Kick Off

Fall is almost here in the U.S., and as baseball season segues into the playoffs, football, basketball and lots of other sports are just grinding into gear all over the country. Here's a shortlist of things to look for in YouTube Sports:




* Football season kicked off with a bang (hello, Appalachian State!), and the sports blogosphere is burning up with predictions, fantasy advice, fan rants, highlights, low lights, etc. Sport video bloggers of interest include The Blog Show (from The Washington Post), CowboyTD (with an admittedly pro-Cowboy, pro-Texas slant) and the irrepressible Bleacher Bloggers, who scour sports blogs netwide for the best posts so you don't have to.




* Skateboarding is alive and kick-flipping all over YouTube, from the hundreds of "Sponsor Me" videos to pro profiles to contest recaps and more. If you ride a mini-ramp or mini-pipe, take a look at MiniRampChamp for a plethora of trick and ramp-building tips. Another one of the most prolific video-making skaters on our site (with a grab bag full of tricks) is MisterCK. Click through some of his highlights, including this nice switch 360 flip revert.




* Basketball season is still several weeks away from tipping off, but there's plenty of summertime hoops on YouTube including loads of footage of wunderkind point guard Brandon Jennings. Nicknamed Doobie Doo, Jennings is widely regarded as one of the best high school players around (and has hoop heads catching visions of Kenny Anderson, circa 1990). You'll find some highlight clips here and here, and a short interview here.




* DC United fans: how passionate are you about your team? Prove your fanaticism in a 90-second response video and win prizes... Here's the invite video and contest info.




* Finally, there's loads of interesting, some would say oddball, sports all over our site. Check out the finger-jousters , the noodlers, the zorbers, the curlers, the hurlers and, of course, the bog-snorkelers.




Last but not least, athletes and fans: I have questions! For example, what exactly qualifies a sport as a "sport"? What's the best sport and why? What's the weirdest sport out there? Let me know what you think here.




Go play,


Andrew B. aka playactionpass

24 Hours for Darfur

Today, a non-profit called "24 Hours for Darfur" is using the power of video to call attention to the genocide in Sudan. They've mobilized hundreds of citizens to submit video messages via YouTube and their website, which they'll be screening today outside of the United Nations in New York City. (We’re also featuring a subset of these videos in our News & Politics section.)







Their timing couldn't be better -- today is the Global Day for Darfur. Thirty different events are taking place in 28 countries, all demanding a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Sudan.



Several other groups on YouTube are also working to draw attention to the conflict there, including Amnesty International, Stop Genocide Now, and the Enough Project. And last Friday, we premiered "Emergency in Darfur", Dr. Bob Arnot’s powerful documentary about the crisis. Be sure to check it out.



Yours,

Steve G.

YouTube News & Politics

Notice something different? I'M GREEN

We all know the Green Movement has become as trendy to the '00s as
flannels were to the '90s, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need our
support – especially when we all know how influential your videos can be
(YouChoose '08 anyone?).



So it is with much pleasure and belief in the power of online video that
we present you with the first ever Green YouTube home page, expertly curated by your friends at GOOD, "the magazine for people who give a damn."



We think their choices of videos will both entertain and inspire you,
and we hope that at least one of them will motivate you to do something
- we're hitting the next naked protest on a glacier. But in all seriousness, sometimes trendy movements are the ones that need
our focused attention the most, so please...



Watch and act,



The YouTube Team

Indie Band Double Dares Ya!

The New Pornographers are really getting into the spirit of their latest album, Challengers, by issuing four challenges to the YouTube community, starting with this week's call to do a funny dance to one of their songs:







After about a week, the band will choose their favorite video responses, which will be highlighted in our music category here as well as on their label's Web site


So good luck, and stay tuned for next week's challenge.



Cheers,



Michele K-tel

YouTube Music

The New Pornographers Double Dare Ya!

The Canadian indie rockers are really getting into the spirit of their latest album, Challengers, by issuing four challenges to the YouTube community, starting with this week's call to invent a funny dance to one of their songs:







The band will choose its favorite video responses as they roll in, and those videos will be featured in our music category as well as on the Matador Web site.



In addition, one grand prize winner will get an iPhone and the chance to turn the tables and challenge the Pornographers to a cockamamie idea of his or her own. The band might even say yes, um, if "it's reasonable."



So good luck, and stay tuned for next week's challenge – you can follow all the action here on the New Pornographers' channel.



Cheers,

Michele K-tel

YouTube Music

Dramatic Webisodes

With television's fall premieres still weeks away, plopping down on the couch after a long day and watching another three-year-old rerun of your favorite drama series seems lame at best. To combat the pre-season blues, check out some of the best dramas the web has to offer:






Interested in science fiction and the supernatural? Try watching Cataclysmo and the Time Boys, a series about two heroes from the future travel back in time. If you want something a little more down to earth, check out Prom Queen, a teen drama about friends, popularity, and tragedy. For those of you in the mood for nail-biting suspense, the Emmy award-winning Satacracy88 may be more your style. Regardless of your taste, a good drama is all about relationships and connecting with the characters. So take a break from those summer re-runs and challenge yourself to something new and different.



Keep Broadcasting,

Felicia aka webisodewiz

YouTube Entertainment

Update on New Comments System

After we released the new comments rating feature two weeks ago, you voiced some consistent concerns on the YouTube blog, in e-mails to us, and in videos. Our goal is to always improve YouTube based upon the needs of the community so we've made some changes – many of them based directly on your feedback – and will continue to look at how we can improve this feature.



- The "View All Comments" page has been changed back to show comments in chronological order (from oldest to newest).



- Links included in e-mail notifications you receive when a new comment has been posted to your video are being improved so that they take you to the correct page on the "View All Comments" page.



- Remember: you can choose which comments you want displayed, based on their overall ratings, on all video Watch pages. You can always choose to show all comments regardless of their ratings. Just use the pulldown menu near the comments section on the Watch page.



- In the near future, we'll make comment ratings a feature that the video creators can turn on or off for their uploaded videos.



Keep letting us know what we can do to make reading and making comments as easy and efficient as possible.



And, as always, thanks for speaking up and letting us know your candid thoughts.



The YouTube Team