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Happy Third Birthday to Football Outsiders

7/28/2006

On July 30, 2003, we opened up Football Outsiders to the world by announcing our presence on Boston Sports Media Watch. We had 738 visitors that day and didn’t reach 700 visitors in a day again until mid-October. The staff originally consisted of me and a few college buddies, and the only regular columns were the DVOA ratings and Scramble for the Ball. Three years later, there’s a staff of over a dozen people, we’ve got a content deal with FOXSports.com, FO writers are appearing regularly in the New York Sun and occasionally in the New York Times, and we just released our second book. So, there’s been some growth. Thanks to all of you, our readers, for making this possible.

Once again, in honor of our birthday, I’ve put together a list of some of our best articles as well as a few of Jason Beattie’s best cartoons. (If you want to see the best of the first two years of Football Outsiders, here’s the first anniversary article, and here’s the second anniversary article.) This year, in addition, we asked readers to nominate the best discussion threads in the three-year history of Football Outsiders — not the best articles, but the best conversations spawned by them. You’ll find those at the end.

Another news item for the day: with PFP 2006 now shipping, we thought our birthday was a good time to update the numbers on the site, so all the team stats pages (above, the pull-down menu "JUST THE STATS") have been updated to reflect the new DVOA v5.0 from the book. 1998 and 1999 numbers are also now up on the site for offense, defense, and special teams. 1997 numbers will come when I run the commentary, probably sometime in the next month.

Finally, we’ve done some format tweaking over the past couple weeks, which gives me a chance to thank the most important FO staffer that none of you ever see, technical design guy Benjy Rose. He’s stuck with me since that day back in 2003 when I called him and said, "Hey, nobody seems to want these articles I wrote, could you help me design a website I could stick them on?" If you need design work, show your love for FO by contacting his company.

– Aaron Schatz

THE BEST OF JASON BEATTIE

posted 7-28-2006 at 1:33 PM by The Outsiders || Ramblings ||

45 Comments »

1. Do I have spyware on my computer, or is that ContentLink thing a new way for you guys to make money?

   :: Zac — 7/28/2006 @ 2:03 pm

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2. The latter.

   :: The Outsiders — 7/28/2006 @ 2:07 pm

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3. #1: The latter.

   :: Yaguar — 7/28/2006 @ 2:20 pm

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4. Ah, post 2 must have been made while I was perusing the ROBO-PUNTER thread.

   May I be the first to say it’s really annoying?

   :: Yaguar — 7/28/2006 @ 2:21 pm

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5. Happy Anniversary to the best football analysis site around!

   By the way, I’ve reactivated the free Football Outsiders readers league I ran last year:

   http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/215370
   League ID 215370
   Password: blindside

   First come, first served. Draft Sat. Aug 19, 8pm Eastern. Everyone who read this site is welcome.

   :: Pats on the Potomac — 7/28/2006 @ 3:03 pm

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6. Those cartoons rock! By the way, I bought the PFP 2006 book today. Mulgrew likes it.

   :: Jason Mulgrew — 7/28/2006 @ 3:08 pm

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7. What makes the irration Atlanta thread even greater is that it only lasted about three days and Sid joined in late with rejoinders to comments from the beginning. I guess sometimes you just have to get those things off your chest and Sid needs that closure.

   :: mactbone — 7/28/2006 @ 3:32 pm

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8. Ah, an other aniversary. congratulations on making it to three years. I really appreciate what you guys do an I actually trust your stats to be correct (yards? they mean nothing). I want these stats to be taken more seriously as they provide a better representation of the game, but, in spite of the trolls, I am glad of your partnership with Fox (boo hiss) as it will, hopefully teach a wide group of the fact that 12 yard on third and 13 is useless.

   I thank you guys very much and keep up the good work.

   Kyle West, Scotland

   (ps: when can you give me the formula so I can work out my own personal DVOA?)

   :: 72 — 7/28/2006 @ 3:57 pm

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9. happy birthday FO hands down the best football site on the web

   :: dave whorton — 7/28/2006 @ 5:23 pm

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10. RE: 7

    Damn straight!

    Sometimes I don’t see the threads until they’ve just about run their course, but I feel the need to chime in on a lot of the comments anyway.

    :: Sid — 7/28/2006 @ 5:55 pm

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11. oh, and happy birthday Football Outsiders! Kudos to all of you, especially Aaron.

    I’ve been a regular reader of this site since 2003, and I’m sure glad I have.

    :: Sid — 7/28/2006 @ 5:56 pm

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12. Happy anniversary, fellas. Thanks for making the only football site I check every day.

    Also, regarding the hotlinks (or whatever they’re called): I don’t mind them much; they, like the epillepsy-inducing banners, are a TON less annoying than having to pay for an Insider-type membership. Great innovation, guys.

    Everyone should take a minute to click one every few times you puruse the site; Aaron’s daughter’s college fund will thank you.

    :: Ruben — 7/28/2006 @ 6:06 pm

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13. The link to the TMQ article leads to the pizza article instead.

    Other than that, big congrats. Manny happy returns and all that.

    :: iwiwus — 7/28/2006 @ 6:11 pm

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14. Happy Anniversary, congratulations, and thanks to TMQ for originally sending me here.

    :: Jerry — 7/28/2006 @ 6:26 pm

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15. Congratulations to the one site I absolutely must read for football commentary and analysis.

    I can’t wait for the new season!

    :: Tarrant — 7/28/2006 @ 6:48 pm

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16. Congrats! This is the best football website.

    :: underthebus — 7/28/2006 @ 6:58 pm

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17. Man, these old threads are cracking me up.

    :: underthebus — 7/28/2006 @ 7:05 pm

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18. Happy anniversary, guys. Only the beginning…

    :: Sergio — 7/28/2006 @ 7:09 pm

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19. OMG.

    I’m full of regret for missing the robo-punter thread.

    :: lk6 — 7/28/2006 @ 7:33 pm

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20. Just so you all know, I figured out how to use the spellcheckr on my computer now.

    :: Dirk Dugan — 7/28/2006 @ 8:02 pm

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21. On behalf of all my bretheren, I would like to congratulate FO on three years of excellence in the field of making me angry and indignant. You keep up the good work, and we will be right here to flame it!

    :: Trolling for Concubine — 7/28/2006 @ 8:10 pm

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22. Happy Birthday FO. In Dog Years, you can go out drinking tonight! First round on me!

    :: the K — 7/28/2006 @ 10:31 pm

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23. Congrat FO, This is the best sports related site on the intarwebs.

    :: Lou — 7/28/2006 @ 11:03 pm

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24. Congratulations to the smartest football website in the world!

    Here’s a question for all of us: how come we never set up an alternate audio commentary streaming podcast to replace the three stooges?

    :: Matthew Furtek — 7/29/2006 @ 1:05 pm

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25. I’d forgotten how painful the Atlanta thread was. My teeth are itching again.

    Congratulations to all at FO and more of the same please.

    :: James, London — 7/29/2006 @ 1:47 pm

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26. My favorite comic it the one with some guy telling jokes to Cowher.

    Since this is the best of thread, I want to vote on the best comment over the past year. A couple months ago there was an article reporting that two of the Lions first round recievers might not even play…

    “Then why didn’t the Lions draft a receiver this year? Stupid Lions.”

    :: jebmak — 7/29/2006 @ 1:52 pm

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27. Happy anniversary, and thank you for being the best football site. I’ve learned a ton, enjoyed it all the way, and look forward to the continued expansion and research. Congrats and thanks; you guys are awesome.

    :: perrin — 7/29/2006 @ 1:54 pm

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28. I find the idea that this both your third birthday and your third anniversary to be deeply disturbing. What kind of sickos are involved in getting someone married on the day that they’re born?

    Other than that, good show, great site, &c., &c. And nice choices on the articles.

    :: Dan — 7/29/2006 @ 3:46 pm

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29. Man, where did all those angry Atlanta fans go? I miss them.

    :: Rocco — 7/29/2006 @ 3:54 pm

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30. Yo, fixed the overtime pizza link.

    :: The Outsiders — 7/29/2006 @ 3:59 pm

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31. Happy b-day FO!!!! Been visiting every day since I discovered you during the Easterbrook exile.

    Thanks for all the great, smart articles. And always remember, jets suck!

    :: Andy — 7/30/2006 @ 11:10 am

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32. Man, reading over some of the in-season articles and threads makes me realize how much I miss football.

    And congrats on the anniversary. Keep the great work coming!

    :: JasonK — 7/30/2006 @ 11:31 pm

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33. Congrats!

    And, welcome back! Our long national nightmare is over, FO is back online!

    :: Trogdor — 8/2/2006 @ 5:16 pm

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34. And it’s nice to see you’ve apparently survived the server migration. Welcome back.

    :: Jerry — 8/2/2006 @ 5:22 pm

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35. Yeah, little did FO know that the server was going to go on a bender to celebrate the third anniversary.

    Congrats, as well!

    :: Pat — 8/2/2006 @ 5:23 pm

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36. Well, I went on a bender after the bar, so I can’t blame the server for celebrating its birthday. :)

    Congrats, and welcome back. I was going through withdrawal.

    :: Rocco — 8/2/2006 @ 6:15 pm

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37. Congratulations!

    Thank god the 2004 mock draft thread is longer than the 2005 thread, so my trade of Walter Jones for Cedric Benson can be lost in the sands of time…

    :: geoff — 8/2/2006 @ 6:24 pm

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38. Congratulations, FO! I, too, was brought here by TMQ, and this site and PFT are my only “must check” sites at this point. Didn’t realize how attached I was to this site ’til the server went down . . .

    At least my copy of PFP ‘06 arrived, so I got by. ;-)

    Best wishes for continued success. And bring back ROBO-PUNTER!!

    :: coltrane23 — 8/2/2006 @ 6:32 pm

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39. #

    Congrats!

    And, welcome back! Our long national nightmare is over, FO is back online!

    :: Trogdor — 8/2/2006 @ 5:16 pm
    

    Indeed. Between the server migration and my problems accessing Baseball Think Factory, I’ve been jonesin’.

    :: Joe Pisarcik Magnet — 8/2/2006 @ 9:07 pm

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40. Congrats! Seems like only yesterday that I first discovered a new way of staving off boredom at the end of a work day. Now you guys are the first thing I check every morning.

    :: TomG — 8/3/2006 @ 8:13 am

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41. RE: 37

    The Walter Jones and LDT trades will live down in RPMD history. :D

    :: Sid — 8/3/2006 @ 9:20 pm

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42. argh. I meant to say something else there. That didn’t make much sense.

    :: Sid — 8/3/2006 @ 9:20 pm

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43. Jason Beattie has a Gil Thorp blog?

    Cool, I can get my Marty Moon fix.

    :: Joe Pisarcik Magnet — 8/3/2006 @ 11:20 pm

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44. Speaking of Ron Mexico, check out the headline of the linked article.

    :: Sid — 8/8/2006 @ 10:54 pm

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45. Could not find the Superbowl preview on FOX. The link has gone bad. Can someone check on it please.

    :: Kalyan — 8/11/2006 @ 7:45 am

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