheaper camera man.

He settles his nerves with Twitter. He created a Twitter account for the sole purpose of branding himself to people across Twitterville. The really neat thing about it is that he hasn’t done anything too dramatic with his Twitter account. He reaches out to his fans by tweeting where and who he will be covering. Over time his Twitter buzz created a virtual fan club to where people would follow his Tweets for the sole purpose of seeing where he would be next. The ratings for NBC newscasts probably went up because people would choose NBC for their news if they knew their favorite camera man was behind the camera. His story inspired me to be more personal with my Twitter and potentially make it a branding tool to make myself look presentable to the workforce.

Chapter 12 – Braided Journalism

This chapter talks about something that I, myself, am passionate about which is the fight to keep print media in business and making strides to innovate ways to incorporate print media into social networking.

The chapter opens up with Israel talking about a newspaper that he grew up with closing its doors due to a combination of poor economic times and the rise in online news mediums. He then debates about how talented journalists are losing their jobs to bloggers partly due to the difference in salary. He feels as if the news is no longer full of that newsworthy material he grew up with because of the way it is covered and broadcasted.

Israel then gives his solution to the new age of mass communications. The summarized version of it says to have newspaper companies adapt to the new age of journalism without letting go of talented journalists. He believes that the news quality lies in the hands of the journalist more than anyone else or any other thing. He suggests newspaper companies slowly create websites and social media pages to where news stories can be read either on paper or the web. In the end, he hopes that both styles of journalism can intertwine and make it into something better and more effective.

Conclusion

Twitterville opened my eyes in a way that I never thought the book could. The book showed me so many new great things about Twitter by taking me into the lives of other professionals in corporate America. By using real life scenarios and situations, I felt like I fully grasped the concepts and ideas that normally would not be grasped in a traditional “how to” book. I hope to follow up with these professionals on Twitter in hopes to learn more about them and their Twitter successes.

If you are an avid Twitter user like me, I strongly suggest that you read this book. The only way to better oneself with Twitter is to learn more about the website via books, reviews, and case studies. Twitterville allows you to learn about Twitter using these three mediums. So go out, read the book, and tweet yourself to a whole new world of knowledge and success.

2010 MLB Division Series

Ahhh. . .the MLB Playoffs are almost upon us. For three to four weeks, Major League Baseball will be taking over our living room television, streaming internet, and car radio. There is no better time in this great country than the Major League Baseball Playoffs.

This fall, we get to see a particularly unique set of teams taking the road to the World Series. We get classic teams of October like the Yankees, Phillies, and Braves. We get to see the Texas Rangers make it back to the postseason. The tradition of teams with new ballparks making the playoffs continue with the Minnesota Twins. The revived team in Tampa makes the cut again. The nail biting team on the west coast, the San Francisco Giants, are back. And lastly, the Cincinnati Reds ran away with the NL Central crown to make it to the spot normally taken by St. Louis. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in store for a great month of playoff baseball.

So tonight I did some thinking, researching, reading, pondering, and all of the words that make me sound smart and put together my predictions for the MLB Divison Series.

American League

Texas Rangers (AL West Champions) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (AL East Champions)

What a great Cinderella story it would be if the Nolan Ryan owned Texas Rangers -- a team once lucky to not be the last place team in the west -- went all the way to win the World Series. Unfortunately, they have a huge obstacle to cross with the great pitching rotation of Tampa Bay. Price, Shields, and Garza take the mound for the Rays in games 1, 2, and 3 and to be honest, this is all Tampa Bay will need to take the series in 3 games.

PREDICTION: RAYS IN 3

New York Yankees (AL Wild Card Winner) vs. Minnesota Twins (AL Central Champions)

While I do believe the Bronx Bombers have what it takes to take the series in 3, I feel like Minnesota will put together a fight that will take this series to the five game max. While New York wins the pitching duel, the Twins offense will keep them running. What will the series come down to? Experience, Experience, Experience. Hate to say it, but the Yankees' playoff experience will take into effect starting in Game 4 and will carry them to the ALCS.

PREDICTION: YANKEES IN 5

National League

Cincinnati Reds (NL Central Champions) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (NL East Champions)

I won't waste your valuable time, the Phillies are the best team in this playoff hunt. Oswalt, Halladay, Hamels. . .and I'm only naming the pitchers. Therefore, the Reds will not be able to put up a fight against the Phils. The Reds may take one game. . .two if they are lucky. Yet my prediction is the Phillies will breeze through the NLDS and take the series in 4, assuming that the Reds will take one win from the Phils.

PREDICTION: PHILLIES IN 4

Atlanta Braves (NL Wild Card Winner) vs. San Francisco Giants (NL West Champions)

If you would have asked me if the Braves would go all the way in October back in June or July, I would have said that they would have been a great contender for the NL Pennant; yet like teams of the past, they did not keep up the pace in the 2nd half. Inconsistency, injuries, and so much more plagued the Braved in the second half. On the other side of the country, the Giants battled. . .and battled. . .and battled to get where they are right now and it will make a difference in this first round. In my opinion, the Giants have not peaked, yet the Braves unfortunately have. Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez -- along with their supporting cast of offense -- will take the series in 3.

PREDICTION: GIANTS IN 3




As always, your commentary is much appreciated. Look for more once the division series come to a close and the championship series come their way. Feel free to follow my tweets @JMICHAELWILLIS. Take care, best wishes, and. . .LET'S GO RAMS!!!!(sign of a bitter Cardinals fan still hurting from the collapse)



JMICHAELWILLIS

Geocaching Brief (presented to the Cape CVB)

NOTE: ONE OF MY PROJECTS WAS TO DO RESEARCH ON GOWALLA AND HOW IT CAN WORK WITH THE CAPE GIRARDEAU CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU. THE FOLLOWING IS MY BRIEF. ENJOY -JMICHAELWILLIS


Ok, so here's a little information on Geocaching.

Basically, Geocaching is a high-tech game of hide and seek. Basically, someone goes out and hides a water-proof container full of little trinkets that have little meaningful value, but is worth finding. They will at that point mark the destination with their GPS device and put the destination on the Geocaching website. From the website, they will be able to give it a name and put certain descriptions and directions that are needed for the adventure.

If someone wants to go on a Geocaching quest (I'm sure there's a name for the quest, but I can't think of it at the moment), they will find one online and with their GPS device they will map out the quest to the certain point. What makes Geocaching pretty interesting is that GPS devices are never 100% accurate, so the device will never take them directly to the point. What searchers do is when they are getting close to the spot on the GPS, they will immediately put away the device and begin digging, unearthing, etc. Once the container full of trinkets is found, the finder has to mark their name and other information on a log, located inside the container (sometimes the logging can be done virtually through a smart phone). Taking a trinket is allowed in Geocaching only if the item is replaced with something of equal or greater value. After the finder is finished with the container, they must put it back where it was found. This entire process is done for all Geocaching quests.

Cape Girardeau has quite a bit of Geocaches. The follow link will take you to a list of Geocaches in Cape. http://www.geocaching.com/local/default.aspx?state_id=26

Just like every social networking site, Geocaching has it's own terminology. The following link will take you to the list of terms and definitions associated with Geocaching.
http://www.geocaching.com/about/glossary.aspx

Lastly, here's another link to a site that kind of gives a beginner's description of Geocaching that might be easier to understand compared to what I have. http://www.wikihow.com/Go-Geocaching

Week 1 Cape CVB Internship Recap

NOTE: THIS WAS MY REQUIRED INTERN PAPER FROM LAST WEEK. I WILL TRY AND POST MY WEEKLY LOGS SOONER THAN A WEEK LATE. ENJOY -JMICHAELWILLIS

This is the first week of my internship and I am working at the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau. It is the main center for tourism and other Cape Girardeau attractions located on Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau. My unpaid internship began last Sunday, the 22nd, when I worked at the VisitCape booth at the Welcome Back Picnic. My job was to meet students and promote our upcoming events, while promoting our gift card contest that we were holding that day. The main purpose of the contest was to collect student information and compile that into a database that would go into an e-mail system for the monthly newsletter, sent out to Cape Girardeau students and citizens, which told about upcoming attraction and more information about Cape Girardeau. The booth was a success, as we brought in hundreds of students and compiled quite a bit of data for our e-mail promotions.

The next day I worked was Tuesday, August 24th. I worked from 12:00pm to 5:00pm. While working in the CVB office, I started out by compiling some of the student data, obtained from the Welcome Back Picnic, into an Excel database which would go to the e-mail list. This took about an hour and a half. The rest of the day involved my internship supervisor, Stephanie, showing me how the office does its daily operations. She showed me the various social networking sites that the Cape CVB uses. She showed me how to update the certain social networking sites while giving me the user name and password for one of the Facebook accounts. I concluded the day by beginning to fill out a monthly planner for the VisitCape Facebook page. I would continue to do this during my work day on Thursday.

The third day of work was Thursday, August 26th. I worked from 12:00pm to 5:00pm. While working in the office, I completed a monthly planner for two of our Facebook pages. I did the September planner for the VisitCape page and the Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival page. The purpose behind the monthly Facebook planners is so the office can be prepared weeks in advance for what will be posted on any given day. The planners have to be approved by the head director, Chuck Martin, before it goes on the web. Each day of the week on the planner has a certain theme and every month will have different themes geared towards the time of the year or if there is certain events that we are hosting coming up (ex.: The Ghost Storytelling Event in October). The Facebook pages for the CVB are very important in a marketing aspect of the company because with the recent rise in social networking, advertising and promoting Cape through Facebook is not only efficient (you can track the number of fans, comments, and likes), but cheap (a Facebook account is free).

My last day of work occurred on Friday, August 27th. I worked from 12:30pm to 5:00pm. While working in the office, I began the day by creating accounts on various social networking sites, including Four Square and Gowalla, in hopes to use these networking sites to promote Cape Girardeau. After creating accounts on the various sites, I began to do research on how Gowalla works. Basically, Gowalla is a social networking site that requires its users to go on “trips” to various places planned by other Gowalla users. When a person goes on a “trip”, they mark that they went to certain spots through their smart phone, and it if they hit up all of the spots on the “trip” they receive points and other various cyber rewards. After acquiring the information, I went out and created a “trip” for Cape Girardeau by marking five locations across town. Next month, we will include Gowalla and the new Cape trip on Gowalla in the “Cape Social” e-newsletter. This will not only spread the word on Gowalla, but will hopefully get others to go on our already-made trip and for them to make other Cape trips that visitors can go on.

My first week of interning with the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau went well. Even though I have only worked four days, I feel as if I leave everyday with a little chunk of information that will help me become a better marketer. I cannot wait to learn more skills and other information.

Week Total Number of Hours: 17.5 hours

Number of Hours worked on Internship to Date: 17.5 hours

Anticipation for Cape, STL/Cincy brawlgame

It's been longer than expected, but here I am making my new blog post. Hope you all enjoy.

One Week Until Cape and All It Entails

Today makes one week until I move back to the wonderful town of Cape Girardeau to begin senior year #1 of college and start my internship with the Cape CVB. I won't lie to you all, I am excited as ever to be going back to Cape, yet my nerves are starting to kick in. I'm nervous about my class schedule as I will be taking some pretty tough upper-level courses and I'm a little nervous about my internship. My nerves with my internship are mainly because I have always had this "fear of failure", yet I could not ask for better people to work with this fall. I also look forward to meeting more and more people with the CVB and other businesses in Cape Girardeau. To sum it all up, my nerves also comes with double the amount of excitement and anticipation!!

Take Me Out to the Brawlgame

So I've always been told that the biggest rivalry in the National League is between the Cardinals and the Cubs. I guess that's true, except in the summer of 2010. With all of the excitement of UFC and other MMA leagues in this country, focus was definitely shifted to the "main event" at Great American Ballpark last night.

Rather than go into detail about what all went down, I'm going to assume that you, the reader, have a pretty good idea as to what happened. Replays of the fight can always be found at stlcardinals.com and reds.mlb.com . But I'm going to break-down who was at right and who was at wrong during last nights scuffle.

Right:

Yadier Molina: Let's be honest, if Brandon Phillips just threw verbal jabs at my team, why should he act all friendly around me and tap my shin guard. Not only that, but repeatedly tap the shin guard to instigate an exchange of words. Will Yadi be suspended by MLB, yes. But did Yadi stand up for the Cardinals, yes!

Scott Rolen: When thing's get heated between two teams, who better to make an attempt to calm down the other team's players than a player who spent seven years playing for the other team and has standing friendships with the current players. From the very beginning of the scuffle, Rolen ran out to pull Yadi aside and attempt to calm him down. Later, he attempted to calm down Carpenter which resulted in the bigger mess, but both him and Carpenter admitted it was only done to calm the situation. Some may say Rolen should be suspended for his role, which might be the end result, but he truly tried to calm the situation

Wrong:

Johnny Cueto: I won't waste too much time on this coward, but his coward-like kicking resulted in Jason LaRue suffering a concussion and possible broken ribs. And who knows what it could have done to Carpenter. Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch summed his thoughts as such:

"And though Carpenter was burning, I'm still laughing at this part: an adult athlete kicking during a fight, instead of squaring up like a man? Is that the best Cueto can do? Wow.
Brandon Phillips may have a word for that."

Tony LaRussa/Dusty Baker: Yes, I'm putting TLR at some fault. Rather than attempting to break up the scuffle to save his star players (and back-up catcher) from injury, he went after Dusty Baker to add another chapter to their long history of hostility. Dusty Baker should be held responsible as well for not only the on-field issue, but for his comments about the Cueto kicking ordeal. This quote comes from a column by John Fay of the Cincinatti Enquirer:

“They had him pinned up like a rat in corner,” Dusty Baker said. “It wasn’t pretty.”

So, since Cueto was pinned, it's okay to use your metal spikes as a weapon? Whatever Dusty, MLB will issue whatever punishment needs to be issued.

Brandon Phillips: The outright instigator. 'Nuff said.

As always, your comments are strongly encouraged. If you don't follow me on Twitter at @JMICHAELWILLIS, then you are missing out. . .not really but you should follow me anyways :)

JMICHAELWILLIS