Brock Lesnar, Mark Hunt dominate Reader Rants

Brock Lesnar dominated Cagewriter's Facebook page this week, as many, many, many people had opinions on the big man's return to professional wrestling. You also shared your thoughts on who Junior dos Santos should face in place of Alistair Overeem, autograph encounters and opinions on a certain freak show fight. If you want to join in on Reader Rants, like Cagewriter on Facebook and comment on our posts.

Readers thought the planned bout between Bob Sapp and Mariusz Pudzianowski would be interesting to watch.

Neither one can actually fight. Whoever runs outta gas first loses! -- Leslie Stapleton

See Bob Sapp either A) tap out due to strikes before 1 min. or B) have him claim injury after 1 min ....ALL DAY! :P -- Sohrob Kohistani

Most readers thought that Rashad Evans handled the fan asking for an autograph of his KOed picture well.

Rashad handled it alright, I mean he could have just told him to go away but in the moment that is just disrespectful. I've gotten a bunch and everyone is cool but nicest guys had to be Bisping and Pulver. They're just great to their fans. -- Gabriel Martinez

A fan or someone trying to get a reaction out of him while being recorded? Hmmmmm. -- Nate Bear

With Alistair Overeem likely out of UFC 146, several fans started a campaign to get Mark Hunt the title shot. Some Cagereaders agreed on Hunt, while others wanted to see Frank Mir or Cain Velasquez.

As fun of a story as Hunt would be, it doesn't make sense from a competition or business standpoint. Mir is the only real logical choice to move up. -- Ryan Wahl

Frank Mir is the only one highly enough rated to do it, who didn't fight him last time. It will be Mir, though I would like to see Mark Hunt win one more big fight to get a shot. -- Andrew Conner

The last thing Dana and us UFC fans want is a 30 sec KO like JDS did to Cain, make a co-main event. Hell, if you don't want to get all political, put Mir vs. Cain as co-main event with Hunt vs. JDS (non-belt) that way win or lose JDS will fight winner of Mir vs. Cain, and when Hunt KO's JDS, Hunt will fight the winner of JDS vs. MIr or Cain. This I know for sure, Hunt vs. JDS will sell. -- Amosa Wes

Either give Velasquez a shot to redeem himself, or let Mir get hits wits knocked in... Either way, I'm going to be sitting on the edge of my seat! Hunt is good by all means, but Co-Main Event is his spot for sure. dos Santos will have a war on his hands with the likes of Velasquez and Mir, which will give the fans a better Main Event. Still got love for Hunt though, don't get me wrong. But I wouldn't mind seeing another bloody face Mir get pulverised. -- Nathan Kight

Both fighters will make a goood event I think, but then again it would be 2 different fights. With Hunt it will be more of a slug fest, pound for pound as for Mir it would be more of a strategical fight. I think Mir should have to win his fight against Cain to prove he is ready for another title shot -- Torrey Romanko

And now, for the big man. Lesnar has inspired strong opinions from the second he stepped foot in the cage. That didn't stop this week as hundreds of comments were made on Facebook and in the comment section.

Some fans don't want to see him in WWE because they wanted him to stay in MMA. Others thought he "failed" at MMA. If winning and defending the UFC heavyweight belt while also battling a debilitating gastrointestinal condition is failing, I hope to be a failure like Lesnar one day.

What is WWE doing? Is there NOT enough CURRENT WWE superstars? First let's bring back the Rock and now Lesnar. WHY! ? Like Cena said in one his many speeches to the Rock he has been performing for over 10 years & NEVER left. Why are these former WWE performers returning? -- Terasia J. Conigliaro- Allensworth

I love how Lesnar is back in WWE. I was gonna stop watching it until he showed up. he started in WWE and will end in WWE. Okay if he started his career in UFC when he was younger it would be different. but now that hes back i cant wait to watch next weeks raw!! I'm a fan of both WWE and UFC. -- Curtis Kelly

He is the stereotypical bully. As long as things are going his way its all good, but let him get his butt kicked and he tucks his tail and runs. He thought he was too good for the WWE in the past and now that hes no longer the big man in UFC he returns to WWE. He should just crawl under a rock somewhere and hide. -- Glenda Cannon Pamplin

I'd like to see any one of you haters talk smack to Brock Lesnar's face! ll you haters too watched everyone of of his UFC fights because he was an amazing fighter! He's 265 pounds of muscle and was as fast as a middle weight, as soon as the bell rung he gave one hundred and ten percent. That's why you know Brock Lesnar's name and that's why we have no idea who you haters are. -- JJ Anhorn

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Rangers spoil Ventura's managerial debut

By STEPHEN HAWKINS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:29 p.m. ET April 6, 2012

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Ian Kinsler and the two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers certainly don't seem affected by their disappointments.

After being unable to reach a deal on a new long-term contract before his self-imposed deadline of opening day to end negotiations, Kinsler homered, had a double and scored twice for the Rangers in a season-opening 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Friday.

"You come in here and you play for your teammates, you don't play for yourself. This is a very selfless team," Kinsler said. "That's something outside the clubhouse. ... My main focus is to play hard for my teammates and do what I can to win a game."

Just more than five months after they twice came within one strike of a World Series championship before losing in seven games to St. Louis, the Rangers opened the new season on a picture-perfect day - 75 degrees under blue skies - and played the game exactly how manager Ron Washington prefers.

It is a familiar and successful script.

Colby Lewis (1-0) struck out nine in his first opening day start. Three relievers then worked scoreless innings, with new closer Joe Nathan working a perfect ninth.

And the offense manufactured the needed runs against White Sox starter John Danks (0-1).

"A well-played game," said Michael Young, the longest-tenured Ranger in his 12th season. "The first inning was perfect."

Kinsler had a leadoff double in the first for Texas, before a sacrifice bunt by Elvis Andrus and a sacrifice fly by Josh Hamilton. Kinsler's homer in the third made it 2-0.

After Chicago tied the game by scoring twice in the sixth, including Adam Dunn's record-tying eighth opening day homer, Hamilton led off the bottom of the frame with a single and scored on a single by Young.

The loss spoiled the managerial debut of Robin Ventura, who before the game had his first meeting with Nolan Ryan since charging the mound 19 seasons earlier against the Hall of Fame pitcher. Ryan is now president, CEO and part-owner of the Rangers.

"We just talked. I congratulated him on the last couple of years. He's done a great job," Ventura said.

Ventura, a surprise hire by the White Sox after Ozzie Guillen went to be Miami's manager, was a 26-year-old third baseman for the White Sox when he charged the mound against Ryan on a hot August night at old Arlington Stadium in 1993. Ryan, 20 years older and in the last year of his playing career, got Ventura in a headlock and landed several blows.

The two hadn't spoken until Ryan went to the White Sox clubhouse before the opener.

As for his first game as a manager, Ventura said, "I figured we'd lose a game at some point this year."

Lewis walked only one over six innings, throwing 70 of 100 pitches for strikes. The only other Rangers pitcher with nine strikeouts in a season opener was Ryan in 1991.

"Colby threw extremely well, and it was great to get Joe out there on opening day, get the first one of a big crowd, with a one-run lead," Young said. "We knew it we'd chip away and push one more run across, we'd have a chance to win."

Alexi Ogando, an All-Star and 13-game winner as a starter last season, is back in the bullpen and struck out all three batters in faced in the seventh after Texas regained the lead and Lewis left. Nathan, the former Minnesota Twins closer, got a strikeout in the ninth.

Dunn pulled a ball into the second deck of seats in right field to start the sixth. Frank Robinson and Ken Griffey Jr. are the only other major leaguers who have eight homers in openers.

"It would've been a lot sweeter if we'd pulled it out today and we could talk about the win instead of that," Dunn said. "When I stepped in, he was ready to go. Luckily I didn't have time to think. If I had, I probably would have done something bad."

Dunn batted third in the White Sox lineup. Last year, the highly paid slugger hit .159 with only 11 homers while striking out 177 times in 415 at-bats.

Alex Rios was hit by a pitch with two outs in the White Sox sixth, and the speedster was on the run when Alexi Ramirez singled to left. Rios scored to tie it at 2.

Danks' first opening day start came in the stadium he visited often growing up in Austin about three hours away and where he always expected to pitch an opener after being drafted ninth overall by Texas in 2003. But he was traded to Chicago in December 2006, and got a new $65 million, five-year contract from the White Sox this winter.

"This was a fun game, it really was," said Danks, who struck out six with no walks in six innings. "All in all, it was disappointing to get beat, but I feel like I'm where I need to be. That's a good lineup over there. ... If I can be this good or better, it should be a good year."

NOTES: It was the sixth time Dunn had homered in the first game of the season. He twice had two homers on opening day, in 2005 and 2007 while with Cincinnati. ... The 13 strikeouts by Texas pitchers were a record for opening day. The previous record was 11, in that 1991 opener when Ryan had nine.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Five Secrets To Write Outstanding Presentations | Business 2 ...

Want to write great presentations that leave your audience wanting more? Want to avoid Death By PowerPoint, but still need a slide deck?

The secret to outstanding presentations

Here are five secrets I use in creating outstanding presentations.

1. Start with the title.

I always start with titles similar to the ones I?ve done here ? five secrets, 10 professional tips, etc. Maybe it?s cheating, but I always end up with a very large audience, whether it?s at a conference or a standalone seminar.

I also know that I can generally cover 10 points in an hour, 5 points in 30 minutes. I?ll adjust accordingly if I?m going to allow for Q&A time. But this title gives me the direction to go.

2. Outline the talk.

This may seem rather rudimentary, but you?d be surprised at the number of speakers who don?t even do this, preferring instead to ramble on and on. I?ve followed more than one person whose aimless nattering cut into my own presentation time, and in order to stay on schedule, I had to cut my own presentation short. If it wasn?t for the next three steps, I wouldn?t have been able to do it.

3. Use Creative Commons Photos

Find some Creative Commons photos on Flickr (use their Advanced search feature) that have something to do with each point. If I?m talking about the importance of accuracy, I might look for a rifle scope or an arrow in an archery target. If I?m talking about writing, it could be a notebook or a pen. If possible, take your own photos. Do better than your smartphone camera. Use a decent camera and take a large, high-resolution photo.

Fill up the entire screen with the photo. Don?t create a smaller version and so you can put text off to the side in the white space. Fill up the entire freaking screen.

4. Headlines Only, No Text

Write a headline in 60 point type, black or white with a drop shadow, and make it be the main idea for that portion of your talk. The slides are there to reinforce the point you?re trying to make, not make the point for you. If you have more than 10 words on your slide, there had better be a good reason. If it?s an important quote, and it?s the only one in the deck, then by all means, keep it. If it?s data or a series of bullet points that you?re about to read out loud, delete it. Put it in a handout that you give out after the presentation.

The benefit of doing this is that I can speed up or slow down a presentation as I need it. If I need to expand my time, I?ll tell a story at a certain point. If I need to shorten my time, I?ll skip the story. This is what saved me those two times the other, rude, and unprepared speakers took at least a third of my own presentation time.

You should be able to give your presentation without the benefit of your slide deck. If, for some reason, the projector were broken ? I?ve been in that situation too ? you can give your talk without the audience missing out on any information.

5. Rehearse Unfamiliar Material In the Car

If you write out a script to memorize, forget it. Write it out so you know what you?re going to cover, but as quickly as you can, boil it down to the main bullet points and a few supporting points. Then, rehearse that outline as much as you can. If you try to memorize a script, you may end up tripping yourself up if you lose your place.

Give your presentation in the car, describe one or two of the main points to a friend, and visualize yourself giving the presentation as you fall asleep.

Sure, you could actually rehearse the presentation, but I?ve never been a fan of rehearsals. I feel self-conscious and I get into my own head right before the presentation when that happens. I would rather know the material cold, and deliver it in my own style, than rehearse it like I?m an actor in a play.

It?s important that you know the material. It?s not that important that you have every gesture and intonation down flat.

These are some of the basic methods you can use to create outstanding samples. Don?t bore people with details, don?t give them a lot of slides with a lot of words. Use creative and humorous photos to entertain people and reinforce your point. And learn your material by talking about it, rather than memorizing a script.

Do these things, and people will remember your presentation for how awesome you were, not because three people in the audience died of boredom.

Author:

Erik Deckers is the owner of Professional Blog Service, and the co-author of Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself. His new book, No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing, which he wrote with Jason Falls, is in bookstores and on Amazon now.

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Justin Bieber Recording With One Direction, Usher

One Direction's Niall Horan tweeted about collabo.
By Gil Kaufman

<P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/bieber_justin/artist.jhtml">Justin Bieber</a> is loading up on all-stars for his <I>Believe</I> album. The latest is none other than the world's hottest boy band: <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/_one_direction_/artist.jhtml">One Direction</a>. </P><P> </P><P>Direction member Niall Horan broke the news on his Twitter feed Wednesday, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/NiallOfficial/status/187755006303285248" target="_blank">writing</a>, "In the studio with our boy @justinbieber last night, it's gona sound great!" </P><P>Bandmate Liam Payne confirmed the Internet-shattering collabo, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Real_Liam_Payne/status/187645066460930049" target="_blank">adding</a>, "Got a first listen to Justin Bieber's new album yesterday wowww big songs!!! It's gunna be a smash ... Expect the unexpected :O." </P><P>Bieber seemed to enjoy the hang with his new pals as well, responding to Payne with the tweet, "@Real_Liam_Payne Thanks buddy. Good chillin with u guys." </P><P> </P><P><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:754722/cp~vid%3D754722%26uri%3Dmgid%3Auma%3Avideo%3Amtv.com%3A754722" width="460" height="260" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="."></embed> </P><P> </P><P>As the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/05/justin-bieber-one-direction-music_n_1404999.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a> reported, Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, seeded the promise of the shriek-inducing duet, tweeting about the potential One Direction studio action, "[A collaboration is] very possible. He likes them and thinks they are good dudes. All people of that generation should be there to help each other." </P><P> </P><P>The singer is also making some beautiful music with his mentor and guiding light, Usher. On Wednesday, the Biebs <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/justinbieber/status/187773933326565376" target="_blank">tweeted</a> that he was in the studio with, "@iawill and @usherraymondiv going in!" He didn't reveal the name of the song Black Eyed Peas mastermind will.i.am was working on for the pair, but followed with the (grammatically challenged) amped-up thought, "Me and @usherraymondiv gotta have a duet on every album." </P><P> </P><P>They're just a few of the superstars he's recruited for the project. Mike Posner was the co-producer on "Boyfriend," and other bold-faced names in the mix include Timbaland, <a href="/news/articles/1678841/justin-bieber-drake-collab-believe.jhtml">Drake</a>&#8232; and Pharrell, as well as possible assists from Lil Wayne, Ke$ha and <a href="/news/articles/1673221/justin-bieber-kanye-west-drake-next-album.jhtml">Kanye West</a>&#8232;. </P><P> </P><P>Bieber has already landed a hit with the first single, <a href="/news/articles/1682156/justin-bieber-explains-boyfriend-video.jhtml">"Boyfriend"</a>&#8232; which sold <a href="/news/articles/1682319/justin-bieber-boyfriend.jhtml">520,000 downloads</a>&#8232; in its first week. </P><P> </P><P>He has plenty of other things to celebrate as well. On Wednesday, the <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/justin-bieber-award-tribeca-film-festival-scooter-braun-308313" target="_blank"><I>The Hollywood Reporter</I></a> said that Bieber and Braun will pick up hardware at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival at the Disruptive Innovation Awards ceremony, where they will be honored for their contributions "in the world of business, technology, arts, entertainment and beyond." </P><P> </P><P>The April 27 ceremony will specifically pay tribute to the pair for the "historic discovery of Bieber on YouTube and his subsequent social media rise." </P><P> </P><P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/photos/?fid=1617615"><img src="http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/s/spotted/banner/spotted.jpg"></a></p>

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Leighton Meester Helps Fight Blood Cancer | Leighton Meester ...

Leighton Meester gets swabbed to register as a potential bone marrow donor on Tuesday (April 3) in New York City.

The 25-year-old actress recently teamed up with DKMS in the fight against blood cancer with a PSA for its ?Share the Love, Join the Fight? campaign.

??Share the Love? is an altruistic idea of love ? it?s about giving the gift of life to a stranger,? Leighton said.

?You can register as a donor by going to GetSwabbed.org. It?s easy and the more people get swabbed and are willing to donate, the more lives we can save and that?s pretty incredible,? she added.

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Leighton Meester teams up with DKMS to help save lives
Gossip Girl Leighton Meester is doing her part to help raise awareness about the life-saving benefits of donating bone marrow. The actress, who is the face of Vera Wang's Lovestruck fragrance, has teamed up with DKMS, the world's largest bone ...

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Locating Cost effective Web hosting On your Opportunity | Website ...

Hosting from Just Host $ 4.95/month ? Unlimited disk space, transfers, and unlimited domains

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LISTA Guest Blogger Brent Leary Interviews Sandy Carter of IBM ...

When it comes to social media, the old adage, ?build it and they will come? simply doesn?t apply. Putting up a Facebook page and creating a Twitter or YouTube account just isn?t enough. In order for businesses to use social media effectively, they must leverage it by building it into their business processes to truly give them the competitive advantage. Sandy Carter, Vice President of Social Business Evangelism at IBM joins Brent Leary for an in-depth discussion on becoming a social business.

* * * * * Listen to Sandy Carter Interview with Brent Leary

Small Business Trends: Can touch on how you became Vice President of Social Business Evangelism at IBM?

Sandy Carter: At IBM we like to help our clients in new markets. As we do that, part of what we like to do for clients is to add value. Teach them about the new market and show them the value and actually become the social business ourselves.

So Brent, for the last four or five years in my businesses, I have used social to grow my businesses. Whether that was in marketing or strategy, social has always been a part of the way that I run and drive the bottom line of my businesses.

When we really saw this trend and had seen the change in the way we worked, IBM wanted someone who could help and teach clients not just how to do things, but someone who had actually done it. That is when they came to me about a year and a half ago and asked if I would like to do this job. Of course I jumped at it because it is just a great space. I love to work with clients and teach them to make their business more competitive.

Small Business Trends: What is the difference between a company that uses social media and a company that is a social business?

Sandy Carter: A social business is one that leverages social in its business processes. Not someone that says. ?Oh, I have a Facebook page. I have a Twitter account.? It is someone who has social embedded into sales, HR talent management, product innovation, customer service. It?s about taking these tools and techniques and making those processes much more competitive. Not just playing with it and putting an application on YouTube. Is it embedded into the company?s workflow? Into the soul of the company? Which I consider to be a business process.

Small Business Trends: What is the challenge when it comes to ?big data? in becoming a social business?

Sandy Carter: My favorite saying is that analytics is the ?new black.?

There is so much information out on the Web that a small or mid-size company using social analytics can introduce so much marketing intelligence, so much insight, so much trend spotting . . .that to me, it is such an invaluable source that small and medium businesses have never had. Something that had given larger businesses the competitive advantage.

The issue is that about 80% of that data is unstructured because it is a conversation among customers. So you have to use tools like social analytics to make sense of that data. To really unlock that valuable insight, I believe.

Just one quick example. Seton Hall University, which is a medium size university in terms of the number of employees, say there is a crises in the number of students coming into their school. That is how they make money ? with tuition. They leveraged social analytics on their Facebook page and found that potential students to Seton Hall were more likely to attend if they had a relationship with alumni.

Using that data, they went out and invited alumni into a Facebook group, the class of 2014. They got the dialogues going and started the relationships online. Then they found that the potential students wanted some interactions with professors and wanted to know others in their areas. So they again leveraged that big data they had in that group and they made those connections.

The results are very powerful when you harness that data. The class of 2014 is the largest matriculating class in Seton Hall history. And all from leveraging the social analytics and the Facebook group.

Small Business Trends: Are there any other necessary steps to think about and incorporate in addition to social analytics?

Sandy Carter: Yes, I would say another step is identifying your influencers. What I mean by that is, regardless of the size of your clientele, research shows from multiple sources that about 15% of your clients impact and influence the rest of your clients.

So online think about that. Who are those 15%? How do you develop a relationship with them online? How do you use social tools do to that? Again, there are tools out there that will help you identify those 15% so that you can start a relationship.

There was a small regional bank I was working with. We looked at using one of the widgets that was developed by IBM. We looked at who were the most influential in their regional area. They invited those people into the bank, showed them their services, got input from them, changed some things, and have really reaped the benefits of that close relationship, with this new ?advisory group? that came out of identifying those influencers. Those tips from people who talked about them online.

So I think really understanding who those influencers are online is really important. You cannot do it just by the customer who has the most followers. You really need to look at those who have the most influence in a particular subject matter area.

Small Business Trends: What are the top reasons that companies are NOT able to be successful in making the transition?

Sandy Carter: I think that one of the first ones is putting up a Facebook page and not embedding social into your workflow.

The second one is thinking that you are going to do something social, you are going to put it up and then you kind of forget it. ?One and done? is the what I call it. But social is about a relationship, it is about people. That requires being responsive.

A great example of that, and this is a larger company but, KLM Airlines has promised a 15 minute response time on a tweet it you have a problem. I recently tested it out in Amsterdam and sure enough I tweeted that I got stuck in an airport and they helped me out in ten minutes. Another airline I tweeted responded six months later. They came back to me and said, ?We are working on it, we are working on it?.?

Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more?

Sandy Carter: Go to IBM.com and search on Social Business. There?s a set of case studies there.

This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.

About the Author

Brent Leary is a Partner at CRM Essentials and organizer of the upcoming Social Business Atlanta conference taking place on February 3rd, 2012 and a member of LISTA Ga Tech Council Advisory Board. Brent serves on the advisory board of The University of Toronto CRM Center of Excellence, writes the Social CRM column for Inc.com?s technology site, and blogs at BrentLeary.com.

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