Howdy.
You've reached the personal website of Aaron Schatz -- majordomo behind the NFL
analysis website Football Outsiders,
former "Sultan of Search" and writer of the Lycos 50, music aficionado, television
addict, fantasy baseball expert, football stat analyzer, Batman junkie, McCainiac, and connoisseur of tasty stir-fry
sauces.
Once upon a time, I thought that nobody actually visited these personal web pages. Then I found myself procrastinating a lot at work and surfing around on the web, and I ended up visiting a lot of people's personal web pages. So I figured I would do one myself. That's me below right, and that beautiful woman I am hiding behind is my wife Kathryn.
PERSONAL UPDATE: MIRINAE FAY SCHATZ, BORN OCTOBER 26, 2003!
Back
when I first started this site, people would tell me that this was the least
ego-driven personal home page they had ever seen. I say that, of course,
to drive my ego. Now that I am putting a bunch of links to press clippings
from both the Lycos 50 and Football Outsiders, I guess it is more of a
self-celebration. My ego is as big as a Dragonball! If you have any
idea how big that is, let me know.
If you want to tell me what you think of the site, please sign the guestbook. If you don't want to tell me, sign anyway just so I know you were here. In return, I'll try to sign your guestbook when I visit your site. My goofy website is not complete without your goofy commentary. If you want your comments to stay secret, email me.
I have been told that Macintosh users have a problem viewing this site because of the way I set up the images using FrontPage. If you are using a Mac, I apologize, and if you know how to fix this problem, please email me.
More Fun Than a Pat Burrell of Drunken Monkeys
My NFL analysis website, Football
Outsiders.
Photos, including my wedding, my family, and the wacky Zete years.
Read about my biography, or a trip to hell (Daytona) and back.
The World Famous Shrine to Procrastination, featuring hours of goofy links and the infamous "Gay or Eurotrash" Quiz.
Peek inside my mind with sports and politics links.
Some of my writing samples, including articles for the The New Republic, Boston Phoenix, and Slate, record reviews, and my history of WBCN in Boston -- plus, links to the best Lycos 50 articles.
Check out some links to friends and relatives of mine.
Information about the three fantasy sports leagues I run (two baseball, one football).
Bands I recommend, so that you can expand your musical knowledge.
Some of those email jokes that I thought were good enough to keep around.
Check it out -- old school WBRU audio files! Listen to ads for WBRU Night at Lupo's and The Strand.
My hero, and the man who should be President of the United States.
Please let me know you were here by signing the Guestbook.
Aaron's Press Clippings
Since part of the job of the Lycos 50 was to get publicity for my company, I got quoted in the press a lot. I also appeared on a number of television and radio programs, including live on CNN four times. You can read these transcripts from 4/26/03, discussing Iraq war searches with Anderson Cooper, and 5/25/03, discussing summer movie searches with Martin Savidge.
Here are some of the better articles about the Lycos 50, and me:
The Search Engine as Crystal Ball - New York Times, 2/5/01 -- This might be the best article written about the Lycos 50.
Web-search
Chart Keeps its Finger on Pulse of Obsessed Americans - San Francisco
Chronicle, 8/7/03
Data
Mining the Lycos 50 - Search Engine Watch, 4/10/03
Al-Jazeera
Most Sought After in Internet Queries - Associated Press, 4/2/03 --
Gulf War II, when Al-Jazeera was more
popular than sex. This AP article was picked up in over 50 newspapers,
including overseas, and mentioned on dozens of TV and radio broadcasts.
War
Brings a Surge of Traffic on the Net - USA Today, 3/26/03 --
AnotherGulf War II.
Net
Users Flock to Entertainment - Chicago Sun-Times, 12/31/02 --
Originally from USA Today.
Internet
Searches Mainly Fun and Games - Toronto Star, 12/28/02
Web
Searches Take Cultural Pulse - Wired News, 12/18/02 -- The
best part of this article is when Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch,
says the Lycos 50 does an "outstanding" job of explaining why terms
are gaining or losing popularity. Yay, me!
Tattoos,
Britney Top Web Search List - CNN.com, 12/13/02 -- Nice
article about the Web's Most Wanted 2002, though my head is huge in this photo
and I look like a tool. I wanted them to use Jason's cartoon.
Search
Queries Prove We're Getting Old - San Jose Mercury News, 8/8/02
You Can Observe a Lot by Watching the Lycos 50 - Search Engine Watch,
5/8/02
Search Engine Intelligence from the Lycos 50 - Search Engine Watch,
5/7/02
In
Search of Gas Masks, Sexy Vulcans, Normalcy - USA Today, 10/3/01
From
Britney Spears to the IRS - Washington Post, 8/9/01
Internet
Traffic Flagged 'Furious' Finish Line - USA Today, 6/28/01
Halloween
Down, Marijuana Up - San Francisco Chronicle, 1/16/01
After a Year at No. 2, Britney
Rules the Net - USA Today, 12/20/00
For the end of 2002, I was interviewed by Jon Gordon for Minnesota Public Radio's FutureTense, and that interview is archived here. MPR programs are actually heard in more states than just Minnesota, they are on a lot of NPR stations as well.
On June 22, 2001, I was interviewed by Bob Edwards on NPR's Morning Edition. You can still listen to the interview on the NPR website.
In 2000, Daniel Radosh of Modern Humorist put together a story trying to use all 50 terms from that year's "Web's Most Wanted of 2000" list. It's called Hit Me, My Lovely.
Yes, they've even written about the Lycos 50 in Norway.