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As the coolest guy at Denuo, I have some shocking news that will likely upset you.  I have a super huge nerdy side.  I know.  You thought I was different.  You thought I would never get locked in a debate between who is better, Thor or Longshot. Don’t worry, that’s still true.  But the nerd side does exist.  And he exists for sports analytics. While I won’t debate blonde dudes in comic books, I will get into a debate about whether Adam Dunn was more valuable to the Nationals than Derek Jeter was to the Yankees in 2010 (Hint: Dunn’s WAR was 1.4 points higher than Jeter’s).

And with that, I shall be releasing Nerd Durbin (Nerbin for short) at the Sloan Sports Analytics conference this weekend in Boston.  It’s a great event put on the by the MIT Sloan School of Management. It’s not just for people who love sports analytics, but also want an inside view into the world of sports business.

I will be on the Twitters, tweetering during the conference (@jdurbin and #ssac).  If you want to follow along, they will be streaming the panels here. For the agenda click here.

Don’t know what panels to check out?  Well lucky you.  Here are my recommendations (note that I did not list everything):

We’re sorry issue 78 of Reflecteur is a bit late, but we make up for the tardiness in quality. This issue is a bit bipolar – much like the Internet itself.

Page one focuses on two poignant items currently popular in digital culture:

The first, a film called “The Chapel,” is a stunning example of our ‘Talent Required’ and ‘How to’ themes from the most recent recap presentation. It also touches on another theme we often see – the way we humans seem to love to uncover hidden gems in our world.

The second item is a the first ever group page created on 1000memories, a site that allows users to create virtual memorials to those they have lost. Egypt Remembered collects images and information on those killed in the protests across Egypt earlier this month. A great example of the universality of photos, the gallery brings home the human cost of the protests better than any article or news piece could.

Page two is more flippant and ridiculous:

So, for those of you that know me, you know I can’t cook. And for those of you that don’t know me, It’s not that I don’t like to cook, it’s really that I can’t. The only time I’m at a big name grocery store is when I’m out of TP or laundry detergent. I instead prefer to do my grocery shopping in places that I can walk to versus have to park in a lot at. See, it’s in those types of local groceries that I can get quality pre-made eats or things that require very little preparation. And by local grocery establishments, I don’t mean the corner liquor store that is also good for an occasional carton of milk.

It was with some confusion then that I entered my local meat market on Saturday, in need of my deli favs and some hash of the corn beef variety, and encountered twenty something in PJ’s – seriously, the average age of the mid-day clientele was cut in half. It took me a moment to realize that earlier in the week, Paulina Meat Market was one of the daily Chicago Groupon deals. My worlds had collided; commerce of the digital variety, hottest internet start-up and darling of Chicago had invaded my local little traditional marketplace. And as I wandered the store and filled my basket, I realized I was grinning with pride.

Denuo’s PLAYED staffers are romantics through and through.  That said, instead of a bundle of roses, we crafted this sweet-smelling bouquet of gaming insights and news, gently placed around titles involving science-fiction terror, Russian stacking dolls, and 3D tech, delivered straight into the palm of your hand.  You can feel the love, can’t you?

In this month’s issue, we look beyond the third dimension of Nintendo’s new 3DS handheld.  While everyone is agog over glasses-less 3D, the handheld brings even more functionality to the social and casual game spaces than first thought.  On the mobile gaming side, we check out the big, exclusive steps that Google’s Android mobile OS platform has taken to move into gamers’ hearts and minds.  Meanwhile, we examine Facebook’s virtual currency market shake-up with the rollout of Facebook Credits and its effects on the social gaming space, and wrap things up with a couple Denuologists weighing in on EA’s marketing effort for their latest hit, Dead Space 2.

It started with a phone call to our offices in Chicago.

The next step involved several meetings in New York and Montvale, New Jersey.

From there, it sent me to Tampa for a team training session and send off party.

And finally Tampa to Dallas, culminating in 4 cars, 4 starting points, and 3 days of cross country travel.

The denouement happened last week at the Chicago Auto Show where I stood, still exhausted from the journey, and answered questions during their inaugural Social Media Day.

One of the questions that continually came up is “How did you get people so engaged in this?”

My travels were half the answer.  Ultimately it was a digital experience that was rooted in humanity and the physical world.